# Lines you made up -- that have been said before

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lines-you-made-up-that-have-been-said-before/349010>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [March 19, 2006, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lines-you-made-up-that-have-been-said-before/349010 "2006-03-19T16:49:12Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\
**Post date:** [March 19, 2006, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lines-you-made-up-that-have-been-said-before/349010/1 "2006-03-19T16:49:12Z")

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There are lines that I made up and have used for years and years, but which later I found out that someone else had also made them up. For example:  
[ul][li]I’ll burn that bridge when I come to it.[/li][li](In response to ‘You’re funny.’) Yeah. But looks aren’t everything![/ul][/li]I’ve been using those lines forever. But I’ve since heard the former several places. I was watching _Taxi Driver_ the other day and Harvey Keitel said, ‘You’re a funny guy. But looks aren’t everything.’

So what lines have you come up with out of your own head, only to find they’ve already been said?

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**Author:** ![clayton\_e](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c57346/32.png) [@clayton\_e](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clayton_e)\
**Post date:** [March 19, 2006, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lines-you-made-up-that-have-been-said-before/349010/2 "2006-03-19T23:02:47Z")

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A friend of mine came up with the line _“This sentence is a lie”_ but found it quoted by people born a few decades before he was born. I still thought it was a clever little paradox to come up with.

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**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\
**Post date:** [March 19, 2006, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lines-you-made-up-that-have-been-said-before/349010/3 "2006-03-19T23:27:32Z")

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I always say, “That throws a monkey in the wrench.” And then I heard it on Die Hard. They copied meee!

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**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\
**Post date:** [March 19, 2006, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lines-you-made-up-that-have-been-said-before/349010/4 "2006-03-19T23:32:25Z")

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I used to explain most Jewish holidays as:  
“They tried to kill us. They failed. So, let’s eat”.

I was terribly proud of myself until I saw it written a bunch of places, most notably here on a recent SDMB thread about Purim.

Well not an original line, but basically accurate.

Then, of course, was the time I discovered someone _else_ had said “Ask not what your country can do for you…”

How embarassing! 😉

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**Author:** ![BlueKangaroo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3d9bf3/32.png) [@BlueKangaroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlueKangaroo)\
**Post date:** [March 19, 2006, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lines-you-made-up-that-have-been-said-before/349010/5 "2006-03-19T23:59:30Z")

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As a teen, I thought I was very clever for inventing the acronym SO. It may have been seeing it here on the boards that I realized I wasn’t so clever, but I’m not sure when I realized I wasn’t the first person to have thought of that.