[Ads-l] "He shook his head yes."

[Margaret Winters]

And the word for 'yes' is something like 'oxi' which to my English/Romance ears seems to indicate 'yes, but I don't like it'.

Sent from my iPad

MARGARET E WINTERS
Professor Emerita French and Linguistics
Wayne State University
Detroit, MI  48202

mewinters at wayne.edu<mailto:mewinters at wayne.edu>

On May 27, 2017, at 5:17 PM, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU<mailto:laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>> wrote:

On May 27, 2017, at 5:34 PM, Margaret Winters <mewinters at WAYNE.EDU<mailto:mewinters at WAYNE.EDU>> wrote:

In Greece, "no" is signaled with a movement of the head straight back -- sort of the opposite of a nod.

Clearly they’re confused by the fact that their word for yes is “nai” (pronounced something like “nay”), so of course they’d nod for ‘no’.

LH

Sent from my iPhone

On May 27, 2017, at 10:07 AM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM<mailto:wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>> wrote:

Isn't there some place (Albania?) where the actual behavioral reversal is
normal?

Seems I read about it in the '80s.

JL

On Sat, May 27, 2017 at 2:46 PM, Barretts Mail <mail.barretts at gmail.com<mailto:mail.barretts at gmail.com>>
wrote:

I recall getting corrected in a writing group on either shook or nod a
couple years back. I was told that one is only for “no" and the other only
for “yes".

Benjamin Barrett
Formerly of Seattle, WA

On 27 May 2017, at 11:39, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM<mailto:wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>>
wrote:

I've heard this several times. As if you couldn't guess,  on TV.

JL

On Fri, May 26, 2017 at 2:50 PM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com<mailto:hwgray at gmail.com>> wrote:

As he said this, the speaker mimed *nodding* his head yes, of course.

This is no new thing, in my experience. Is "nod" going the way of
"farther"
and "-l[ai]ved"?

--
-Wilson


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