“What” pronounced as “wurt”

Question

Is there any particular American dialect that does this? I have heard this kind of pronunciation on some American TV shows, mostly featuring teenage/college kids, and it appears more prevalent among female speakers. Often, the girls who feature such pronunciation also exhibit qualities of Valleyspeak in their speech and I am wondering if they are related.

Am I hearing things or is it actually an identifiable and well-known pronunciation habit? Is there any established pattern that associates it with any particular dialect?

Answer 1

It may actually be the area in which the actors/actresses grew up in, or their characters background. I myself grew up in the Southern U.S. and I often hear others saying Wurt instead of What, also mainly among teens. I think it is a pop culture thing as it sometimes fun to change up a word as in wurt. My friends and I often have fun just changing how we say things just to get a laugh. It could be that the speakers in your shows are trying to be more humorous, it could be a dialect, or it could be how you interpret what you hear as Peter Shor said.