# Stoner "catchphrase" origin **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 23, 2006, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stoner-catchphrase-origin/345834 "2006-02-23T19:18:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ghostbuster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b2d939/32.png) [@ghostbuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ghostbuster)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2006, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stoner-catchphrase-origin/345834/1 "2006-02-23T19:18:20Z")
I’ve been wondering about this for a while. In TV shows (most notably _The Simpsons_ and movies, when someone is supposed to be stoned they will say: “Have you ever looked at your hands? They’re huge! They can touch everything but themselves!” (Or something to that effect) and, in response to any question: “Dave’s not here, man”. Where did these come from? Are they a reference to something or just examples of drug-induced rambling? ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2006, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stoner-catchphrase-origin/345834/2 "2006-02-23T19:24:20Z")
> [@ghostbuster](#): > > I’ve been wondering about this for a while. In TV shows (most notably _The Simpsons_ and movies, when someone is supposed to be stoned they will say: > > “Have you ever looked at your hands? They’re huge! They can touch everything but themselves!” (Or something to that effect) > > and, in response to any question: > > “Dave’s not here, man”. > > Where did these come from? Are they a reference to something or just examples of drug-induced rambling? “Dave’s not here” is from a routine on the first Cheech and Chong album. “Have you ever really looked at your hands” was used in Doonesbury in the '70s, but I don’t know if it originated there. ---
**Author:** ![Trunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/87869e/32.png) [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2006, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stoner-catchphrase-origin/345834/3 "2006-02-23T19:41:19Z")
There’s a Simpson’s where Otto is looking at his hands and he says, “They call 'em fingers, but I never seen 'em fing.” The Dave thing is C&C as **Biffy** pointed out. Also, the first time I ever heard a stoner say “What if C-A-T really spelled dog?” was in Revenge of the Nerds (pt 2?). It blew the nerds’ minds. ---
**Author:** ![August\_West](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/august_west/32/18069_2.png) [@August\_West](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/August_West)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2006, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stoner-catchphrase-origin/345834/4 "2006-02-23T20:59:08Z")
It is just a characterization of the meaningless “revelations” or “deep thoughts” some people have when they ingest THC. A similar one is “Whoa, like, what if our entire universe was just one atom in, like, a giant’s fingernail? WHOA! And then what if he lived in a universe that was in an even BIGGER Giant’s fingernail!?” And about that time I really started staring at my OWN fingernail… ---
**Author:** ![butler1850](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/779978/32.png) [@butler1850](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/butler1850)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2006, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stoner-catchphrase-origin/345834/5 "2006-02-23T21:16:59Z")
The looking at your hands is a pretty common event when under the influence of psychotropic substances… or so I’m told 😃 Under the influence, suddenly you notice they don’t seem to move the way the used to, and since you’re pretty familiar with how your hands look, it pretty much jumps out at you. All sorts of things look “different” when using. My personal favorite thing to look at was things with patterns of texture. Textured celings, pavement, concrete, carpeting. I saw “waves” moving through them. YMMV, though I don’t recommend any of it. (but what a time it was to be young) ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2006, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stoner-catchphrase-origin/345834/6 "2006-02-23T22:00:39Z")
If ya don’t mind, I’m gonna piggyback this one (although I don’t think it’s a stoner phrase, but it’s said in that “accent”): “Game over, man!” ---
**Author:** ![Draelin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce73a5/32.png) [@Draelin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Draelin)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2006, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stoner-catchphrase-origin/345834/7 "2006-02-23T22:11:46Z")
> [@Mr. Blue Sky](#): > > If ya don’t mind, I’m gonna piggyback this one (although I don’t think it’s a stoner phrase, but it’s said in that “accent”): > > “Game over, man!” That one’s from _Aliens_–Bill Paxton freaking out about how they’re all going to die. And I first recall hearing the “atoms in the fingernail” in _Animal House_. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2006, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stoner-catchphrase-origin/345834/8 "2006-02-23T22:25:05Z")
> [@Biffy the Elephant Shrew](#): > > “Dave’s not here” is from a routine on the first Cheech and Chong album. If I recall, the bit went something like this: _Knock knock knock_ “Who’s there?” (muffled, through the door) “It’s me, Dave.” “Dave’s not here, man.” And so on. ---
**Author:** ![mack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mack)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2006, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stoner-catchphrase-origin/345834/9 "2006-02-23T22:30:36Z")
Dave’s Not Here - A guy bearing drugs named Dave is furiously pounding on the door to get in. It goes something like: Stoner: Who is it? Dave: It’s Dave, man, let me in! Stoner: Who? Dave: It’s Dave, man, come on, open the door! Stoner: Who? Dave: Dave!!! Stoner: Dave? Dave: Yeah, Dave. Stoner: Dave’s not here. Dave: No man, I’m Dave! _pounds on door_ Stoner: Who is it? and so on… ---
