Flag proposal [OT]

[Alix Pexton]

On 12/06/2011 16:11, Steven Schveighoffer wrote:
> On Sun, 12 Jun 2011 04:36:55 -0400, Alix Pexton
> <alix.DOT.pexton at gmail.dot.com> wrote:
>
>> On 12/06/2011 02:40, Steven Schveighoffer wrote:
>>> On Sat, 11 Jun 2011 13:04:47 -0400, Andrej Mitrovic
>>> <andrej.mitrovich at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>> On 6/11/11, Alix Pexton <alix.DOT.pexton at gmail.dot.com> wrote:
>>>>> On 11/06/2011 06:18, Andrej Mitrovic wrote:
>>>>>> We should rename Yes and No to Yay and Nay to make them alignable,
>>>>>> and
>>>>>> even more importantly to make us appear as old Englishmen!
>>>>>
>>>>> "Yay" and "Nay" are too similar looking, but luckily, "Yay" is not
>>>>> actually a old English word :) A more correct alternative would be
>>>>> "Aye" (pronounced the same as "eye"), which (along with "Nay") is
>>>>> still
>>>>> used for some voting actions (such as councillors deciding where to go
>>>>> for lunch). I myself say it al least 20 times a day :)
>>>>>
>>>>> A...
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Oh damn, yay is what teenage girls would say, not old Englishmen. My
>>>> bad, it really is "Aye". :p
>>>
>>> You were phonetically right :) It's yea or nay.
>>>
>>> http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/yea-or-nay
>>>
>>> My son's most recent birthday (3 years old) was a farm-themed birthday,
>>> and we asked people to RSVP yay or neigh :P
>>>
>>> So I guess there's all kinds of kooky fun you can have with flags...
>>>
>>> -Steve
>>
>> Nope, its definitely Aye when used for voting, (at least it is round
>> here) as in "all those in favour, say aye", "ayes to the right" and
>> "the ayes have it". Maybe southerners say this "yea" word of which you
>> speak, we don't hold with their strange customs in these parts ^^
>
> I don't deny that aye is used frequently for voting. All I was saying
> is, the correct expression is yea or nay, not yay or nay. Andrej thought
> it was actually aye or nay, which I've never heard as an expression.
>
> I'm not sure it's used anymore, but it's definitely an expression that
> was used for voting (see my dictionary reference).
>
> -Steve

True, "yea-or-nay" is quite a common, if old fashioned phrase, but "yea" 
on its own is exceptionally rare (to the point where I doubt ever 
hearing anyone make such a noise and mean it to indicate the affirmative).

A...