# Where does "I saw what you did there" come from? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 21, 2009, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-i-saw-what-you-did-there-come-from/486851 "2009-02-21T15:09:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2009, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-i-saw-what-you-did-there-come-from/486851/1 "2009-02-21T15:09:16Z")
Someone’s standup bit? A movie I haven’t seen? Some internet shtik? The SD itself?–though I don’t think so. I could also ask where “I don’t think so” (as a way of saying “No, dumbass”) but that’s a whole 'nother GQ. (And where did “a whole 'nother” start, anyway?) ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2009, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-i-saw-what-you-did-there-come-from/486851/2 "2009-02-21T15:47:32Z")
“I don’t think so, Tim” was Al’s tagline in Home Improvement when Tim Allen was suggesting doing something particularly stupid. Don’t know if that was where it originated. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2009, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-i-saw-what-you-did-there-come-from/486851/3 "2009-02-21T15:51:00Z")
I believe that this a 4chan meme. > **[Urban Dictionary: i see what you did there](https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=i%20see%20what%20you%20did%20there)** > > A common turn of phrase on the internet, generally used as an expression of quiet, subdued admiration for one's wit. Especially appropriate after a particularly deft pun. ---
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2009, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-i-saw-what-you-did-there-come-from/486851/4 "2009-02-21T15:57:13Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > I believe that this a 4chan meme. > > [Urban Dictionary: I see what you did there](http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=I+see+what+you+did+there) Thanks. “The police have nothing to go on” totally cracked me up. ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2009, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-i-saw-what-you-did-there-come-from/486851/5 "2009-02-21T16:32:37Z")
Thanks for starting this thread; I’d also wondered what this phrase was referencing. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2009, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-i-saw-what-you-did-there-come-from/486851/6 "2009-02-21T21:51:50Z")
(Nott smacks himself for considering a lame Freud joke…) ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2009, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-i-saw-what-you-did-there-come-from/486851/7 "2009-02-21T23:47:53Z")
> [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](#): > > Someone’s standup bit? A movie I haven’t seen? Some internet shtik? The SD itself?–though I don’t think so. Found as early as 1996 on Usenet. > **[Schlock Value](https://groups.google.com/g/alt.fan.tom-robbins/c/EStSU_vW3LI?hl=en)** ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2009, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-i-saw-what-you-did-there-come-from/486851/8 "2009-02-22T00:04:49Z")
As a related followup, I see this usually on FARK with an image of Fry from Futurama: > **[dennisjudd.com - This website is for sale! - dennisjudd...](http://ww16.dennisjudd.com/gallery/view_photo.php?set_albumName=funpics&id=fry&sub1=20230928-2304-18ff-bae9-d7712ace8df8)** > > This website is for sale! dennisjudd.com is your first and best source for all of the information you’re looking for. From general topics to more of what you would expect to find here, dennisjudd.com has it all. We hope you find what you are... “Oh! I see what you did there!” I have to say that it confuses me, (the handles in the panels over his head make a funny shape?) Is that from an actual episode and referring to what? ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2009, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-i-saw-what-you-did-there-come-from/486851/9 "2009-02-22T00:41:07Z")
> [@samclem](#): > > Found as early as 1996 on Usenet. > [http://groups.google.com/group/alt.fan.tom-robbins/browse\_thread/thread/112b5253fbd6dcb2?hl=en&q="saw+what+you+did+there"](http://groups.google.com/group/alt.fan.tom-robbins/browse_thread/thread/112b5253fbd6dcb2?hl=en&q=%22saw+what+you+did+there%22) I’m pretty sure I picked it up from reading rec.arts.sf.written on Usenet (I used the phrase in Cafe Society just yesterday to acknowledge a pun) ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2009, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-i-saw-what-you-did-there-come-from/486851/10 "2009-02-22T00:53:46Z")
The first time I saw “See What I Did There?” was at Hissyfit, around the year 1999, and that seemed to be a reference even then. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2009, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-i-saw-what-you-did-there-come-from/486851/11 "2009-02-22T00:55:04Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > The first time I saw “See What I Did There?” was at Hissyfit, around the year 1999, and that seemed to be a reference even then. I thought “See what I did there?” was a different meme. “See what I did there?” always makes me think of House, though it obviously predates that. ---
**Author:** ![hammos1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ba8739/32.png) [@hammos1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hammos1)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2009, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-i-saw-what-you-did-there-come-from/486851/12 "2009-02-22T01:18:12Z")
Billy Crystal’s character in _Mr. Saturday Night_ (1992) often used the phrase “Did you see what I did?” following his gags, and David Paymer (playing his long-suffering brother) nods and says “I saw” at least once. No doubt Crystal and the other co-writers of the film were referencing some well-known bit of comic schtick.