"Yes, I don't want ketchup" or "No, I don't want ketchup"

[learnerAF]

It's Dhana Jon's comment under a YT video. Do you agree with the poster?

 

[5jj]

"Yes, I don't want ketchup" is NOT used in the UK.

 

[Amigos4]

"No, I don't want ketchup" is common usage in the US.

 

[jutfrank]

The post is wrong. There's no variation among different varieties of English in this.

The negative answer to the question 'Do you not want ketchup?' is 'No.'

 

[Tarheel]

The question is an odd one.

Q: Do you not want ketchup?
A: Huh?

 

[Skrej]

"Yes, I don't want ketchup" is NOT used in the UK.

Nor in AmE.

It is, however, a fairly common error I hear from English language learners. In particular, I've noticed it when teaching tag questions and responses.

It's usually a sign that they're still at a competency level where they're directly translating from their language into English, since some languages would actually use that construction.

 

[SoothingDave]

I thought of this song.

There's a fruit store on our street
It's run by a Greek.
And he keeps good things to eat
But you should hear him speak!
When you ask him anything, he never answers "no".
He just "yes"es you to death, and as he takes your dough
He tells you
"Yes, we have no bananas
We have-a no bananas today.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yes!_We_Have_No_Bananas

 

[Amigos4]

I like to listen to music when we have no bananas today.

 

[emsr2d2]

To be fair, I think a lot of native speakers would struggle to come up with the "correct" answer to the question "Do you not want ketchup?"

 

[Tarheel]

@emsr2d2 I think the "correct" answer is in post #5.