yeah, no

[Ben Zimmer]

It's come up frequently on Language Log:

http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/005523.html
http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/005525.html
http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/005529.html
http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=38

And here is Ben Yagoda on the Chronicle's Lingua Franca blog:

http://chronicle.com/blogs/linguafranca/2012/06/14/yeah-no/

--bgz

On Mon, Jul 16, 2012 at 6:31 PM, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu> wrote:
>
> Right, I'm frequently told about "yeah, no", and the non-equivalent "no,
> yeah", when I talk (not infrequently) about negation.  I agree that "yes,
> no" is far less likely (and would indicate changing of mind, which "yeah,
> no" doesn't).
>
> LH
>
> On Jul 16, 2012, at 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.
> >

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