Was I correct in my use of "whatever" over "something"? [closed]

Hmmmmmm... Just my take. When someone asks "do you want to do something tonight?" That is a common phrase and has a meaning of do you want to partake in an event. Whether that is a dinner out, movie, concert, a walk, movie in, whatever.

Now if someone says "do you want to do whatever tonight?" I find that a little playful and I read that as "do you want to do whatever [you want to me] tonight?" This is from a guy's point of view but if a girl switched out the term something with whatever I would take that as a night in doing whatever she wanted me to do.

See you are not something unless we are speaking barbarically. However whatever does include whatever I want my mind to think of.

In preface, I would like to point out that I think you are vastly overthinking the subtle difference between these two words.

But since you don't seem to mind doing this, note that "whatever" is a very informal word that probably means very different things to different people, generations, dialects and social cliques.

Here is how each of these phrases would be interpreted in my culture.

Do you want to do whatever tonight?

Are you up for doing something miscellaneous and unplanned tonight? Or do you want to plan a specific activity?

Do you want to do something tonight?

Do you want to hang out together tonight? Or should we each do our own thing?

The distinction is one of pre-planning versus one of togetherness. The difference is subtle, however, and disappears quickly:

Alice: What do you want to do tonight?

Bob: Whatever.

Alice: What do you want to do tonight?

Bob: Something.

The response of "whatever" is more apathetic toward a specific goal or activity but absolutely includes the possibility that nothing will happen at all. The response of "something" is actively declaring that "nothing" is not desired but does not provide more specifics about what activity should occur.

Likewise:

Alice: Do you want to do whatever tonight?

Bob: No.

Alice: Do you want to do something tonight?

Bob: No.

In this case, the rejection of "something" is a declaration that nothing should occur. The rejection of "whatever" is most likely the same thing but could technically imply that Bob wants a more concrete plan.

There is an implication that "something" means "something special/different/out of the ordinary" but this is only a possibility in the sense that a particular couple decides to use the phrase this way.

Alice: Do you want to do something tonight?

Bob: No, let's just hang out in my room.

With all of this in mind, here are my specific answers for your individual points.

The idea of something essentially means "not nothing" or "more than nothing".

Correct.

However, whatever does include both "nothing" and "anything"... and in that, nothing can be expanded towards "nothing together" and "nothing apart".

If someone asked me if I wanted to do "whatever" I would interpret that as a question asking if I wanted to anything and what kind of anything I want to do if I agree.

By saying something, the nothing is entirely removed (except, of course, if he says no to the question as a whole and turns me down tonight).

Saying "no" to "whatever" could very much have the same purpose. You, the asker, do not get to beg the question that they do want to hang out with you by avoiding the word "something." They can absolutely turn you down after you ask if they want to do "whatever."

If they respond with "yes" then, in both cases, the implication is that they want to do some activity with you.

I chose whatever because I feel like the question in itself removes the absolute nothing from whatever.

No, it does not but only in the sense that you are primarily asking if absolute nothing is on the table. As in, do they want to hang out?

Also, I did not want to exclude our normal "nothing out in the world but alone in your room together" activity and using something might appear like I am asking for something other/more than that tonight.

This is a good distinction between "something" and "whatever" since "something" tends to be more of a planned, extra activity. "Hang out in your room" is a valid answer to "something" but there is an implication that something more interesting would be on the docket.