OT: "yeah yeah yeah"

[sm_jamieson]

Anyone noticed the frequent occurrence these days of the phrase "yeah yeah yeah" meaning "yes absolutely" etc. More and more people seem to be saying it. The more times and the faster it is said the better, it would seem. I heard someone in the office utter a ludicrously long slur of them the other day. It seems as if you have to offer constant assurance to the other that you are still listening by making sounds. Anyone else noticed this. Anyone know where it came from ? Simon.

[Rod]

A popular beat combo from Liverpool? :-)

[NOSPAMnet]

The only time I use that phrase is when Poo-Poo'ing something that someone has just said ..usually someone on the TV .

[Mungo "Two Sheds" Toadfoot]

It sounds to me as though they're saying "You're speaking too slowly and I already know what you're going to say so shut up and let me talk instead".

Si

[Bruce]

"She Loves You" by The Beatles, 1963?

"She loves you, yeah, yeah, yeah".

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Another example of current usage meaning the exact opposite.

[Lobster]

Absolutely. But it's more of a "yeyeyeyeahyeah". I know someone who does it and it annoys the crap out of me.

I think it's more about them drowning out whatever point the other person's making and to indicate 'I'm far too important to listen to any triviality of yours'.

David

[Tim S]

Lobster coughed up some electrons that declared:

My daughter says it when she means "Daddy, you're talking boring bollocks, now f*ck of and leave me to do whatever I was doing".

Except she's 4 so she can't say the latter.

:-|

[John]

Not as annoying as people on TV who miss the letter "T" sound out of words like water and party

[Rod]

That's not as bad as those on TV who say "vunnerable". :-)

(Don't know why I find that one so difficult to take.)

[Lino expert]

Or "should of". Jeez.

[S Viemeister]

Even worse - "had of".

[Tim S]

S Viemeister coughed up some electrons that declared:

White blokes who try to sound like stereotypical black "ghetto" blokes

Or people who addresses anyone and everyone as "geezer"

[Rod]

Or that USAism (am I really going to be able to type this?) "would of went".

[Clot]

No, no. MATE.

[Lobster]

I'm sure I'll have heard that too, but in what context is the above?

David

[Rod]

Typical! Went to find an example somewhere I was sure it had occurred...

Anyway, from that source, three examples around the theme:

"Since eating gluten-free for three years my anti-TPO abs have went from

9,200 to less than 450."

"I have went through this upscan take before and nothing has ever been found so I am kind of skeptical that nothing will be found again."

"The doc thought she might of went without proper hormones for some time we are thinking at least 2-3 years.. we had to start her on a very small dose and increase it slowly not to shock her body as she has went without for some time."

And, finally, an actual example, albeit literary!:

?He? would of went south,? he said, ?We came from north so he would of went south.? John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men

[sm_jamieson]

Also the USA-derived and illogical "could care less" to mean "couldn't care less". People try to explain it by saying its said sarcastically, but the trouble is, it is not said with a sarcastic tone.

"And the thing is, is that ..."

Using infer when they mean imply. ... Simon.

[The Natural Philosopher]

Yup. Standard practice in some old English dialects, now transported to USA and embedded in the language. I've heard it here as well.

There is an old phrase I recall 'he's been and gone and went'

There was a fascinating program on the Beeb, where they discussed migration of grammatical constructions across language.

Every language has a sort of emphtic pharse to follo a stamnemt.. like

N'est ce pas? or

Isn'nt that so?

However in Irish apparently its something 'that translates literally as 'to be sure, and (considering) all'

In Australian, the construction is elided totally, and statements are emphasized with a rising interrogative TONE...

Modern english usage has compressed it to 'innit?'

[Rod]

Well in standard English it is odd that we end up with "I go", "I have gone" but "I went". (I think suppletion might be the term.)

Meanwhile, as I wend my way, I fall across this interesting entry:

(I wish linguicists would write in English. :-) )