[Ads-l] No = 'yes; truly'

[Laurence Horn]

> On Oct 25, 2017, at 7:06 PM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
> 
>> Barron-Lopez was answering the question “Isn’t it?”  Since the
> (apparently) correct answer was “It is,” she could have answered either
> “Yes, it is” or “No, it is.”
> 
> I don't see "No, it is" as a possibility.  In fact, it seems totally
> impossible to me.
> 
> JL

Agreed; plus I’m not sure where the fail is in answering “Isn’t it?” negatively by responding “No, it isn’t”.  What’s more complicated is if the original question doesn’t have a contraction.  As an answer to “Did you not remember to take out the trash?” I can imagine either “No, I DID remember” or “No, I didn’t remember”.   But if the question had been “Didn’t you remember to take out the trash?” only the latter is possible (or, of course “Yes, I remembered”).

LH  
> 
> On Wed, Oct 25, 2017 at 3:07 PM, Baker, John <JBAKER at stradley.com> wrote:
> 
>> Barron-Lopez was answering the question “Isn’t it?”  Since the
>> (apparently) correct answer was “It is,” she could have answered either
>> “Yes, it is” or “No, it is.”  English seems to fail when the correct answer
>> to “Isn’t it?” is “It is not.”
>> 
>> 
>> John Baker
>> 
>> 
>> From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf
>> Of Jonathan Lighter
>> Sent: Wednesday, October 25, 2017 12:31 PM
>> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>> Subject: Re: No = 'yes; truly'
>> 
>> External Email - Think Before You Click
>> 
>> 
>> John King, CNN: But, politically, it's kind of embarrassing for the
>> Democrats. Isn't it?
>> 
>> Laura Barron-Lopez, _Washington Examiner_ (b. ca.1990?): No, it *is*
>> embarrassing. It's another thing that's added to the long list of why can't
>> the Clinton campaign, you know, say what they're doing or be honest about
>> something.
>> 
>> JL
>> 
>> On Mon, Nov 7, 2016 at 7:21 AM, Berson at att.net<mailto:Berson at att.net> <
>> Berson at att.net<mailto:Berson at att.net>> wrote:
>> 
>>> No, no, no, no, no ... yes.
>>> 
>>> 
>>> Joel
>>> 
>>> Sent from my Verizon 4G LTE Smartphone
>>> 
>>> ------ Original message------
>>> *From: *Jonathan Lighter
>>> *Date: *Sun, Nov 6, 2016 3:02 PM
>>> *To: *ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU<mailto:*ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>;
>>> *Subject:*Re: [ADS-L] No = 'yes; truly'
>>> 
>>> Chuck Todd on _Meet the Press_: "They were huge for Obama, [but]
>> they'vebeen stagnant this cycle."Tom Brokaw: "No, they have been."Brokaw
>> went on to elaborate the stagnation.JLJLOn Wed, May 4, 2016 at 11:56 PM,
>> Wilson Gray wrote:> On Wed, May 4, 2016 at 12:18 PM, Jonathan Lighter >
>> wrote:>> > On Sun, May 1, 2016 at 9:03 PM, Wilson Gray wrote:> >> > > Is
>> this a variant?> > >> > > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5GSq4Hea6E<
>> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5GSq4Hea6E>> >>> So, it's *not* a
>> variant. The Magic version is commonplace among the> colored. Yeah, naw.>>>
>> --> -Wilson> -----> All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"---a
>> strange complaint to> come from the mouths of people who have had to live.>
>> -Mark Twain>> ------------------------------------------------------------>
>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org<
>> http://www.americandialect.org>>-- "If the truth is half as bad as I
>> think it is, you can't handle the truth."-----------------------
>> -------------------------------------The American Dialect Society -
>> http://www.americandialect.org<http://www.americandialect.org>
>>> 
>>> 
>> 
>> 
>> --
>> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>> 
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org<
>> http://www.americandialect.org>
>> 
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>> 
> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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