# Yea, yay, and yeah **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 11, 2003, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yea-yay-and-yeah/168113 "2003-04-11T20:45:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Esprix](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/esprix/32/7899_2.png) [@Esprix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Esprix)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2003, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yea-yay-and-yeah/168113/1 "2003-04-11T20:45:53Z")
These three words confuse me: [ul][li]Yea (“yay”) - Archaic, but seems the correct English word for the truncation of “hooray.” (“Yea! He got a home run!”)[/li] [li]Yay (“yay”) - The newer, phonetic version of “yea,” but not really proper English. (“My l33t skills rool! Yay me!”)[/li] [li]Yeah (“yeh”) - Short for “yes,” but I’ve seen people use it to mean “yea,” turning into a heteronym.[/ul][/li] Which is which, and which is proper? I hate typing “yay,” but I get funny looks when I type “yea.” Esprix ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2003, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yea-yay-and-yeah/168113/2 "2003-04-11T20:57:25Z")
I’m also in a quandry when it comes to those words. I’ve given up the “yay” and I gow strictly with the “wooHOO”. Much less confusion. ---
**Author:** ![NinetyWt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/cc9497/32.png) [@NinetyWt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinetyWt)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2003, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yea-yay-and-yeah/168113/3 "2003-04-11T21:05:39Z")
“yay” ~ isn’t that like “Hooray”? I’d use this, even tho it looks odd. “Yea” ~ definitely Old Hat. “Yeah” ~ should only be used for “yes”. Sort of like “ya”. Who uses it to mean “yea” !!! ---
**Author:** ![Esprix](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/esprix/32/7899_2.png) [@Esprix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Esprix)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2003, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yea-yay-and-yeah/168113/4 "2003-04-11T21:06:06Z")
Or, if you’re a [Walky](http://www.itswalky.com) fan, it’s “Wiigii!” 😉 Esprix ---
**Author:** ![Tupug\_Anachi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7993a0/32.png) [@Tupug\_Anachi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tupug_Anachi)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2003, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yea-yay-and-yeah/168113/5 "2003-04-11T21:07:53Z")
Isn’t **yea** more of an affirmation as in “Yea, though I walk through the valley” yada, yada? I use **yay** for hooray and **yeah** for slang yes. ---
**Author:** ![Esprix](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/esprix/32/7899_2.png) [@Esprix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Esprix)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2003, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yea-yay-and-yeah/168113/6 "2003-04-11T21:08:53Z")
**Ninety** , did you even read the OP? 😕 Esprix ---
**Author:** ![Esprix](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/esprix/32/7899_2.png) [@Esprix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Esprix)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2003, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yea-yay-and-yeah/168113/7 "2003-04-11T21:10:50Z")
**Tupug** , from what I can tell, “yea,” “hooray” and “yes” all sort of derive from the same etymological base, as they are all affirmations of one sort or another. Esprix ---
**Author:** ![Jpeg\_Jones](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/4bbf92/32.png) [@Jpeg\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jpeg_Jones)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2003, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yea-yay-and-yeah/168113/8 "2003-04-11T21:24:42Z")
“ **Yay** , though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death!” 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![oldman\_withers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/9fc29f/32.png) [@oldman\_withers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/oldman_withers)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2003, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yea-yay-and-yeah/168113/9 "2003-04-11T21:31:20Z")
Old Hat is the way to go my friends. Nothing impresses the ladies (or men) more than a good throwback to the days of embellished literature. Yea, & I hark unto thee, thou shalt make no plea to the sea over whence flew the tree bee. See? ---
