yeah, no

[Victor Steinbok]

The ad is here: http://goo.gl/c02KC

     VS-)


On 7/16/2012 6:10 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> Current TV commercial:
>
> LADY AT SEANCE: Thank you, Priceline Negotiator, wherever you are!
>
> SPIRIT MEDIUM: Yeah, no, he's over here.
>
> There's no reason on Wotan's green earth why Beowulf's grandma shouldn't
> have been saying the OE equivalent of this (presumably "gese, na") in
> similar situations, but I've only been noticing it for a few years.
>
> The "yeah" acknowledges the remark, and the "no" instantly denies its
> accuracy before the nay-sayer corrects it.
>
> I've never heard "*yes, no."
>
> Back in the 20th C., when we were all rude primitives, I would have said,
> "No, he's over here." Or "(Well)(Actually) he's over here." But possibly
> those responses are now either too cruelly direct or employ to many
> syllables.
>
> JL

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