MetaChat - YAY!

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08 June 2010

YAY! I was wondering why people always say "yeah" on line, when I'm sure they mean to say the word that rhymes with "ray", not the word that rhymes with...→[More:] what the heck DOES it rhyme with?! So I looked up "yay" on Merriam Webster and it wasn't in the dictionary, and spell check doesn't recognize it either, so I guess that explains it. The proper way to spell it is "yea", of course, but that looks so old fashioned. But "yeah" is annoying because it reads different than how you meant it to sound. It takes the yay right out of your yay. So I say, let's all start using Yay! Yay! Yay! Yay!!!!!

post by: serena at: 22:33 | 22 comments

Actually, I write "yeah" when I mean "yeah" and "yay" when I mean "yay." I am now bothered by the thought that some people may be reading my yeahs as yays.

posted by amro 08 June | 22:35

Yeah, I know what you mean.

posted by Eideteker 08 June | 22:49

Yeah means yes online for me.

Yay means w00t online for me.

I usually just say w00t though.

posted by Doohickie 08 June | 23:10

Yeah w00t!

posted by arse_hat 08 June | 23:46

I'm not really following... "yeah" meant as a synonym of "yay" is pretty common offline too ("hell yeah!", "yeah baby", etc.)?

I think m-w needs to insert "yay" if they haven't it's really a different thing from the old school "yea" at this pont

posted by Firas 08 June | 23:49

Clarification: yeah, of course, sometimes people really do want to say "yeah". I'm talking about when it's pretty obvious that nobody speaks like that. for example, "I'm getting a puppy! Yeah!"

posted by serena 09 June | 00:05

yup.

posted by qvantamon 09 June | 03:28

Yea is not the same as yay, not in my book anyway. Yay rhymes with say and means w00t. Yea is used when you say things like Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death and whatnot.

Yeah means yes or in a hells yeahhhh kind of way.

So basically, what everyone else said.

posted by Specklet 09 June | 06:02

I'm old enough to remember when the Beatles were all "Yeah, Yeah, Yeah!" which was all about enthusiastic affirmation (as opposed to the new word that rhymes with Yeah, "meh"), while "Yay!" was the sound a cheering crowd made (onomatopoeia-ed in Tom Slick cartoons while the 'crowd' making the sound effect was only 4 or 5 people) and "Yea" was a word in Bible passages as Specklet demonstrated and Olde English period dramas usually accompanied bu "Verily".

"Woot", as contrasted with "Woo", "Woo Hoo" and "Whoa" (also "What", "Wha" and "Wah") is a whole other plate of metabeans...

posted by oneswellfoop 09 June | 06:30

*puts on t-shirt that reads: "I'm with everybody"*

Also, hells yeah it's YAY and not yeah.

posted by dabitch 09 June | 07:44

I would probably be more likely to shout "yeah!" (rhymes with a Bostonian "bear") than "yay!" (rhymes with "way") if I got a puppy. It's both an affirmative and a celebratory utterance.

It probably depends on where you come from, or whether you take your cues from sports cheers or battle cries, or something like that. "Yay," out loud, always sounds to me somewhat half-hearted, easily confused with irony. "Yeah" means business.

That said, online, I usually write "Yay" for the sake of clarity. Come to think of it, I'm much more likely to write "Yayayayayay!"

Fuckin' Yahoo stole the best one of all.

posted by Hugh Janus 09 June | 08:03

Yeah means yes and yay means woot. I've never had any confusion on the matter.

I did work for someone that would write "opps" instead of oops. That pissed me off to no end.

posted by youngergirl44 09 June | 08:19

This error is pre-internet - We used to write a lot of notes in school and I remember people mixing these up. Also visible on posters at sporting events, etc. It's just one of those general symptoms of shaky literacy or lack of visual-memory facility.

Agreed, though - "yeah" is yes, as in "She oves you,yeah yeah yeah," and "yay!" means "hurray!" (a corruption of "hurrah!"). "Yea" means yes, assent, but it's got to be a couple hundred years since someone used it in that exact sense outside of a parliamentary procedure environment.

I like "yay" because it's very kidlike.

posted by Miko 09 June | 08:25

She oves you? HA!

posted by youngergirl44 09 June | 08:26

Thinking about it more, I think of the boss in Office Space whenever someone uses "yea". So, yea... I'm going to need you to come in on Saturday.

posted by youngergirl44 09 June | 08:31

loves

posted by Miko 09 June | 08:39

"I just aced the bar exam!"

"___! Good for you!"

Either one could fit, in my opinion. If it were a casual internet acquaintance I'd probably use "woot" because they'd be familiar with the word. Otherwise I'd use yeah or yay interchangeably.

posted by desjardins 09 June | 08:53

Even I, a non-native speaker, knew the meaning of yeah, yay and yea. So this seems a bit like over-thinking to me. Which the meta* sites have a well known penchant for.

I'd like to add 'yah' to the mix.
I've heard that the British royal family says 'yah' in agreement because of their German background. And it's the same as the Dutch agreement so I'd definitely be in favour of a broader use. Be the first in your neighbourhood to say 'yah' instead of yes or yeah! You'll be so cool!

I've wondered by the way about woot. I can't remember Dutch crowds doing the high pitched wooting that f.i. a Daily Show crowd does. So I wonder whether that's a thing that hails from the US. You know, cow-drivers and all.
Probably not. But it's a nice idea.

posted by jouke 09 June | 08:56

It drives me CRAZY when people spell it "yey." WTF???

posted by Madamina 09 June | 10:20

The OED has had "yay" since 1993. First citation 1963.

[Perh. f. YAY adv., used as an exclamation, or f. YEAH adv. used similarly with alteration of ending (cf. 'ray aphetic form of HOORAY int.).]

An exclamation of triumph, approval, or encouragement.
1963 Sunday Mail (Brisbane) 10 Nov. 23 He talks surfie talk..‘cowabunga, wipe-out, I'm getting stoked..yay gremmies’. 1976 Listener 15 July 54/4 Chubby Checker's ‘The Twist’ is still the number one record in US history. Yayyy! 1977 New Wave Mag. No. 7. 9 The Slits won the argument (Yay!) but we didn't get the interview (Boo!). 1980 Dirt Bike Oct. 20/3 The steering head of the PE rides on tapered roller bearings. Yaay! 1988 A. LIVELY Blue Fruit 45 Yay, Tommy. Play that thing. 1990 DC Action! No. 1. 54 How am I doing? You're doing 75! Yay!

posted by grouse 09 June | 10:31

Thinking about it more, I think of the boss in Office Space whenever someone uses "yea". So, yea... I'm going to need you to come in on Saturday.

Heh. Online I do use "yea" very occasionally to spell out "yeah", l'm not sure why.. just for variety I guess, and that vocal inflection you're pointing out here.

posted by Firas 09 June | 12:52

Interjections show excitement or emotion,
Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah... YEA!

posted by evilcupcakes 09 June | 21:20

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