29 Apr 2017

Yackety-yak

by | posted in: Reflections of a Ruralist | 6

Yackety-yak and other interesting Y words.Note: Yackety-yak is from the A – Z Blogging Challenge

Upon scouring the dictionary for possible Y-word topics, I found an interesting pattern. Quite a few words dealt with the topic of talking:

Yak – to talk persistently and meaninglessly.

Yammer – to complain whimperingly or loudly.

Yap – to talk noisily or stupidly.

Yawp – to talk loudly, raucously, or coarsely.

The Aussies add another to the list: yabber – to talk rapidly, unintelligibly, or idly (our “jabber”).

Basically, you don’t want a Y word attached to the way you talk. And as if that isn’t enough, there are more words to describe the way we express ourselves:

Yell – to utter with a loud cry.

Yelp – to utter a short, sharp bark or cry. (Might only be used for critters, but the dictionary didn’t distinguish.)

Yowl – to say or utter with a long, loud, mournful cry.

Yes – used to express affirmation.

Yep – informal yes.

Yoo-hoo – used to call someone at a distance or gain someone’s attention.

Then there is you-all or, more commonly, y’all. While it doesn’t necessarily fit perfectly in this discussion, I love the uniqueness of this pronoun, particularly when traveling in the South. In Missouri, that’s below the Missouri River. I reside above it, so I don’t often hear the term in my neck of the woods. But I love it just the same.

So, today, I add my contribution to the Y discussion taking place in the blogosphere on this the second last day of the A-Z Blogging Challenge:

Yakety-yak – prolonged, sometimes senseless talk.

No yammering, please!

 

 

 

6 Responses

    • amy@amyharkemoore.com
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      Yeah, I was surprised at how many words I found when all I was doing was just trying to find a topic. 🙂