Yes & No

When I was but a wee boy yes meant yes and no meant well, no. Nowadays, I just can’t be sure. At least not all the time anyway. Take for instance the new age phrase that has me baffled: Yeah-no. What that means I am told is that its an agreement (yes) that what preceded it was a no.  I am not quite sure why we need to say yes first before we say no but maybe it just gives the negative an exclamation point.  

And then there are times when we say yes to someone but we don’t really mean it and just can’t dole out the truth, which is NO.  And the same holds true for no when we are asked: Did I wake you? Were you sleeping? Did I catch you at a bad time? All answers should be yes but we opt for No instead. I suppose its out of politeness we do these things or maybe we just don’t want anyone to know we were sleeping or the moment isn’t propitious right now. 

How about when we ask someone did you say that? And along with a look of incredulity we get fed: I never said that! So even when we are confronted with what is a yes we decline because we’re embarrassed or hit the panic button because we get caught. Most times we are telling the truth but when we get face to face with someone we or they say no as if what was said never transpired.   

Or there’s the one that I especially love when someone is crying and we ask why are you crying? And the answer gets shot back at us: I’m not crying! I suppose that’s just a rain dance your eyes are doing.  

When did the line between yes and no become so blurred? I’m not sure but maybe it was when men stopped wearing hats.