"YEAH"

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i am slowly realising thati hardly ever say "Yes". I pretty much always say "yeah". Even in relatively formal circumstances, like a job interview. When I have tried, articulating "Yes" seems rather difficult and extravagant. Maybe many people are leaning towardss a similar eradication of Yes? Whats the predicted lifespan of Yes then?

― ambrose (ambrose), Thursday, 9 September 2004 10:16 (twenty-one years ago)

at various times I use yes, yup, yep and yeah and am very rarely conscious of which I am using.

― MarkH (MarkH), Thursday, 9 September 2004 10:20 (twenty-one years ago)

I use:
yes, yep, yeah, uhuh

― caitlin (at work), Thursday, 9 September 2004 10:23 (twenty-one years ago)

yes sounds stiff these days.

i prefer to use mc eiht's appropriation of the word and say GEEEYYEEAH.

― splooge (thesplooge), Thursday, 9 September 2004 10:26 (twenty-one years ago)

"yes" may well have a short lifespan as a spoken word in, say, the US, UK and Canada (and possibly Australia and New Zealand as well, tho i don't speak to many ppl from those countries so can't be too sure). However, like Mark Twain, the rumors of its death are very much exaggerated! For (at least) three reasons:

1) "Yes" will prevail as the written form. I will make a bold claim..."yes" will continue as the written form, for as long as there's a language called English and possibly for longer. I can't imagine anyone rendering a sentence like the following with "yeah" in it:

"If we ask ourselves the question - did many of the religious beliefs of the ancients have their origins in the inability to properly understand how the natural world worked, then the answer surely is yes".

2) There is no one word that could conceivably supplant "yes" (see my comments at the beginning of the post regarding my own usage.

3) There are many countries where English is spoken as a second language where, like all languages taught as second languages, scant attention is given to current linguistic trends. So in India for example, where the phrase "kindly do the needful" seems to end every letter, I can't see how they will all start using "yeah", or indeed any other variant.

― MarkH (MarkH), Thursday, 9 September 2004 10:28 (twenty-one years ago)

ok so "yeah", i meant inthe spoken language. I dont see yeah entering standard written english any time soon. but if it disappears fro mthe spoken, then we might get one of those cool spelling anomolies 100 yrs down the line. i love that shit!

― ambrose (ambrose), Thursday, 9 September 2004 10:31 (twenty-one years ago)

i am going to take up the word "affirmative" instead of "yeah" and see how long it takes to annoy everyone.

― The Lady Ms Lurex (lucylurex), Thursday, 9 September 2004 10:32 (twenty-one years ago)

they might think you've just seen the terminator, ms lurex.

― splooge (thesplooge), Thursday, 9 September 2004 10:35 (twenty-one years ago)

if you're going to do that then every time someone says "Computer!" you will have to answer "Working!".

― MarkH (MarkH), Thursday, 9 September 2004 10:35 (twenty-one years ago)

I use 'uh huh' all the time. It's one of the few completely new expressions I've picked up since moving to Scotland (all other things I've picked up have been different ways of arranging words, eg. 'do you not?' instead of 'don't you?') I would feel really daft saying 'aye'.

― Madchen (Madchen), Thursday, 9 September 2004 10:37 (twenty-one years ago)

"aye ya bass"

― zappi (joni), Thursday, 9 September 2004 10:39 (twenty-one years ago)

The strange thing about "uh huh" is that it can mean yes or no depending on intonation.

― MarkH (MarkH), Thursday, 9 September 2004 10:39 (twenty-one years ago)

i use all of the previously mentioned words, but i also use "mmmmhmmm" a lot. and i am sure there are others i use without noticing.

― todd swiss (eliti), Thursday, 9 September 2004 10:40 (twenty-one years ago)

I would say no was "uh uh"

― Madchen (Madchen), Thursday, 9 September 2004 10:41 (twenty-one years ago)

...or even "uh uh uh" with rising intonation for an "oh no you don't!"

― Madchen (Madchen), Thursday, 9 September 2004 10:41 (twenty-one years ago)

uh huh her.

― splooge (thesplooge), Thursday, 9 September 2004 10:50 (twenty-one years ago)

When I mean 'yes', I quite often find myself saying 'yeah' (or 'no', hem hem). I think the only occasions I actually say yes are moments of great triumph ("YES!") or one I'm being deliberately snarky and rude to someone, which is more of an irritated "Yes?" with a subtext of "fuck off and stop bothering me". This only really happens at work.

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Thursday, 9 September 2004 10:51 (twenty-one years ago)

one I'm being deliberately snarky and rude to someone, which is more of an irritated "Yes?" with a subtext of "fuck off and stop bothering me". This only really happens at work.

...I can just imagine. Accompanied by a long hard stare and hands on the hips.

― MarkH (MarkH), Thursday, 9 September 2004 10:52 (twenty-one years ago)

I say "take it to the bridge!" to assert the affirmative.

x-post to MarkH - with one foot placed daintily in front of the other and neck at a coquettish angle, obv

― Markelby (Mark C), Thursday, 9 September 2004 11:03 (twenty-one years ago)

If someone asks me a direct question, questionaire-style (like "Are you living out of home?") I will answer with a direct 'yes' or 'no'. Saying 'yeah' sounds too non-comittal

― Andrew (enneff), Thursday, 9 September 2004 11:19 (twenty-one years ago)

it feels good to say "yes" to the coquettish serveuses

― You've Got to Pick Up Every Stitch (tracerhand), Thursday, 9 September 2004 11:31 (twenty-one years ago)

I don't believe I am being called camp by Barry Lasagne. Someone kill me now.

