Yes
Yes is a common English word indicating agreement. It is the opposite of no. In English, "yes" is also used to answer a negative question or statement, "Yes" is similar in meaning to "yeah" and "yea," both casual variants of the term. The compound word yes-man is a sycophant or a toady. Famous uses of "yes" in literature and art occur in James Joyce's Ulysses and in Yoko Ono's large canvas which contains the word "Yessiree bob".
[edit] Famous 'yes'
Perhaps the most famous "yes" in literature comes from Molly Bloom's soliloquy, which is the concluding "Penelope" chapter in James Joyce's Ulysses.[1]. In this chapter, Joyce uses Molly Bloom's "yes" as a sort of refrain in a very long stream of consciousness sentence. The chapter both begins,
- Yes because he never did a thing like that before as ask to get his breakfast in bed with a couple of eggs since the CITY ARMS hotel. . .
and ends:
- . . . yes and then he asked me would I yes to say yes my mountain flower and first I put my arms around him yes and drew him down to me so he could feel my breasts all perfume yes and his heart was going like mad and yes I said yes I will Yes.
with the word.
When John Lennon met Yoko Ono, one of the first works by Ono that captured Lennon's attention was a large canvas which viewers were invited to inspect by a glass, through which they could read the single word "Yes" written on it. [2]
Yes are an English progressive rock band that formed in London in 1968. Their music is marked by sharp dynamic contrasts, often extended song lengths, and a general showcasing of its members' instrumental skills. Yes uses symphonic and other so called 'classical' structures with their blend of musical styles in an innovative "marriage" of music. Despite a great many lineup changes, occasional splits and many changes in popular music, the band has continued for over 35 years and still retains a strong international following.
Francis Pharcellus Church wrote a famous editorial called Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus, affirming at least the spiritual existence of Santa Claus to a doubting child. Portions of Church's text are often circulated by other newspapers each Christmas.
Roger Fisher and William Ury wrote a famous self-help book about negotiation and salesmanship called Getting to YES. This book has sold more than 2 million copies and been translated into 20 languages. By contrast, a yes-man is a sycophant or a toady; this word is used in business circles to identify people who enthusiastically endorse everything their superiors propose in order to curry favor with them. The turn of phrase is an old one; in Latin, a toady was called babaecalus, someone who cried "Bravo" (Latin babae) to everything their superior did.[3] But Friedrich Nietzsche's Zarathustra calls himself a yes-sayer, with somewhat more positive intent:
- I, however, am a blesser and a Yes-sayer, if you be but around me, you pure, you luminous heaven! you abyss of light!- into all abysses do I then carry my beneficent Yes-saying.
- A blesser have I become and a Yes-sayer: and therefore strove I long and was a striver, that I might one day get my hands free for blessing.[4]