English just has yes and no, but German has ja and nein … and doch. If ja means yes and carries the idea, “I agree,” then doch means “I know you don’t agree with me, but yes!” Doch is one of those wonderful words that normally only native speakers get right, but my daughters spent so long in German boarding school that they mastered the intricacies of the language without realizing it. I remember Valerie, home from school on a free weekend, telling me about a game they had played at a fair, where they dropped a ball through water in order to get it into a cup.
“That’s a typical midway game,” I told her. “You can’t win it.”
Without missing a beat, she said, “Doch, we got it three times.”
I wish I remembered that! I do remember when we spoke half English, half German. With the occasional spattering of French :)
It was during one of the senior pranks one year–I think it was the year they had to bake the cakes. Then they held a little impromptu fair or took you all to a fair or something like that.