**Author:** ![KJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b2d939/32.png) [@KJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KJ)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2006, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stoner-catchphrase-origin/345834/10 "2006-02-24T00:19:24Z")
I first heard “They can touch…anything, but themselves!” on Futurama. It happens in the episode with the Popplers, after Lrrr eats a hippie who had taken a few too many drugs beforehand. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2006, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stoner-catchphrase-origin/345834/11 "2006-02-24T00:23:47Z")
I always like to change the “hands” thing when my cats are high on catnip. Dude! My paw. I can paw things with it, _and_ it **is** a paw. It could paw itself! No wait… ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2006, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stoner-catchphrase-origin/345834/12 "2006-02-24T00:33:18Z")
> [@Draelin](#): > > That one’s from _Aliens_–Bill Paxton freaking out about how they’re all going to die. Are you sure it isn’t older than that? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Scrivener](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@The\_Scrivener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Scrivener)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2006, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stoner-catchphrase-origin/345834/13 "2006-02-24T00:54:11Z")
Then there’s that Delphic oracle of demented wisdom from **Withnail & I** , Danny the drug dealer: “I don’t advise a haircut, mate… all hairdressers are in the employment of the government. Hair are your aerials. They pick up signals from the cosmos and transmit them directly to your brain. This is why all bald men are uptight…” “If I medicined you, you’d think a brain tumor was a f@cking birthday present.” “London is a country coming down from its trip. We are ninety-one days from the end of this decade [the '60’s] and there’s going to be a lot of refugees.” “I told him, there’s no question of paying rent on a property cut with rodents. He takes exception to this.” “Find your neutral space.” “Sit down, mate. Take control.” “You have done something to your brain. You have made it hot. If I laid 10 mils of Diazepine [sp?] on you, you would do something else to your brain – you would make it love. Why trust one drug and not another… That’s politics, innit?” ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2006, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stoner-catchphrase-origin/345834/14 "2006-02-24T01:07:15Z")
“So they made this car that runs on water…it runs on WATER MAN!” -_That '70s Show_ ---
**Author:** ![Omniscient](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omniscient/32/3290_2.png) [@Omniscient](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omniscient)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2006, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stoner-catchphrase-origin/345834/15 "2006-02-24T01:11:16Z")
> [@Mr. Blue Sky](#): > > Are you sure it isn’t older than that? I’m pretty damn sure. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2006, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stoner-catchphrase-origin/345834/16 "2006-02-24T02:57:52Z")
I’m not 100% certain but I think the line - or something very similar - is in an episode of _The Twilight zone_ from 1985. The episode was _A little peace and quiet_ which was thew pilot of the new series. When the nukes are about to strike, there’s a voice on the radio that says something similar. Aliens came about a year later, I believe. Anyone have a copy and can check? ---
**Author:** ![Omniscient](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omniscient/32/3290_2.png) [@Omniscient](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omniscient)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2006, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stoner-catchphrase-origin/345834/17 "2006-02-24T03:03:59Z")
> [@Peter Morris](#): > > I’m not 100% certain but I think the line - or something very similar - is in an episode of _The Twilight zone_ from 1985. The episode was _A little peace and quiet_ which was thew pilot of the new series. When the nukes are about to strike, there’s a voice on the radio that says something similar. Aliens came about a year later, I believe. > > Anyone have a copy and can check? I have little doubt that someone used the phrase “Game Over” before, but the point is that everyone doing the “game over, man, game over” line in that whiney, pleading voice was riffing on Bill Paxton in _Aliens_. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2006, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stoner-catchphrase-origin/345834/18 "2006-02-24T03:07:03Z")
> [@Peter Morris](#): > > I’m not 100% certain but I think the line - or something very similar - is in an episode of _The Twilight zone_ from 1985. The episode was _A little peace and quiet_ which was thew pilot of the new series. When the nukes are about to strike, there’s a voice on the radio that says something similar. Aliens came about a year later, I believe. > > Anyone have a copy and can check? I just checked the DVD and the radio announcer just says “It’s over. It’s over.” but not in the stoner accent. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2006, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stoner-catchphrase-origin/345834/19 "2006-02-24T04:07:02Z")
Ah, thanks. Well, its similar but not exact. ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2006, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stoner-catchphrase-origin/345834/20 "2006-02-24T04:18:37Z")
> [@Omniscient](#): > > I have little doubt that someone used the phrase “Game Over” before, The phrase “Game Over,” of course, comes from video games. It dates back to at least _Space Invaders_ in 1978. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stoner-catchphrase-origin/345834.md?page=2)