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Comment by dorkwood | Hacker News Reader

Australians do a similar thing. They'll either start a sentence with "yeah, nah" or "nah, yeah" depending on the context of the question. I can't remember which one means yes.

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"Yeah, nah" means one of two things. Most frequently it means "I agree with you that the answer is no", but it can also be used to say "yes I can see how that point is valid, but I disagree with the conclusion". Tone and context are used to differentiate between the two uses, particularly how one says the "nah" (in agreement or not). So for example: "it doesn't look like it's going to rain today aye" could be answered with a "yeah, nah" to indicate that one agrees that it won't rain today, or a "yeah, nah" to indicate that, while it may look like it won't rain, the respondent still believes it could rain.

I believe "nah, yeah" is used in an analogous way, but in my experience it's less commonly said than "yeah, nah".

I think there is the other more sarcastic case too - being "I could, but I'm not". Especially the case if the "yeah" is drawn out.

Shall we help Dave move his fridge up four flights of stairs? "Yeah.... nah".

I hear "yeah, nah" more used in this sarcastic way than any other in Western Australia.

I always understand it to be missing the word actually:

"yes, actually no"

"no, actually yes"

Yeah nah that's true some of the time I guess but 'yeah' isn't yes, it's an acknowledgement that I've heard your prior statement and considered it.

Rephrasing it as yes, 'actually no' makes it sound like the speaker is indecisive which yeah nah does not communicate. It's a a social nicety to smooth over hurt feelings.

That of course is until you use it with an affirmative 'yeah nah yeah you're right' or similar.

We (maybe it's just a local thing, though) say sometimes "oui mais non!" ("yes but no!") for when you agree with the premises but not the conclusion. It is generally said with a smile, or makes people smile or laugh.

There's even a song by Mylène Farmer called "Oui mais non"

Yeah, nah = No

Nah, yeah = Yes

Kiwi's also do the same..

Typically I'd agree that the latter overrides the former, but if I ask:

> You're not going on Wednesday?

I think it completely throws that rule of thumb out the window. Both "Yeah, nah" and "Nah, yeah" would seemingly be affirmative. To disagree would require a longer response.

But that has nothing to do with "yeah nah" and "nah yeah" and everything to do with "yes" and "no". If someone makes a false assumption, which is what that question necessarily entails, you must use many words to set them right. If someone has not made a false assumption, as "Are you going on Wednesday?" you can give them the answer with a single word.

Likewise if they said "You're going on Wednesday right" you could say "yeah" but you can't say "No", you must say "no, I'm going on Tuesday" or "no, it's my kid's birthday" or "no Clive is".

Brit here who has lived in NZ for a few years. Polled some Kiwis in the vicinity with your example and "yeah nah" is very much negative, even in that instance. I agree that on paper it's a double negative but I suppose we have to be descriptivist!

As far as I can tell, a sibling comment has it right: the last word signals the intent (modulo tone, sarcasm, etc).

This isn't a specifically an Australian thing, I hear this all the time in America.

The variant I hear/use here in west coast english goes something like "Oh yeah, no, for sure" for a positive/agreement.

edit: USA west coast English

Yeah nah, that doesn't mean the same as "yeah nah", which means "I acknowledge your reasoning but I do not share your conclusions".
A judge in a court case should be saying "yeah nah" when they come down in favor of the other side; an American who uses many words because it is rude to say "no" is nevertheless just saying "no".

Out of those two I don't think it's always 100% clear when people mean yes or no. It's usually spoken, not written, so I think it requires context.
"Yeah, nah" would typically be in agreeance of a negated question e.g. "You don't like Game of Thrones either?"
Edit: Heck, even if someone responds simply "Nah" to that question it's not clear what they mean without a further followup sentence or the tone in their voice.
I don't know if it's just Australians or other English speakers, but we definitely have really confusing spoken semantics around affirmation of negated (or even negative outcome) questions.

It's quantum agreement. You both agree and disagree until someone clarifies, at which point it collapses into a classical argument.

I have been asked by many a non-native question how to respond to such questions, or even more generally how to use "yes" and "no" in English.
My answer is "use a full sentence". If they insist on using "yes" or "no" because the answer is too long, I say "you can say "I do" or "she isn't", that isn't too long is it?
But if they promise they just want to know how people use "yes" and "no" while communicating and they really really won't try to use it, the answer is it's "yes and no agrees with the main verb in the full sentence of the answer _unless_ the question used a negative verb, in which case the only valid response is 'no'".
If necessary, I can explain: The reason this works is because if you have a question with a negated main verb, the questioner is making an assumption, and you need lots of words to contradict a person's assumption to set them right. Therefore "no" means "your assumptions are validated", whereas "no blah blah blah blah blah" means "let me destroy all your assumptions and rebuild the world in this fashion".
Since I speak with so many non-native speakers, I tend to speak like this automatically. Not every language has words for "yes" and "no".

It's just filler really. I don't think I've ever said "yeah nah" without adding on something else afterwards to clarify which one I mean.

Agreed it is just filler. It's closer to "But" or "Um" or "You know" than a "Yeah" or "Nah".
This song will clarify it from an Aussie perspective: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nyadntqXjn4

It does not clarify it at all. It merely uses it. If you don't know what it means, you still don't.

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