215b. “Oh, you know, I’m just saying .... I wasn’t scolding you.” (1931
Collette, The gentle libertine [ https:// books.google.ca/ books/ about/
The Gentle Libertine.html?id=bGFEAAAAIAAJ ]; cited by Enge in
Liberman 2012 )
c. This ain’t anything against you, toots. I’m just sayin ... (1936 Bell, All
brides are beautiful , 15 [books.google.com/ books?id=cClBAAAAIAAJ])
d. “I’m not knocking. I’m just saying .” McGuinness’s wax- colored face had
spotted with red (1943 Wolfert, Tucker’s people , 188 [books.google.ca/
books?isbn=0252065980])
e. All right, I’m just saying ... People change. (1951 Ibsen, An enemy of the
people (adapted by Arthur Miller) [books.google.ca/ books?isbn=082220360X])
f. I was jus’ sayin’. No offence! (1968 Roberts, Imprisoned tongues v. 58
[OED])
The OED gives an early citation for I’m only saying (27a), which can be sup-
plemented with examples from Google Books (27b– c):
(27) a. Sure, I know – I was only sayin’. (1925 O’Casey, Juno & Paycock iii, in
Two plays 91 [OED])
b. I always was one for a good bed” “I’m not complainin’,” answered Mrs.
Wilson. “ I’m only sayin’ .” (1907 The living age ... Vol. 255, 52 [ https://
books.google.ca/ books?id=BpkDEVmCBlwC] )
c. I’m only sayin’. ... Captain McCobb I’ll not hev you makin’ light of
nu thin’ any more ’round this house! (1926 Howard, Ned McCobb’s daugh-
ter: A comedy 66 [ https:// books.google.ca/ books?id=B21JAAAAMAAJ ])
The reduced form just saying is very recent in the corpora consulted:
(28) he’s not getting anywhere near my daughter. Just sayin’. (2005 YR [SOAP])
Thus, in terms of dating, it seems that I’m just saying is an early twentieth-
century development, arising in colloquial (American) speech.
7.3.4.2 Source(s) of I’m Just Saying. A number of different dia-
chronic sources of I’m just saying suggest themselves:^23
(a) full biclausal structure: I am/ ’m just saying that S
(b) adverbial adjunct: as I am/ was (just) saying
(c) parenthetical without just/ only : I am/ was saying
7.3 (I’m) Just Saying and Related Comment Clauses23 The OED points out the parallel with German ich sag’ ja nur dating from the late nineteenth
century, but it does not explicitly argue that I’m just saying is a calque. Given the large German
population in North America, it is not unlikely that this parallel German expression contributed
to the rise and spread of the English expression. However, I believe I’m just saying is a native
construction.