Why do people say “whenever” in place of “when” ???

According to google… When" is used to describe events that have a known date or time, while "whenever" is used to describe events that are repeated or have an uncertain date or time:

@Haley yes that’s how is should be used but I’ve noticed people on TikTok specifically say “whenever” when it should be “when”. Like in my example, high school is a known time so you would say “when I was in high school” not “whenever..” . It’s so weird lol

I have people call me out, but I do go by what @Haley says Google says it correct. But “whenever I was in highschool” is correct, cause they’re giving an unspecified date within a timeframe. If their saying “one time in high school” it should be “one time when I was in high school” but if it was a story that involved an element of repetition it’s not incorrect to say ‘whenever’

Apparently it's cultural and "punctuative"? Whatever that means, it drives me crazy if a story teller uses it I skip my autistic brain just can't handle it

I haven't heard people use "whenever" incorrectly but to be fair I'm not on tiktok

I haven’t heard anyone do this before

"Whenever" roughly means "any time" or "every time" "Whenever I pass a Starbucks, I stop and get a drink" ✅️ "Whenever I have to get a shot, I get really anxious" ✅️ "Whenever my friends and I were in high school, we took turns driving" ❌️ "Whenever my friends and I had a half day in high school, we would spend the afternoon at my house" ✅️ "Whenever I worked there, I got a discount" ❌️ "Whenever I worked a morning shift there, I would buy something with my discount after work" ✅️

My husband is a whenever person and it kills me! I think it’s a southern thing because I’ve heard a lot of very southern coworkers use it a lot

I've never heard anyone interchange those words. It's either a geographical/generational thing or a lack of teaching proper English. Growing up for me it was "seen" and "saw". It would drive me crazy.