I am perhaps wrong, but I don’t believe so. The phrase is “Yea or Nay” (Yes or No). “Yay or Nay” is similar to asking “Woohoo or Nay”.
http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~brians/errors/yea.html
http://marcvz.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/09/grammar-nazi.jpg
I think people write “yay or nay” because, to them, “yea” is what you and I would spell “yeah.”
Yeah is pronounced entirely different. But more importantly, “yeah” means “yes”, which is what the question is asking. So, I’m not following.
Because it means what’s being asked, it can’t possibly be right?
Thank you.
You are aware that “yeah” and “yea” are pronounced differently. Many, many people are not aware of that. Many people, in attempting to write “yeah,” write “yea” and think they are correct. I was suggesting that those same ignorant people also write “yay” for “yea,” perhaps because they don’t realize those two words are pronounced the same.
Hm, I’ve never seen anyone write “yea” for anything other than “yea or nay”, given that it’s an archaic word that pretty much only survives in that phrase.
I’d generally guess that most people simply aren’t aware that there is such a word.
Just last night I wrote on facebook, “Yea, I’m glad you’re back in town!” And oddly enough, I was unaware of the word “yay” until this thread. I was, however, aware that “yeah” and “yea” are pronounced differently.
But I’m weird.
I’m communicating badly in this thread. Let me try again.
Step One: Ignorant person A, unaware of spelling conventions, invents the spelling “yea” for “yeah,” not knowing or caring that “yea” is a distinct word with a distinct pronunciation but similar meaning.
Step Two: Ignorant person B wants the phrase “yea or nay,” which they have heard but not seen. The word “yea” is unknown to them, except possibly when they have seen it incorrectly used for “yeah,” so they invent “yay or nay,” unaware that “yay” is already a spelling used for the celebratory utterance.
Ignorant persons A and B may or may not be the same, but they use the same internet and they all enroll in my classes.
The thing I don’t get is, someone will demand the yeas and nays on a question, but then when they vote, they vote “aye”.
I think it’s all a scam to provide more three-letter words for crossword puzzles.
My pet peeve is related but on the other side: it is people who use yea when they mean yay. Worse are the ones who use yeah when they mean yay.
Yea, verily.
I wonder if “yeah” evolved from “yea.”
I’m imagining the sixteenth-century Beatles singing
“She loveth thou, yea, yea, yea…”
How do you vote, yay or neigh?
OED sez:
yea: in Old English, from 731 (about as early as you get), many Germanic cognates.
yeah: from 1905, “casual pronunciation of ‘yes.’”
yep: from 1891, “a dial. or vulgar pronunciation of ‘yes.’”
yes: from circa 888, evidently yea plus the third-person singular subjunctive of “be” (but they note this is a disputed etymology).
Pedantic P.S.: She loveth thee, yea, yea, yea. “Thou” is nominative.
:smack: Yea(h), you’re right. I knew that. Thank you.
Remember the old Far Side? “For the first time in the history of the Horse Parliament, somebody had voted ‘aye’!”