this post was submitted on 25 Aug 2024
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Some people use that phrase to mean “nod”. It’s the same action just a different direction.
And their point is that they are wrong to do so.
It’s not great phrasing I agree… but it is a common way to describe it.
It’s the action that matters not the description.
If “she” (not clear who) moved her head back and forth in a vertical rotation, it doesn’t matter if you call it “shook her head yes” or “nodded”. The meaning is the same.
If she moved her head back and forth in a horizontal rotation and this person interpreted that as a “yes”, then that is insanity.
It's just not the accepted and used English for those actions. If it was something like "rotated" then it would be ambiguous and subject to interpretation, but the word "shook" already has a meaning
So it sounds like you’re just not familiar with the phrase. It might not be “accepted and used” in your area, and I agree it’s confusing. But it is common, regardless.
Many examples can be found in your choice of search engine, here’s one result but it’s very very common.
Not only is "common" unfortunately not a quantitative assertion (and I disagree), many incorrect usages are "common."
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Head_shake
As earlier stated, obviously some people might use the opposite words for a particular effect.
I mean feel free to count search results if you care to assess exactly how common it is. Regardless, writing this phrase is not “insanity”
I'm pretty sure I only said it was wrong.