“I’m just saying”
What is the origin of the phrase “I’m just saying”?
Your Pain Is Our Pleasure
24-Hour Proofreading Service—We proofread your Google Docs or Microsoft Word files. We hate grammatical errors with a passion. Learn More
Your Pain Is Our Pleasure
24-Hour Proofreading Service—We proofread your Google Docs or Microsoft Word files. We hate grammatical errors with a passion. Learn More
This is a phrase I've often seen in comment sections of blogs and videos. Those comment sections frequently degenerate into hothouses of abuse, in which a poster is likely to receive a venomous reply. I imagine that by concluding a comment with "I'm just saying" anticipates such a response and attempts to allay it. Which is to say, the phrase may be used to try to soften remarks that might be construed as criticism.
Vinck7 Aug-03-2016
5 votes Permalink Report Abuse
In 1826 it occurs in print here:
Hearings Before Subcommittee No. 3 of TheCommittee on the Judiciary, House of Representatives, Eighty-first Congress,
as "I'm just saying that this is ridiculous and unfair".
As a stand-alone sentence, possibly about 1936.
jayles the unmeted Jul-24-2016
1 vote Permalink Report Abuse