Clark — «Hey Neil! You’re so stupid!»
Neil — «Says you! You’re the one with an F in Math!»
Bob — «Wow! This paragraph is the mos sloppy thing I have seen!»
Mark — «Says you! All you wrote about was how 2+2 is equal to 5!»
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An archaic English phrase that is still used in a legal and governmental context. It is used to ask for a verdict or a vote.
This phrase is sometimes used in everyday conversation with the same meaning — usually with the intent of seeming formal, stylish, or unusual.
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#1
Hi!
What does «Says you» mean in this context? I could not find a definition in the dictionary, is this an idiom in English? Could you make it clear? Thank you!
(Prison Break- The DIRT [Disciplinary Intervention and Response Team. Specially trained correctional officers] is shaking down the whole prison cells)
Sucre: The DIRT shuts down the water, so you can’t flush your contraband.
Michael: We got nothing to worry about.
Sucre: Says you! Under the table …
(Then Michael finds a shank under the table, and Scure tells him that is an insurance and dump it immediately, the DIRT is coming)
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#2
«Says you!» is a catchphrase, sometimes spelt «sez you!». It’s of US origin, but is well known throughout the English speaking world.
It expresses doubt of the addressee’s knowledge (as in this case), or disbelief. The sense is similar to: «Well you may say that, but…».
It may sound rather argumentative or abrupt, but there is often a comic element in using it, which softens this effect.
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#3
Funnily enough it was quite common to misconjugate to say in other ways — I think it’s in imitation of uneducated speech. «Says I» used to be quite common to mean I said, at once the historic present and a misconjugation, but one so common as to be acceptable: Hello, says I. Hello to you, says she, and so on.
Virginia Woolf made fun of the habit in Kew Gardens:
After they had scrutinised the old man’s back in silence for a moment and given each other a queer, sly look, they went on energetically piecing together their very complicated dialogue:
«Nell, Bert, Lot, Cess, Phil, Pa, he says, I says, she says, I says, I says, I says­»
The inverted form is quite common. As MM says, «Says you» means «Tell that to the marines» or «Like hell». It’s quite an energetic expression of disbelief, but friendly, nevertheless.
Last edited: Mar 20, 2009
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#4
«Says you!» is a catchphrase, sometimes spelt «sez you!». It’s of US origin, but is well known throughout the English speaking world.
It expresses doubt of the addressee’s knowledge (as in this case), or disbelief. The sense is similar to: «Well you may say that, but…».
It may sound rather argumentative or abrupt, but there is often a comic element in using it, which softens this effect.
Hi! Matching Mole and Thomas Tompion,
Thank you so much!! I understand now!!
And Thomas, you always offer us some useful examples and tips, thank you !! I will take it with me!
Ben never forgets to say «Please» and «Thank you».
I’m sorry, what did you say?
Do you know what she said to him?
What did they say about the house?
Did she say (= tell you) why she wasn’t coming?
I’ve got something to say to you.
The offer was so good that I couldn’t say no (= couldn’t refuse).
Thesaurus: synonyms, antonyms, and examples
- sayWhen I say your name, raise your hand.
- utterShe barely uttered a word all morning.
- they sayThey say the house is haunted.
- it is saidIt is said that a chain is only as strong as its weakest link.
- stateUnion members stated that they were unhappy with the proposal.
- remarkHe remarked that she was looking thin.
See more results »
Thesaurus: synonyms, antonyms, and examples
- talkA group of men were talking in the street.
- speakCould I speak to you privately?
- sayI couldn’t hear what they were saying.
- chatWe were just chatting about the party.
- have a chatWe had a little chat over the garden wall.
- chatterThey spent the morning chattering away.
See more results »
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This shows grade level based on the word’s complexity.
This shows grade level based on the word’s complexity.
verb (used with object), said [sed], /sɛd/, say·ing [sey-ing]. /ˈseɪ ɪŋ/.
to utter or pronounce; speak: What did you say? I said “Hello!”
to express in words; state; declare; word: Say it clearly and simply. It’s hard to know how to say this tactfully.
to state as an opinion or judgment: I say her plan is the better one.
to be certain, precise, or assured about; determine: It is hard to say what is wrong.
to recite or repeat: to say one’s prayers.
to report or allege; maintain: People say he will resign.
to express (a message, viewpoint, etc.), as through a literary or other artistic medium: a writer with something to say.
to indicate or show: What does your watch say?
to assume as a hypothesis or estimate: Let’s say, for the sake of argument, that it’s true.
verb (used without object), said [sed], /sɛd/, say·ing [sey-ing]. /ˈseɪ ɪŋ/.
to speak; declare; express an opinion.
adverb
for example: If you serve, say tuna fish and potato chips, it will cost much less.
noun
what a person says or has to say.
the right or opportunity to speak, decide, or exercise influence: to have one’s say in choosing the candidate.
a turn to say something: It is now my say.
interjection
(used to express surprise, get attention, etc.)
