"yeah"

[Wilson Gray]

My post should have read:

> "Nay(, Jim)" WAS USED in place of "no" or "naw" in the Saint Louis of my youth, but I
> doubt that the history of its use is any more interesting than the
> history of "it matters not," always used in place of "it doesn't
> matter" or "I don't care." My WAG is that both usages stem from movies
> and stories about the days of knights.

-Wilson


On 10/17/07, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at yahoo.com> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at YAHOO.COM>
> Subject:      Re: "yeah"
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Err...
>
>   I don't get it.
>
>   JL
>
> Mark Mandel <thnidu at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
>   ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender: American Dialect Society
> Poster: Mark Mandel
> Subject: Re: "yeah"
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Parliamentary procedure. OED under "yea, adv. (n.)":
> 2. An affirmative vote; a person who votes in the affirmative: usually
> pl., opposed to nays (or noes).
> Still in use in the U.S. Congress. Cf. AYE.
>
> m a m
>
> On 10/17/07, Wilson Gray wrote:
> >
> > Isn't "nay" a borrowing from the Danish dialect of Old Norse? "Nay(,
> > Jim)" in place of "no" or "naw" in the Saint Louis of my youth, but I
> > doubt that the history of its use is any more interesting than the
> > history of "it matters not," always used in place of "it doesn't
> > matter" or "I don't care." My WAG is that both usages stem from movies
> > and stories about the days of knights.
> >
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
>
>  __________________________________________________
> Do You Yahoo!?
> Tired of spam?  Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around
> http://mail.yahoo.com
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>


--
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange complaint to
come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
-----
                                              -Sam'l Clemens

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org