anyone know the end of this phrase, is there an end to this phrase? i have only ever heard, 'well i never', and,'well i never did'.
Well, I never
seen such a thing!
seen such a thing in my entire life!
heard of such a thing!
heard of such a thing in my life!
experienced such a thing!
experienced such a thing before in my entire life!
or something else in a similar vein.
"did", the ending is did
as in "Well, I never did!"[scandalized outrage e]
And of course the answer is either "you should have" or "I'm not surprised"
...heard tell of such a thing.
Well, I never...
...would have believed it if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes.
Do you suppose the phrase is sufficiently unique to have a documentable origin? Or, like Topsy (xthread), did it just grow?
i kind of thought it might have another half that goes with it but can be used alone like:
it just goes to show
with
you never can tell
no?
ok
is there a word for that, anyway?
Well, as has been amply illustrated above, "Well, I never!" is short for a longer expression and take your pick for precisely what that longer expression is.
English's ability to shorten the too-long knows no limits. Well, yes it does. Probably the ultimate contraction has to be "halfpenny'sworth" chopped down to "haypth"! I think the English language has rather rested on its laurels since coming up with that one.
Probably the ultimate contraction has to be "halfpenny'sworth" chopped down to "haypth"!
For me the champion has always been "eleëmosynary" ==> "alms".
I think that it is pretty much it. You have to fill in the end based on what is going on at that precise moment.