Needless to say...

Let me set the scene.
There's a girl, who has married a boy. One night they're sitting at home when there's a knock at the door. When the girl answers the door, a young man shoots at her with a plastic b-b gun, then he runs away. The girl and the boy are both, understandably, upset. Once they've calmed down a bit, the girl describes the incident in her Instant Messenger away message. The next morning, as I'm compulsively checking away messages on my buddy list, I read about it. One phrase sticks out to me..."Needless to say, [boy] was really upset." A blog ensues.

"Needless to say..." always catches my attention. Why do people use this phrase? I can think of two reasons. First, they think you don't know about whatever is is that doesn't need to be said. Second, they know you must know. Regardless of what the speaker says, in both cases there is a need, or a perceived need, to say...something.

In the first, the need is the listener's. The speaker has some vital piece of information that they feel, for some reason, you need. Now the speaker's motivation for sharing this information could vary. Maybe they only have your best interests in mind and want to subtely pass the information to you without pointing out that you don't already have it, thereby allowing you save face. Or perhaps they are only trying to point out how much more than you they know. They don't think you need the information contained in the statement following "needless to say...", they think you need to be reminded that they know more than you. This is not done with your best interests in mind, nor will it allow you save face.

In the second case the need is the speaker's. They know you must know but still they have some deep seated need to remind you. This is the case of the girl in the example of the IM away message. If something like that happens, of course the people involved are going to be upset. This girl though, feels the need to remind you that she does, in fact, have a husband and he, in fact, does live up to his husbandly expectations of being upset when his wife is shot with b-b's.

Closely akin to "needless to say..." is "it goes without saying..." Whenever I hear "it goes without saying..." I think, "I wish it had gone without saying, but you can't seem to stop bringing it up!" I can't remember if I thought of that clever retort on my own, or if I heard it in a movie. If you recognize it, feel free to take my ego down a notch and tell me where it comes from. Needless to say, my ego could probably use it.