TravelingChris Posted March 16 Share Posted March 16 We went to a St. Patrick's Day parade today and dh got a shamrock sticker w/ yeeaaah on it. He wants me to find out howcto pronounce it - yee- aaah or a long version of yeah? And I don't think either version had anything to do w Ireland but neither did a bunch of stuff in the parade. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Katy Posted March 16 Share Posted March 16 I remember learning in school that “yay” and “yeah” and both spelled “yeah” but my xennial brain spells yay like that, and I’ve noticed everyone my age (45) or younger spells it that way too, and my mom spells both yeah. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pawz4me Posted March 16 Share Posted March 16 I would assume it's supposed to be a drawn out version of yeah. Kind of like if someone typed "yeeessss." But it doesn't seem very Irish! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chocolate-chip chooky Posted March 16 Share Posted March 16 I would pronounce it like 'yair' with the 'air' drawn out. I pronounce 'yeah' like 'yair', but I have a bogan Australian accent and no idea if that helps at all 😄 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corraleno Posted March 16 Share Posted March 16 To me, "yeah" and "yay" are pronounced and spelled differently. "Yay" is an exclamation of excitement or happiness — "Yay, we won the championship!" or "Yay, I got a promotion!" "Yeah" is a shortened, less emphatic form of yes, like "Yeah, ok, I'll go do the dishes now" or "Yeah, I'm not happy about the increased prices either." It's pronounced like the Beatles' song "I love you, yeah, yeah, yeah..." I would pronounce "yeeaaah" like in the Beatles song — one syllable but more drawn out, not two syllables like "yee-aaah." 8 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TravelingChris Posted March 16 Author Share Posted March 16 1 hour ago, Pawz4me said: I would assume it's supposed to be a drawn out version of yeah. Kind of like if someone typed "yeeessss." But it doesn't seem very Irish! A lot of the parade wasn't Irish. Dance groups dancing to a Lizzo song, and 0ther pop/dance songs. A Cajun restaurant reusing their float from Mardi Gras parade with the slogan Laissez les bons temps rouler ( which I am not even sure it happened this year because I think we may have been having downpours). And also lots of different car types rolled by which was fine except the Mustang group liked roaring their engines which bugged both my dgd and me. But we also had several groups of Irish dancers, some Irish wolfhounds, and cars carrying signs w/ Irish province names. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corraleno Posted March 16 Share Posted March 16 Fun little rabbit trail: not only is saying "yeah" (in a specific way) an actual Irish thing, there's even a formal linguistic term for it: the Inhaled Affirmative Yeah. "Several languages include an affirmative "yeah", "yah", "yuh", or "yes" that is made with inhaled breath.... That is an example of a pulmonic ingressive and is found [in] dialects of English spoken in Ireland (Hiberno-English) and the Scottish Highlands (Highland English), typically used to express agreement and show attentiveness." The inhaled affirmative yeah is also found in Faroese, Icelandic, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Finnish, Estonian, and a few other languages. 2 10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScoutTN Posted March 16 Share Posted March 16 26 minutes ago, Corraleno said: Fun little rabbit trail: not only is saying "yeah" (in a specific way) an actual Irish thing, there's even a formal linguistic term for it: the Inhaled Affirmative Yeah. "Several languages include an affirmative "yeah", "yah", "yuh", or "yes" that is made with inhaled breath.... That is an example of a pulmonic ingressive and is found [in] dialects of English spoken in Ireland (Hiberno-English) and the Scottish Highlands (Highland English), typically used to express agreement and show attentiveness." The inhaled affirmative yeah is also found in Faroese, Icelandic, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Finnish, Estonian, and a few other languages. Oh, the things the Hive knows!! 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TravelingChris Posted March 16 Author Share Posted March 16 13 minutes ago, ScoutTN said: Oh, the things the Hive knows!! That's why I asked 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MercyA Posted March 17 Share Posted March 17 Did anyone else think of Lumbergh from Office Space when you saw this question? 🙂 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SanDiegoMom Posted March 17 Share Posted March 17 1 hour ago, MercyA said: Did anyone else think of Lumbergh from Office Space when you saw this question? 🙂 YES! That was totally my first thought and I was about to look for a clip but you beat me to it! 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silver Posted March 17 Share Posted March 17 7 hours ago, MercyA said: Did anyone else think of Lumbergh from Office Space when you saw this question? 🙂 I debated posting a montage of all of his "yeeaaah" moments in the movie because that's exactly how I'd pronounce it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MEmama Posted March 17 Share Posted March 17 I've never seen it spelled out so I assumed it was pronounced like Yeee-Awww like a wannabe cowboy-esque YeeHaw but without the H. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MercyA Posted March 17 Share Posted March 17 2 hours ago, silver said: I debated posting a montage of all of his "yeeaaah" moments in the movie because that's exactly how I'd pronounce it. In case anyone is dying to see such a montage: https://youtu.be/kVmC0ktznNo?si=NJawaj1O7LxCzUAi&t=51 🙂 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melissa in Australia Posted March 18 Share Posted March 18 I have never come across it and if I saw it in print I would think the typer had a stuck keyboard Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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