The phrase I see you, meaning “I acknowledge what you’re doing,” comes from performance, and pops up often in African-American performance rhetoric. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “I See You”
You probably know this slang word. It’s when somebody says, I see you.
I see you?
Yeah, it’s when you are doing something and people want to acknowledge that they see what you’re up to.
It comes from performance, like you might have it in an improv class, or you might have it when you’re learning how to act.
So, and some people claim that it comes from African-American performance rhetoric.
So it’s, I acknowledge you.
I see you.
I know what you’re doing.
It’s kind of like, I hear you.
And now I’m going to respond to you.
I see you.
I hear you.
See, there we go.
It’s just like, I hear you, only I see you.
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