Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: "Y'know what I'm sayin'?"

This is topic "Y'know what I'm sayin'?" in forum Film-Yak at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 01-04-2004, 03:46 PM:

Okay. What the hell is with this phrase, "y'know what I'm sayin'?"

I've just finished watching a thrilling overtime finish to the Seahawks-Packers wild card playoff football game. Cornerback Al Harris intercepts a slant pass thrown by QB Matt Hasselback and runs it in for the game winning touchtown. Now, Harris made a hell of a play (great read, great catch, fast run). But his after-the-game talk to the sideline reporter was peppered with that "y'know what I'm sayin'" crap.

We hear this phrase coming from everyone trying to front some kind of urban reputation, be it a rapper, politician or some silly white kid in the suburbs trying to act black. Dude, you're a honky just like the rest of us. Accept it.

Anyway, the phrase "y'know what I'm sayin'" really isn't even funny anymore when comedians like Chris Rock make fun it when lampooning rapper cliches. It's just old and sounds as stupid as dated expressions like "groovy" or "swell."

Posted by Chris Hipp (Member # 1788) on 01-04-2004, 03:58 PM:

I know what you're sayin. there was a guy in my speech class a few semesters ago that said "ya know what im sayin" in every sentence, luckily he never could give a speech over two minutes.

Posted by Jason Black (Member # 684) on 01-04-2004, 04:04 PM:

actually guys.. it comes across as...

"ykna whaa I'n sayn"

ANd yes, it gets aggravating as hell. I keep interrupting "No, I don't "kna whaya sayn".

Posted by Manny Knowles (Member # 1171) on 01-04-2004, 04:23 PM:

Believe it or not, I never stopped using Jim Varney's

"You know what I mean, Vern?"

and, for me, that dates back to around 1988. [Eek!]

Posted by Charles Everett (Member # 889) on 01-04-2004, 04:42 PM:

Another phrase to nominate for the Banished Words list.

Such a shame this thread didn't come up 2-3 weeks sooner. We would have goaded Bobby to nominate "Y'know what I'm sayin'?"

Incidentally, Al Harris is black.

[ 01-05-2004, 05:09 PM: Message edited by: Charles Everett ]

Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 01-04-2004, 04:48 PM:

Bobby, have you seen "Office Space"?

"Y'know what I'm sayin'. Gonna show her my o-face."

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 01-04-2004, 05:14 PM:

When people say "Y'knowwhati'msayin'" it just means that they are retarded. Serious. People have been doing this for awhile, though. Well, the retarded ones anyway.

When you hear someone talk like this, the best thing you can do is point it out and make fun of them. Everyone likes to laugh, so they will laugh at the retarded individual. The retarded person will not like being laughed at, and will mabe be forced to go back to special ed school (where they dropped out).

I watched the end of that game, and when the reporter started asking him "How did you do that?" (stupid question, by the way) he started saying "Well it's all about studying film (video?) etc etc etc" and I immediately changed the channels to watch the Broncos lose. Studying film? Bullshit! He was in the right place at the right time. Simple as that. What a retard!

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 01-04-2004, 05:41 PM:

Office Space is a funny movie. I chuckled at the term "o-face." It's visually descriptive. "Y'know what I'm sayin'" is not. I suppose the phrase is the "urban" way of saying, "uh."

I strongly agree that anyone using the phrase, "y'know what I'm sayin'" sounds like a retard. Unfortunately, it's usually some big jock, someone with a criminal record or just someone glorifying white-trash culture or inner city down-wit-it bullshit. So you're taking your chances if you want to just come right out and say, "you sound like f**king idiot." But someone needs to do that already.

Posted by Tim Reed (Member # 137) on 01-04-2004, 05:48 PM:

Same rules for writing prose. Stay away from the street slang and latest catch phrases! It's a bad habit, it obfuscates your meaning, and it dates you when your interview is played back (or your work is read).

