say!

The tune and the lyrics are so out of sync that the singer is forced to comically elasticize words: Oh, say! does tha-hat star-spangled ba-ner-er ye-het way-hayve ...

What so proudly we failed 2011

“You will do as I say!” he shouted, and kicked the creature once more while it was down.

Stone and Anvil Peter David 2003

It grosses me out, as one of my yuppie patients might say! and she laughed nervously.

Shrink Dreams WAYNE A. MYERS 1992

Still, even when sung correctly, our anthem is a mess: 15 dangling clauses that seem more or less mix-and-match interchangeable Oh, say! can you see/through the perilous fight/o'er the land of the free/by the dawn's early light ⦠, all of it amounting to a single, convoluted question that is then ⦠not answered.

What so proudly we failed 2011

“That’s easy for you to say!” roared the bearded biker.

Unearthly Asylum P. J. Bracegirdle 2010

“I say!” said Ogilvy, looking on the verge of collapse; “help keep these idiots back.

The War of The Worlds H. G. Wells 2009

He nodded a lot and smiled a lot and sometimes said, “Really!” and “You don’t say!” which he must have got from Daddy, because Daddy said that a lot.

A Burning in Homeland Richard Yancey 2003

You don’t say! she’d exclaimed, bracing herself against the back of her chair.

Carolina Mist Mariah Stewart 1996

“At least you can’t think worse things of me than you say!” she exclaimed with a trembling laugh; but before he could answer, the flow of comprehension between them was abruptly stayed by the reappearance of Gus Trenor, who advanced with Mr. Rosedale in his wake.

The House of Mirth Edith Wharton 1987

“I don’t care what you say!” he declared passionately, “That maniac was coming right at us!

Say No to Murder Nancy Pickard 1985