For Fluent Speakers Of Irish

[Spank The Donkey]

It can't.

Whatever bud... I think you're clutching at straws now but fair play for sticking with it.

 

[Wumble]

...a single word

There is no single word for yes, there is no single word for no. No straws there, Spanky.

 

[Spank The Donkey]

There is no single word for yes, there is no single word for no. No straws there, Spanky.

So, yet again you're arguing with me about something I didn't actually say?

Linguistic acrobatics aside, we have words for yes and no.

 

[Wumble]

So, yet again you're arguing with me about something I didn't actually say?

You said "we have words for yes and no". I said we don't. Only one of us is correct.

 

[richiepurg]

Tá an ceart agat.
Níl an ceart agat ?
Cad faoi sin ?

 

[Spank The Donkey]

You said "we have words for yes and no". I said we don't. Only one of us is correct.[/IMG]

Well, me clearly as you then back-tracked by saying we don't have a "single word" for yes and no, which I never said we did.

Gracious of you to accept defeat old chap, I look forward to our next encounter.

 

[How bad boy]

A linguist walks into a bar.

He needs more context to know what exactly that means.

 

[Wumble]

Well, me clearly as you then back-tracked by saying we don't have a "single word" for yes and no, which I never said we did.

Gracious of you to accept defeat old chap, I look forward to our next encounter.

"We have words for yes and no" - no we don't. We have positive and negative constructions.

"Ba mhaith leat úl?"

"Níl"

Translation:

"You would like an apple?"

"Isn't."

Your statement is wrong and your example makes no sense. To go back to my original point, it's intelligible but incorrect.

 

[Spank The Donkey]

"We have words for yes and no" - no we don't.

Yes we do

We have positive and negative constructions.

So, words for yes and no in other words.

Listen, you can use my pathetic Irish all you want to back up your mistake, it doesn't make you any less incorrect.

If someone asks an Irish speaker if they want an apple, there are words they can use to say no.

 

[Wumble]

Yes we do
So, words for yes and no in other words.

Listen, you can use my pathetic Irish all you want to back up your mistake, it doesn't make you any less incorrect.

If someone asks an Irish speaker if they want an apple, there are words they can use to say no.

There are words we can use to say we do or do not want an apple. There are still no words for yes or no.

"Would you like an apple?"

"I would not like."

It's not quite the same and it addresses Debgor's OP. Come at it from a different angle: Does English have a word for Schadenfreude?