"Yay long"

[Joel S. Berson]

Did Jim Parish or his communicant see "yay" in print, or is it a
rendering of something merely spoken?

I, like a couple of others, would have spelled it "yea".

How about from "yea, adv.", "3. Used to introduce a statement,
phrase, or word, stronger or more emphatic than that immediately
preceding: = 'indeed'; 'and more': = yes adv. 4"?  In the example of
"yay long", an adverb preceding an adjective and intensifying it?

Joel

At 9/28/2013 08:19 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>I too instinctively spell it "yea."
>
>So what?
>
>If it's from OE "yea," why did it take a thousand years to appear in print?
>
>JL
>
>
>On Sat, Sep 28, 2013 at 7:23 PM, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu>wrote:
>
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> > Subject:      Re: "Yay long"
> >
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > On Sep 28, 2013, at 7:09 PM, Benjamin Barrett wrote:
> >
> > > Wiktionary (https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/yea) traces this back to OE,
> > then Proto-Germanic and PIE, undifferentiated from "yea" meaning yes.
> > >
> > > The OED speculates that "yay" comes from "yea."
> > >
> > > Benjamin Barrett
> > > Seattle, WA
> >
> > Now that you mention it, I've always spelled the adverb (or visualized it
> > spelled) "yea", not "yay".  Although I suppose if it's a very big fish it
> > could be both.
> >
> > LH
> > >
> > > Learn Ainu! https://sites.google.com/site/aynuitak1/videos
> > >
> > > On Sep 28, 2013, at 2:37 PM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> > wrote:
> > >
> > >> Bugs Bunny used it. He's neither black nor human. I believe the phrase
> > was
> > >> "Oh, about yay by yay," with appropriate gestures.
> > >>
> > >> I don't know the the title or the date of the cartoon, but it was
> > probably
> > >> in the early '50s.
> > >>
> > >> To judge from GB and NewspaperArchive.com, it seems to be very rare in
> > >> print.
> > >>
> > >> JL
> > >>
> > >>
> > >> On Sat, Sep 28, 2013 at 3:06 PM, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu
> > >wrot=
> > >> e:
> > >>
> > >>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > >>> -----------------------
> > >>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > >>> Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> > >>> Subject:      Re: "Yay long"
> > >>>
> > >>>
> > -------------------------------------------------------------------------=
> > >> ------
> > >>>
> > >>> On Sep 28, 2013, at 12:57 PM, W Brewer wrote:
> > >>>
> > >>>> My Chapman's 1986 calls it "A sort of demonstrative adverb used with
> > >>>> adjectives of size, height, extent, etc. and often accompanied by a
> > han=
> > >> d
> > >>>> gesture indicating size". 1950s & esp black. "To this extent; this;
> > so"=
> > >> .
> > >>>> Spells it <yea> (YAY).
> > >>>>
> > >>> In the old days, Charles Fillmore used to point out that "yay" is the
> > one
> > >>> word that can't be sensibly uttered over the phone. (Other
> > demonstratives
> > >>> have anaphoric uses, but "yay" doesn't, in contexts like "The fish I
> > caug=
> > >> ht
> > >>> was {this/that/yay} big.  And you could even say "The agreement is this
> > >>> close to being signed" without prior mention of what "this" is, but not
> > >>> "The agreement is yay close to being signed" without my being able to
> > see
> > >>> you holding your fingers apart=E5=8E=83ay much.
> > >>>
> > >>> Of course that was before iChat, Skype, and other picture phone
> > >>> conversations.
> > >
> > > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
>
>
>
>--
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