Yes and no: Difference between revisions
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Revision as of 15:33, 8 March 2007
Yes is a common English word indicating agreement or acceptance. It is the opposite of no.
In colloquial language, and especially in spoken English, "yes" is often replaced by "yeah", "yea", "yep" (with various spellings, including "yup"), "uh-huh", "yah" and "aye". Regionalisms for "yes" include: "ah" and "are" (used in the English Midlands and South-West, respectively), "abuli" and "chupper" (used only in some Australian regions), and "ayuh", (generally used only in Maine). "Aye" is more common in Scotland and northern England. It may also be used in meetings: "All who agree say 'aye'". "Aye" is also a nautical way of saying "yes". "Aye, Aye" means "I hear the command, I understand it, and will obey it". "Yea" is archaic.
Aye
"Aye", sometimes misconstrued as slang, is standard speech in Scotland and much of northern England. It is not stigmatised nor spoken by solely a substrata of Scottish society.
In a nautical context, it does not typically denote "yes" as an answer to a yes or no question, but rather is an acknowledgement of an order.
The word "yes" comes from the Old English gése, gíse, gýse (pronounced with a palatized g which was represented by a yogh), with the literal meaning of so be it!. From géa + sī, the present subjunctive of to be (be it!). Géa, (possibly meaning thus), is from the Proto-Germanic *ja or *je, with the meaning of yes or truly.[1]
Notes on usage
- In English, "yes" is also used to answer a negative question or statement, an example of "yes" used to disagree with a question or statement is:
The questions "You don’t want it, do you?" and "Don’t you want it?" can be answered by "yes" if the respondent does want the item, and "no" if he or she does not. However, other words are used when the answer needs to be clearly delineated, as in "Of course I want it," or "No, not at all." It can be confusing when someone asks a question that only contains a negative statement. For example, "You don't want it?" can be answered "yes" or "no" and could be confused as meaning either yes or no. Many languages use a different word for this purpose. For example, German has "doch" for this purpose (rather than "ja"), French uses "si" (rather than "oui") and Norwegian uses "jau" or "jo".