Yeah, Yea, Yay & Ya

Okay, if you know me well (and I sure hope all of you do....otherwise creepy...quit stalking my blog!) you probably know that I like words. I like to use big words, I like to read incessantly, I like to write, I hate misused words (like there & their) and I am tortured by finding typos in nearly everything (school newsletters, advertisements, and even books I read.) Of course I'm not perfect....I'm sure I have the occasional typo too, but they just pop out at me everywhere I look, except my own writing. LOL.

Well I am a big enough girl to admit when I am wrong. I have been misusing a word for some time now. Probably my whole life. Sad, but true.

It began when I noticed someone use the term "Yay" in their blog. I thought, "Interesting way to spell 'Yay' -- I always spelled it 'Yea.' Hmmmmm. The thought began to simmer. Then I got an email from a young person (she's probably 18) and she was using the word 'Ya' to mean what I would have spelled 'Yeah.' Are you confused yet? So was I. Had I been wrong all these years? Was there a right answer? So I went to my trusty friend Google and did some investigating. And this is what I found:

Yeah - a slang term that means 'yes.'  Rhymes with "waaaaaa" (the sound a baby makes). ie: "Do you want a cookie?" "Yeah, sure." Can also be used sarcastically as in "Yeah, right."

Ya - a term that is a slang for 'you.' Rhymes with 'duh.' For example: "Who wants to ride with me?" "I'll ride with ya." or "Ya all come back now, ya hear?"

Yay - a term of excitement. Possibly short for Hooray. Rhymes with 'hay.' For example: "It's my birthday. Yay!!" or "I just lost 4 pounds, yay!!!!" After further research I found this is a new word. Not found in older dictionaries.....so is it a real word? Dictionary.com says so and it is allowed in Scrabble. Good enough for me. I like it and I'm going to use it.

Yea - an archaic (old fashioned term) meaning yes. Rhymes with 'hay.'  ie: "All in favor say Yea, all opposed say nay." Also used in scripture to mean 'indeed', "Yea it came to pass....."

My main sources for this information were:
http://www.genpink.com/yeah-yay-yah-ya/
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-the-difference-between-yay-ya-yah-and-yeah.htm
http://dictionary.reference.com/
These sources also included "yah" but it was pretty much the same as yeah, just as a shortened version for texting or something.

Yeah well....sorry to bore ya with my ramblings. If you learned something, yay! If you already knew all of this; I guess that means you are smarter than me. All in favor of me ending this long dry post, say Yea.