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From: mrz5149@rit.cs.rit.edu (M. R. Zucca)
Subject: Re: Words for yes
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Date: Tue, 3 Oct 1995 05:10:56 GMT
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In article <44oig7$ssg@mozart.wg.icl.co.uk>, pvr@wg.icl.co.uk wrote:

> 'hai' can also mean, I've understood your question.

True, but this is not a wholely remarkable facet of the word. Many words and
phrases in Japanese change meaning depending upon context.
 
> >..I suppose that holds true for most languages, don't you think?
> >..Just seems to be a bad logic problem.
> >..
> English is not logical. To agree with a statemnt 'It's not good', most English
> speakers would say 'No, it's not, is it?' or 'No' for short.

Not necessarily. I've heard many people say "Yes" to this question. The problem
lies more with the question. Rather than saying "It's not good, is it?"
the better question would be "It's bad, isn't it?". The latter question's
response must be affirmative if you agree but the former question seems to
pose more of a problem if you're in agreement.

How is it that "No" came to be a mark of affermation in the above case?
The only things I can think of is "No [it's worse]", the speaker is mimicing
the "not" part of the question, or that the "not" just gets lost in the
speaker's mind and he's actually responding to "Is it good?".

Very odd.

-- 
______________________________________________________________________________
 Michael Zucca <> mrz5149@rit.cs.rit.edu <> Rochester Institute Of Technology
     "If the speed of light is not infinite, then it's awful damned fast."
                                  - Galileo -
