# One-liners that suggest a great story **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 4, 2015, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-liners-that-suggest-a-great-story/721606 "2015-06-04T03:48:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Lubricious\_Integument](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/82dd89/32.png) [@Lubricious\_Integument](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lubricious_Integument)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2015, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-liners-that-suggest-a-great-story/721606/1 "2015-06-04T03:48:46Z")
> [@Steely Dan](#): > > The weekend at the college didn’t turn out like you planned It makes you wonder what went on that weekend. Other examples? ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2015, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-liners-that-suggest-a-great-story/721606/2 "2015-06-04T04:03:41Z")
“If you could see what I’ve seen with your eyes.” Partially described in the Tears in Rain soliloquy ---
**Author:** ![Wolverine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ba9def/32.png) [@Wolverine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wolverine)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2015, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-liners-that-suggest-a-great-story/721606/3 "2015-06-04T04:31:35Z")
“If it weren’t for my horse, I wouldn’t have spent that year in college.” from anonymous person as shared by Lewis Black ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2015, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-liners-that-suggest-a-great-story/721606/4 "2015-06-04T04:51:34Z")
My grandparents always told me “Don’t go into Huallaqui Canyon!” But they would never say what it was they had done in there. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2015, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-liners-that-suggest-a-great-story/721606/5 "2015-06-04T05:58:59Z")
Overheard remarks: “Of course, after that he wasn’t much use to her. Well, not as a husband.” Hemingway once wrote a short story in six words: “For sale: baby’s shoes, never worn.” ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2015, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-liners-that-suggest-a-great-story/721606/6 "2015-06-04T12:47:12Z")
> [@PatrickLondon](#): > > Hemingway once wrote a short story in six words: > > “For sale: baby’s shoes, never worn.” Yeah, that’s the classic one that came to mind. It’s often attributed to him, but there’s no evidence for it. (A bit on it [here](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/For_sale:_baby_shoes,_never_worn) and [here](http://www.snopes.com/language/literary/babyshoes.asp).) ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2015, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-liners-that-suggest-a-great-story/721606/7 "2015-06-04T13:34:19Z")
“Snakes. Why did it have to be snakes?” Similarly, a one-liner that suggests a great story (that we know): Elsa: What’s this? Indiana Jones: Ark of the Covenant. Elsa: Are you sure? Indiana Jones: Pretty sure. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2015, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-liners-that-suggest-a-great-story/721606/8 "2015-06-04T13:39:39Z")
“She’s so fine, there’s no telling where the money went.” - Robert Palmer, Simply Irresistible For Hemingway, I will offer an exchange from The Sun Also Rises: “How did you go bankrupt?” “First gradually, then suddenly.” ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2015, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-liners-that-suggest-a-great-story/721606/9 "2015-06-04T13:54:47Z")
“You and I remember Budapest very differently.” ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2015, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-liners-that-suggest-a-great-story/721606/10 "2015-06-04T13:54:52Z")
Nazis. I hate these guys. ---
**Author:** ![not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_what_you_d_expect/32/3246_2.png) [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_what_you_d_expect)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2015, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-liners-that-suggest-a-great-story/721606/11 "2015-06-04T14:55:44Z")
Yes, alcohol was a factor. Maybe not a great story, but probably interesting. ---
**Author:** ![G0sp3l](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c68b51/32.png) [@G0sp3l](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/G0sp3l)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2015, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-liners-that-suggest-a-great-story/721606/12 "2015-06-04T14:59:59Z")
This one time, at band camp… We thought about it for a long time, “Endeavor to persevere.” And when we had thought about it long enough, we declared war on the Union. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2015, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-liners-that-suggest-a-great-story/721606/13 "2015-06-04T15:12:44Z")
I’ve got debts that no honest man can pay. ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2015, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-liners-that-suggest-a-great-story/721606/14 "2015-06-04T15:24:36Z")
The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2015, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-liners-that-suggest-a-great-story/721606/15 "2015-06-04T15:43:59Z")
Some people use the smell of burnt flesh as their benchmark of horror, but I didn’t think it was so bad. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2015, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-liners-that-suggest-a-great-story/721606/16 "2015-06-04T15:45:16Z")
I slept with three generations of that family. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2015, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-liners-that-suggest-a-great-story/721606/17 "2015-06-04T16:04:31Z")
“My own brother, Aberforth, was prosecuted for practicing inappropriate charms on a goat.” ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2015, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-liners-that-suggest-a-great-story/721606/18 "2015-06-04T16:19:42Z")
These are the voyages of the Starship Enterprise. It’s bigger on the inside! The dog did nothing in the night-time … that was the curious incident. (I know that last one is actually two people talking, but it’s a classic! 🆒 ) ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2015, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-liners-that-suggest-a-great-story/721606/19 "2015-06-04T17:40:45Z")
> [@Wolverine](#): > > “If it weren’t for my horse, I wouldn’t have spent that year in college.” > > from anonymous person as shared by Lewis Black Goddamn you! This was going to be my contribution. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2015, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-liners-that-suggest-a-great-story/721606/20 "2015-06-04T17:46:15Z")
There’s a [trope](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/NoodleIncident) about that. Because of course there is. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-liners-that-suggest-a-great-story/721606.md?page=2)