magicbeans. nothing if not awkward.

I've noticed the phrase 'Yeah, no..' creeping into my regular vocabulary as the preface to answering questions. I became aware of it after it was pointed out to a character on a TV show who was giving affirmative, but subconsciously negated answers: 'Yeah, no, I'm really looking forward to it.' I have no idea how long I've been saying it, but I realize that I use it with alarming frequency.

In effect, the phrase has the power to make almost everything you say come across with complete ambiguity. I can be vague enough as it is when answering questions, I don't need to further tie-up my meanings.

I have also noticed other people using it with increasing frequency. Has this phrase always been an active part of our cultural question answering vocabulary? Or is it a language meme that's gaining hold, and that the writers of that TV show, being writers and therefor observers, were among the first to notice?