Comments on: “I know, right?”

By: Dave

Dave — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 21:50:56 +0000

Yeah, see? (Or I could even say, “I know, right?”)

It’s very hard to get away from these things–even though they drive us up a wall sometimes!

By: Scott Salsman

Scott Salsman — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 21:36:09 +0000

Heh, well, I guess I can’t argue with that. Oh, now I’m doing it. I mean, I really could argue if I tried…I give up.

In my office I’m starting to hear the girls say “Yeah, right?” as often as “I know, right?”

By: Dave

Dave — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 21:14:45 +0000

To Larz and Scott, I would just say that I think most groups or sub-groups of speakers have little idiomatic tics that signify “inside language.” Hearing these phrases can be very annoying to outsiders who don’t use them in their own speech, but those outsiders undoubtedly have similar tics.

Two that jump into my mind right off the bat (there’s an idiom that might annoy people who don’t use it) are these:

“At the end of the day…”

“In the final analysis…”

I believe the former is a metaphor about which most speakers don’t reflect very much. (I am at the end of my school day as I type this. This is the moment when the phrase resonates with me.)

The latter phrase seems to me to be an overstatement, since it’s usually uttered in the absence of any great in-depth analysis–certainly not after the ultimate analysis of an argument.

“I know, right?” This might be annoying, but it’s impossible for me to call it “wrong.”

By: Kat

Kat — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 20:45:43 +0000

I’m 14 and my friends just told me that I say this. i didn’t really even notice. My friend said it was ‘cool how I said that’ which was weird because I hadn’t realised there was anything different about putting right on the end. It was actually in Mean Girls the film but I’m sure they got it from somewhere else.

By: Jen S

Jen S — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 01:24:45 +0000

I dug around - it was supposedly said by Lyndsay Lohan in Mean Girls.

By: Jen S

Jen S — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 01:15:38 +0000

Just for the record, I hear guys use this curious pop-up phrase all the time. The America’s Nxt Top M- episode is my first memory of hearing it; I just heard it on How I Met Your Mother, spoken by a male character. As even a few days pass, it’s becomes more common; it’s like a cold in an office or daycare - everyone’s tainted by it eventually.

By: Scott Salsman

Scott Salsman — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 20:00:11 +0000

I completely agree with Larz, only it seems to go even further in my office, particularly among women in their thirties! They seem to use it in every situation, almost as a badge of…culture, or something. Or conformity, more like it.

By: Larz

Larz — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 22:50:14 +0000

Ugh, Dave. Careful not to judge the use of the phrase? Do you think that all words and expressions are of equal value? The phrase reeks of valley girl slang. It’s vapid and immature.

Here’s the primary translation of “I know, right?”:

“I want to agree with what you’re saying, but I’m not confident enough to merely state this, because I don’t want to come across as arrogant or as trying to dominate your comment. So, I will include a token act of humility along with my acknowledgment by deferring back to you, the original speaker, for the last word.”

By: Dave

Dave — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 20:10:54 +0000

Larz: “Whatâ€™s disturbing about these last two posts is I think both are in their twenties.”

Yeah, I know, right? Gotta be in their twenties.

I don’t understand, exactly, how you can draw that conclusion. They might be in their mid-teens. They might be over thirty.

In any event, whether you love the phrase or not, I think Amanda has hit the nail on the head when she says it’s useful in response to a statement that’s “absurd but true.”

In certain groups of speakers and in certain conversational contexts it really is a perfect response. Not among all speakers and in all contexts, to be sure.

In my original post I was very careful not to deprecate or judge the use of this phrase. I find it curious, but hardly disturbing.

I’m grateful to Amanda, in particular, for posting such a thoughtful analysis of the phrase. It’s been in widespread use for some time, so the genii is out of the bottle. Now I want to understand exactly how it is used and what it means.

By: Larz

Larz — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 19:23:40 +0000

No, it’s not a “perfect phrase” in any setting, unless you want to expose the underdeveloped mindset of a teenage girl. What’s disturbing about these last two posts is I think both are in their twenties.

By: Princess Posh

Princess Posh — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 19:50:01 +0000

“I know, right.” This is something I hear said in my office on a daily basis… it means… “I’m glad you recognize it, I agree with you… and you are smart to agree with me”… Just imagine a popular girl saying this to an unknown in highschool… and it’s said with a bit of attitude… I know (pause), right (question but w/ complete confidence)! I hope you all learned something today!

By: amanda

amanda — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 00:58:10 +0000

I’ve found it’s the perfect phrase when someone says something absurd but true. It’s an indication that you agree and also find this fact interesting. I say it with a sort of “isn’t that funny” scrunch of the nose, and a half-laugh which makes the other person feel like they have a valid comment! I agree with your evaluation, it’s a funny phrase but it sounds perfectly natural in conversation, somehow.
eg. “i like how you would rather walk to the other side of the building to access the elevator than walk up the stairs right next to the entrance” — “i know, right?”