Some guy that ran a booth in Houston I serviced used to say "understann whaa i'n saayn?" about every other sentence. It took him forever to tell me about booth problems. Like Joe suggests, I finally got tired of waiting for him to get to the point, that I just started hollering back, "YES!! I understand what you're saying!" every time he said it. While that didn't break him of the habit, it cut the occurrences by about 50%.

So, leave the dated phrases behind, and use your head.

Jeepers!

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 01-04-2004, 06:36 PM:

Well I firmly believe the reporter should have started making fun of him during the interview and urged all of America to join in and perhaps even point at him while laughing. OK that may have been a little much, but the reporter should have thrown in a "Know whut I'm sayin'" or three in his follow up question. That would have made the point at least to the people who were watching TV.

Posted by Phil Hill (Member # 371) on 01-04-2004, 07:25 PM:

Are you talkin' to me?

Are you...who you talkin' to?

Are you f*cking talkin' to ME?

>>> Phil

Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 01-04-2004, 09:08 PM:

"Can I ask you a question?"

Sure, but only that one. [Roll Eyes]

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 01-04-2004, 11:18 PM:

"Basically." I have tried to banish that word from my speech but it still sneaks in once in a while.

Posted by William Hooper (Member # 71) on 01-05-2004, 02:19 AM:

"Do you understand what I'm saying?" doesn't bother me as much as "Do you see what I'm saying?"

After that, I see laser-burned subtitles appearing under their face for the rest of the conversation. In the same language they're speaking.

Posted by Bruce McGee (Member # 131) on 01-05-2004, 07:22 AM:

People that say this phrase probably have no idea that they are making the person they are talking to want to strangle them.

One day on The People's Court (American daytime TV show) the defendant said this phrase at least 20-30 times before the judge interjected with: If you will get on with it, I will know what you are saying. Defendant never had a clue.

Sometimes, I just count how many times I hear it.

Jim Varney. RIP. We saw him on local TV for many years before he hit it in the movies.

Posted by Randy Stankey (Member # 64) on 01-05-2004, 09:04 AM:

"Y'Know what I'm sayin'", basically means (to me, anyway) that the speaker is making an innuendo or is telling the listener to "read between the lines" in some way or another.

For example: "I saw your girlfriend going upstairs with Fred... If Y'Know what I'm sayin'!"

In other words, "your girlfriend" is cheating on you with another man. The phrase, "Going upstairs", is another way to say, "Having sex". The phrase, "Y'Know what I'm sayin'", tells the listener that the term, "Going upstairs", has another meaning. (It's a parenthetical expression.)

If used that way, the phrase, "Y'Know what I mean", is witty and possibly even funny. (Depending on context.) However, when overused, it becomes "filler" which replaces intelligent conversation. It becomes a replacement for wit and/or humor, thus diluting its "value" as a parenthetical expression.

Posted by Thomas Procyk (Member # 1170) on 01-05-2004, 09:56 AM:

I'll admit I use the phrase sometimes, when appropriate. And I am far from being retarded, I think...

When I'm trying to explain something that someone wouldn't understand normally:
"You have to rewind the media pads after each show. If you don't, then you're just adding another layer of lubricant and not really cleaning...you know what I'm saying?"

Usually I say, "You know what I mean" though.

And what's wrong with Groovy? It's the best thing since Rad! [Cool]

=TMP=

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 01-05-2004, 11:58 PM:

No, Thomas... I am saying that it's retarded when the phrase is used over and over again in the same breath like was done with our mentally-challenged Green Bay football player friend who won the game. That dude thinks he's da shizznat.

Posted by Thomas Procyk (Member # 1170) on 01-06-2004, 07:32 AM:

Well there you go. He's a Football player. What else do you expect from someone with a profession that drains the funding of state uinversities so that they can fuel their overpaid dead-end careers?

"Sports Heros?" BAH! I've never found an odd-shaped brown ball to be a threat. Seems we're all safe now that it's over the line.

=TMP=

Posted by Greg Mueller (Member # 17) on 01-06-2004, 09:41 AM:

I got so tired of hearing that phrase I developed an automatic counter phrase...

"Do you know what I'm saying?"
"Yes I speak English"