# Any other phrases that are examples of themselves? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 8, 2015, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-other-phrases-that-are-examples-of-themselves/714550 "2015-03-08T20:26:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![dstarfire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dstarfire/32/5762_2.png) [@dstarfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dstarfire)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2015, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-other-phrases-that-are-examples-of-themselves/714550/1 "2015-03-08T20:26:06Z")
One of my favorite terms is “insider baseball” which basically means stuff that’s only of interest to people obsessed with minutiae (e.g. most any sports insider, collectors, etc.) Ironically, not many people outside the baseball community seem to know it’s meaning or have even heard it used. Can anybody else think of any other phrases like this that are examples of themselves? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2015, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-other-phrases-that-are-examples-of-themselves/714550/2 "2015-03-08T20:30:49Z")
I’d like to help, but… I avoid clichés like the plague ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2015, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-other-phrases-that-are-examples-of-themselves/714550/3 "2015-03-08T20:38:37Z")
“short phrase” ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2015, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-other-phrases-that-are-examples-of-themselves/714550/4 "2015-03-08T20:59:58Z")
Sesquipedalianism. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2015, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-other-phrases-that-are-examples-of-themselves/714550/5 "2015-03-08T21:43:31Z")
> [@friedo](#): > > Sesquipedalianism. … Dammit, that was going to be my example. ---
**Author:** ![JacobSwan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@JacobSwan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JacobSwan)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2015, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-other-phrases-that-are-examples-of-themselves/714550/6 "2015-03-08T22:05:41Z")
TLA Three letter acronym. ETLA Extended three letter acronym ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2015, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-other-phrases-that-are-examples-of-themselves/714550/7 "2015-03-08T22:25:12Z")
This is a sentence. ---
**Author:** ![TonySinclair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@TonySinclair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TonySinclair)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2015, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-other-phrases-that-are-examples-of-themselves/714550/8 "2015-03-08T22:40:16Z")
> [@dstarfire](#): > > One of my favorite terms is “insider baseball” which basically means stuff that’s only of interest to people obsessed with minutiae (e.g. most any sports insider, collectors, etc.) > > Ironically, not many people outside the baseball community seem to know it’s meaning or have even heard it used. Actually, I hear it very frequently on political shows, as a synonym for “Inside the Beltway,” which is pretty much only heard on political shows (with that meaning, anyway), and so may be a better example. ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2015, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-other-phrases-that-are-examples-of-themselves/714550/9 "2015-03-08T22:43:21Z")
“sentence fragment” ---
**Author:** ![breezman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4491bb/32.png) [@breezman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/breezman)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2015, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-other-phrases-that-are-examples-of-themselves/714550/10 "2015-03-09T01:27:01Z")
Word. ---
**Author:** ![Ponch8](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponch8/32/9883_2.png) [@Ponch8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponch8)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2015, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-other-phrases-that-are-examples-of-themselves/714550/11 "2015-03-09T01:32:59Z")
“Brevity is…wit” (seen on a banner on an episode of _The Simpsons_) ---
**Author:** ![Randy\_Seltzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ee7513/32.png) [@Randy\_Seltzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Randy_Seltzer)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2015, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-other-phrases-that-are-examples-of-themselves/714550/12 "2015-03-09T01:37:01Z")
“is a quine” ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2015, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-other-phrases-that-are-examples-of-themselves/714550/13 "2015-03-09T02:04:34Z")
A post which has eight words in it. ---
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2015, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-other-phrases-that-are-examples-of-themselves/714550/14 "2015-03-09T02:17:31Z")
This. ---
**Author:** ![cmosdes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@cmosdes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmosdes)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2015, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-other-phrases-that-are-examples-of-themselves/714550/15 "2015-03-09T03:09:57Z")
6210001000 A 10 digit number which tells you how many times each of the 10 digits appear in the number, starting with 0 and ending with 9. ## 6210001000 0123456789 6 - 0 appears 6 times in the number 2 - 1 appears 2 times in the number 1 - 2 appears 1 time in the number 1 - 6 appears 1 time in the number ---
**Author:** ![Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/try2b_comprehensive/32/65_2.png) [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Try2B_Comprehensive)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2015, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-other-phrases-that-are-examples-of-themselves/714550/16 "2015-03-09T04:58:44Z")
You _must_ give advice! ---
**Author:** ![JWT\_Kottekoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3ec8ea/32.png) [@JWT\_Kottekoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JWT_Kottekoe)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2015, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-other-phrases-that-are-examples-of-themselves/714550/17 "2015-03-09T05:07:01Z")
The next statement is false. The previous statement is true. ---
**Author:** ![JWT\_Kottekoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3ec8ea/32.png) [@JWT\_Kottekoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JWT_Kottekoe)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2015, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-other-phrases-that-are-examples-of-themselves/714550/18 "2015-03-09T05:10:23Z")
Douglas Hofstadter is obsessed with self referential statements. Read all about it in _Gödel, Escher, Bach, the Eternal Golden Braid_. The most famous is the mathematical self referential statement that is the basis of the proof of Gödel’s Theorem. My favorite, however, is: # ============ Hofstadter’s Law: Everything takes longer than you expect, even after you’ve taken into account Hofstadter’s Law. I just [looked it up](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hofstadter%27s_law), it is worded slightly differently: It always takes longer than you expect, even when you take into account Hofstadter’s Law. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2015, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-other-phrases-that-are-examples-of-themselves/714550/19 "2015-03-09T05:31:26Z")
> [@JWT\_Kottekoe](#): > > Douglas Hofstadter is obsessed with self referential statements. Read all about it in _Gödel, Escher, Bach, the Eternal Golden Braid_. The most famous is the mathematical self referential statement that is the basis of the proof of Gödel’s Theorem. When Martin Gardner retired from writing his Mathematical Games column for Scientific American, Hofstadter took it over with a new column called “Metamagical Themas” (which was quickly discovered to be an anagram of Mathematical Games). Even then, he was obsessed with self-referential themes of the sort that he was obsessed with, being obssessed with them as he was. It became clear rather quickly that he was a one-trick pony, and his column didn’t last long. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2015, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-other-phrases-that-are-examples-of-themselves/714550/20 "2015-03-09T13:52:56Z")
Alliteration is a succession of similar sounds. So Says, Shodan [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-other-phrases-that-are-examples-of-themselves/714550.md?page=2)