How to use the "that being said"

I sometimes see the phrase "that being said" and I wish to know a little more about it. Especially, when and how can we use this phrase?

Is there a difference if we shorten it to "that said"? In what cases are we allowed to do it?

Is it possible to say the following:

With that being said, I left the room.
While that being said, I was driving.
In that being said, I jumped off the roof.
As that being said made me fall to my knees and cry.
That being said, she locked the door and turned off the light.

SovereignSun

Posted 2017-04-11T12:25:28.657

Reputation: 23 612

1Most of your examples are either non-idiomatic or simply ungrammatical, and they provide insufficient context to evaluate properly. *That being said,* I don't think you've grasped what this "set phrase" actually *means*, which is the main reason your examples look strange. In nearly all cases, it should be possible to directly replace That being said... with *Despite* (or *Ignoring*) *what I just said...*, but I can't see that working with any of your examples. You can always discard *being*, but doing this makes it a bit more "formal, starchy" than it already is. – FumbleFingers Reinstate Monica – 2017-04-11T12:51:56.223

@FumbleFingers How can "that being said" mean "despite"? – SovereignSun – 2017-04-11T13:00:21.997

Read this discussion - noting in particular, *"That being said" implies that you are about to contradict or modify what has just been said* (usually, but not necessarily, *said by you*).

– FumbleFingers Reinstate Monica – 2017-04-11T13:03:20.953

@FumbleFingers What's the purpose of doing it? If I say something, I mean it... That's odd. I imaging a person speaking for 30 minutes and then making a contradiction. – SovereignSun – 2017-04-11T13:14:49.987

It's nearly always always used after making either a single statement, or a fairly short point. If someone had been speaking for 30 minutes (making one coherent point, from one perspective) it would be a bit odd to follow this up with something contradictory anyway. But if you did want to do this you might more credibly say something like *Having said all that...* or *Despite everything I've been saying...* – FumbleFingers Reinstate Monica – 2017-04-11T13:20:31.433

@FumbleFingers Now, you are making my brain hurt. First you say that "That being said" means "despite" but "Having said that" means "Now that I have said that". – SovereignSun – 2017-04-11T13:27:24.087

Just ask yourself why a speaker might want to specifically refer to the fact of having said whatever he just said (obviously his audience know perfectly he just said it, because they were listening). It's very common to encounter, for example, That being said, I don't think (blah blah), where (blah blah) represents something your audience might assume you think, because of what you just said. So you're just pointing out something that seemingly contradicts earlier assertions.

– FumbleFingers Reinstate Monica – 2017-04-11T13:39:06.233

@FumbleFingers I guess I've overworked today, so "that being said" is almost close to "but" and mostly adds some more information to what you have said and that information should or may not exactly contradict? what you have said? – SovereignSun – 2017-04-11T13:44:34.700

Let us continue this discussion in chat.

– FumbleFingers Reinstate Monica – 2017-04-11T13:54:05.893

Having said that, that said, and that being said are essentially synonymous. Have you tried looking them up in a dictionary? – None – 2017-04-11T15:38:22.347

@userr2684291 Yes, I even looled them up in grammar books but I couldn't understand in what cases we can use them and how to use them properly. – SovereignSun – 2017-04-11T17:19:44.670

1It would be better if you restrict the question to the two likely possibilities, "that being said" and "that said", which is enough to describe the problem. Adding other examples with different wording only confuses the matter, especially if they are not referenced to actual usage. If there are better examples, they will come up in answers. – user3169 – 2017-04-11T23:28:06.943

Answers

That being said, that said, having said that all act as segues to a statement which reverses the spin, so to speak, on what has just been said.

We should treat all students with tolerance and understanding. That being said, a student who engages in threatening or violent behavior should be expelled from the school. We cannot tolerate such aggression.

In the sentence above, "That being said" could be replaced with "That said" or "Having said that" without change of meaning.

P.S. The preposition with would be OK with "that being said" and "that said" but not really with "having said that". You cannot use while because while goes with something ongoing, whereas this construction, with past participle said, refers to an act completed.

Tᴚoɯɐuo

Posted 2017-04-11T12:25:28.657

Reputation: 116 610

2Note that it can also literally mean "after saying that." So, "That being said, she left the room," is grammatical, and simply recounts a sequence of events. – fectin – 2017-04-21T18:54:25.307

Yes, agreed, it can be used in that way too, though we could also paraphrase it "upon hearing those words" if the person who leaves the room in your example was not the speaker. – Tᴚoɯɐuo – 2017-04-21T19:01:46.887

The use of "that being said" indicates an upcoming caveat, an exception to what has been said, and may be accompanied by an intonation that indicates the speaker intends to make a strong remark, an emphatic remark.

For example,

1908 Manitoba Morning Free Press (Electronic text) 1 Aug., The story of Sir James Douglas might have been told in smaller compass… That being said, James Douglas certainly deserved a place among the makers of Canada. (source: Language Log at U Penn)

At least that's how it used to be used. I have heard people use it recently simply to mean "in conclusion", or, in a Toastmasters club meeting, "With that being said, I'll return the floor to the Toastmaster." I find this use tiresome - it's language bloat! "That being said" has a purpose, and it is not to say "I just said something."

Read the considerable discussion on "that said" here: http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=1807

Old English Teacher

Posted 2017-04-11T12:25:28.657

Reputation: 31

-2

That being said means in spite of what was just said.

Muse Abdi

Posted 2017-04-11T12:25:28.657

Reputation: 1