# Phrases You've Heard So Many Times You Can Recite Them from Memory **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 8, 2000, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-youve-heard-so-many-times-you-can-recite-them-from-memory/44580 "2000-12-08T04:05:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![ianzin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ed655f/32.png) [@ianzin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ianzin)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2000, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-youve-heard-so-many-times-you-can-recite-them-from-memory/44580/61 "2000-12-10T22:54:21Z")
Like almost all my (male) peers, I can recite very large chunks of Python and Fawlty Towers even though I don’t want to. You grow up in England during a certain period, and that’s the result. It happens. No choice. I also went to see ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’ a couple of years back and discovered that I know the whole thing, from start to finish. When I was quite young, my much older brother brought the original cast album and played it a lot, and I guess I absorbed it. This is the only muscial or show that works like this for me. Again, didn’t want to learn it, just a happened. Also, does ‘phrases’ include musical phrases? Of course,we al have fave tracks and so on. But in my misguided teenage years in the 70s I seriously over-dosed on the then-popular Mike Oldfield. I don’t know how often I listened to ‘Ommadawn’, my favourite among his outpourings, but I have absolutely every nuance of every note seared into my brain. I can play all 40 minutes of it in my head any time! ---
**Author:** ![mnemosyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2000, 7:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-youve-heard-so-many-times-you-can-recite-them-from-memory/44580/62 "2000-12-11T07:03:46Z")
Lo! Tis a gala night Within the lonesome, latter years An angel throng, bewinged, bedight, In veils, and drowned in tears, Sit in a theatre to see A play of hopes and fears While the orchestra breathes Fitfully the music Of the spheres I dont know the whole thing, but… …the angels,all pallid and wan, upstarting, unveiling, affirm that the play is the tragedy “Man” and its hero, the Conquerer Worm. - The Conquerer Worm, Edgar Allan Poe "This…is…Jeopardy! Now entering the studio are today’s contestants. A {insert job here} from {insert city here}, {insert name here}… " Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse. The stockings were hung by the chimney with care, in hopes that St.Nicholas soon would be there. The children were nestled, all snug in their beds, while visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads. And mama in her kerchief, and I in my cap, had just settled our brains for a long winter’s nap. When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter, I flew from my bed to see what was the matter. {??}Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash…{I forget this part}…The moon on the breast of the new fallen snow, gave the lustre of midday to objects below. When what to my wondering eyes should appear, but a miniature sleigh, and eight tiny reindeer. With a little old driver, so lively and quick, I knew in a moment it must be St. Nick. Like dry leaves before the wild hurricane blew,…{??} his coursers they came, and he whistled and {something?} and called them by name. "on Dancer, on Prancer, on Comet and Vixen! On Dasher on cupid, on donner and blitzen! To the top of the porch, to the top of the wall, dash away, dash away, dash away all! ok, im stuck at this point. My father reads this to us every Christmas Eve, and we normally share the quoting from memory among the three kids. And damn it, my fingers can’t keep up with my mind, and I get all befuddled!! My boyfriend always tells me I have a great memory for this kind of thing, but I can’t think of any more right now… ---
**Author:** ![mnemosyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2000, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-youve-heard-so-many-times-you-can-recite-them-from-memory/44580/63 "2000-12-11T07:06:56Z")
Ok, so the last bit of Night Before Christmas is a little muddled…I can pull up so many random lines, the hard part is just putting them in the right order! ---
**Author:** ![Pammipoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/87869e/32.png) [@Pammipoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pammipoo)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2000, 8:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-youve-heard-so-many-times-you-can-recite-them-from-memory/44580/64 "2000-12-11T08:11:09Z")
“Welcome to Randolph Theaters. For your next visit, please note that we have alternate parking available in lots A, and B. We ask that you do not park in areas not designated, as your vehicle may be towed. Thank you, and enjoy the show.” “In the event of an emergency, please WALK to the nearest EXIT. Exits are located at the front and the rear of the auditorium.” Okay, so I go to a lot of movies. Both of these come on right before the dancing popcorn…man I love that guy!! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![webmastr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/9fc29f/32.png) [@webmastr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/webmastr)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2000, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-youve-heard-so-many-times-you-can-recite-them-from-memory/44580/65 "2000-12-11T15:16:48Z")
He waited until his wife and kids were in underground - then he went after the rest of the gang. He killed them, their families and their families’ friends. He burned down the homes they lived in, the factories they worked in… He killed people who owed them money. Then like that _fwhua_ he’s gone. Vanished, underground. No one’s ever seen him since. He becomes a myth a spook story gangsters tell their kids at night: ‘rat on your pop, and Kaiser Sose’s gonna get ya’… * * * From a movie that still gives me the chills… ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2000, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-youve-heard-so-many-times-you-can-recite-them-from-memory/44580/66 "2000-12-11T15:49:46Z")
