as we say
23
5.6
- idiom
:
por así decirlo
- The pot calls the kettle black, as we say.
- Just as we say
- as we say in the business
- as we say goodbye
And we have to be careful that we're not painting, as we say, with too broad a brush.
- And we have to be careful that we're not painting, as we say, with too broad a brush.
- When are they finally going to, as we say, get a room or get it on?
- You argued out publicly and you don't, you know, as we say in football, you don't play the man, you play the ball.
- So pitch, yawn, roll are the movements of the head in each of the three major planes of motion, as we say.
- And then, using this Harvard degree to, as we say in Coomba, do what we can with what we have to leave a space better than we found it.
- It was like having your head in the sand, or cup and turas, as we say, it's your head in your tush.
- He's been, you know, I think he's was a former liberal like me, refugee, as we say, that's the term refugee.
Examples
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Would you rather wear MC Hammer pants or trousers, as we say here in the UK, or biker shorts in public?
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As we say, anything you say, sir, can and will, I’m sure, be used against you.
Blog text (27) -
Or as we say today, "people like me."
Academic text (2000) -
And we have to be careful that we're not painting, as we say, with too broad a brush.
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Ignorance of the law, as we say in the trade, is no excuse.
Blog text (22) -
As we say in Kindermusik, "it is the process, not the performance that is the key."
Blog text (22) -
Or as we say in the 'hood: how d'ya like those apples, Fred?
Blog text (22) -
So that's going to be a number as we say now, a scalar quantity.
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So thanks for thanks for agreeing to do that and and bringing some of your expertise across the pond, as we say, of the Atlantic Ocean.
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We often use the phrase as we say to remind ourselves of common expressions.
Synonyms
80
5.6
As a way of saying something that is not exactly true
64
6.9
To say something is not exact but gives a useful example
5
7.2
In informal speech or writing using everyday words
1
7.0
In a way people often say
To use words and phrases that sound natural to native speakers
Antonyms
How Figurative
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase is compositional: 'as' (in the way that) + 'we' (people/speakers) + 'say' (state), so a learner who knows the words can infer it means 'as people/the speakers say' or 'so to speak' indicating conventional or figurative wording. This pattern has clear cross-linguistic parallels (e.g. 'como decimos' in Spanish), making the intended pragmatic sense predictable for a B1 learner.
Etymology
The phrase as we say comes from speakers who would literally say we and say to point to a common, familiar expression. So, it is used to show that you mean something in 'a way of speaking' rather than literally.