From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary EnglishI sayI sayBritish English old-fashioned a) ATTENTIONused to get someone’s attention I say, don’t I know you? b) LITTLE/NOT VERYused before giving your reaction to something ‘My husband’s broken his leg.’ ‘I say! I’m sorry to hear that.’ → say
Examples from the Corpus
I say• But as I said at the outset there wasn't much in this edition that failed to please me.• Girl, look, I say go for it.• You know very well I said no alcohol!• Can I say on behalf of this body that we are genuinely sorry to see you go.• Mohibullah said that young Imran wanted to play me after I'd played Jansher. I said that would be fine.• I went off so often Frank began to notice and I said the heat made me restless.• I am sure being a headmaster did affect his ideas on child-rearing, but as I said, we were very happy. 