'I know, right?'

[BurtWorm]

Check in if you've heard someone say this in the last 24 hours.

I heard it said at least twice in the last 24 hours (give or take two hours),once just now in a commercial during the Colbert Report, and once probably in a commercial during the Oscars. I think this phrase, innocuous and ordinary as it may seem, is actually taking on some kind of life of its own. It's becoming virus-like, spreading even to people who would ordinarily say something more like, "Exactly!" or "You know what I mean?" or "Am I right?" or even just "Right?"

Do you hear this phrase? Do you use this phrase?

I know, right?

[darkstar]

1. yeah, yeah, yeah

Has that virus passed yet?

(Actually, I found it interesting. Two friends from "eastern bloc countries" --who didn't know each other--began. saying it at around the same time. First I'd heard it. Then it went wider, at least here in midwest. Interesting, at least, in there seeming to be some origins to its transmission.)

[BurtWorm]

2. Are you suggesting it comes from the eastern bloc?

:tinfoilhat:

[darkstar]

3. Well, I was suggesting that perhaps "yeah, yeah, yeah" did

You know, while on the subject of little catch phrases bouncing around the world and all....

[BurtWorm]

4. Ah!

Interesting. That reminds me that "I know, right?" is the US version of "yeah?", which is England's latest version of "n'est-ce pas?" which used to be "innit?"

[amitten]

5. I hate that. Please people, just stop. n/t

[BurtWorm]

6. I know! Right?

Thank you for providing the perfect opporunity to demonstrate the usage of this phrase!

:toast:

[Orsino]

7. It's a rather silly locution, but I understand it.

It shows active listening, and invites further active listening, in very few words.

[Bertha Venation]

8. I've been hearing this for years. n/t

[Shakespeare]

9. I HATE that phrase.

Gets on my very last nerve.

[LostinVA]

18. Uh oh

[Shakespeare]

20. I know, right?

:rofl:

[LostinVA]

23. Seriesly

[SteppingRazor]

10. Kinda weird. I never really heard it until I moved to South Florida. Now, I hear it constantly.

And I say it myself with alarming regularity.

[BurtWorm]

11. I don't think it's South Florida. I think it's the timing.

I hear it all the time in New York.

[SteppingRazor]

14. Might still be a geographical quirk...

as there are heaps of New Yorkers living in South Florida.

That said, I moved here in 2000, as far as the timing.

[redqueen]

12. Not sure if I've heard it, but I've said it.

I say it myself... I don't find it bothersome or annoying like 'my bad' or 'epic'.

:shrug:

[BurtWorm]

13. I don't find it annoying. Yet.

I'm just noticing how more and more frequent it's becoming. It actually tickles me a little when I hear it. I don't know how long it's going to have that effect. It will be interesting to see how it develops over the next year. If I'm right and it is viral, it will probably nauseate me eventually. About the tenth time I hear it on a commercial, for example.

[redqueen]

17. I definitely like it.

I also like saying 'really?' in that 'I'm not asking you if you really said / did that, I'm really saying can you seriously believe that is not as fucked up as all hell?' way. :D

I knew that'd gone beyond viral when the SNL news made it into a bit. I still like it though. :)

[AlCzervik]

15. it doesn't bother me.

"My bad" and "I'd hit it" bother me.

[BurtWorm]

19. My bad, in particular, has gone way beyond annoying.

I think when "I know, right?" will become annoying is when advertising people put it in the mouths of Greatest Generation types to try to get an easy laugh, which is when "my bad" started getting really annoying.

[redqueen]

24. IMO 'my bad' was annoying from jump street.

It's grammatically offensive to me. :P

[BurtWorm]

26. I know, right?

It should be "My badness." (Or is that the same as "My bad self"?)

[redqueen]

27. 'My mistake'... that's what I'd go with.

Even a sentence fragment like 'my fault...' would be less grating than 'my bad'.

[Heidi]

16. I don't use that phrase. When I agree, I say,

"I agree" and don't expect my conversation partner to somehow validate my agreement. Which is why I'm one of the least cool and contemporary people on earth.

[BurtWorm]

21. I don't know if it's a cool thing or just a viral thing.

But that's how I interpret it, as well. It's a social bond reinforcer, more about the subtext of a conversation than the text, if you follow me. It doesn't really mean just "I agree." It means, "We're on the same page, sister."

[Heidi]

22. Thank you for the explanation

and further validation of just how uncool/virus resistant I apparently am. :rofl:

(I know, right?)

I'll just go back to my sketch pad and my Van Morrison accompaniment now. :yoiks:

[PVnRT]

25. Like, oh my God, I know, right?

[Dangerously Amused]

28. I first heard it about twelve years ago, in the deep South.

A young woman I knew said it frequently. I thought it was kind of cute, at least it was the way she said it.