Idiom
that's what she said
Meaning
A joking retort that draws attention to the possibility of sexual innuendo in what was just said.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Examples
“He said it was too big, and I replied, that's what she said.”
“I tell him it is too long, and he laughs, that's what she said.”
“When my coworker complained that the tool was hard to handle, I could not help but say, that's what she said.”
“You should be careful because this surface is extremely slippery, my brother warned, and I immediately replied, that's what she said.”
“My friend complained that he could not get the key into the hole, so I naturally shouted, that's what she said, from the other room.”
“In a moment of juvenile humor, he seized upon the ambiguous phrasing of the presentation to interject with a well-timed, that's what she said.”
Examples
simple
“He said it was too big, and I replied, that's what she said.”
“I tell him it is too long, and he laughs, that's what she said.”
contextual
“When my coworker complained that the tool was hard to handle, I could not help but say, that's what she said.”
“You should be careful because this surface is extremely slippery, my brother warned, and I immediately replied, that's what she said.”
“My friend complained that he could not get the key into the hole, so I naturally shouted, that's what she said, from the other room.”
complex
“In a moment of juvenile humor, he seized upon the ambiguous phrasing of the presentation to interject with a well-timed, that's what she said.”
Origin
First attested in the early 20th century, the phrase functions as a double entendre where she refers to the speaker's imagined sexual partner. The attribution of the remark to a third party provides a thin layer of detachment for the speaker, though the identity of the woman in question remains entirely hypothetical.
Key words
Related idioms
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