I know, right?

[rogerashton]

That's a phrase I seem to hear very often in recent months. Am I wrong, or isn't it pretty new? I don't recall hearing it even a year or two ago.

It is, of course, an expression of agreement. It might be stress through repetition -- "I know" and "right" literally meaning pretty much the same -- but the rising inflection, that seems to make "right" a question doesn't seem to me to point in that direction.

"I know," by itself, expresses agreement but could also be taken as a bit of a put-down. Adding "right?" says: "I acknowledge that you know that I know it, because it is a shared experience."

At least that's the best sense I can make of it. If so, it expresses a pretty important, complex set of personal meanings very briefly. No wonder it has spread so fast.

[Quackers]

1. I heard it about 5 years ago when

High school kids started joining the Army unit I was in.


Eta: I found this on it as well.

http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=3057

[CJCRANE]

2. I first noticed it in the trailer for the Green Lantern movie a few years ago.

Maybe that's what popularized it.

[notadmblnd]

3. it's been part of the lexicon for several years now.

I mostly hear it used by young people and have to admit I've used the phrase myself. I think it's on its way out though as I hear it used less and less.

[brush]

4. It goes back to the '90s

It was in common usage back then.

[Cirque du So-What]

5. I first noticed it a couple of years ago

I thought it was just a regional thing, but then I started hearing it on national TV.

[closeupready]

6. This turn of phrase is not really an idiom; there is an equivalent in French,

and German and probably many languages. In French, you'd say, "C'est ca, bon?" (or "Oui, c'est ca.&quot , though my German is too rusty, but someone else here can chime in.

Separately, I find languages fascinating, and this kind of question is one which, lol, many people would be surprised at how much research is dedicated to understanding these kinds of verbal expressions - what they really mean, what they are intended to communicate, how they impact those who say them and those who hear them, etc. Noam Chomsky's academic career was built on, in part, the study of language and verbal symbols (an area of study called 'semiotics').

Probably WAY more than you wanted to know!

[Orrex]

7. It's actually from Shakespeare, Macbeth Act V, Scene 5:

Macbeth: She should have died hereafter;
There would have been a time for such a word.
To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day
To the last syllable of recorded time,
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more: it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.

Messenger:I know, right?

[cyberswede]

9. LOL. nt

[rogerashton]

8. It's pretty clear I haven't been paying attention,

although perhaps there are some regional differences. My work keeps me listening to young people -- college students, when I can get them to do the talking -- but I hadn't noticed it among them. (Perhaps I'm not a person they would say it to!) Thanks for the Zits comic -- now I see it I recall seeing it when it was new -- and the movie reference. And for Shakespeare, though I rather doubt that the recent use of it is directly traceable to the Bard.