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

[Shapiro, Fred]

Excellent !

Fred Shapiro


________________________________
From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of Ben Zimmer <bgzimmer at GMAIL.COM>
Sent: Monday, April 7, 2025 2:10 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Subject: Re: Fw: Antedating of "Yay" (Interjection)

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://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.newspapers.com%2Farticle%2Fthe-evening-world-yay-yay-yay%2F169788361%2F&data=05%7C02%7Cfred.shapiro%40YALE.EDU%7Cb2ab69f279cd40879ec208dd75ff98d0%7Cdd8cbebb21394df8b4114e3e87abeb5c%7C0%7C0%7C638796462837802085%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=bHz%2FLQtXFYJQCM7VDSB5XE9Oy%2BtiyriL6oa%2B70Iiigo%3D&reserved=0<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://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Flistserv.linguistlist.org%2Fpipermail%2Fads-l%2F2021-September%2F160382.html&data=05%7C02%7Cfred.shapiro%40YALE.EDU%7Cb2ab69f279cd40879ec208dd75ff98d0%7Cdd8cbebb21394df8b4114e3e87abeb5c%7C0%7C0%7C638796462837827457%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=A8vWGhOuVxG8MuKtJanb6IIW7Dgos3oZeOifpu8fim4%3D&reserved=0<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.
>>
>>
>>

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