I told you so

• told you so
• told you
• I told you

I told you so

1. Used to remind someone that they were already warned by the speaker/writer that a certain event would happen.
   • 1918, Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Land That Time Forgot Chapter IV

     "See that, man!" Some flowers and grasses and another leafy branch floated toward us. We both scanned the water and the coastline. Bradley evidently discovered something, or at least thought that he had. He called down for a bucket and a rope, and when they were passed up to him, he lowered the former into the sea and drew it in filled with water. 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!"

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

• For quotations of use of this term, see Citations:I told you so.