ADS-L Digest - 16 Aug 2008 to 17 Aug 2008 (#2008-231)

[Your Name]

>The female commentator on NBC's Olympic coverage just described someone  as
"shaking his head "yes" (while we saw footage of him doing what I would call
nodding) and then added that during an earlier dive the same man "nodded his
head "no, no, no"! The commentator is, I believe a native speaker of English
(with no perceptible accent to this Northern/Northeastern USAn). >>

Shaking one's head "yes" makes sense, as it's perfectly possible to shake
something up and down.  A bottle of salad dressing; a hand upon which a bee  has
landed; why not a head?

Nodding one's head "no," however, makes no sense.  The only person  I've ever
heard use it is Harvey Levin, the lawyer - talking head on "People's  Court."
 I don't know where he's from, except that it's not NYC, cuz he  said he was
dragged there kicking and screaming when the show moved, but came to  love it.
 Presumably, as a lawyer, he's well-educated.  But that  doesn't always
translate to logical.

Rosemarie

Sure, honey, leave the toilet seat up - as  long as you've just finished
cleaning the  toilet!




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