[QUOTE=Hal Briston]
And the Webby Award for Best Obscure Reference On A Message Board goes to…
[/QUOTE]
Terrifel Gruesome.
[slight hijack]
[QUOTE=Two and a Half Inches of Fun]
<snip>
A: Did you go to Herbie Hancock concert last?
B: Yeah yeah yeah, it was great.
[/QUOTE]
Wait a minute. Herbie Hancock is still giving concerts? Where? When? How much are the ticket? Why wasn’t I told about this …
[/slight hijack]
I love the “triple yeah” and will encourage the use of the “triple yeah” from now on wherever the “triple yeah” might seem appropriate to me. (I used “triple yeah” three times - why, because I’m once, twice, three times a ladaaaaay.")
[QUOTE=Two and a Half Inches of Fun]
The way I have hearing it more of an enthusiastic yes. For example:
A: We should go see There Will Be Blood again.
B: Yeah yeah yeah, that movie was awesome.
A: Did you go to Herbie Hancock concert last?
B: Yeah yeah yeah, it was great.
[/QUOTE]
You either have a tin ear for idiom or people in your locale are using ‘yeah, yeah, yeah’ in a way diametrically opposed to people in the rest of the English-speaking world.
[QUOTE=Two and a Half Inches of Fun]
The way I have hearing it more of an enthusiastic yes. For example:
[/QUOTE]
I was once driving cross-country with a classmate, and we’d managed to get on each others’ last nerves by this point in the trip. We were exhausted and cranky and just trying to get through the last day of the drive.
She was driving, and as she came to a stoplight, it was clear she hadn’t noticed it: she wasn’t slowing down at all. “STOPSTOPSTOPSTOPSTOP!” I said, and she slammed on the brakes without saying a word.
At that point, unfortunately, it occurred to me how ridiculous it was for me to say STOP more than once, and it also seemed hilarious to me (remember the “exhausted” part), and I started giggling helplessly. She just glared ahead, surely thinking murderous thoughts toward her classmate who was laughing at her. I knew that must be what she was thinking, but I was too out of control to explain taht really I was laughing at myself for saying “stop” more than once.
That’s as close as I can come to sympathy for your thread. And classmate, if you’re out there, I’m sorry for my toolish behavior.
Daniel
[QUOTE=The King of Soup]
“Yeah yeah yeah,” to my ear, does mean something quite different from a simple yes, and different from a “yeah, right!” It indicates that, although possibly accurate, your interlocutor’s observation is too obvious/irrelevant/banal for a mother’s tears.
[/QUOTE]
Koreans, when speaking English, will often repeat “yeah” because it’s common to repeat “yes” (네, 네) in Korean. I try to politely point out to them that it has a different connotation in English.
“Yeah, yeah, (yeah), I’m hip. I’m hip.”
John Mellencamp has also used it.
[QUOTE=Left Hand of Dorkness]
Possibly apocryphal story:
A linguist was lecturing to a crowded hall, and pointed out that, while double negatives indicate a positive in many languages, there’s no language in which a double positive indicates a negative.
Someone in the back of the hall shouted, “Yeah, right!”
Daniel
[/QUOTE]
The version I heard was, “Yeah, yeah.”
[QUOTE=Left Hand of Dorkness]
Possibly apocryphal story:
A linguist was lecturing to a crowded hall, and pointed out that, while double negatives indicate a positive in many languages, there’s no language in which a double positive indicates a negative.
Someone in the back of the hall shouted, “Yeah, right!”
Daniel
[/QUOTE]
Usually attributed to Columbia University philosophy professor Sidney Morgenbesser. 
[QUOTE=Two and a Half Inches of Fun]
You do not need to use the same word three times when once will do. Further, yeah sounds stupid - just use yes.
[/QUOTE]
But… she said she loves you! And you know that can’t be bad.
[QUOTE=JohnT]
But… she said she loves you! And you know that can’t be bad.
[/QUOTE]
Yep, with a love like that, you know you should be elated.
I’m glad you don’t listen to LCD Soundsystem.
[Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah-yeah, yeah-yeah, yeah… yeah, yeah-yeah, yeah-yeah, yeah] (x3)
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah-yeah, yeah-yeah, yeah… yeah, hey, hey, hey, hey
Does this mean “The Yeah Yeah Yeahs” and “Yes” have to be the same band?
[QUOTE=aldiboronti]
You either have a tin ear for idiom or people in your locale are using ‘yeah, yeah, yeah’ in a way diametrically opposed to people in the rest of the English-speaking world.
[/QUOTE]
Nah, I’ve heard it like this, but it’s not said in the same way. “Yeah, yeah, yeah,” usually with a degree of sarcasm, means “I’ve heard it before,” or “I’m not listening to you.” However, “Yeahyeahyeah,” said quickly and with enthusiam can indicate a degree of excitement or being in agreement about something.
FTR, I will sometimes say “yeahyeah,” to agree with something, but the three is more than I can handle
In Japanese, people will sometimes say “sososo” to indicate that they’ve understood something, usually after that something required further explanation. It can also be accompanied by an “ah.” For example, something like:
Where did you go this weekend?
I went to a concert at X.
At X?
Yeah, right next to Y in F.
Ah, sososo.
I’ve heard upwards of 5 so’s, but usually I hear 3 of them.
[QUOTE=guizot]
Koreans, when speaking English, will often repeat “yeah” because it’s common to repeat “yes” (네, 네) in Korean. I try to politely point out to them that it has a different connotation in English.
[/QUOTE]
guizot, thank you very much. I have heard Korean-born persons do that, and, combined with a general linguistic aggressiveness (I apologize, and I mean no offense, but it seems to my anglo ears that when Koreans speak, *every single syllable * is acutely accented), and my own squeamishness, and Korean names that transliterate as “Kil Yoo,” I now feel as though I have reacted wrongly and badly and unwittingly insulted many nice people. I don’t quite know how to apologize, or to whom, and I’m sorry for that, too.
[QUOTE=pravnik]
Usually attributed to Columbia University philosophy professor Sidney Morgenbesser.
[/QUOTE]
Awesome–thank you! I heard the story most recently on NPR (probably in his obit), but since I could remember so few of the details, figured it counted as “possbily apocryphal.” That wiki page is hilarious!
Daniel
[QUOTE=The King of Soup]
…but it seems to my anglo ears that when Koreans speak, *every single syllable * is acutely accented)…
[/QUOTE]
This came up in another thread. English is stress-timed, but Korean is more or less syllable-timed. It’s not so much that they stress every syllable acutely, but that they stress them evenly–and I guess the strong enunciation is a social thing. A lot of Koreans I know are kind of soft spoken when they talk among themselves. But I know what you mean.
So, do we have to start saying “yadda” instead of yadda, yadda, yadda?
Can we still say “no, no, a thousand times no?”
[QUOTE=aldiboronti]
You either have a tin ear for idiom or people in your locale are using ‘yeah, yeah, yeah’ in a way diametrically opposed to people in the rest of the English-speaking world.
[/QUOTE]
That’s rather harsh - I’ve heard ‘yeah, yeah, yeah’ used to mean both exasperated boredom with the other speaker, and to communicate emphatic agreement. Some people use it as an agreeable ‘filler’ in conversation.
But it always means something different to ‘yeah’ or ‘yes’, so this is a pointless pitting.