I told you so

• told you so, told you, I told you

I told you so

1. (informal, ironic) Used to remind someone that they were already warned by the speaker or writer that a certain event would happen.

   Synonym: what did I tell you

   • 1918 September–November, Edgar Rice Burroughs, “The Land That Time Forgot”, in The Blue Book Magazine, Chicago, Ill.: Story-press Corp., →OCLC; republished as chapter IV, in Hugo Gernsback, editor, Amazing Stories, (please specify |part=I to III), New York, N.Y.: Experimenter Publishing, 1927, →OCLC:

     […] Of this he took a taste, and straightening up, looked into my eyes with an expression of elation—as much as to say "I told you so!"

   • 2023 April 1, Jonathan Weisman, “Trump and Fox News, Twin Titans of Politics, Hit With Back-to-Back Rebukes”, in The New York Times‎^[1], →ISSN:

     For the left, the seismic week delivered an “I told you so” years in the making.

   • 2024 April 5, Chappell Roan, Justin Tranter, Dan Nigro, “Good Luck, Babe!”‎^[2]performed by Chappell Roan:

     When you wake up next to him in the middle of the night
     With your head in your hands, you're nothing more than his wife
     And when you think about me, all of those years ago
     You're standing face to face with "I told you so"

• This phrase is often constructed as I hate to say I told you so, as a form of paralipsis.