# When did "Yeah, no..." become the new "Well..."? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 8, 2023, 11:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-yeah-no-become-the-new-well/980866 "2023-03-08T11:05:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2023, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-yeah-no-become-the-new-well/980866/41 "2023-03-09T23:32:47Z")
Well said! ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2023, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-yeah-no-become-the-new-well/980866/42 "2023-03-10T00:07:09Z")
I was just talking to someone on the phone a few minutes ago and I realized I said “Yeah, no” to some questions and I thought of this thread! I wasn’t even consciously thinking when saying it. It was basically “Yes I hear what you are saying, but no actually we should do something else…” ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2023, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-yeah-no-become-the-new-well/980866/43 "2023-03-10T04:58:28Z")
This is the first time I remember hearing it. > **[Quotes from "The Big Bang Theory: The Cooper-Nowitzki Theorem"](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1256037/quotes/qt2112618)** > > Ramona Nowitzki: I know what's going on here. ---
**Author:** ![The\_wind\_of\_my\_soul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecc23a/32.png) [@The\_wind\_of\_my\_soul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_wind_of_my_soul)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2023, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-yeah-no-become-the-new-well/980866/44 "2023-03-13T16:30:28Z")
> [@slicedalone](#): > > As a sort of meaningless starter, “Yeah, no,” has become to go-to starting phrase of many guests on news shows, typically responding to the host/questioner making some sort of statement and then turning to the guest and soliciting an opinion. In the past, I think the guest might have begun his or her response with “Well” but now it’s the nonsensical phrase “Yeah, no,” even when the guest is expressing neither disagreement or agreement, much less both at once. When did this phrase arise, and why, do you suppose? Yeah, no, I know exactly what you mean, and I’m surprised by how many people in the comments don’t know what you’re referring to. If I had to guess, it’s because the phrase is exactly as meaningless as you say it is, and often when we’re listening to people, we mentally filter out meaningless sounds like um/uh/you know (unless the person says uses a meaningless word excessively, in which case it becomes all you can focus on because they’re doing it so incessantly that your brain can’t successfully filter the words out). I have no idea what the actual answer to your questions are. If I had to guess: People sometimes say “Yeah?” as a response to their name; e.g., some says “ **Slicedalone**!” to get your attention and you respond with “Yeah?” In this manner, “yeah” came to mean something along the lines of “I heard you.” Once it acquired this definition, people might have started using the word “yeah” as the beginning of a statement, with it still just meaning “I heard you.” For example, “What do you think of the war in Ukraine?” “Yeah, I’ve been watching the news and I don’t think this is leading anywhere good.” And then, as the final step in the evolution, people tacked the word “no” on to reduce confusion. In other words, if someone said “Would you like some more grapes?” and you said “_Yeah_, I’m not hungry, thanks,” it’s not immediately clear whether the person means _yeah_ in the sense of “_I heard you_, but I’m not hungry,” or in the sense of “_Yes, I would like some_, even though I’m not hungry.” If you say “Yeah, no, I’m not hungry,” it becomes more clear that their “yeah” indicated that they had heard you, rather than that they were saying yes to your question. Again, this response is not based in fact. It’s just my hypothesis. Also, for those of you who haven’t heard “Yeah, no …” used in this sense, think of Ben Stiller. I think he uses this phrase a lot in his comedy. ---
**Author:** ![slicedalone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slicedalone/32/12515_2.png) [@slicedalone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slicedalone)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2023, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-yeah-no-become-the-new-well/980866/45 "2023-03-13T18:02:33Z")
> [@The\_wind\_of\_my\_soul](#): > > I know exactly what you mean, and I’m surprised by how many people in the comments don’t know what you’re referring to Thank you. I was beginning to doubt my sanity, or at least my powers of articulation. ---
**Author:** ![xtenkfarpl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/c2a13f/32.png) [@xtenkfarpl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xtenkfarpl)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2023, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-yeah-no-become-the-new-well/980866/46 "2023-03-20T19:22:09Z")
A lot of languages seem to have a ‘yes/no’ idiom, but it usually comes at the end of a sentence. French: N’est ce pas German: Nicht wahr Welsh: Ynte [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-yeah-no-become-the-new-well/980866.md?page=2)