I came upon this conversation:

> A:「あ、あの・・・」
>
> 俺は、そこにいた役場の職員らしき人物にたずねた。
>
> B:「はい、なにか・・・？」
>
> A:「この辺で、サングラスをかけたクールな感じの女性、見かけませんでした？」
>
> B:「さあ・・・？」
>
> A:「さいですか。ども・・・」
>
> B:「・・・・・・」

I went through the fifteen or so words listed in the edict dictionary for さい
and only came up with rhinoceros which doesn't seem like a perfect fit.

I swear I've seen the exact same phrase in a manga too somewhere, but never
paid attention to it enough to look it up.

It sounds like そうですか to me. Is that correct?
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-05-14T12:06:09.847
58632
2018-05-14T13:01:34.357
2020-06-17T08:18:27.500
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29925
question
meaning
What does さいですか mean?
Try a monolingual dictionary next time; It will be far more helpful than the
bilingual sources that are insanely popular among many J-learners.
[デジタル大辞泉](https://kotobank.jp/word/%E3%81%95%E3%81%84-507095#E3.83.87.E3.82.B8.E3.82.BF.E3.83.AB.E5.A4.A7.E8.BE.9E.E6.B3.89)
explains it as:

> ［形動{けいどう}］《「さよう」の音変化{おんへんか}》「さよう」のいく分{ぶん}ぞんざいな言{い}い方{かた}。「さいざんす」「さいです」

「さい」 is a slightly rough (or unrefined) way of saying 「さよう/左様」(" ** _indeed_**
", " ** _that's right_** ", etc.)

「さいですか」 is actually pretty close to " ** _Oh, I see_**." in feeling. Thus, it
is also close to 「そうですか」 in meaning.
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-05-14T12:51:41.217
58633
2018-05-14T13:01:34.357
2018-05-14T13:01:34.357
58632
answer