“Bill Randall six-fifty. Dorothy S. Ma’am, the axle wide and peppermint endurance record in bashful Johnny C. Home of the grand old conglomeration, Fanny Hill University, and the Bathtub of the South. It’s seven-thirty.” – John Hartford, “Station Break” ---
**Author:** ![Rebo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rebo/32/13005_2.png) [@Rebo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rebo)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2000, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-youve-heard-so-many-times-you-can-recite-them-from-memory/44580/67 "2000-12-11T20:35:06Z")
Hold the pickles, hold the lettuce, special orders don’t upset us, all we ask is that you let us serve it your way! :: Picard voice:: Space. The final frontier. These are the voyages of the Starship Enterprise, its continuing mission: To explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no one has gone before! :: end Picard voice:: Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep. If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take. … a dimension of time a dimension of sight a dimension of mind … You’ve just stepped into The Twilight Zone… I can’t quite remember the Twilight Zone intro… can anybody help? ---
**Author:** ![orion007](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e480ec/32.png) [@orion007](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/orion007)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2000, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-youve-heard-so-many-times-you-can-recite-them-from-memory/44580/68 "2000-12-12T00:19:57Z")
“Oh I wish I were an Oscar Meyer wiener, That is what I’d truly like to be Cause if I were an Oscar Meyer wiener, Everyone would be in love with me!” -The Oscar Meyer Wiener song “In faith I do not love you with mine eyes cause they in thee a thousand errors note But 'tis my heart that loves what they despise Who in despite of view is pleased to dote…” -From “10 things I Hate about You” (the part where the teacher is reciting it to the class… it’s the only part of the poem that I know cause in the movie that’s how far into it the teacher gets) ---
**Author:** ![Davidbw1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7993a0/32.png) [@Davidbw1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Davidbw1)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2000, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-youve-heard-so-many-times-you-can-recite-them-from-memory/44580/69 "2000-12-12T00:31:48Z")
“Be carefull out there, it’s a jungle, and you know me, i wory” -Math Teacher “Por favor, montegan se allehado de los puertos” -Plays on the monorail at Disney world every damn time the doors close ---
**Author:** ![Saltire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saltire/32/553_2.png) [@Saltire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saltire)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2000, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-youve-heard-so-many-times-you-can-recite-them-from-memory/44580/70 "2000-12-12T01:09:19Z")
“You are travelling through another dimension, one not only of sight and sound, but of mind. A curious journey through the boundaries of imagination. There’s a signpost up ahead…Your next stop: The Twilight Zone.” As I recall, there were a couple different openings, but this is how I remember it. Not real confident about the ‘curious journey’ sentence, I’m afraid. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2000, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-youve-heard-so-many-times-you-can-recite-them-from-memory/44580/71 "2000-12-12T02:15:46Z")
Let me not to the marriage of true minds admit impediments. Love is not love that alters when it alteration finds, or bends with the remover to remove. Oh no, it is an ever fixed mark that looks on tempests and is never shaken. It is the star to evry wandering bark whose worth’s unknown although his height be taken. Love’s not Time’s fool though rosy lips and cheeks within His bending sickle’s compass come. Love alters not with His brief hours and weeks and bears it out even to the brink of doom. If this be error and upon me proved Then I never writ, and no man ever loved. I’m a little unsure about the punctuation. My favorite poem. My second favorite is a sonnet as well, the one that starts “For I have slipped the surly bonds of earth…” ---
**Author:** ![BigGiantHead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b4bc9f/32.png) [@BigGiantHead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigGiantHead)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2000, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-youve-heard-so-many-times-you-can-recite-them-from-memory/44580/72 "2000-12-12T02:34:04Z")
I know a bank where the wild thyme blows, Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows Quite over-canopied with luscious woodbine, With sweet musk-roses, and with eglantine. There sleeps Titania sometime of the night, Lulled in these flowers with dances and delight. There the snake throws her enameled skin, Weed wide enough to wrap a fairy in! With the juice of this, I’ll streak her eyes And make her full of hateful fantasies. [sub]… then, later …[/sub] What thou seest when thou dost wake, Do it for thy true love take. Be it once, or cat, or bear, Pard, or boar with bristled hair, \*When thou awak’st what e’er be near, It is thy dear. (\*Approximate) Yep, I was Oberon about 15 years ago, HS senior year. Like others, I could do the entire text of **Jabberwocky**. Plus many, many Gilbert & Sullivan songs. I could also do the entire Astronomy Song from _Monty Python’s Meaning of Life_, but it’s a bit long. And beside, I already did it [here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=28481&pagenumber=2). And coincidentally, Crunchy did the Philosopher’s Song! ---
