Anna, your post made me remember something my new advisor told me when I was making a presentation.
Without even realizing it, I say "yeah" all the time! He told me it is really unprofessional and doesn't sound definate. According to JTM, "Yes" sort of signifies a finality, that you are absolutely sure of the answer. According to him, "Yeah" is a slang term that mostly used by younger people and is just really unprofessional and makes you sound unsure. That really got me thinking. JTM is in his 60's and is a very prim and proper man (even though he has a VERY heavy Texas drawl . . . which sounds funny since he's been in Cleveland since the '60's! . . . but he hates the word "yeah".
So he made me sort of paranoid for my presentation. (this was a PhD committee meeting in front of 4 very well respected professors, only one of whom I had actually met before). After every question, I started saying "yeah" and stopped midword and said "yes". Then I realized, every one of the other professors except JTM used the word "yeah" instead of "yes"! They were all younger than JTM -- the oldest was probably in his 40's and the youngest in her early 30's, 2 were foriegn (one from China, the other from somewhere in South America (I can't remember where)). All have PhDs and are very well respected in their respective fields. They all say "yeah" repeatedly.
So I really wonder, how common is it to say "yeah"? Is it just an American thing or do Canadians/Australians/Europeans also say "yeah"? Is it more a thing younger people do or is it widespread (or are my committee members an anomole)? I know I say "yeah" quite often still, but I am more conscious of it and whenever I don't mean to be wishy washy, I am trying to make myself say yes. Plus, yes is only three letters compared to yeah
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- Laura
