A Conversation for Ask h2g2
So, how annoying is this linguistic tic and where did it start?
KB Posted Jul 20, 2013
I think it's more of a "Listen!" In the context of the poem...a sort of convention like the
"Come all ye young whatevers and listen to my song..."
...that so many folk songs start with.
So, how annoying is this linguistic tic and where did it start?
Dmitri Gheorgheni, Post Editor Posted Jul 20, 2013
I think you're right. 
That's the way we always interpreted it. (Have translated that poem a few times.)
That's really what 'yo!' means, too - like, 'hey, pay attention!'
So, how annoying is this linguistic tic and where did it start?
paulh, vaccinated against the Omigod Variant Posted Jul 20, 2013
"Yo! Ya heard about the Spear-Danes?
Man, were they cool, or what?
Their kings were just the toughest, man,
The Anglo-Saxons got.
When they went into battle,
They laid 'em, left and right,
The heaviest dude, Scyld Sceafing,
Could take Chuck Norris in a fight" [Dmitri]
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So, how annoying is this linguistic tic and where did it start?
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