Ryan Byrd’s Ramblings

W might have misused one of these today over IM, so maybe I’m correcting him because I’m sometimes an English language Nazi. Sometimes.

• Yeah - sounds like “yeh”. Means yes. Yeah is the most common of these words. It is often used as just a one-word answer to a yes-or-no question. “Hey babe, dinner and make-out?” “Yeah, I’m in.”
• Yah – is also an expression of agreement without enthusiasm. The word yah is usually just used as a more modern, slang spelling of the word yeah. It is often used in texting, and is just a shortening of yeah. Most commonly used to show agreement with an idea, in the same way yeah does. The pronunciation may be the same as yeah, or it may be pronounced more like yaw.”Ready to go?”  “yah“
• Yay – rhymes with day, May and hay and is a synonym of hooray. The opposite of “boo!” Usually used as an interjection and exclamation to show jubilation.”Did I tell you I won a sweet iPad?” “No! That rocks. Yay!”
• Ya – meaning you–  “How are ya?”
• Yea – old-fashioned formal way of saying “yes,” used mainly in voting in old-school, legislative bodies. It’s the opposite of—and rhymes with—“nay.” “All in favor say yea, all opposed nay.”

AND… yay can also refer to height, if you’re ancient and live in the South, as in “when I was yay big” [holding hand up]

srcs: http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/yea.html http://www.genpink.com/yeah-yay-yah-ya/ http://herfivecents.blogspot.com/2009/02/lessons-in-spelling-and-grammar-ya-yeah.html