**Author:** ![MikeG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikeg/32/4329_2.png) [@MikeG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeG)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2000, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-youve-heard-so-many-times-you-can-recite-them-from-memory/44580/73 "2000-12-12T02:57:29Z")
Returning to the OP’s intent (_yes_, I **can** determine his intent;)) “Thank you for coming to Wrigley Field. This ball park does not issue pass slips. You may not reeenter the park on a ticket stub. Please dispose of all alcoholic beverages before leaving the park.Thankyou…” /repeat as needed/ “The Chicago Cubs do not allow unauthorized ticket sales on our property. If you attempt to sell tickets on our property you will be asked to leave. The Chicago Police Dept. does not allow unauthorized ticket sales within 1000ft. of Wrigley Field”. I used to have a bunch more warnings memorized but that period in my life was notable for its excessive alcohol consumption. ---
**Author:** ![shimmery](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@shimmery](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shimmery)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2000, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-youve-heard-so-many-times-you-can-recite-them-from-memory/44580/74 "2000-12-12T03:09:57Z")
some of you all who claim to know the 1st part of the constitution have it wrong … I just memorized it last year. (we saw the schoolhouse rock 🙂 ) it’s “we the people of the united states, in order… (blah blah blah)” sorry , my teacher was very nitpicky Listen my children and you shall hear… (thankfully I only had to memorize the first two stanzas) And if you want to talk prayers, memorizing those was practically all I ever did in Hebrew school (I’m not gonna write them because I don’t even want to _try_ to spell them…) From swim meets (from the I.M.)… “…in the following order: butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke, and any stroke other than the first three” also countless song lyrics but i don’t think those count… I still think it’s pretty impressive that I know ALL the words to CSNY’s So Far though… (my dad makes us listen to his CD on long car trips… it’s TORTURE) -julie 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![MikeG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikeg/32/4329_2.png) [@MikeG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeG)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2000, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-youve-heard-so-many-times-you-can-recite-them-from-memory/44580/75 "2000-12-12T03:18:20Z")
::sigh of wistful remembrance of mommy singing:: "Helplessly hoping her harlequin hovers nearby, Awaiting a word Gasping at glimpses of gentle true spirit He runs, wishing he could fly Only to trip at the sound of goodbye Wordlessly watching, he waits by the window And wonders at the empty place inside Heartlessly helping himself to her bad dreams He worries, did he hear a goodbye Or even hello They are one person They are two alone They are three together They are for each other Stand by the stairway, you’ll see something Certain to tell you confusion has its cost Love isn’t lying, it’s loose in a lady Who lingers, saying she is lost And choking on hello :: one of my most loved and cherished songs:: …that and Dance With Me by The Orleans. ---
**Author:** ![Wonko\_The\_Sane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/258eb7/32.png) [@Wonko\_The\_Sane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wonko_The_Sane)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2000, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-youve-heard-so-many-times-you-can-recite-them-from-memory/44580/76 "2000-12-12T05:30:49Z")
“my computer’s locked up tighter than a bull’s ass” I worked in an odd place with interesting people. ---
**Author:** ![Rebo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rebo/32/13005_2.png) [@Rebo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rebo)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2000, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-youve-heard-so-many-times-you-can-recite-them-from-memory/44580/77 "2000-12-12T14:33:48Z")
My bologna has a first name It’s O-S-C-A-R My bologna has a second name It’s M-A-Y-E-R Oh, I love to eat it every day and if you ask me why I’ll s-aaa-y, 'Cause Oscar Mayer’s got a way with B-O-L-O-G-N-A. **Saltire** , thanks, that’s it! ---
**Author:** ![Absinthe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c89c15/32.png) [@Absinthe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Absinthe)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2000, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-youve-heard-so-many-times-you-can-recite-them-from-memory/44580/78 "2000-12-12T18:58:56Z")
“…along with the Ginsu knives, you get the world’s smallest juicer! no seeds, no pits, no pulp…order now, and you get the amazing chef’s knife… just pop it into a carrot, beet or potato, and turn, out comes a spiral! one slice in the side, and you get perfect chips…every slice the same…” ---
**Author:** ![xizor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xizor/32/102_2.png) [@xizor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xizor)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2000, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-youve-heard-so-many-times-you-can-recite-them-from-memory/44580/79 "2000-12-13T16:50:13Z")
And now, your local forecast, accurate and dependable, from the weather channel… your 5 day forecast… your local radar, showing any precipitation in your area. Intensity is indicated by the color code at the top of the screen. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phrases-youve-heard-so-many-times-you-can-recite-them-from-memory/44580.md?page=3)