# Is 'yea big' common in your area? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 15, 2007, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-yea-big-common-in-your-area/388077 "2007-01-15T16:09:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2007, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-yea-big-common-in-your-area/388077/1 "2007-01-15T16:09:54Z")
With the requisite hand gestures, of course. I’ve seen this only a few times in my life. Is this a regional or generational thing? I saw on one online site that it was attested only since the 1950s. ---
**Author:** ![Lissa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lissa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissa)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2007, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-yea-big-common-in-your-area/388077/2 "2007-01-15T16:17:50Z")
Yes, I hear it used in my neck of the woods. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2007, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-yea-big-common-in-your-area/388077/3 "2007-01-15T16:33:53Z")
I use it. Not often, but I do use it. ---
**Author:** ![Queen\_Tonya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/4491bb/32.png) [@Queen\_Tonya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Queen_Tonya)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2007, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-yea-big-common-in-your-area/388077/4 "2007-01-15T16:37:45Z")
I hear it used, usually by older guys at work (I’m 36). Can’t recall ever using it myself, but I certainly recognize it and it’s not uncommon. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2007, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-yea-big-common-in-your-area/388077/5 "2007-01-15T16:52:55Z")
I heard it more often from my Nana, who’s from eastern PA. ---
**Author:** ![tbdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3bc359/32.png) [@tbdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tbdi)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2007, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-yea-big-common-in-your-area/388077/6 "2007-01-15T16:57:31Z")
I’ve always used “yay big” in describing things and have heard it all my life. I’ve never had any problem with it being understood or had anybody question it so I always assumed it was common everywhere. ---
**Author:** ![Ace309](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ace309/32/1050_2.png) [@Ace309](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ace309)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2007, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-yea-big-common-in-your-area/388077/7 "2007-01-15T17:02:28Z")
Yes, from the Buffalo, NY area. George Carlin actually defined a ‘yay’, I think in When Will Jesus Bring The Porkchops?, as “the distance between two hands” on a list of measurements that should exist. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2007, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-yea-big-common-in-your-area/388077/8 "2007-01-15T17:45:21Z")
I don’t even know what it is meant to imply. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2007, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-yea-big-common-in-your-area/388077/9 "2007-01-15T17:49:02Z")
[QUOTE=Khadaji] I don’t even know what it is meant to imply. [/QUOTE] You generally need to use your hands while saying it to describe, say, the size of a rat. I have heard it in my life and I was raised Southern. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2007, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-yea-big-common-in-your-area/388077/10 "2007-01-15T17:53:23Z")
[QUOTE=Shagnasty] You generally need to use your hands while saying it to describe, say, the size of a rat. I have heard it in my life and I was raised Southern. [/QUOTE] Ah. OK, now I get it. Yes, I have heard it. More in rural PA than anywhere else. (The \*yea \*in the OP’s title was seen by me as [the slang word for yes](http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=yea) ) ---
**Author:** ![Stratocaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stratocaster/32/16393_2.png) [@Stratocaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stratocaster)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2007, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-yea-big-common-in-your-area/388077/11 "2007-01-15T19:14:28Z")
Philly guy here. “Yay big,” the distance between the speaker’s hands, is a commonly used expression where I grew up (Northwest Philly). ---
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2007, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-yea-big-common-in-your-area/388077/12 "2007-01-15T20:03:00Z")
I’ve heard it but I think ‘so big’ is more common here in the midwest. ---
**Author:** ![Fearless\_Leader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/9fc348/32.png) [@Fearless\_Leader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fearless_Leader)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2007, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-yea-big-common-in-your-area/388077/13 "2007-01-15T20:15:03Z")
Heard it a lot from my mom’s (Southern) family while growing up but not from anyone else around here that I can recall. ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2007, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-yea-big-common-in-your-area/388077/14 "2007-01-15T20:21:37Z")
I’ve never heard it here. What I hear is: “It’s, like, about this big.” ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2007, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-yea-big-common-in-your-area/388077/15 "2007-01-15T20:26:16Z")
I’m not sure I’ve ever seen it in writing before but you mean holding your hands a few inches apart and saying “it’s about yay big,” right? If so, I’ve heard it on occasion. Yay is one of those words that never looks right written down, though. ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2007, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-yea-big-common-in-your-area/388077/16 "2007-01-15T22:19:20Z")
I’ve heard yea big, so big, and yea so. ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2007, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-yea-big-common-in-your-area/388077/17 "2007-01-15T22:42:28Z")
“About yay big” or “yay high” is common in Australia, usually used by older people. I quite like it. ---
**Author:** ![jabiru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bbce88/32.png) [@jabiru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jabiru)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2007, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-yea-big-common-in-your-area/388077/18 "2007-01-16T01:53:10Z")
[QUOTE=TheLoadedDog] “About yay big” or “yay high” is common in Australia, usually used by older people. I quite like it. [/QUOTE] Yep, still said by some of us oldies in these parts. ---
**Author:** ![kittenblue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ba8739/32.png) [@kittenblue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kittenblue)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2007, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-yea-big-common-in-your-area/388077/19 "2007-01-16T02:39:57Z")
I’ve heard it and used it my whole life here in the Northeastern Ohio region. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2007, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-yea-big-common-in-your-area/388077/20 "2007-01-16T02:46:20Z")
Yeah same as **kittenblue**. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-yea-big-common-in-your-area/388077.md?page=2)