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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?

#71

Post by evincarofautumn »

pierrec wrote: post #67
pierrec wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, it also works for questions phrased in the negative, and 对/不对 (dui / bu dui) ("that's right"/"that's not right") does not make any sense as a response to that question, you need to use 会/不会 (hui/ bu hui) ("I can"/"I can't"). It's all very explicit compared to most languages. But another, perhaps more natural way of negatively phrasing the question would be "你不会说中文，是吗？" or "你不会说中文，对吗？" or even the odd formulation…

It's too late to edit, but I now realize that what I wrote is pretty confusing. Especially the part with "You don't speak Chinese, right?" which should be between quotes. It's the translation of the previous sentence, not something that I'm actually asking... And I should add that I don't speak Mandarin fluently, but I'm still confident about the above.

I studied Chinese in college for a few years. Everything you wrote is correct.

Re: What part of “No, Totally” don't you understand?

#73

Post by evincarofautumn »

ggchappell wrote: post #65

The four-word system (yea, nay, yes, no) is interesting. Might the modern "yeah" be a relic of "yea"? The following sounds strange to me: Shoot, there aren’t any open pubs in Canterbury at this hour. Yeah. But the following sounds just fine: Is Chaucer drunk? Yeah.

Yeah is indeed from yea, from Old English gea. All three were originally pronounced identically, but yea underwent a sound change so that it now rhymes with yay. Yeah is one of the few words to have retained its Old English pronunciation.

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/yeah

Re: What part of “No, Totally” don't you understand?

#74

Post by emehrkay »

greggman wrote: post #5

No, 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…

As I've gotten older, and more direct with my speech, I find myself just repeating the second part of the yes/no question as my answer. Maybe it has something to do with the programming that I've been doing or dealing with programmers.

Re: What part of “No, Totally” don't you understand?

#75

Post by sukilot »

ableal wrote: post #47

I didn't know this bit: 'Back when English was a four-form system, it, too, had a si—a word used specifically to contradict negative statements. That word was “yes.” To affirm positive statements, you used “yea”' (Then continues about the similar no / nay.) Anyway, I'm surprised the writer did not work in the joke about the lecturer saying: "As you know, a double negative becomes a positive, but the reverse does not…

The punchline is "Yeah, right"

Re: What part of “No, Totally” don't you understand?

#76

Post by ddingus »

It could read as, "No, I was not going there, but since you did, I agree"

The "NO" indicates a mismatch in the train of thought and logical flow, or expected logical flow. So it's noted, communicated, followed by a basic response to the unexpected dialog.

Where the flow is expected, seems like this would be awkward, and just a "totally" would work.

Re: What part of “No, Totally” don't you understand?

#78

Post by ownagefool »

greggman wrote: post #5

No, 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…

In reality, as someone who grew up talking like that, answering yes to such a question is really awkward and in no way the expected answer.

I think this is cultural lingo though, as you should probably be asking 'do you like cigars', while the negative form of the question shows familiarity, is less formal and leads to a lot of unwritten rules.

Re: What part of “No, Totally” don't you understand?

#79

Post by bitJericho »

bjt wrote: post #45
hackaflocka wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The "no" might be short for "I know".

From the article: > Or maybe—and this is the theory I like best, but can least substantiate—“No, totally” is really a contraction of “I know, totally.” That is linguistically improbable; I know of no instance in the English language where a homophonic slippage of this sort has taken place. But I like the theory anyway, because it captures what is often the semantic intent of “No, totally” with uncanny precision: I un…

When I say or read no, totally, I don't think "know" in my mind. I think above comments nailed it. It means "no question" or "no need to go on" to me.
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