Yeah, you're about to be validated: It's a known issue.

(I haven't actually noticed the contradiction construction, and I would agree it's seriously patronizing.)

Yeah you're about to be contradicted? Really? I've never heard this. Maybe I don't hang out with the right self-centered, hipsterish assholes. Yay for me.

If I recall correctly, the preview has shown 01 January 2000 for forever. Maybe you just only now noticed...?

I haven't heard the yeah you're about to be contradicted thing either. I can imagine hipsterish assholes saying this. Or young people. Are you having out with young people?

BEHOLD! AS I CONTRADICT YOU.

Contradict you? I hardly know you.

Yeah, you sure need a lot of time to BS before you generate your contradiction, don't you?

Yeah, you're about to be contradicted.

And you, my friend, are about to be hospitalized.

Well, "you're about to contradict yourself" sounds like the perfect way to interrupt someone who says "I don't mean to be (racist/sexist/offensive/etc)..."

I recall 'epic' from the mid-80s.

I haven't heard that? The only Google results for that phrase seem to be this thread!

And I agree, "epic" goes back a long way - maybe it's having a resurgence as part of the general 80s resurgence.

I haven't noticed that construction either Note: YOU ARE NOT BEING CONTRADICTED but no doubt I will now. If a friend said it, I'd snort --- but in a friendly way. If a not-friend said it, I'd raise my eyebrow. The right one, the one that triggers the humiliation-of-fools laser.

BEHOLD! AS I CONTRADICT YOU.

That just makes me want to get a top hat and a cane and set up a velvet rope around my front door so I can huckster passers-by: "Step right up! This way to the contradictorium! Contradictions five bits! Outright arguments and take-downs fifty cents! That's just two shiny quarters, folks!"

Tang, what sorts of contexts do you hear this in?

That just makes me want to get a top hat and a cane and set up a velvet rope around my front door so I can huckster passers-by: "Step right up! This way to the contradictorium! Contradictions five bits! Outright arguments and take-downs fifty cents! That's just two shiny quarters, folks!"

♥♥♥

NO ONE HEARTS THE CONTRADICTORIUM. I CONTRADICT YOUR HEARTING.

I really want to read whatever you are writing on that new computer, Elsa. You make me snort!

bearwife, that's really encouraging. Thank you!

Oh, sorry, everyone -- I didn't mean that literal phrase. Though I'd gleefully step up to Elsa's contradictorium.

It's the "Yeah" I'm talking about, as an introduction to a negative statement.

Simplest example: "Yeah, no." To my ear, anyway, adding the "Yeah" seems to imply that I've heard this one sooo many times before, and it exhausts me even to respond to you.

Public radio example: Kai Ryssdal a couple of months ago, introducing a segment. "Do you do [something I can't remember]? Yeah...don't do that."

Ah! There was an AskMe about "yeah, no" not long ago, and it linked to several discussions I'd previously found interesting. When I've noticed the phrase, it isn't (or isn't necessarily) dismissive as you find it, but rather that (for some speakers and listeners) "yeah, no" functions as a way to soften contradiction with initial recognition of the main point, to push off a compliment, or to acknowledge the unlikelihood of the "no" to come*.

Of course, if you find it dismissive --- by the way, I see why you would and I'm not suggesting you shouldn't --- it's going to be SUPER ANNOYING. And of course, there's the likelihood that you're hearing it in different contexts than I do, with different meaning (intended or received).

I have to admit, I "yeah, no" all the time, though mostly in extremely casual conversation with close friends or with my nieces and nephews. The rest of the time, it's used to emphasize how very unwelcome a patently unwelcome offer is.

As in:

So, you still wanna step up to the contradictorium? [Totally expecting the answer "Yeeeeah, no."]

*For example, I used it that last way with my teenaged niece just last night. She's looking forward to learning how to drive. Me too! "You don't have a driver's license? You don't know how to driiiiiive?" "Yeeeeah, no! I learned how to drive but then never got my license." In that case, I intended (and I think they received) the "yeah, no" as a shorter, enthusiastic "I acknowledge that my lack of driver's license is unexpected! I totally don't have one! But your conclusion that I don't know how to drive is incorrect."

Let me rephrase that. By When I've noticed the phrase, it isn't (or isn't necessarily) dismissive as you find it, I really meant "I usually hear the phrase used less dismissively than that."

I didn't mean to imply that somehow you're hearing it as a dismissive phrase, just observing that there's a wide range of usage, at least in my circles. And yeah, (not no!) some of those usages are dismissive, but I've been lucky enough to hear them almost exclusively in the context of friendly teasing.