“I see,” said the blind man to his deaf dog as he picked up his hammer and saw.

You are searching for a Wellerism.

Wellerisms got their name from the Charles Dickens’ “The Pickwick Papers.” Sam Weller, Mr. Pickwick’s good-natured servant, and his father had a habit of following a well-known saying or phrase with some kind of phrase that implied humor, irony, or a pun.

In this circumstance, the phrase “i see” has a double meaning, in that by “I see” , the blind man doesn’t “see” anything with his eyes, but rather simply means “I understand”. The extra bit about saying something (whether it is directed at his deaf dog, wife, daughter, brother, man, etc) to one who is deaf, is pointless and adds a little humor to the phrase. The other bit on the end is just more of the same “As he picked up his hammer and saw” wouldn’t be nearly as funny if it were stated “as he picked up his hammer and cutting tool”

These “wellerisms” were quite popular years ago, and have been around for 150 years, as have been another variant of the wellerism, the Tom Swifty. Here’s some examples of Tom Swifties:

“I need a pencil sharpener,” said Tom bluntly.

“Oops! There goes my hat!” said Tom off the top of his head.

“I have a split personality,” said Tom, being frank.

“This must be an aerobics class,” Tom worked out.

My father was blind and we had a blast seeing how many of these we could taunt each other with, along with Helen Keller jokes.

I believe it was actually listed as anonymous in the quote book, though there is more than one version. Another often heard version is: Yesterday is gone Tomorrow is yet to come Today is the present, so remember it is a gift. Were you able to trace it back through all the yesterdays, beginning now and through all of your tomorrows, you probably would never really know who the first was to say it– so enjoy the present, your gift, by doing something meaningful. As for the quote, go copy it beautifully onto a piece of posterboard and use it as inspiration to keep doing what it teaches. For whether the first to speak those words was a master kung fu turtle, or Eleanor Roosevelt, or a poet, or Confucius, or some unknown person lost to history… the meaning is still as great as the words are beautiful. Grow with them.