# You don't say

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-dont-say/598810>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [October 6, 2011, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-dont-say/598810 "2011-10-06T18:02:35Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\
**Post date:** [October 6, 2011, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-dont-say/598810/1 "2011-10-06T18:02:35Z")

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In [this thread in CS](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=626856)the question came up about who used “You don’t say” as a comedy line. It seems to go far back into radio comedy and vaudeville. It’s comic value comes from sarcasm, usually with an exagerrated pronunciation.

When did this line emerge as an idiom in English? Was there a piece of literature it was associated with? Did it have any comic connotations early on?

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**Author:** ![Reverend\_Meade](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Reverend\_Meade](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reverend_Meade)\
**Post date:** [October 7, 2011, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-dont-say/598810/2 "2011-10-07T06:00:45Z")

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I seem to recall hearing that a lot of Yiddish style mannerisms made their way into English through Vaudville. Things like American style sarcasm. This sounds like one of those to me.

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**Author:** ![Crazyhorse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crazyhorse/32/31_2.png) [@Crazyhorse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crazyhorse)\
**Post date:** [October 7, 2011, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-dont-say/598810/3 "2011-10-07T06:42:12Z")

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Here’s [one cite](http://books.google.com/books?id=IKhVAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA128&dq=%22you+don+%27+t+say%22&hl=en&ei=AJ6OTtnYItG3tgfV87WpBg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CEQQ6AEwAzh4) from 1705 to get the bidding started.

> [@](#):
>
> Arch-Bishop Turpin, cry’d Bracamonte laughing; Good God, sure you don’t say so. Is that Prelate in this world still; I thought he had been dead I know not how many ages ago.