‘Yeah, no’ confusing; sends mixed messages

I’ve noticed lately that using the phrase “yeah, no” seems to be nearly as common as starting a sentence with “so.”

In case everyone has forgotten, “yeah” is a synonym for “yes.” And what is the opposite of yes? It’s no. So why say both?

Other people use phrases such as “No. You’re right.” Or “No. Totally.” Or “No, absolutely.” Or “No, for sure.”

This is surely a severe case of sending mixed messages.

The usage seems to happen more in speaking than in formal writing.

A 2015 article in The New Yorker on such phrases offered this example:

In 2001, the journalist Bernard Kalb told the White House correspondent Dana Milbank that it was the job of reporters to thoroughly investigate political candidates, to which Milbank responded, “Oh, no, yes, I agree with you there.”

University of Pennsylvania linguistics professor Mark Liberman posted data on a Language Log about this usage back in 2008. He used information on an online index to find the frequency in conversational English.

Here are some examples:

“You don’t like sushi, right?”

“Yeah, no, I hate it.”

“Do you drink?”

“Yeah, no, I’m not a big fan of getting drunk.”

“Did you like Columbia?”

“Yeah, no, I loved it.”

His numbers show that men ages 40 to 59 were the most likely to use the phrase. They were four times more likely than women of the same age to use it. And twice as likely to use it than men younger and older combined.

Does this mean that now men 52 to 71 are using this phrase with abandon? Finding out is beyond my skills.

As is often the case, I have no definitive answer for this newish habit. It’s just something I’ve noticed. Also, I’m testing your Baader-Meinhof tendencies.

MISUSE OF EPICENTER

A reader helped me to learn about this misuse. The center of something is the hub, the heart, the core. Geologists use epicenter to describe the point on the Earth’s surface above where an earthquake happens. So the epicenter is not the core or hub of the action.

Here’s one use of epicenter from The Washington Post.

One of the paradoxes of the 2008 financial crisis was that even though its epicenter was on Wall Street, U.S. power strengthened in the wake of the crisis.

The writer meant “center” there. Merriam-Webster and The American Heritage Dictionary both include usage notes on the word epicenter. They acknowledge that “epicenter” is used so often to mean “center” that even some strict language experts are becoming less opposed. But we’ll always know the truth.

THE BRAINING

After expressing my disdain for the use of “brain”

as a verb in a commercial, a few readers reminded me that brain does have a grisly verb form. According to Merriam-Webster, to brain means “to kill by smashing the skull.”

Maybe the ad people didn’t think things through when they asked us if we want to brain better.

IT POPS

I’ll add still another item to the list that could well be titled “Kids say the darnedest things.” I don’t mean elementary school kids, either. In the world of fashion and home decor (neither of which I am

a part), people like to say that something pops. They are not talking about corn, tarts or culture. And although we can pop pills, pop bubbles and pop up, these are not the trending meaning.

Apparently, color is what pops. And it does so again and again. Here are some examples from the news:

Add a pop of color and crunch to any salad.

Sweet orange segments provide bursts of juice and brilliant color, and a sprinkle of poppy seeds in the light and creamy buttermilk dressing adds, well, a pop!

Monarch butterflies lend pops of color to Oklahoma.

I was happy to find one Washington Post writer, Michele Lerner, admit that enough was enough. Sort of.

Design articles often suggest a “pop of color” to perk up an overly neutral palette in your home. But if you live in tight quarters, how do you know how many pops are too many?

I hope writers will find a few other words to replace “pop.”

WELLNESS

And a word I see often lately, for obvious reasons, is well being. Well-being is one’s state of health or prosperity. When I am worried about your well-being, I worry about your being well. I keep seeing it as one word, but it has a hyphen. Its opposite is ill-being, which means not being well.

SCRABBLE PLAYERS

I try not to talk about Scrabble constantly, but it’s a struggle. I know what many of the words used in the game are found nowhere else in the real world. Recently, I dreamed that I was playing Scrabble with a woman who gave the definition of each word she played on the board. I found that admirable. Have any Scrabble players out there learned a cool word and definition from the word game?

EUPHEMISMS

I’ve received a trickle of reader emails offering examples of interesting euphemisms. I’ll write about those in next week’s column. Sources include Merriam-Webster, American Heritage Dictionary, The Washington Post, University of Pennsylvania, Daily Writing Tips. Reach Bernadette at