Ha! Kemo Sabe.
That is funny, to think of it used in other countries not knowing the reference. Which I understand is the point of the thread and all.
what?
All sorts of cowboy movie references have been popular here and still are to a certain extent. Those movies were so popular here (maybe everywhere) in the '50s etc that I’ve often thought about researching it for a book.
The Tipping Point was a book by Malcolm Gladwell. “All your base are belong to us” was a quotation from the European version of a Japanese video game called Zero Wing.
AYBABTU comes from an obscure space shoot-'em up named “Zero Wing” for (a Sega system, I believe either Genesis or Sega CD) that was translated for its European release by a Japanese team, and not a native localization team. It is perhaps one of the best examples of horrible “engrish” in early console history.
It’s mostly known today for the videos people made and released over the web of the game’s cutscenes, the dance mix using audio samples from the game, and the music videos of the dance mix with various photoshopped images where people edited phrases from the game’s dialogue into the background. It never would’ve had any real hold in people’s memories if it weren’t for the grass-roots multimedia blitz that hit right around the time internet connections capable of conveniently pulling down video files were becoming widespread.
Nobody remembers this now, but the phrase “I don’t mind if I do” came from a WWII British radio show called ITMA {It’s That Man Again}: it was the catchphrase of the drunken Colonel Chinstrap, who managed to mishear every innocuous question as an invitation to have a drink.
The “clock chime” from For a Few Dollars More is now a popular ring tone, as well as a sample in a popular speed garage track (the remix of which was also used as the incidental music to Ali G’s TV show).
Can’t mention that with out referring to the column.
Oddly enough, “Mister Mister” comes from the play The Cradle Will Rock, from 1936, so it did outlive the work.
Perhaps the ultimate example, depending on how you want to contort the sense of “original work”: OK.
Some Boston newspapers start a trend for wacky misspellings and inside jokes, and one presidential campaign and 170 years later “OK” is one of the most universal expressions on earth.
Not exactly modern pop culture, but many Chinese idiomatic phrases often encapsulate an event that otherwise would have been lost in history.
When was the last time somebody put on a production of R.U.R (Rossum’s Universal Robots)?
“I’m falling and I can’t get up!” - From an ad for some Medic-Alert service, circa 1988-89.
“The call is coming from inside the house!” - From the movie “When a Stranger Calls” from the mid-70s. Few people know that the scene that line came from was in the first ten minutes of the film, and that the film as a whole is not a ‘babysitters vs. slasher’ flick, but a police procedural film.
BTW, don’t have time to search every post in this thread, but have Rube Goldberg Devices been mentioned yet?
“Hey, I’m walkin’ here.” (Said in a Brooklyn accent of course.)
Comes from the only X-rated (at the time) film to win Best Picture. Given the “adult” stigma the film still has, it doesn’t air that much on the movie channels.
The quote pops up from time to time. In a clue for a crossword puzzle I did a couple of weeks ago. Jason Jones did a “Daily Show” segment on some jerk that wanted to use a motorized scooter everywhere but wasn’t handicapped. At the end, Jones is riding a scooter and almost runs into someone:
“Hey, I’m not walkin’ here.”
Ummm…what was the name of the flick?
Midnight Cowboy. The line was said by Dustin Hoffman.
Ratso said “Hey I’m walking here” in Midnight Cowboy…or was that a whoosh?
edit - oops, sorry I’m a little late on the draw, I see
According to an episode of Quite Interesting, the very common Nokia ringtone was a piece by a Spanish classical guitarist
The words ‘Pimp’ and ‘Mac’ for a panderer come from an earlier term ‘McGimp,’ from a time when the stereotypical pimp was considered to be Irish. Mind you, some argue that ‘Mac’ actually comes from Shakespear’s use of ‘mackrel’ to refer to prostitutes, which is in line with a similar usage in the French.
A few years ago I started noticing people use the word ‘berk’ in shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer and games like Planescape: Torment. ‘Berk’ is rhyming slang: Berkley Hunt = Cunt.
The line in the Maltese Falcon about Joel Cairo being a ‘gunsel’ made it into the movie, and many people still think it means ‘gunman.’ Like ‘catamite’ or ‘pillow biter’ it refers to a passive pederast.