"yeah, yeah" again (another versions)

[Garson O'Toole]

The periodical "Canadian Author & Bookman" has a version of the
anecdote. Google Books assigns a date of 1977 to the match, but
HathiTrust gives a range from 1977 to 1979.

Currently the earliest cite I know of is a New York Times article
dated August 14, 1977. So this cite might be earlier. However, the
phrasing is very similar. I suspect that this instance was derived
from the New York Times article, but the reverse is possible, or the
two instances might share a close common source.
The relevant volume(s) containing the match are available at Charlie's
library (U Georgia). He, Fred, or someone else may have already
followed this lead.

Canadian Author & Bookman
Volumes 53-54
Years 1977-1979
Canadian Authors Association
Page 23 (according to GB and HathiTrust)

http://books.google.com/books?id=GH4OAQAAIAAJ&q=Yeah#search_anchor

[Begin extracted text]
Double Negatives
At a seminar that took place in the United Kingdom some time ago, a
philosopher of language presented a formal lecture in which he
announced that a double negative is known to mean a negative in some
languages and a positive in others. But, he said, no natural language
had yet been discovered in which a double positive means a negative.
Whereupon another philosopher — sitting in the audience — piped up
with an instant, sarcastic, "Yeah, yeah!"
[End extracted text]

Garson

On Sun, Jul 22, 2012 at 6:54 PM, Dan Nussbaum <yekkey at aol.com> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Dan Nussbaum <yekkey at AOL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: "yeah, yeah" again (another versions)
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> I always told it as a joke without attributions. It worked very well as
> a test of the listener's intelligence. When I told it in my office, the
> more educated listeners laughed their heads off, the others stared at
> them in wonder.
>
> Dan Nussbaum
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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