Entry · catalog no. 3311
yeah you right
/ jɛə ju ˈraɪt /yeah you RITE
phrase · New Orleans · 20th c.
✓ Verified
1.
A New Orleans way of saying 'absolutely' or 'for real' — an emphatic agreement that isn't really about who's right, just a wholehearted yes.
“That plate was worth the wait? Yeah you right.”
Origin & Attribution
A New Orleans idiom, at home in the city's working-class speech across Black and white "Yat" New Orleanians. Specifically local — not general Southern talk. The 1985 documentary "Yeah You Rite!" took the phrase as its title in a study of New Orleans dialect.
mid-20th c.
Everyday affirmation in New Orleans speech
1985
Title of the documentary "Yeah You Rite!"
now
A signature of the city's dialect
Region of origin
West
Midwest
N.East
South
Nationwide
New Orleans · 20th c.
Spoken by
New Orleanians
$YEAHYOThe Record · cultural traction
▲ Steady76 yrs
ahead of the mainstream
48/100
peak cultural energy
Introduced to English by the culture — logged here before the mainstream caught on.
Cultural usage — the recordMainstream search interest
First used
1950
in the culture
Cultural energy indexed from documented usage, search interest, and citation frequency. The recorded date is the archive’s permanent point of record.
Hear it spoken
By region — how it actually sounds
@auntiereg
Atlanta, GA
@deltasoul
Memphis, TN
Contribute your pronunciation
Citations & Sources
■
+ Cite a sourceYeah You Rite! dir. Louis Alvarez & Andrew Kolker — documentary
1985
See also