# The one line that sold you... **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 2, 2006, 8:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-one-line-that-sold-you/359125 "2006-06-02T08:52:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2006, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-one-line-that-sold-you/359125/21 "2006-06-02T17:45:32Z")
The very first line from _Twin Peaks_: “She’s dead. Wrapped in plastic.” ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2006, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-one-line-that-sold-you/359125/22 "2006-06-02T17:51:05Z")
> [@Smeghead](#): > > Green Wing - the scene where the crazy Scottish woman masturbates the guy in the coma so she can impregnate herself with his child. What did she say? ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2006, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-one-line-that-sold-you/359125/23 "2006-06-02T18:08:12Z")
In this dirty-minded world, you are either someone’s mother or someone’s whore, or fast on your way to becoming one or the other. ---
**Author:** ![anyrose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/54ee81/32.png) [@anyrose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anyrose)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2006, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-one-line-that-sold-you/359125/24 "2006-06-02T18:15:28Z")
Robin Hood: Men in Tights > [@](#): > > Because unlike \*some \* Robin Hoods, I can speak with a British Accent ---
**Author:** ![Rachael\_Rage](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/71c47a/32.png) [@Rachael\_Rage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachael_Rage)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2006, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-one-line-that-sold-you/359125/25 "2006-06-02T18:37:59Z")
> [@Hampshire](#): > > The line from Episode 1 of **LOST** that everyone is still searching for the answer to: > > “Guys, where the hell are we?” - Charlie [nitpick] Actually, it’s “Guys, where ARE we?” [/nitpick] What did it for me is another Charlie line earlier in the pilot. After the Tree-Crushing Monster (TCM) does its thing the first time, everyone on the beach stares dumbfounded into the jungle. Charlie says: “Terrific.” Blackout I knew right then I was going to love this show. ---
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2006, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-one-line-that-sold-you/359125/26 "2006-06-02T18:38:41Z")
> [@Smeghead](#): > > Firefly > > “Darn.” [kick] > > That’s what I came in to post. I cam in to post from Firefly also, but mine was… [Mal looks at River in the crate, looks at crew, back at River, back at crew] “Huh.” ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2006, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-one-line-that-sold-you/359125/27 "2006-06-02T18:42:40Z")
> [@Larry Mudd](#): > > What did she say? Nothing. It was all nonverbal, which I realize is kind of stretching the premise of the OP, but still. ---
**Author:** ![brianjedi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@brianjedi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brianjedi)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2006, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-one-line-that-sold-you/359125/28 "2006-06-02T18:49:20Z")
Hmm… I think it was probably this Toby Ziegler line from The West Wing: “There’s literally no one in the world that I don’t hate right now.” ---
**Author:** ![Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/bc8723/32.png) [@Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unauthorized_Cinnamon)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2006, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-one-line-that-sold-you/359125/29 "2006-06-02T19:13:32Z")
> [@lobstermobster](#): > > The extended pilot of Arrested Development. When Lucille says, “Look what the homosexuals have done to me now…Everything has to be so dramatic…it makes me want to SET MYSELF ON FIRE” (i didn’t see it on tv but on a friends dvd…now ive seen every episode) Ha! I love that line. But what sold me on the series (having watched “Beef Consomme” on TV and not understanding what all the fuss was about), was Gob’s comments on magic. GOB: “Illusion,” Michael. A trick is something a whore does for money. [Michael indicates the crowd of children listening, GOB turns to them with a placating smile] GOB: . . . or cocaine! For me, the \*Firefly \* moment wasn’t a line - it was when Mal rushed aboard, instantly assessed the hostage situation, and shot the cop in the head, like it was a nuisance interfering with the main problem of avoiding the Reavers. Oho, I said to myself, finally a hero who isn’t Lawful Good! ---
**Author:** ![Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cc9497/32.png) [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt.Ridley_s_Shooting_Party)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2006, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-one-line-that-sold-you/359125/30 "2006-06-02T19:25:55Z")
The League of Gentlemen: “Don’t worry Tubs, they won’t get far!” ---
**Author:** ![anyrose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/54ee81/32.png) [@anyrose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anyrose)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2006, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-one-line-that-sold-you/359125/31 "2006-06-02T19:51:11Z")
there isn’t one line that sold me on Buffy, but rather a whole episode - **Once More, With Feeling** ; but one of the lines that, for me, epitomizes the writing of Buffy is > [@](#): > > I didn’t leap! I took a tiny step and the conclusions were right there! ---
