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Can we use "it's about time" for a sarcastic answers
Like if someone says to me "I think I should return your book back now" and the person who said this to me should have returned my book way earlier and I am quite annoyed with him now. So can I reply him "it's about time" as an sarcastic reply?
"It's about time" is very commonly used to indicate something is past due:
(it is) past the time when something should have happened: It’s about time she got a job.
It's mildly sarcastic, because the other meaning is that it's the proper time:
Long past the right time; also, approximately the right time.
If I say to my family, "Finish up whatever you're doing; it's about time for dinner," there's no sarcasm implied. If my family says to me, "When are we eating? Isn't it about (or around) dinnertime?" That isn't sarcastic.
If my family says to me, "It's about time you serve (or served) us dinner!", that is sarcastic, and I might invite them to try cooking their next meal themselves.
Note that "it's about time" is often followed by the past tense:
- It's about time that our country invested in education.
- Enough of this guy, it's about time he stopped this nonsense.
