like = 'It goes without saying that...not'

[Tyler Schnoebelen]

This reminded me of Chaucer being playful in the Canterbury Tales (eg, the Knight's Tale), I think I learned the rhetorical device as 'paralepsis' but there are some other related terms: http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apophasis

So the idea's been in English for a while, though "It goes without saying" may be early 20th century (but earlier than the 70s):

http://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=It+goes+without+saying&year_start=1600&year_end=2000&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=

http://corpus.byu.edu/coha/x.asp?w=320&h=480

Tyler

Tyler Schnoebelen
@TSchnoebelen
http://corplinguistics.wordpress.com/

> "As if" can function in the same way, I believe.
>
> --Charlie
>
> ________________________________________
> From: American Dialect Society [ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] on behalf of Jonathan Lighter [wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM]
> Sent: Thursday, January 24, 2013 11:39 AM
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> OED doesn't cover this ironic sentence-header, which one now hears
> frequently. (I can't even guess as to when I first notice it, though I'll
> SWAG it, tentatively, to the late '70s or so.)
>
> A splendid example occurs in the current TV commercial when Progressive Flo
> magically appears on a stormy roadside to assist a hapless insuree:
>
> HE: I knew you'd come.
>
> SHE (reprovingly, with a hint of interrogation):  Like I could stay away?
>
> Watch it here:
> http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=youtube+progressive+flo&mid=A2E9EBE8D441C98551A3A2E9EBE8D441C98551A3&view=detail&FORM=VIRE3
>
> Thirty-seventh century researchers may have a hard time explaining such a
> construction.
>
> JL
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org