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So how can this misunderstanding be fixed? Well, some languages just set down firm rules about the way to respond. In Japanese and Chinese, a negative question is always answered according to whether you're agreeing with the person who asked it. So if you hate kittens and someone asks, "Don't you want any more kittens?" your answer should be, "Yes, I don't want any more. Please stop throwing them at me." Other languages, like German and French, avoid confusion by actually inventing new answer-words that are used only to respond to negative questions. If someone asks, "Don't you want this stolen horse?" you answer with the normal word for "no" (which always means that you don't want the horse) or a special, unique word for "yes," which means that you do want it.

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"Yeah, he's ripe. I'll take him. He'll make a wonderful horse salad."

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How Other Languages Solve It:

In the past, English had a system similar to French and German. The word "yes" was mostly used to give a positive answer to negative questions, while "yea" was used for positive questions. But it's hard to say "yea" without feeling like you should be dressed in burlap and covered in pig shit, so clearly the solution is to invent a new word that answers a negative question positively. And since this is the Internet, I propose "crotchdick."