# "It was about yea long and yea wide". Do you use or understand this expression? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 18, 2002, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-was-about-yea-long-and-yea-wide-do-you-use-or-understand-this-expression/104325 "2002-04-18T15:24:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2002, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-was-about-yea-long-and-yea-wide-do-you-use-or-understand-this-expression/104325/1 "2002-04-18T15:24:54Z")
Specifically I’m interested in hearing from our non-American Anglophone friends…English, Scots, Canadians, Australians, etc., whether this usage of the word _yea_ is current in your country, or in your region. I think in America it may be something of a regionalism, but nearly everyone understands it. ---
**Author:** ![Celyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9dc877/32.png) [@Celyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Celyn)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2002, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-was-about-yea-long-and-yea-wide-do-you-use-or-understand-this-expression/104325/2 "2002-04-18T15:56:15Z")
I’m in Scotland, and I have only ever heard it used by a friend who is originally from New York City, but lived for a while in Boston. I understand it, as the meaning is usually pretty clear in the context, but have not heard it used here by anyone else. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2002, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-was-about-yea-long-and-yea-wide-do-you-use-or-understand-this-expression/104325/3 "2002-04-18T16:45:41Z")
I’ve heard it. I’ve also used it, just as you describe. But I’ve found, here in Canada anyway, that it’s not limited to _yea_. I’ve also heard _so_ and _yo_ used in place of _yea_. ---
**Author:** ![Duke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e8c25b/32.png) [@Duke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2002, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-was-about-yea-long-and-yea-wide-do-you-use-or-understand-this-expression/104325/4 "2002-04-18T19:13:57Z")
“Yeah,” that phrase was in common use in rural PA when I was growing up there. It was usually accompanied by the appropriate hand gestures. ---
**Author:** ![Tansu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/67e7ee/32.png) [@Tansu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tansu)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2002, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-was-about-yea-long-and-yea-wide-do-you-use-or-understand-this-expression/104325/5 "2002-04-18T21:05:15Z")
I’ve used it, but as a conscious appropriation of an Americanism. ---
**Author:** ![RickQ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/35a633/32.png) [@RickQ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickQ)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2002, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-was-about-yea-long-and-yea-wide-do-you-use-or-understand-this-expression/104325/6 "2002-04-18T21:36:33Z")
I have heard this used sometimes with the appropriate hand gestures. I come form Yorkshire in the UK and I have heard it here for as long as I can remember. I always just thought it was a Yorkshirism. Rick ---
**Author:** ![Caught\_Work](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/919ad9/32.png) [@Caught\_Work](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caught_Work)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2002, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-was-about-yea-long-and-yea-wide-do-you-use-or-understand-this-expression/104325/7 "2002-04-19T00:59:51Z")
Rare from my experience in Oz. The folks tend to use it (English background) and I use it when I really can’t be bothered converting metric to imperial or otherwise and so it’s done with hand gestures. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2002, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-was-about-yea-long-and-yea-wide-do-you-use-or-understand-this-expression/104325/8 "2002-04-19T02:04:06Z")
It’s a loanword from Hindustani, in which the word _yeh_ means ‘this’. ---
**Author:** ![anya\_marie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ebca7d/32.png) [@anya\_marie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anya_marie)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2002, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-was-about-yea-long-and-yea-wide-do-you-use-or-understand-this-expression/104325/9 "2002-04-19T05:54:04Z")
I understand that phrase, although i do not hear it used very often. It is often done with gesures, here, mostly to give you an idea of the size of something. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_Wright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@Steve\_Wright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_Wright)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2002, 9:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-was-about-yea-long-and-yea-wide-do-you-use-or-understand-this-expression/104325/10 "2002-04-19T09:28:23Z")
I use it, occasionally. Not where people can’t see my hands, though. It doesn’t really work without the gestures. ---
**Author:** ![Celyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9dc877/32.png) [@Celyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Celyn)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2002, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-was-about-yea-long-and-yea-wide-do-you-use-or-understand-this-expression/104325/11 "2002-04-19T22:13:00Z")
**Jomo Mojo** Is it? Wow - that really is interesting. Now I feel I learned something today, and can claim to have used the internet “for educational purposes” for once! Thank you. 🙂