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Thursday, 9 September 2004 12:06 (twenty-one years ago)

Bang.

― Anna (Anna), Thursday, 9 September 2004 12:07 (twenty-one years ago)

Thankyou.

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Thursday, 9 September 2004 12:07 (twenty-one years ago)

Well, that didn't work very well did it?

― Anna (Anna), Thursday, 9 September 2004 12:09 (twenty-one years ago)

I find it helps when you shoot them for real, Anna.

― B.A.R.M.S. (Barima), Thursday, 9 September 2004 12:11 (twenty-one years ago)

But then they don't thank you.

― Anna (Anna), Thursday, 9 September 2004 12:15 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm imagining one of these right now.

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Thursday, 9 September 2004 12:15 (twenty-one years ago)

i think barry and matt DC are 50,000 tents one, and half of glastonbury the other. in terms of camp.

― ken c (ken c), Thursday, 9 September 2004 12:16 (twenty-one years ago)

But then they don't thank you.

Stop going for the quick kill. Of course, the gratitude aspect then becomes a little wonky but you can just blame it on shock.

― B.A.R.M.S. (Barima), Thursday, 9 September 2004 12:18 (twenty-one years ago)

Ken, who's the Millenium Dome these days?

― B.A.R.M.S. (Barima), Thursday, 9 September 2004 12:19 (twenty-one years ago)

hi dere!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/olmedia/1765000/images/_1766396_lawrence150.jpg

big camp and out of date, that's me!

― ken c (ken c), Thursday, 9 September 2004 12:22 (twenty-one years ago)

although more hair than necessary.

― ken c (ken c), Thursday, 9 September 2004 12:22 (twenty-one years ago)

I like saying "Yes" when I'm exasperated or annoyed because you can hiss the sss: "Yesssss."

― n/a (Nick A.), Thursday, 9 September 2004 13:44 (twenty-one years ago)

that just makes you sound like a Hollywood villain.

― MarkH (MarkH), Thursday, 9 September 2004 13:45 (twenty-one years ago)

I say "Aye" more

― Dadaismus (Dada), Thursday, 9 September 2004 13:47 (twenty-one years ago)

i say "Yes!" as an exclamation of joy.

― ken c (ken c), Thursday, 9 September 2004 15:42 (twenty-one years ago)

http://www.swr3.de/__pix/cover/500x435/10411.jpg

― amateur!!st, Thursday, 9 September 2004 15:43 (twenty-one years ago)

five years pass...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/gavinhewitt/merkel595.jpg

― modescalator (blueski), Monday, 28 September 2009 11:37 (sixteen years ago)

HELL YEAH

― ljubljana, Tuesday, 29 September 2009 02:41 (sixteen years ago)

five years pass...

Yeah, no

― joni mitchell jarre (dog latin), Friday, 7 November 2014 15:02 (ten years ago)

yep
mmhmm

― cross over the mushroom circle (La Lechera), Friday, 7 November 2014 15:04 (ten years ago)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49PvnYCKZkM
oh yeah

― cross over the mushroom circle (La Lechera), Friday, 7 November 2014 15:05 (ten years ago)

indeed

― clouds, Friday, 7 November 2014 15:06 (ten years ago)

I have a French friend who never says "oui", only a word I would transliterate as "weh" -- I suppose there must be a standard way French people render this in print?

― Guayaquil (eephus!), Friday, 7 November 2014 15:14 (ten years ago)

ouais

― clouds, Friday, 7 November 2014 15:14 (ten years ago)

I've taken on the habit of doing a very quick "Yeah" that ends with a closed mouth so it sounds almost like "Yeahp"

― my jaw left (Hurting 2), Friday, 7 November 2014 15:15 (ten years ago)

clouds OTM, it's ouais, which is the equivalent of yeah.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-siYUUWLcyg

― joni mitchell jarre (dog latin), Friday, 7 November 2014 15:16 (ten years ago)

Been hearing/seeing "ya" and "yah" a lot more in the last couple years.

― how's life, Friday, 7 November 2014 16:08 (ten years ago)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DcHZ4Jk0OqE

― the man with the black wigs (Eazy), Friday, 7 November 2014 16:10 (ten years ago)

http://www.hellyeahband.com/images/hy2.jpg

― how's life, Friday, 7 November 2014 16:25 (ten years ago)

Yes No

― TracerHandVEVO (Tracer Hand), Friday, 7 November 2014 16:26 (ten years ago)

Thank you for solving this mystery for me ilx! Are there a lot of people who say always "ouais," never "oui"?

― Guayaquil (eephus!), Friday, 7 November 2014 16:31 (ten years ago)

yeah.

― joni mitchell jarre (dog latin), Friday, 7 November 2014 17:25 (ten years ago)

ayuh

― how's life, Friday, 7 November 2014 17:33 (ten years ago)

http://i.imgur.com/1S8vq5I.jpg

― clouds, Friday, 7 November 2014 18:13 (ten years ago)

you got it

― cross over the mushroom circle (La Lechera), Friday, 7 November 2014 18:14 (ten years ago)

Yeah no

― joni mitchell jarre (dog latin), Friday, 7 November 2014 20:00 (ten years ago)

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