Expert: Ted Nesbitt - 5/13/2004

Question
Ted, most of my life I've heard of people measuring something with their hands and using the term "yea by yea" to show width and depth. Where did the term "yea" come from and what does it mean? The conotation is "so big" or "this size" but what is the denotation? Thanks in advance, if you can answer this. Gary

Answer
Gary:

FOLLOW-UP

Gary, you must have been born post-1955!

Wentworth and Flexner further describes this as "a sophisticated fad phrase since c. 1955."

Ted Nesbitt


Although your question seems to have been sent to Allexperts last night, I still have not been notified that it is waiting for me.  I discovered it, when I went to check for another question I had answered, because I needed to send a follow-up.  I'm sorry for the delay, but I have NO control over the inner workings of Allexperts.  I did get four questions in various categories early this morning and have already answered them.  Your question is still "in hiding."

Here is my answer and the sources from which I got the material:

"The Oxford English Dictionary" is considered to be the "Bible" in the field of etymology.

The "Oxford English Dictionary" does have it, under "yay (adv.)."  OED says it's U.S. slang, "In phrases yay big (or high), 'this big', 'this high': freq. accompanied by a gesture indicating the size intended."  The earliest
example OED cites is 1960, Wentworth and Flexner's "Dictionary of American Slang" (where, in fact, it is spelled "yea").

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I found this entry from a linguistics site online:

yea, (YAY), thus, like this, like so. An accompanying hand gesture usually indicates size or degree. "The grass was yea high." "He fished all day and caught a half-dozen fish about yea big." "He was leaned up against the car like yea."

Fillmore, C.: 1971,
Santa Cruz Lectures on Deixis,
Technical report, Indiana University Linguistics Club, Bloomington, IN
One case of a demonstrative expression that seems to require gesture is the case of the word yea (also discussed in Fillmore (1971) ). For example:
19   a   My toaster is yea big. (said holding up hands to show size)
  b   Mary is yea tall. (said holding up one hand to Mary's height)

This does seem to be an instance of a lexeme which (1) can only be used as a demonstrative, not as an anaphor, and (2) must be accompanied by a demonstration. Additionally, it seems to be semantically restricted to physical measure; the following sentences are all extremely odd:
20   a   # I was going yea fast.
  b   # Let's see if you can drive yea smoothly.
  c   # Look how happy John is; Mary is yea happy, too.

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I also found the expression, with the same meaning, but without concrete attribution, at another site for "Arkansas idioms."  I know that the phrase is NOT restricted to the people of Arkansas, however.  In fact, although it originated in the United States, it is also used in other English-speaking countries.

Ted Nesbitt