yes, Virginia

English

WOTD – 25 December 2025

Etymology

From a celebrated line in an editorial on September 27, 1897, by the American journalist Francis Pharcellus Church (1839–1906) in The Sun newspaper published in New York City, in response to eight-year-old Virginia O’Hanlon asking whether Santa Claus was real: “Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy.”[1]

Pronunciation

  • (General American) IPA(key): /ˈjɛs vəɹˈd͡ʒɪn.jə/
  • Audio (General American):(file)
  • Rhymes: -ɪniə
  • Hyphenation: yes, Vir‧gin‧ia

Phrase

yes, Virginia

  1. (originally and chiefly US, idiomatic, humorous) Used to express that something is true, despite skepticism by some people.
    • 1964 June 4, Serg Naramore, Dick Barnett, “The Tinder Box”, in Peggy Telfer, Bob Herzog, editors, Tech Talk, volume XV, number 16, Binghamton, N.Y.: Broome Technical Community College, page 2:
      Yes, Virginia, there IS a speed limit at Broome Tech, and all violators will be duly punished.
    • 1983 February 28, Walter Isaacson, “Opening the Silly Season”, in Time‎[1], New York, N.Y.: Time Inc., →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 15 April 2016:
      Yes, Virginia, there is a presidential election in 1984—and it has begun: A former Vice President goes ice fishing and poses with a puny perch dangling from his line. A 68-year-old Senator dons athletic shorts and runs a 60-yd. dash in a San Francisco track meet. […] Such hijinks can mean only one thing: the quadrennial silly season has started again.
    • 1993, David Warsh, “Yes, Virginia, there is a Truth about Taxes”, in Economic Principles: The Masters and Mavericks of Modern Economics, New York, N.Y.: The Free Press, →ISBN, page 226:
      He [David Bradford] is perhaps the nation's preeminent tax scholar. And yes, Virginia, the president and the Congress have disregarded most of what he has to say.

Translations

References

  1. ^ [Francis Pharcellus Church] (27 September 1897), “Is there a Santa Claus?”, in The Sun, New York, N.Y.: Charles A[nderson] Dana, →OCLC, page 6, column 3.

Further reading

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