English Language & Usage Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for linguists, etymologists, and serious English language enthusiasts. It only takes a minute to sign up.
Sign up to join this community
There is a saying in Hindi in India "teri lal" which translates "yours is red" which means "Whatever the case may be you are right" as in "you are always right". It is a sarcastic way of telling (usually) a know-it-all person (but not meant truly) "you are right".
Is there an equivalent version of this phrase in English?
Example
Rohan (the know-it-all): The moon is a sphere
John: hmmm
Rohan: The moon has its own light.
John: OK "teri lal" (you are right – sarcastically)
Though I agree with the others that the sarcasm is usually implied in the tone of the speaker, there is an idiomatic expression which implies a non-committal agreement without sounding overly offensive: whatever you say
TFD(idioms):
I accept what you say, and I'm not going to argue with you.
Usually implies that one doesn't really agree with the other person, but is going to do it to avoid a conflict.A: "Don't worry about the auditors, just run the numbers like I told you." B: "OK, whatever you say, boss."
A: "I told you, my parents let me borrow the car whenever I want." B: "Whatever you say."
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2015 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.
The most direct parallel might be the English expression "Yeah, right."
On the surface, it literally means, Yes, you are correct, but is universally accepted as meaning just the opposite, e.g., "No way," or "As if."
In English, just like in most languages, the perception of sarcasm lies in inflexion, modulation of intonation, rather than the words themselves.
One might say "Oh, really?" and intonation alone can make it a sarcastic remark or not. Likewise, depending on context, several other remarks can be sarcastic and ironic.
There's a Scottish term for this. It's "Aye, right". It has to be said with a fair amount of sarcasm.
When you have just said something to someone that they don’t quite believe, they are very likely to reply by saying – Aye, Right!! - https://scotlandwelcomesyou.com/scottish-sayings/
The joke goes that a teacher is explaining double negatives to her class and says that although two negatives make a positive, there are no examples where two positives make a negative. From the back of the classroom comes the phrase "Aye, right".
-- Just noticed Hot Licks' comment above. I guess it's not purely a Scottish thing!
There's an old joke about an English teacher telling the class, “In English, a double negative is a positive. But a double positive is never negative!”
A student tells her, “Yeah, yeah.”
(Or @alwayslearning’s excellent answer.)
If said with a sarcastic tone, a simple "Sure." is enough.
- colloq. (orig. N. Amer.). Used sarcastically to express scepticism or incredulity. Frequently in oh, sure, yeah, sure. Cf. right int. 1.
Indeed, perhaps.
Indeed is used widely and idiomatically both interrogatively and as an interjection, expressing (according to the intonation) irony, contempt, amazement, incredulity, or the like (OED)
‘That's Jarsper's.’ ‘Indeed?’ said Mr. Datchery.
Edwin Drood (Dickens, 1870) xviii. 141 (OED)
I agree with alwayslearning's answer, but in New Zealand English, the phrase "Yeah right" is strongly associated with a decades-long billboard marketing campaign by DB Breweries for their Tui brand. You should always assume it is intended sarcastically, regardless of tone.
"Yes, Socrates" works, and doesn't require any particular inflection or tone of voice to convey the sarcasm.
http://dailynous.com/2017/03/20/how-socratic-was-socrates/ "philosophers have been pushing this macho schtick from the beginning. Socrates is indeed their hero; if only they could do what he does, whether it be reducing their debating partners to silence or, even better, extracting succinct concessions to their intellectual superiority: “Yes, Socrates,” “You are quite right, Socrates,” “That is indeed true, Socrates,” “I dare say, Socrates,” and so on."
http://blogs.getty.edu/iris/a-non-philosophers-guide-to-plato/ "Thus there is a fair amount along the lines of: “Why yes, Socrates.” And, “It would seem so, Socrates,” and not much in the way of complaints about being unfairly backed into a corner."
My mother always says (sarcastically / indulgently)
"I'll believe you, but thousands wouldn't".
(We're australian, UK ancestry, my mum is in her late 60s) EDIT: Aha! It's not just my mum:
The following is from "The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English" found on google books
I believe you but thousands wouldn't - a catchphrase retort that is used to express doubt or, at best, reserve judgement about the veracity of the person being addressed. - Quotation: "It's the God's honest truth I'm telling you, Johnny". Mellors stood frowning down at him for a moment, then he said,"All right kid, I'll believe you but thousands wouldn't. Now sleep it off" (Derek Bickerton, Payroll 1959)
The following is from https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/I_believe_you,_thousands_wouldn%27t
I believe you, thousands wouldn't
- (Britain, Ireland, sarcastic) Used to indicate that the speaker does not put faith in something they have just heard.
- Quotation: 2004, Sandra Newman, The Only Good Thing Anyone Has Ever Done: A Novel, →ISBN, page 185: You weren't working on germ warfare five years ago." "Non-lethal," she cries. "Oh, how you can not see." "Well, I believe you, thousands wouldn't […]
Personal note:
I've always liked this phrase because it's kind of sweet how it doesn't accuse the person of speaking rubbish outright :)
In fact, my mum said this to a number of tall tales I relayed to her from classic works of literature such as "1001 crazy facts from around the world for kids", which although I now realise were more 'sensationalised-and-hard-to-disprove-historical/urban-myths', at the time, I was quite wounded by her implicit accusation, and would launch into a passionate defence of my source, yet I also felt a bit smug because, like the phase taken literally, I knew something which was quite obscure, and likely thousands actually wouldn't! :)
My new favorite is
Which implies they may be technically correct but are still incorrect in spirit. Or put another way, it implies they may not be wrong, but they aren't necessarily right either.
I wouldn't say it's entirely sarcastic, but more of a funny quip.
https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=you%27re%20not%20wrong
"you're not wrong" = "you're right", however phrasing it as "you're not wrong" usually that there's more to it -- either there's some missing nuance, or the speaker agrees grudgingly or doesn't like this truth or wishes it wasn't so, etc.
Alice: Bob, you drink too much.
Bob: You're not wrong.
Something someone says when they dispute what you're saying but does so in an underhanded way. It's often followed by a "but".
