Learn English – Origin of “If I’ve told you once I’ve told you a thousand times”

etymologyidioms

I've searched the web and found only definitions and paltry speculation as to the origin of this scolding phrase. How did it get put together this illogical way? Are there tacet words in the phrase that, if said, would make it seem more logical, such as

If I've told you once, I [might as
well] have told you a thousand times
[for all the good it did].

Where does this phrase originate, and how did it end up getting phrased that way?

Best Answer

How about "thousands" of instances of its usage? I can't resist the irony! (Add your contribution!)

If I've told you once, [please consider] I've told you a thousand times. - just now

If I've Told You Once, I've Told You 1,000,000,000 Times - 2010

If I've told you once, I've told you countless times - 2002

Dear Rocker in Constance: If I've told you pinheads once, I've told you a thousand times — anybody who listens to the Beatles in 1995 is not only living in the past, he's brain dead! - 1995

I told you once, Hopkins, I told you million times - 194?

If I've told you once I've told you five thousand times - 1941

If I have told you once I have told you ten dozen times - 1930

If I've told you that once, I've told you thrice — I've told you a thousand times - ?1927?

don't you know that I not only told you once but, in response to repeated importunities from you, that I told you several times - 1919

if I said to you once, don't touch confiscated property, I told you so ten thousand times - 1866

once is as good as if I had told you a thousand Times over - 1735

As a @FumbleFinger's once said:

It's just a standard speech device that people reinvent repeatedly

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Learn English – Origin of the term “fat chance”

Learn English – Where does “on one’s last legs” come from

Related Topic