Quote Originally Posted by Shady_arc View Post
"Що" is specifically Ukrainian (literary!!!) variant, Russians would use "чё?" or "шо?" instead (and this would be humorous, informal variant).
Yes, but don't expect me to hear any difference between "що" and "шо"... I am hard-pressed to actually discern that difference just about anywhere in real life. Sure, if a Russian expressly wanted to show me the difference and spoke extremely clearly, then yes, its ok, but in real life it's all the same to me...

The trouble with formal writing is that it is needed so very rarely. And yes, there actually are textbooks on slang and whatnot, but apparently only in English. On my native German market there is little in that regard. I have two English books on Russian grammar which deal exclusively with particles like же and with elision respectively.