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you don't say

My doubt is whether you use this for exclamations or for agreements, all the references pointed out for saying it when one is surprised but I am sure I have heard some one say this in an agreeing way

I failed in my maths exam

You don't say!

The weather is nice today

You don't say

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    Reminds me of an old Spike Jones routine: the phone rings; Spike answers it, and in an increasingly-excited voice he says "You don't say. You don't say. You don't say!" He hangs up, and the audience asks "Who was it?" "He didn't say."
    – MT_Head
    Commented Aug 9, 2013 at 8:40
  • And you usually fail a test.
    – Noah
    Commented Aug 9, 2013 at 9:40
  • @Noah The first one is for surprised, second one for casual agreement.
    – user49404
    Commented Aug 9, 2013 at 10:21
  • @rps: I don't see how one is a surprise and the other is a casual agreement.
    – Noah
    Commented Aug 10, 2013 at 11:25

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It is down to intonation.

"They play horribly" "you don't say". - disillusioned and agreeing

Wiktionary:

  • They're going to have a baby? You don't say! - surprised

  • "Hey, guess what? There's a country called Brazil!" "You don't say." - sarcastic - the statement is obvious to the person uttering the expression.

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  • Yes - as in "it's so obvious, you do not need to mention it"
    – mplungjan
    Commented Sep 11, 2018 at 7:05
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You don't say is a response that can be used, when someone states something that is insanely obvious, and you cannot think of any other legitimate response to say.

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0

Maybe they are sarcastically agreeing, as in,

A:"It is 100 degrees today and I find it is hot." B: "You don't say?"

This is agreeing but it is also being sarcastic.

Another way is to confirm and encourage the person to keep on speaking, as a sort of feedback, but not necessarily as a question, as in "Keep on speaking" or "this is interesting to me".

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