In the April 12 issue of Time magazine, Stephen Fry has a column about his visit to the coolest address in the universe (1 Infinite Loop, Cupertino, CA) to see the new iPad. He describes the iPad as "about yay big diagonally (where yay=9.7 in.…)" That spelling "yay" stuck out like a sore thumb for me. I've heard "about yeah big" all my life but as you can see I would spell the word "yeah" of if pressed "yea". What were Mr. Fry and his editor thinking here?
Spelling it out is kind of odd in the first place. But I can swallow that easier that 'yeah' or 'yea'. Both of which I would pronounce the same as 'ya', having a short a. The editor could have substituted 'so big by so big' or given some numbers and avoided the whole folksy shtick.
Bad editor, no style guide for you.
The only time that expression has been useful to me is when the speaker is there in person and gesturing with his/her hands.
I wonder where/how that expression originated. Anyone know?
I would agree that this expression is typically accompanied by a hand gesture to demonstrate the size, so it is rare to see it in writing. I would have spelled it as yea (pronounced like Yay just as in Yea or nay) but my research surprised me. A lot of sources indicate that Yay is a common alternate spelling of Yea in these contexts.
Several sources indicate that yea and yay come from words meaning "yes, so, thus.". It is thought to be related to German Ja.
So when something is Yea big it is "this big" "so big" or "big like so."
yea
The compact OED has a distinct entry for this use:
yay yea