QUIZ
CAN YOU ANSWER THESE COMMON GRAMMAR DEBATES?
There are grammar debates that never die; and the ones highlighted in the questions in this quiz are sure to rile everyone up once again. Do you know how to answer the questions that cause some of the greatest grammar debates?
Which sentence is correct?
Idioms about say
Origin of say
1
First recorded before 900; Middle English seyen, seggen, Old English secgan; cognate with Dutch zeggen, German sagen, Old Norse segja; akin to saw3
OTHER WORDS FROM say
sayer, noun
Words nearby say
Saxonism, saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, saxophone, saxtuba, say, sayable, say a mouthful, Sayan Mountains, Sayão, Saybolt universal seconds
Other definitions for say (2 of 4)
verb (used with object), noun
Origin of say
2
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English saien, sayen, shortening of assaien, assayen to assay
Other definitions for say (3 of 4)
noun
a thin silk or woolen fabric similar to serge, much used in the 16th century.
Origin of say
3
First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English sai(e), a kind of serge, from Old French saie, saye “long-skirted coat,” from Medieval Latin saia, sagum, a kind of cloth, from Latin saga, plural of sagum “coarse woolen cloak, soldier’s cloak,” from Gaulish sogom
Other definitions for say (4 of 4)
noun
Jean Bap·tiste [zhahnba—teest], /ʒɑ̃ baˈtist/, 1767–1832, French economist.Compare Say’s law.
Thomas, 1787–1834, U.S. entomologist.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Words related to say
add, announce, answer, assert, claim, convey, declare, deliver, disclose, do, estimate, express, maintain, mention, read, repeat, reply, report, respond, reveal
How to use say in a sentence
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And more I cannot explain/but you, from what I did not say/will infer what I do not say.
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Compston managed all this without the say-so of the Courtauld, which sent him a stinging letter.
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Marchman takes it as a given that MLB basing its case on the say-so of a sketchy Floridian drug-dealer is preposterous.
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How does Romney give that answer on national television and force his campaign into what-he-really-meant-to-say mode?
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Matthew Yglesias on how the right’s just-say-no game helped bring the left together.
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Or ne say-je quelle estoit sa maladie; si elle venoit seulement par intervalles, ou non, je n’en say rien: tant y a que le 2.
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ITo heaven cry aloud, and to the world:“Who hath reduced her to this pass?Say, say!”
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Maybe Marie would wish then that she had thought twice about quitting him just on her mother’s say-so.
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And hast thou fixed my doom, kind master, say?And wilt thou kill thy servant, old and poor?
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And hast thou fixed my doom, sweet master, say?And wilt thou kill thy servant, old and poor?
British Dictionary definitions for say (1 of 2)
verb says (sɛz), saying or said (mainly tr)
to speak, pronounce, or utter
(also intr) to express (an idea) in words; tellwe asked his opinion but he refused to say
(also intr; may take a clause as object) to state (an opinion, fact, etc) positively; declare; affirm
to reciteto say grace
(may take a clause as object) to report or allegethey say we shall have rain today
(may take a clause as object) to take as an assumption; supposelet us say that he is lying
(may take a clause as object) to convey by means of artistic expressionthe artist in this painting is saying that we should look for hope
to make a case forthere is much to be said for either course of action
(usually passive) Irish to persuade or coax (someone) to do somethingIf I hadn’t been said by her, I wouldn’t be in this fix
go without saying to be so obvious as to need no explanation
I say! mainly British informal an exclamation of surprise
not to say even; and indeed
that is to say in other words; more explicitly
to say nothing of as well as; even disregardinghe was warmly dressed in a shirt and heavy jumper, to say nothing of a thick overcoat
to say the least without the slightest exaggeration; at the very least
adverb
approximatelythere were, say, 20 people present
for examplechoose a number, say, four
noun
the right or chance to speaklet him have his say
authority, esp to influence a decisionhe has a lot of say in the company’s policy
a statement of opinionyou’ve had your say, now let me have mine
interjection
US and Canadian informal an exclamation to attract attention or express surprise, etc
Derived forms of say
sayer, noun
Word Origin for say
Old English secgan; related to Old Norse segja, Old Saxon seggian, Old High German sagēn
British Dictionary definitions for say (2 of 2)
noun
archaic a type of fine woollen fabric
Word Origin for say
C13: from Old French saie, from Latin saga, plural of sagum a type of woollen cloak
Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Other Idioms and Phrases with say
In addition to the idioms beginning with say
- say a mouthful
- say grace
- say one’s piece
- says who?
