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

Thu Mar 1 19:04:10 UTC 2018

One of the characters in the mongoose anecdote says:
"No, that's true,"

JL has mentioned this construct in recent days, but in this case the
character is responding to a remark containing negation.

[Begin excerpt]
"But they aren't real snakes, you know!" exclaimed the fat man,
opening his mouth until the other could see his cork-soles.

"No, that's true," said the quiet man, getting up and putting the box
under his coat: "but then this isn't a real mongoose, you see!" And he
evaporated out of the door, while the fat man stared thoughtfully out
of the window at the flickering gas-lamps.
[End excerpt]

Garson

On Mon, Feb 19, 2018 at 7:25 PM, Jonathan Lighter
<wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com> wrote:
> Guests on MSNBC this eve.:
>
> "No, I fully agree."
>
> "No, they absolutely should."
>
> JL
>
> On Tue, Dec 26, 2017 at 2:15 PM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> CHICAGO WOMAN, age ca 50:  "So will Bob be at the dinner?"
>>
>> BOULDER WOMAN, age 69: "No, he'll be there."
>>
>> JL
>>
>> On Mon, Nov 13, 2017 at 9:41 AM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> Nada Bakos, former CIA analyst, on CNN:
>>>
>>> "Right. Exactly. [Briefly discusses Trump and Putin.] So no, I totally
>>> agree."
>>>
>>> JL
>>>
>>> On Wed, Nov 8, 2017 at 9:45 AM, Dan Goncharoff <thegonch at gmail.com>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Literally no.
>>>>
>>>> I see this as a defensive. Everybody's a skeptic, so many speakers
>>>> interpret any response short of aggressive head-nodding as disbelief. The
>>>> result, in the face of presumed or expected disbelief, is an affirming
>>>> "no", meaning "no, I am serious, I mean this".
>>>>
>>>> I recognize this produces many instances of speakers saying "no" to
>>>> speakers that are not contradictory. Nor do I like it. But I think I
>>>> understand it.
>>>>
>>>> On Nov 8, 2017 9:28 AM, "Jonathan Lighter" <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
>>>> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> > POPPY HARLOW, CNN:  I assume that you're happy to see a little bit of
>>>> toned
>>>> > down rhetoric.
>>>> >
>>>> > JOHN KIRBY (former rear admiral, USN): I am, Poppy. No. No. I was. You
>>>> > know, I think that speech was adequate to the task.
>>>> >
>>>> > Anybody seriously think he was contrasting "is" and "was"?
>>>> >
>>>> > JL
>>>> >
>>>> > On Sat, Oct 28, 2017 at 5:23 PM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>> >
>>>> > > > Am still confident that this weirdness is a reduction of "yeah,
>>>> no."
>>>> > > Which
>>>> > > > means, essentially, "yeah" in prefacing a reply to a previous
>>>> speaker.
>>>> > >
>>>> > > Yayuh, naw. I concur
>>>> > >
>>>> > > On Sat, Oct 28, 2017 at 8:36 AM, Jonathan Lighter <
>>>> > wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
>>>> > > wrote:
>>>> > >
>>>> > > > Keep chewing:
>>>> > > >
>>>> > > > VICTOR BLACKWELL: These committees are led by Republicans in both
>>>> the
>>>> > > House
>>>> > > > and in the Senate. But Rene' was gonna come in with something.
>>>> > > >
>>>> > > > RENE' MARSH: No, what I was gonna say is, besides all of this, I
>>>> mean,
>>>> > > you
>>>> > > > mentioned, y' know, the White House's strategy of coming after
>>>> Hillary
>>>> > > > Clinton as... in the lead-up to all we learned about yesterday.
>>>> > > >
>>>> > > > CNN, 8:11 am EST.
>>>> > > >
>>>> > > > Am still confident that this weirdness is a reduction of "yeah,
>>>> no."
>>>> > > Which
>>>> > > > means, essentially, "yeah" in prefacing a reply to a previous
>>>> speaker.
>>>> > > >
>>>> > > > JL
>>>> > > >
>>>> > > > On Fri, Oct 27, 2017 at 9:23 PM, W Brewer <brewerwa at gmail.com>
>>>> wrote:
>>>> > > >
>>>> > > > > <Yes--no, ...>, maybe <So, ...>. (WB latest stray conspiracy
>>>> > theories):
>>>> > > > > 1  Among the social media emerge solutions to the folkish need
>>>> for an
>>>> > > > > <<at-times-pseudo-contrastive-speaker-switching-sentence-
>>>> > > > > initial-particle>>.
>>>> > > > > 2  Cf. NHG <nun ja!> 'that's true enough, granted'. Probably
>>>> related
>>>> > to
>>>> > > > > Swedish [NAH-yah!] (Oh, come on, get real!).
>>>> > > > > 3  Cf. Hittite <nu> 'satzeinleitende Partikel' (Pok.770 s.v.
>>>> *nu(:)
>>>> > > > 'now').
>>>> > > > > (Can this be mere coincidence?)
>>>> > > > > 4  "I like coffee, I like tea, I like the girls and the girls
>>>> like
>>>> > me:
>>>> > > > Yes,
>>>> > > > > no, maybe so..." (Harvey Weinstein trips up.)
>>>> > > > >
>>>> > > > > ------------------------------------------------------------
>>>> > > > > 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
>>>> > > >
>>>> > >
>>>> > >
>>>> > >
>>>> > > --
>>>> > > -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
>>>> > >
>>>> >
>>>> >
>>>> >
>>>> > --
>>>> > "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
>>>> >
>>>>
>>>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>>>> 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."
>>>
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>>
>
>
>
> --
> "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

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