I'm wondering the following conversations, extracted mostly from a comedic video at the following timestamps links: a,In this one it says you walk, no you say, but it's similar concept,c. The phrases go like this, I'm interested in what "you say" means. I think it means the speaker disbelieves the claim made by the other person.
Example 1:
-Sorry I can't party I'm busy
-You say you're busy
(He thinks it's not busy, but making up an excuse).
Example 2:
-I couldn't wash the car, I have hand pain.
-You say you have hand pain.
(He thinks he was lazy or something else, not that he has hand pain, that's he thinks it's just an excuse)
I've seen this question but it says "You say that" as a phrase. I want to know if this is analogous, and if you can point me to some link or reference where it's being used.
Best Answer
Yeah okay I think I've got it. The video is a bit of a weird one, and the language structure in it is rare, but does make grammatical sense (even if the guy is being a creep). It is also being used in a sarcastic / mocking form which makes it even more layered - but grammatical construction is clear. Strictly speaking the construction is the imperative, and it is usually used to encourage someone.
Non-mocking example (square brackets indicate words that are optional):
said to a person experimenting with unusual clothing choices:
Putting 'you' in front of the imperative like this is rare, and I can't think of another example apart from this one very specific 'encouragement' construction. To make it clear that you're using this construction, it is often helpful to emphasise the verb (in this case 'go' and 'wear').
Of course, since the person in the video is mocking, the aim is not encouragement but the opposite, putting them off and creeping them out.
A completely different construction is:
Here 'you say' is a description of what the other person did, to clarify their claim before disputing it.