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"Spoken into existence"-I came across this expression.

Impressive_Craft_330
I was watching a program and if I'm not wrong, the context was a conversation between two people and they kind of wanted to say the same, and in fact they came to the same conclusion and said the same at almost the exact same time, then one of them laughed and said "spoken into existence". Is that phrase used to mean "you just said what I wanted to say"/ "you stole my words" ?? I asked a British friend and he had no idea whatsoever. It must be an American expression otherwise he would know about it. He's not a religious person but he's well-read and in his 60's, and I've asked him plenty of times about thing that have some religious connotation and he knows everything.

5 comments

Stepjam•
Basically it means by talking about something, you can sort of manifest it into reality. It can be used in a positive sense of sorta trying to make what you want happen by talking about it. It can also be used in a negative sense in a "lets not talk about it, because if we do it might happen" way. It's not a religious thing, but I guess you could say it's superstitious. I don't think most people literally believe that saying something will make it happen though. Similar to saying "knock on wood".
zebostoneleigh•
Spoken into existence is different than either of the other two phrases. Spoken into existence means making something happen by saying it. It is not a reference to speaking at the same time as someone else. A person stranded alone on an island would really enjoy being able to have a boat appear... just be "speaking it into existence." It's like wishing or dreaming - but based on speaking. You can't just speak a cake into existence. Someone has to cook it.
JenniferJuniper6•
It’s pretty much how God made the world, if you believe in that kind of thing.
NotSoMuch_IntoThis•
It means that one had made something become real merely by speaking of it out loud, aka “spoke something into being”. It’s almost always said facetiously, as most people don’t actually believe words can bring things into existence - but some do, and they may call it manifestation.
Impressive_Craft_330••OP
Thank you all!!