It’s a really short word, but it should be one of the most powerful words in our vocabulary.
I understand how the meanings of these top 10 longest English words can be confusing, but there’s a whole lot more discussion, confusion, and debate about the meaning of ‘NO’.
From Yale’s Delta Kappa Epsilon pledges parading in front of the women’s dorm chanting the disgusting and debasing “No means yes. Yes means anal” to Bud Light’s most recent messaging that suggests they may have imbibed too many brewskies before vetting their new slogan, “Bud Light… the perfect beer for removing ‘no’ from your vocabulary for the night. #UPFORWHATEVER“, it seems ‘no’ confuses people.
When does the word no fracture and dissolve from the compact and unmistakably definitive utterance of a toddler announcing his or her authentic power to a towering adult, “NO!”, to a wimpy nebulous word that is so easily dismissed.
If ‘no’ is so confusing, perhaps we need to place our trust in verifying intent with a resounding ‘yes’.
UPDATE: Budweiser quickly responded to public outcry about their slogan, “The perfect beer for removing ‘no’ from your vocabulary for the night”. Vice President, Alexander Lambrecht stated, “It’s clear that this message missed the mark, and we regret it.” While they cannot recall the bottles in circulation, they indicated no further bottles would be labeled with this message.