Affirmative - Yes/Correct
This is something I've never quite understood, so I'm going to use this opportunity to ask. Why say "affirmative," rather than "yes"?
Is there really something you can mistake for "yes"? I'm struggling to think of a word. On the other hand, "affirmative" is pretty close to "negative." I would think the potential for confusion would be
greater using the longer word.
No doubt there's something I'm missing, but what?
(Similarly, I don't know why you'd use "acknowledge," rather than "copy." Sure, we use "copy" when asking "do you copy?" But so what? It's not as though there's going to be any confusion with that. In fact, both uses of the word are the same.)
This is no big deal, of course, but I
have wondered about this. Anyone know?
Bill