And The Yeahs Have It

I’ve been pondering the word YEAH. (ye-ah). It has been interesting to me that many people write this word in many different ways. You have the way I write it,

yeah

And then you have other varieties:

yea

yah

So is it a matter of geographical location? Do people in the south do it differently than people in the north?

Is there a rule for this? A chapter on it in The Manual of Style?

Does it bother you at all to have so many different ways of writing words? Does it even matter? Does anyone even care? lolol

Just needed some randomness today.

Sherrinda Ketchersid

July 23, 2009

random, words

16 responses to “And The Yeahs Have It”

Jessica

July 23, 2009 at 11:25 am

Yes, there is a rule. Yeah is the correct way.
That's my story and I'm sticking to it. Ha! LOL

Did you change the top part of your blog? I like it. 🙂

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Krista Phillips

July 23, 2009 at 11:50 am

I've been told yeah. too. Although I think there's a way you can use yah… but it isnt' the same word. LOL. But yeah, Don't quote me on that. *grin*

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Eileen Astels Watson

July 23, 2009 at 12:08 pm

These types of words absolutely drive me nuts. LOL Sherrinda, you seem to be hitting a cord with me lately and my pet peaves.

I hate it when I come to point in my writing and I don't know how to spell the word, because it really isn't a word, it's just a sound or some slang thing made up along this journey of life that stuck but never really got documented or talk in my sixth grade vocabulary drills.

But I do believe you are correct with the yeah, but I pronounce it, yaaaaw, the Yay one is the subsitute for hurray. Right????? Tell me it's so.

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Wendy @ All in a Day's Thought

July 23, 2009 at 12:10 pm

This is so funny to see this b/c I used to write YEAH, but found so many people using YAH in their blogs, so I succombed to peer pressure and changed the way I wrote it.

You've given me confidence to change back to what I like better–YEAH! And to that I say, YEAH!
~ Wendy

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Heather Sunseri

July 23, 2009 at 12:41 pm

Sherrinda, you've made me laugh today! I love it. I'll weigh in and say maybe it depends on how you pronounce the word. For example, Eileen Astels Watson seems, maybe, to pronounce the word differently than I do with my Southern accent. And, you should hear how some of my wonderful country friends pronounce the word, “yeah.” It sometimes can truly have two syllables.

So, I'm thinking, if our characters are saying this word, maybe we should look to see where they are from before we decide which form of the word they are actually saying. Hmmm. You've defintetly made me think, b/c my California characters are saying “yeah” as if they're from Kentucky. I should rethink that.

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Eric

July 23, 2009 at 12:56 pm

I am right there with Eileen. Words like these drive me crazy, particularly when I can see my character using them in conversation, but I don't know if I should really put it down there. Then I worry about how I should spell it, since there are so many different ways. Then it just never comes out looking right. Nice post though, random as it is 🙂

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Jeanette Levellie

July 23, 2009 at 12:59 pm

Oh, please please puleeeese, no more rules!!!!!

I don't care how you spell it; I just love it that you are excited enough to say YEAH or YEA or YAH or YIPPEE DIPPEE, my presonal favorite term for joy!

Love you,
Jen, Audience of ONE

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Katie Ganshert

July 23, 2009 at 1:33 pm

Hmmm….yeah. Yeah. That's how I've always written it. You mean like, instead of yes, you say yeah.

“Do you like ice cream?”
“Yeah.”

I'm from Iowa. That's how we say it.

But if I'm excited. Celebratory. I say YAY! Sort of like nay, like a horse. But YAY!

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Stephanie Faris

July 23, 2009 at 2:26 pm

I'm with the group that writes it “yeah.” It bothers me in a book to see it as “yea” because I'm not sure if they're trying to say “yeah” or “yay.”

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Erica Vetsch

July 23, 2009 at 3:45 pm

LOL, Now this is totally random!

Yeah, I like yeah.

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sherrinda

July 23, 2009 at 4:15 pm

Jessica, I did change the top of my blog. Actually, I got a new layout, then made a banner. I got tired of the other one. I don't know how long this one will last. 🙂

Oh Krista, I'm always quoting you! You always crack me up. 🙂

Eileen, aren't pet peeves funny? Maddening, but funny! I'm sure your Canadian accent makes the yeah sound like yaw. We Southerners put in extra syllables in everything!

Wenday!!! That is hilarious! Succombing to peer pressure over a yeah. 🙂 Glad to support your courage to stand firm for the YEAH!

Heather, I think you are right about the accents from different regions making the spelling a little different. People will “hear” the word according to how they say it, regardless of how you spell it. IMHO

Eric, isn't it funny how these little words can trip us up? (btw…I lOVE random!)

Katie! Perfect! That is exactly what I do!

Stephanie, to me yea and yay are the same thing. Yeah, is totally different. 🙂

Erica, I soooo love random!

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Susan J. Reinhardt

July 23, 2009 at 11:31 pm

I like, “Yeah.”

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Tabitha Bird

July 24, 2009 at 12:02 am

Yeah is good. What about yep, ya huh, or as so many of my mates here say, yeah…nah!
Love the random thought. I am sure someone has made a lovely little rule for the use of this word in the English language and then made 50 zillion exceptions to it… Who are these rule makers? Where do they live? I want to know!

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Jody Hedlund

July 24, 2009 at 2:10 am

Okay, I admit, I stopped by earlier and had no clue what was the right way to use yeah. So now I'm back reading what everyone else wrote! Very interesting!

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sherrinda

July 24, 2009 at 2:21 am

Susan, I think yeah is the best too!

Tabitha, I'm with you! Who are these rule makers? And who gets to decide who gets to break them? lol Thanks for stopping by!

Jody, you are funny! I don't know that there really, truly IS a right way, but it has been on my mind lately. Not sure why…

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Edna

July 25, 2009 at 4:56 pm

I am southern and I say yah

mamat2730(at)charter(dot)net

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