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MUSCOVITE Posted 12 years ago
Vocabulary

I say

Hi,

According to my Longman:
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I say (spoken, British English old-fashioned
a) used to get someone's attention:

ex: I say, don't I know you?

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If "I say" is antiquated today (North A., the UK, elsewhere), what replacement(s) would you suggest?

Look, don't I know you?

Anything else?

mus-te
  

Top answer

MUSCOVITE I say (spoken, British English old-fashioned a) used to get someone's attention:ex: I say, don't I know you? Captain Hastings in the Agatha Christie novels. MUSCOVITE what replacement(s) would you suggest?

— CalifJim

  • MUSCOVITE I say (spoken, British English old-fashioned a) used to get someone's attention:ex: I say, don't I know you?
  • Captain Hastings in the Agatha Christie novels.
  • MUSCOVITE what replacement(s) would you suggest?
  • Argh!
  • I wouldn't suggest any.
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7 Answers
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MUSCOVITEI say (spoken, British English old-fashioned a) used to get someone's attention:ex: I say, don't I know you?
Captain Hastings in the Agatha Christie novels.
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In the UK, some people, myself included, still use "I say". Sometimes people say it in a deliberately exaggerated way, mimicking a posh person from a bygone age, but it can also be used in a more normal, matter-of-fact way.
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Even if the BE is just the "tip of an iceberg" nowadays, it is a VERY interesting one :-)
Thank you, GPY! Emotion: shake hands
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According to my Penguin: I say! Brit, dated used to to express surprise or to attract attention: I say, would you be so kind as to open the window, please?
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There's a line from Terminator 2 that goes:
[T-1000] - Say, that's a nice bike.

Does that have the same meaning?

H.
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Henry74There's a line from Terminator 2 that goes:[T-1000] - Say, that's a nice bike.Does that have the same meaning?H.
That's interesting, yes, the meaning is pretty similar. I never connected the two before. This "say" is primarily American (not used in the UK), but I wonder if it might originally have been a shortening of "I say"?
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Henry74There's a line from Terminator 2 that goes:[T-1000] - Say, that's a nice bike.Does that have the same meaning?H.
I'd say it has more or less the same meaning. The rhyming interjection "Hey" does just as well from where I'm from, and it sounds less old-fashioned to me. I would never start a sentence with "Say" like that.

Hey, that's a nice
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