**Author:** ![pinkfreud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pinkfreud/32/17603_2.png) [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2006, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-one-line-that-sold-you/359125/32 "2006-06-02T20:34:20Z")
I enjoyed **A Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy** from the start, but the line that hooked me and made me realize that Douglas Adams was my kind of writer was this one: “The ships hung in the sky in much the same way that bricks don’t.” ---
**Author:** ![FordPrefect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e99b99/32.png) [@FordPrefect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FordPrefect)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2006, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-one-line-that-sold-you/359125/33 "2006-06-02T20:48:45Z")
> [@pinkfreud](#): > > I enjoyed **A Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy** from the start, but the line that hooked me and made me realize that Douglas Adams was my kind of writer was this one: > > “The ships hung in the sky in much the same way that bricks don’t.” Ditto for me too. My moment with Firefly came much later, I had no idea about this show except some of the rumor found on the Dope. I left the TV on after Stargate one evening and they had Our Dear Mrs. Reynolds, and I thought, the gals are pretty nice, looks okay… I was reading a magazine too. Then Book tells Mal, “… The special hell reserved for child molesters and people who talk at the theatre.” and I was hooked 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Askia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Askia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askia)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2006, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-one-line-that-sold-you/359125/34 "2006-06-02T21:06:03Z")
From Charles Johnson’s _Middle Passage:_ (paraphrasing) She wed four husbands, in order: a banker, a theater agent, a minister and a mortician, applying to her marital status the sage advice of the axiom, “One for the money, two for the show, three to get ready and four to go.” That still cracks me up. ---
**Author:** ![rivulus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/839c29/32.png) [@rivulus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rivulus)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2006, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-one-line-that-sold-you/359125/35 "2006-06-02T21:14:55Z")
Mulder to Scully: “I think its remotely plausible that someone might think you’re hot.” Hooked. ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2006, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-one-line-that-sold-you/359125/36 "2006-06-02T22:05:49Z")
Like a lot of fans, I had watched _The Big Lebowski_ once and didn’t really appreciate it. I idly tuned in to it a second time years later, when Karl Hungus & Co. were threatening the Dude, Walter, Donny in the parking lot. KH’s thick German accent as he said “Ve fuck you UP, Lebowski!” suddenly kicked my funny bone in just the right way, and I’ve been hooked ever since. Now any line at all from that movie makes me giggle. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2006, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-one-line-that-sold-you/359125/37 "2006-06-02T22:16:56Z")
I picked up A Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy in the bookstore, not having heard anything about it, and started reading it right there. What got me was the line about humans still finding digital watches a neat idea. (It’s been a while so I can’t quote it precisely.) ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2006, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-one-line-that-sold-you/359125/38 "2006-06-02T22:24:39Z")
Firefly: “This is something the Captain needs to do on his own.” “No it isn’t!!” Neuromancer: The sky was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel. ---
**Author:** ![Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troy_mcclure_sf/32/4150_2.png) [@Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troy_McClure_SF)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2006, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-one-line-that-sold-you/359125/39 "2006-06-02T22:29:52Z")
> [@GargoyleWB](#): > > I cam in to post from Firefly also, but mine was… > > [Mal looks at River in the crate, looks at crew, back at River, back at crew] > > “Huh.” Yup. ---
**Author:** ![Gordon\_Urquhart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/db5fbb/32.png) [@Gordon\_Urquhart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gordon_Urquhart)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2006, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-one-line-that-sold-you/359125/40 "2006-06-02T22:31:35Z")
> [@teela brown](#): > > Like a lot of fans, I had watched _The Big Lebowski_ once and didn’t really appreciate it. Say, that reminds me: From _Raising Arizona_: “l’m walkin’ in here on my knees, Ed – a free man, proposin’. Howdy, Curt.” I know three people named Curt. Everytime I see them, they get a “Howdy, Curt” from me and I laugh a little inside. I wish I knew more Curts. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-one-line-that-sold-you/359125.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-one-line-that-sold-you/359125.md?page=3)