What part of “No, Totally” don't you understand?
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What part of “No, Totally” don't you understand?
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Re: What part of “No, Totally” don't you understand?
#2> At first blush, “no” does not appear to be the kind of word whose meaning you can monkey with. For one thing, there is its length. At just two letters and one syllable, it lacks the pliable properties of longer words. You can’t stuff stuff inside it. [...]
I guess these 'long form' articles have to be long, but some of these paragraphs seem pretty forced.
Re: What part of “No, Totally” don't you understand?
#3In South Africa we say "Ja, Nie" (which translated is "Yes, No" or "Yes and No"). In this case there does happen to be a theory as to where it came from. The story goes that during the Anglo-Boer War[1] when Afrikaaners were captured they would use it as a response during interrogations - an exceptionally defiant phrase. There is no explanation or story for how it entered common use but you do hear it almost on a daily basis.
Re: What part of “No, Totally” don't you understand?
#4I would blame the French. Frenchmen speaking English badly often say Borat like phrases, for example "its great, no?". It happens when you learn vocabulary without grammar rules.
Re: What part of “No, Totally” don't you understand?
#5No, English is messed up :P
I learned about some of this from learning Japanese where I had to learn you answer the question directly rather than confirm the negative by repeating it.
In Japanese:
Q: You don't like cigars do you
A: Yes (Yes I don't like cigars)
In English
Q: You don't like cigars do you
A: No (it's effectively confirming the negative of "like")
My Japanese friends learning English of course found English very confusing. I'd point out if you answer the question with more than just "Yes" or "No" it's almost always clear.
A: Yes, I don't like cigars
A: No, I don't like cigars
Both have the same meaning, whereas just Yes or just No is ambiguous.
Of course the article had examples of just yes or just no. To someone of the same language background they are probably unambigious
Re: What part of “No, Totally” don't you understand?
#6I see this more as "No, you're not taking it far enough. It's even more of that thing you said than how you said it," and less as an auto-antonym.
Re: What part of “No, Totally” don't you understand?
#7I would blame the French. Frenchmen speaking English badly often say Borat like phrases, for example "its great, no?". It happens when you learn vocabulary without grammar rules.
is that really any different than "Isn't it great?"
Re: What part of “No, Totally” don't you understand?
#8I think part of the reasoning behind this type of response is that each response is dealing with a different level of abstraction.
> A: Did you see any birds at the park?
> B: Yeah, no - I didn't see any.
B is first acknowledging the question and it's intent - as well implying that maybe he did look for birds - which then flows into the fact that 'no' - he did not see any.
This can be done with the 'No, totally' example as well.
> A: I wasn't sure if you'd like to go to the park - do you want to?
> B: No, totally! Definitely want to go.
B is first saying 'No' to the implied "You don't want to go.". B is essentially saying 'The assumption you made was wrong - I do indeed want to go'.
Granted, I made these examples to be easy to dissect, and it's likely that from this pattern, it devolved into common vernacular despite being used in this way. But I think it still holds up for most uses.
Re: What part of “No, Totally” don't you understand?
#9No, English is messed up :P I learned about some of this from learning Japanese where I had to learn you answer the question directly rather than confirm the negative by repeating it. In Japanese: Q: You don't like cigars do you A: Yes (Yes I don't like cigars) In English Q: You don't like cigars do you A: No (it's effectively confirming the negative of "like") My Japanese friends learning English of course found Eng…
Your question is the part that is messed up. An ambiguous question leads to ambiguous answers, not the other way around.
"Is it true you don't like cigars?" Yes, I don't like cigars. "Do you like cigars?" No, I don't like cigars.
In either properly formed question, the answer will always be "no", if you really don't like cigars.
Re: What part of “No, Totally” don't you understand?
#10No, English is messed up :P I learned about some of this from learning Japanese where I had to learn you answer the question directly rather than confirm the negative by repeating it. In Japanese: Q: You don't like cigars do you A: Yes (Yes I don't like cigars) In English Q: You don't like cigars do you A: No (it's effectively confirming the negative of "like") My Japanese friends learning English of course found Eng…
I like the way Mandarin does this. There's no pure "yes" or "no," just a negation you can apply to a verb. The answers would be either "like" (yes, I like cigars) or "not like" (no, I don't like them).