- say the word
- say uncle
also see:
- before you can say Jack Robinson
- cry (say) uncle
- do as I say
- give (say) the word
- go without (saying)
- have a say in
- I dare say
- I’ll say
- needless to say
- never say die
- never say never
- not to mention (say nothing of)
- on one’s say-so
- strange to say
- suffice it to say
- that is (to say)
- to say the least
- you can say that again
- you don’t say
Also see undersaid.
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
|
| Genre | Word game |
|---|---|
| Running time | 60 minutes (2006-2021) 30 minutes (1997-2006) |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Home station | WGBH |
| Syndicates | PRX |
| Hosted by | Richard Sher Barry Nolan Gregg Porter Dave Zobel Ben Sher |
| Created by | Richard Sher |
| Produced by | Pipit & Finch |
| Executive producer(s) | Laura Sher |
| Original release | 1997 – 2022 |
| No. of series | 27 |
| No. of episodes | 600+ |
| Website | Official website |
| Podcast | Says You! |
Gregg Porter, host of Says You! from 2017 to 2019
Says You! is a word game quiz show that airs weekly in the United States on public radio stations. Richard Sher created the show in 1996 with the guiding philosophy: «It’s not important to KNOW the answers: it’s important to LIKE the answers.» The first episode to broadcast on radio took place in Cambridge, Massachusetts in February 1997.
Recorded in front of live audiences in theaters around the United States, the show is produced in Boston, Massachusetts. Its format, emphasis on witty repartee, and its tagline—»a game of bluff and bluster, words and whimsy»—are reminiscent of the similarly long-running BBC program My Word! (1956–1990).[citation needed] The first ten seasons of Says You! aired in a half hour timeslot before expanding to one hour in 2006. Season 21 of Says You! marked the show’s 500th episode.[citation needed]
Richard Sher hosted Says You!’s first eighteen seasons, before dying on February 9, 2015. Original panelist Barry Nolan took over as host for the next two seasons, before returning to his seat as a panelist in early 2017. He was replaced as host by occasional panelist Gregg Porter[1] of Seattle’s KUOW-FM, with author/public radio contributor Dave Zobel (who came on as a Says You! writer after Sher’s death) frequently guest hosting in 2018 & 2019 when Porter was absent or returning as a panelist. Porter left Says You! in the summer of 2019, with Zobel serving as permanent host until the end of season 25. Richard Sher’s son Ben (who voiced the episode-ending Pipit & Finch credit as a child and later served as a guest scorekeeper) hosted the final first-run episodes in September 2022.
The COVID-19 pandemic forced taping for season 24 to conclude earlier than expected, with the last first-run episode with a live audience airing from Palo Alto, California on May 1, 2020. The remainder of the season and the entirety of season 25 consisted of new episodes recorded via Zoom or without a live audience, supplemented by reruns as well as twenty-one «Back 9» episodes, featuring 9 rounds taken from three episodes apiece of early half-hour seasons. The final four first-run episodes featured a remote audience of ticket-buyers watching from home, with the last of these airing on August 13, 2021, with the season concluding primarily with «Back 9» re-airings.
At the end of the 25th season, executive producer Laura Sher announced that production was ending and further seasons would consist of rebroadcasts. [2] Season 26 premiered on October 8, 2021, and consisted of repeats from the show’s eighth & ninth seasons, with Season 27 in 2022-23 featuring episodes from the tenth-twelfth seasons, Richard Sher’s final episode from season 18, and unedited half hour episodes. Two final live episodes with studio audiences were held in Seattle & San Francisco at the start of season 27, featuring most of the original panelists and Richard Sher’s son Ben as host, but have not yet been aired on the radio.
Over 250 episodes can be heard for free on-demand via Public Radio Exchange, including all first-run and Back 9 episodes from seasons 18-25, and all of the succeeding seasons’ reruns.[3] Says You!’s official website posts new episodes on a one week delay from PRX, while also selling over 370 episodes from seasons 1-6 and 11-20 in their online store.
Format[edit]
The show features a regular group of panelists—the cast—divided into two three-person teams. The two teams are made up of the show’s original cast members and occasional guest players. Teams answer a series of questions to earn up to ten points for each correct—or humorously suitable—answer. As the host provides more clues, and/or panelists get extra help from their teammates, fewer points are awarded, while partially correct or objectively humorous responses may also receive lesser points. Score-keepers (usually children or teenagers) keep track of the score of each game.
