[Ads-l] Antedating of "uh-huh"

[Herb Stahlke]

In Nigeria in the Peace Corps in 1963 we had to learn that "eh heh" (low
tone-high tone) meant "no" and " en" (low tone nasalized) meant "yes".

On Sat, Nov 10, 2018 at 5:01 PM Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
wrote:

> And check this out. (OED has "uh-uh" only as 'no.')
>
> 1888 _Idaho Daily Statesman_ (Boise) (May 1) 1: After four days of
> alternate hope and fear we held a hand in hers, looked into her gentle
> eyes, and asken [sic], "is there hope?" "Uh, uh," said she, putting the
> accent on the last word; and then we fell into her arms insensible.
>
> One suspects that people have been grunting for 'yes' and 'no' since cave
> days.  But the grunts only became lexicalized (for writers) in the 19th
> century.
>
> JL
>
> JL
>
> On Fri, Oct 25, 2013 at 7:08 AM Hugo <hugovk at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Hugo <hugovk at GMAIL.COM>
> > Subject:      Antedating of "uh-huh"
> >
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > "uh-huh" (OED: 1924)
> >
> > 1858:
> >
> > [Begin]
> > "Her name is Peggy ?"
> >
> > "Uh, huh."
> > [End]
> >
> > White Cloud Kansas chief. (White Cloud, Kan.), 23 Sept. 1858. Chronicling
> > America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress. <
> > http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn82015486/1858-09-23/ed-1/seq-1/
> >
> >
> > Hugo
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > 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