English usage and grammar

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A community to discuss and ask questions about English usage and grammar.

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Cambridge English Dictionary
Merriam-Webster Dictionary and Thesaurus
Gilman's Webster's Dictionary of English Usage. This is a great and witty reference about usage, its history, and its controveries

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(Icon: entry "English" in the Oxford English Dictionary, 1933. Banner: page from Chaucer's "The Wife of Bath's Tale".)

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Why would you say that? (self.english)

submitted 1 year ago by wmrch to c/[email protected]

11 comments fedilink hide all child comments

As a non-native speaker I encounter this phrase from time to time (in podcasts and such) and I'd like to understand the use (beside the literal meaning which is obvious).

Why would you say that? or sometimes Why do you say that?

To me, that sounds almost rude, like rebuking the questioner. However, the context usually leads me to conclude that this sentence is to be understood neutrally, in the sense of "I am interested in the background of the question".

How should the sentence usually be used? Or does it depend solely on the tone the phrase is used?

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[–] wmrch 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Thanks for your insightful comments everyone, really enjoying the discussion and it's interesting to see how different a 5-word phrase can come across.