he-said-she-saidadj.n.
/ˈhiːsɛdˌʃiːsɛd/, U.S. /ˈhiˌsɛdˈʃiˌsɛd/ A. adj.
1. Designating or relating to a narrative dominated by simple back-and-forth dialogue with attributions.
ΚΠ
1944 F. O. Matthiessen Henry James App. 157 Of more interest is the ‘he said—she said’ problem, upon which the older James could well take pride in his ingenuity. Isabel ‘answered, smiling’ becomes Isabel ‘smiled in return’ or Isabel ‘gaily engaged’.
1968 V. S. Pritchett in Times 29 Jan. 6/7 My mother was a tremendous story teller, in the ‘he said, she said’ style.
1986 M. Stephens Dramaturgy of Style iv. 71 What I learned was to get prose's dialogue out of a he said/she said syndrome, putting it into some rhythmical immediacy with the rest of the words.
2. U.S. Of a dispute: characterized by conflicting statements from opposing parties in the absence of concrete evidence. Also: of or relating to gossip or hearsay (he-say-she-say n.).
ΚΠ
1970 Washington Post 16 Dec. a14/1 We have ended up with one of those he said/she said situations in which everyone seems to feel some obligation to vindicate himself or make some political gain.
1980 Amer. Ethnologist 7 676 The outcome of the he-said-she-said confrontation differs from most disputes in that neither compromise nor a clear form of settlement occurs.
1995 Denver Post 28 May a32/2 The he-said-she-said style of journalism minimizes the likelihood the public will know whether he or she is telling the truth.
2003 Washington Post 27 May (Home ed.) b1/2 The hearing on the docket presaged another round in the he-said-she-said acrimony of his marriage's breakdown.
B. n.
U.S. A contentious dispute in which the parties express opposing accounts of an event or situation; an account of such a dispute lacking analysis or concrete evidence. Also: an instance of recounting gossip or hearsay (cf. he-say-she-say n.).
ΚΠ
1969 N.Y. Times 17 Sept. 95/6 (television listing) 8:00... He Said, She Said: Joe Garagiola.]
1980 Amer. Ethnologist 7 674 The present study is an attempt to analyze the cultural procedures used by black female children to organize a multistage speech event, a form of gossip dispute which they call ‘he-said-she-said’.
1987 D. Rose Black Amer. Street Life v. 220 The replaying of what went on was a version of the he said-she said, and probably fulfills the scientific definition of gossip.
2001 Newsweek 18 June 39/3 Sexual assaults are tricky cases to investigate. In many instances, allegations boil down to he said, she said.
2004 Amer. Prospect Mar. 20/2 Go beyond the ‘he said, she said’ and tell us what you believe to be true and important about a story.
This is a new entry (OED Third Edition, June 2005; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.n.1944