# I know, right? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 14, 2009, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-know-right/510105 "2009-09-14T23:14:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ianjohnson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a3d4f5/32.png) [@ianjohnson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ianjohnson)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2009, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-know-right/510105/1 "2009-09-14T23:14:40Z")
Where and when did this phrase come from? I think I first started hearing it around 2005 from co-workers in their mid-20s. There are some references to it being in Mean Girls (2004) which is probably what boosted it to prominence. ---
**Author:** ![Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hazle_Weatherfield)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2009, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-know-right/510105/2 "2009-09-15T01:37:03Z")
I guess I’m late to the party. I never really noticed it until the Scrubs episode regarding Jack’s baptism. ---
**Author:** ![Chessic\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7c8e57/32.png) [@Chessic\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chessic_Sense)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2009, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-know-right/510105/3 "2009-09-15T02:39:20Z")
I’ve heard it a lot, and I’m pretty sure it’s pre-2004. I once had a teacher that would say “right” after just about every sentence in a sort of “Do you follow?” sense. “Plato said we have souls of metal, right, and each person had one of three metals, right? So the republic needs to sort them all out, right, and give them separate jobs, right…” ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2009, 7:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-know-right/510105/4 "2009-09-15T07:24:32Z")
> [@Chessic\_Sense](#): > > I’ve heard it a lot, and I’m pretty sure it’s pre-2004. I once had a teacher that would say “right” after just about every sentence in a sort of “Do you follow?” sense. “Plato said we have souls of metal, right, and each person had one of three metals, right? So the republic needs to sort them all out, right, and give them separate jobs, right…” That’s almost as annoying as someone I knew, who preceded everything with “obviously” . . . implying that if you didn’t already know it, you were an idiot. ---
**Author:** ![11811](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/1/9d8465/32.png) [@11811](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/11811)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2009, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-know-right/510105/5 "2009-09-16T21:11:14Z")
> [@ianjohnson](#): > > Where and when did this phrase come from? I think I first started hearing it around 2005 from co-workers in their mid-20s. There are some references to it being in Mean Girls (2004) which is probably what boosted it to prominence. Jimmy Smits’ character on NYPD Blue would say “yeah, huh?” with the same inflection, and I think the meaning is the same. ---
**Author:** ![AppallingGael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9bd4f/32.png) [@AppallingGael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AppallingGael)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2009, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-know-right/510105/6 "2009-09-17T13:13:21Z")
I have been hearing it more frequently than I would like since about 1980. ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2009, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-know-right/510105/7 "2009-09-17T19:17:26Z")
A group of my friends on another site had a habit of using “i no rite” or similar intentional misspellings in order to mock the phrase, and this was probably no later than 2004 or 2005, so it must have already been an established phrase for us to make fun of it. I’m guessing it’s just a combination of the existing English tag question markers of “you know” and “right.” ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2009, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-know-right/510105/8 "2009-09-17T19:22:51Z")
Here’s a [Usenet posting](http://groups.google.com/group/alt.music.green-day/browse_thread/thread/d215c7c6b222cfd/4fe9aca6b1ce16a1?hl=en&q=%22i+know+right%22) of “I know, right?” dating to 1999. My gut is telling me it’s a much older phrase – I could swear using it in the 90s, but I may be mixing current slang with old memories, so I don’t know for sure. edit: And [Here’s an “I know, rite”](http://groups.google.com/group/alt.fan.hanson/browse_thread/thread/9895a6cb8cb3bef9/9284139e787224d6?hl=en&q=%22i+know,+rite%3F%22) on Usenet from almost the exact same timeframe (late 1999). ---
**Author:** ![Fake\_Tales\_of\_San\_Francisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8491ac/32.png) [@Fake\_Tales\_of\_San\_Francisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fake_Tales_of_San_Francisco)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2009, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-know-right/510105/9 "2009-09-17T19:24:32Z")
In the UK, I’ve heard it all my life and I’m 23. ---
**Author:** ![Transistor\_Rhythm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/77aa72/32.png) [@Transistor\_Rhythm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Transistor_Rhythm)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2009, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-know-right/510105/10 "2009-09-17T19:42:21Z")
Wasn’t it used ironically in _Zoolander_ by one of the male models to show that he was a valley boy hiimbo? ---
**Author:** ![Kuboydal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecb155/32.png) [@Kuboydal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kuboydal)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2009, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-know-right/510105/11 "2009-09-18T20:53:56Z")
A more pertinent question would be “How can I get my beloved girlfriend to cease employing this phrase for a multitude of responses without freaking out?”