he said, she said

English

Alternative forms

• he-said-she-said; he say, she say

Noun

he said, she said (uncountable)

1. Conflicting reports from two or more parties on an issue, prototypically involving a situation between a man and a woman with no other witnesses.
   • 1999, The Practice (TV, episode 3.18)

     And after he got caught he, along with his attorney, chose the strategy of putting the victim on trial. He said, she said. It was reasonable doubt.

   • 2000, CSI (TV, episode 1.06)

     "Eddie said that she was into it." "He said, she said. It's about the evidence, Catherine."

   • 2001, Frasier (TV, episode 8.23)

     He said, she said. We'll never know what really happened.

   • 2008, Robert Allison, Investigation of Crime Scene, →ISBN, page 33:

     Our summary is brief and does not include a lot of he said, she said information. In the scene section of the narrative we give a detailed description of the scene as it is seen upon our approach.

Translations

conflicting reports from two or more parties on an issue

• Arabic: قِيل وَقال (ar) (qīl waqāl)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 各執一詞／各执一词 (zh) (gèzhíyīcí)

• Finnish: sana sanaa vastaan
• German: Gerede (de) n, Behauptungen f pl, (when involving a burden of proof also) Aussage gegen Aussage (literally “testimony against testimony”)
• Japanese: 言った言わない (itta iwanai)
• Portuguese: disse me disse (pt) m, diz que me disse m
• Spanish: dimes y diretes, Él dijo, ella dijo

See also

• blame game