[Ads-l] Fw: Antedating of "Yay" (Interjection)

[Ben Zimmer]

Here's another 1918 cite that's more clearly celebratory.

Evening World (New York), Feb. 9, 1918, p. 10. col. 8
Rub-a-dub, rub-a-dub,
The Kiddie Klub, Klub.
The kiddies shed no tears.
Yay! Yay! Yay! Three cheers!
[...]
By Edward Van Riper, age 11, No. 636 Washington St., N.Y.
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-evening-world-yay-yay-yay/169788361/

On Mon, Apr 7, 2025 at 12:00 PM Ben Zimmer <bgzimmer at gmail.com> wrote:

> Nice find, Fred! When I looked into this a few years ago, I found "yay"
> going back to 1922 in comic strips, with a 1918 example not clearly used in
> a celebratory fashion.
>
>
> https://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ads-l/2021-September/160382.html
>
>
> On Mon, Apr 7, 2025 at 8:22 AM Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at yale.edu>
> wrote:
>
>> The date of the citation below is 23 Jan. 1921.
>>
>> ________________________________
>> From: Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at yale.edu>
>> Sent: Monday, April 7, 2025 8:18 AM
>> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Subject: Antedating of "Yay" (Interjection)
>>
>> yay (OED 1963)
>>
>> 1921 Evansville (Indiana) Courier, Junior section, page 7, column 2
>> (Newspapers.com)
>>
>> When the home team comes out upon the floor the rooters yell:  Yay team !
>> Yay team ! Yay, yay, yay.
>>
>>
>>

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