Rounds of the game[edit]
Rounds 1, 3, and 5 vary from week to week and consist of signature categories such as «What’s the Difference?», «Odd Man Out», «Melded Movies», and «Common Threads», as well as a variety of miscellaneous literary wordplay. Typically, six questions per round are asked, one aimed at each individual panelist, though assistance and interjections from their teammates are common. The host traditionally advises listeners to grab a pen & paper to play along with the teams, as «that’s how we do it here». On occasion, that week’s musical guest aids in a game themed around song lyrics, typically played as the final round. Some rounds reflected the culture, community names, and history of the location of that taping.
Rounds 2 and 4 are the Bluffing Rounds. Similar to the game show Liar’s Club and the radio show Call My Bluff, the three members of one team are given an obscure word (e.g. cacafuego); one of them gets the actual definition, and the other two must bluff with fake definitions composed during a brief musical interlude, traditionally provided by a live musical guest. The other team attempts to determine the correct definition from the three presented. Ten points are awarded for guessing or bluffing successfully. Select early episodes instead featured a «Biofictionary» round, where teams had to guess the claim to fame of a person rather than a word’s definition.
Hour-long episodes often feature a «Spotlight Round», highlighting memorable rounds from earlier seasons, often suggested by listeners. Following host Richard Sher’s death in 2015, Spotlight Rounds were often picked to honour him.
Through the show’s website, people could suggest questions and segments for the show, with frequent contributors nicknamed as «Says You! Hall of Famers».[4][5]
Players[edit]
The regular cast of Says You! in season 19, from left to right: then-host Barry Nolan, Francine Achbar, Tony Kahn, Carolyn Faye Fox, Arnie Reisman, Paula Lyons, and Murray Horwitz
Hosts[edit]
- Richard Sher (creator, producer, host from 1996 to 2015)
- Barry Nolan (host from 2015 to 2017; regular panelist in other seasons)
- Gregg Porter (host from 2017 to 2019; recurring panelist from 2015 to 2018)
- Dave Zobel (host from 2019 to 2021, frequent guest host from 2017 to 2019; question writer from 2015-2021)
- Ben Sher (host in 2022, former scorekeeper; son of Richard Sher)
Original panelists[edit]
- Francine Achbar
- Carolyn Faye Fox
- Tony Kahn
- Paula Lyons (wife of Arnie Reisman)
- Barry Nolan (host from 2015 to 2017; husband of Garland Waller)
- Arnie Reisman (husband of Paula Lyons)
Episodes usually featured Carolyn Faye Fox, Arnie Reisman, and Paula Lyons on the «stereo left» team and Tony Kahn, Francine Achbar, and Barry Nolan on the «stereo right» team, with substitutions for panelist unavailability where needed. Crossovers between these pairings on the same team only happened on rare occasions. During Barry Nolan’s two seasons as host of Says You!, Murray Horwitz took his place as a regular panelist in most episodes, and remained a regular after Barry returned to the panel.
Regular and featured panelists[edit]
- Pat Bagley, editorial cartoonist
- May Berenbaum, entemologist
- Tom Bergeron, television host
- Tim Brooks, historian
- Callie Crossley, journalist & radio host
- Alan Dershowitz, Harvard professor and lawyer
- Walter Egan, musician
- Norman Gilliland, radio producer
- Deb Hiett (regular panelist in seasons 24-25; recurring panelist in seasons 22-23)
- Murray Horwitz (regular panelist in seasons 19-25; recurring panelist in earlier seasons)
- Philip Klinkner, political scientist
- Joyce Kuhwalik (regular panelist in season 25)
- Paul Magid (regular panelist in season 25; recurring panelist in seasons 23-24)
- Wendie Malick, actress
- Constance McCashin, psychotherapist & actress; wife of Sam Weisman
- Erin McKean, founder of Wordnik
- Phil Proctor, member of the Firesign Theatre
- Ammon Shea, writer
- Jimmy Tingle, political humorist
- Garland Waller, professor; wife of Barry Nolan
- Sam Weisman, film director; husband of Constance McCashin
- Robin Young, radio host
Writers[edit]
- Nat Segaloff
- Dave Zobel
Notes[edit]
- ^ Gregg Porter
- ^ «Public radio’s ‘Says You’ to end production of new episodes»
- ^ PRX » Series » Says You! Full Hour Show
- ^ Official website
- ^ Radio broadcast listening schedule