Talk:nay

There is also a sense like "or even", "or more like", "or should I say", as in "His face was dirty, nay filthy". What part of speech is this, and what would a good definition be? — Paul G 11:09, 8 Jun 2004 (UTC)

How is this any different from "no" ? It means exactly the same thing to say "his face was dirty, no, filthy", except for the archaic register of "nay"—the meaning is still "no", but the illocutionary point is that of a self-emended comment ("it's not quite how I said it the first time"). —Muke Tever 00:52, 9 Jun 2004 (UTC)