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Kooyeen Posted 18 years ago
Grammar

I says

0 Hi,02br
00I didn't know where to ask, but since there's not much traffic in the linguistic section, I'll ask here although it's not really "general grammar". Who uses the verb to be like in 01i01b00I says02b02i00, and where? I saw it one, two, three times, not I have to ask. Either all characters in King's stories are nuts, or King is nuts, or someone says it, possibly in Maine or somewhere in New England.02br
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01b00"He puked in my slipper," I says.02b02br
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00Thanks. 050010id1
  

Top answer

02br 02br 00I think it comes from "Oh yeah! " to indicate that's an example of "improper" grammar. " (a common expression)0-

— Avangi

  • 02br 02br 00I think it comes from "Oh yeah!
  • " to indicate that's an example of "improper" grammar.
  • " (a common expression)0-
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13 Answers
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0Sure, I used to hear it growing up in NE, but among "uneducated" people, so to speak.02br
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00I think it comes from "Oh yeah! ? - Who says?" or "Says who?", often written as, "Sez who?" to indicate that's an example of "improper" grammar. (reply) "Sez me!"02br
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00"I sez to myself, sez I, - " or "I says to myself, says I." (a common expre
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0 Don't use it if you're trying to impress someone. 0-
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0 Ah, thanks. Then it's found, or at least it was found in the past, in New England (and King is from Maine, I think).02br
00If anyone else has an opinion or knows more about "I says", of course I won't dismiss their reply. 050010id1
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0Yes, King in from Maine, and although I lived there for 15 years, never once did I hear anyone ever say that except in jest. Perhaps it is said up in Bangor more than in Freeport. 02br
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00He does tend to write his characters' speech very colloquially. 02br
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00"So 'Blah blah blah,' Jim says, but I couldn't let that go, so 'Blah blah blah,' I says,
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0I'm not sure I've ever heard "I says/says I" outside a spoken (or transcribed) narrative. "Says I" is now I think mostly literary.02br
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00Cf. "I goes", which in BrE is similarly used (though not "goes I").02br
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00MrP0-
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0 I see thanks. Yeah, it doesn't seem common at all to me, at least in mainstream English. 0-
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0Agreed, Kooyeen and Mr. Pedantic. "Common" was a bad choice of words. It was common among my circle - in my town, growing up - my family, etc., and may have had a limited range and life. It was a stock reply in certain types of situations. Sometimes those things caught on nationally and sometimes not. I'm not sure of the genesis - probably vaudeville.02br
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00I
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0Just out of curiousity, what part of New England did you live in?0-
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0Are you addressing I? (oh-oh - that was supposed to be funny - Henry Aldrich?? 01i00Are you calling I, Father?)02i02br
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01i00Connecticut Valley - 02i00half-way up the NH / VT border0-
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