Origin: What else do I have to say??

Posted by ESC on November 21, 2000

In Reply to: Song "We Didn't Start the Fire" by Billy Joel posted by 3pint on November 21, 2000

: In this song there is a phrase "What else do I have to say?" Who was responsible for coining this phrase and what does it refer to?

: I need to know for a school assignment for one of my children. Thanks for the help

: Ciao
: 3Pint

The closest I can come to "What else do I have to say?" is:

WHAT DO YOU SAY? - This entry is in the "Hello, Howdy, Hi" section of Listening to America: An Illustrated History of Words and Phrases from Our Lively and Splendid Past by Stuart Berg Flexner (Simon and Schuster, New York, 1982): "Hello, Howdy, Hi, or words to that effect are used by most of us several times a day.Surprisingly enough, 'hello' didn't become a truly common greeting until the mid 1860s. It comes from 'holla!,' 'stop!' (French 'ho! + la, there), used to attract attention, hail a coach, ferry, etc. 'Hi' is just a variant of 'hey!'; it had been used as a shout to attract attention for over 500 years before we began using it as a greeting in the 1880s. 'What's up?' dates from the 1880s, too.'What do you know?' 'What do you say?' ('whata-ya know,' whata-ya say') and 'How's tricks?' date from the mid 1920s."