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

[Laurence Horn]

> On Mar 5, 2018, at 1:49 PM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
> 
> The POTUS:   Don't forget China's great and Xi is a great gentleman. He's
> now president for life. President for life.
> 
> Crowd: [Laughter, cheers, and applause.]
> 
> The POTUS: No, he's great!
> 
> JL

Would the “No” have occurred if the laughter hadn’t?  (And if there hadn’t also been raised eyebrows, as there probably were?)


> 
> On Thu, Mar 1, 2018 at 2:04 PM, ADSGarson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com
>> wrote:
> 
>> 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
>> 
> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> "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