**Author:** ![Wintermute](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e19b73/32.png) [@Wintermute](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wintermute)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2003, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yea-yay-and-yeah/168113/10 "2003-04-11T21:32:24Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Tupug Anachi \* > \*\*Isn’t **yea** more of an affirmation as in “Yea, though I walk through the valley” yada, yada? I use **yay** for hooray and **yeah** for slang yes. \*\* To me, your way is the standard, “correct” (i.e., the way I do it, and the way I see it in books) way, but as **Esprix** pointed out, different people use different spellings and it can be confusing. One of my sisters\* uses “yea” for “yeah”, and I mis-read it every time. (Or does she use “yeah” to mean “yay”?) Either way, it’s confusing. Anyway, thanks to phonics, I suspect people will continue to misspell these, because it depends on how you say them and what you hear. \*(_I can’t remember which one, off the top of my head. It could be #4, she’s the only one who e-mails me, but #2 spells so atrociously I suspect it’s her)_ ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2003, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yea-yay-and-yeah/168113/11 "2003-04-11T21:35:05Z")
Actually, yea means yes or truly. Yay means hurray. ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2003, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yea-yay-and-yeah/168113/12 "2003-04-11T21:42:03Z")
I’m not sure. Maybe we should ask the Gea Guy! (ducks, and also runs) 😃 ---
**Author:** ![raygirvan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ac91a4/32.png) [@raygirvan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raygirvan)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2003, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yea-yay-and-yeah/168113/13 "2003-04-11T23:19:17Z")
I go with **Tupug Anachi**. “Yeah” is slang for “yes”. “Yea” = archaic form of “yes”(e.g. “Yea, verily, I say unto you…”). “Yay”= sound of jubilation (e.g. “Yay, way to go”). ---
**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 11, 2003, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yea-yay-and-yeah/168113/14 "2003-04-11T23:23:26Z")
I suppose I should start a new thread on Funny Misreadings/Mishearings You Experienced as a child, but for those who think “yay” looks stupid written out: I was about 6 y.o. when the Beatles released \*_She Loves You_, and I thought in the chorus they were singing, “She loves you yay, yay, yay”, as if they meant, “She loves you, that’s awesome”. Another thing in the “yeah”,“yea”, “yay” area: I remember one time, when I was very young, and reading just beyond the Dr. Seuss level, how a character in the book I was reading was saying “Yeah” to someone. It was in the confrontational sense, as in “Oh, yeah”? And in my childlike way, I couldn’t understand why this character was saying what looked like “Yee!” I had never seen the word _yeah_ in print before. ---
**Author:** ![NinetyWt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/cc9497/32.png) [@NinetyWt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinetyWt)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2003, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yea-yay-and-yeah/168113/15 "2003-04-11T23:45:29Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Esprix \* > \*\ ***Ninety** , did you even read the OP? 😕 > > Esprix \*\* um … [sub]yes?[/sub] I guess I called myself answering your question … as to which was right. ---
**Author:** ![Esprix](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/esprix/32/7899_2.png) [@Esprix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Esprix)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2003, 10:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yea-yay-and-yeah/168113/16 "2003-04-12T10:22:39Z")
I dunno, I’m still not buying it - “yay” is just not _proper English_ enough. Esprix ---
**Author:** ![Severian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/49beb7/32.png) [@Severian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Severian)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2003, 10:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yea-yay-and-yeah/168113/17 "2003-04-12T10:32:34Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Esprix \* > \*\*I dunno, I’m still not buying it - “yay” is just not _proper English_ enough. > > Esprix \*\* If you want to remain proper and don’t like the response you receive to “yea” then perhaps you should just type “hooray”. Or “huzzah”. ---
**Author:** ![Michael\_Ellis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/977dab/32.png) [@Michael\_Ellis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Michael_Ellis)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2003, 11:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yea-yay-and-yeah/168113/18 "2003-04-12T11:12:08Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Esprix \* > **I dunno, I’m still not buying it - “yay” is just not _proper English_ enough.** Yes, but irregardless of this… ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2003, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yea-yay-and-yeah/168113/19 "2003-04-12T13:25:38Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Esprix \* > \*\*I dunno, I’m still not buying it - “yay” is just not _proper English_ enough. > > Esprix \*\* [Yay](http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=yay) ---
**Author:** ![gypsymoth3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/85e7bf/32.png) [@gypsymoth3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gypsymoth3)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2003, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yea-yay-and-yeah/168113/20 "2003-04-12T16:23:47Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Esprix \* > \*\*I dunno, I’m still not buying it - “yay” is just not _proper English_ enough. > > Esprix \*\* and wooHOO is? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yea-yay-and-yeah/168113.md?page=2)