# What are your real life catch phrases? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 11, 2009, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-real-life-catch-phrases/489124 "2009-03-11T20:41:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2009, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-real-life-catch-phrases/489124/101 "2009-03-14T23:00:38Z")
The closest I can think of a catch phrase might be “excellent” if something goes well. ---
**Author:** ![groo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecd19e/32.png) [@groo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/groo)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2009, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-real-life-catch-phrases/489124/102 "2009-03-15T00:43:32Z")
> [@MeDrewNotYou](#): > > … > The boy grew frustrated when his sister wouldn’t share her toys, so now there’s a five year old saying, “Kids these days…” to his classmates in kindergarten. > … That’s cute; I wonder if I can train my nephew to do that. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2009, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-real-life-catch-phrases/489124/103 "2009-03-15T03:07:44Z")
> [@Khadaji](#): > > The closest I can think of a catch phrase might be “excellent” if something goes well. Do you say it with an icy tone and make a little tent with your fingertips like Mr. Burns? I do. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2009, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-real-life-catch-phrases/489124/104 "2009-03-15T03:09:54Z")
Occasionally, I’ll say of something, “I trust that about as far as I can spit a rat…” ---
**Author:** ![Chimi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/73ab20/32.png) [@Chimi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimi)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2009, 7:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-real-life-catch-phrases/489124/105 "2009-03-15T07:09:48Z")
At my work (video store) we’re required to greet everyone who comes in and so forth, and being a friendly guy, I often ask how people’s days are goin’, or sometimes they preempt me in doing so…and I usually respond in a deadpan, “Oh, livin’ the dream.” or “Walkin’ on sunshine, how 'bout yourself?” Among my friends, to liven up quiet moments, I’ll randomly utter, “I pooped a X” Where X has been, among others; skeleton, whole skeleton, squirrel, moose, playstation, your mom, planet, god, website. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2009, 7:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-real-life-catch-phrases/489124/106 "2009-03-15T07:55:38Z")
**Chimi** , you’ve helped me remember another of those I stole from a guy on the building maintenance crew at work. He was perfect in providing the right blend of gleeful cynicism and dry wit whenever you’d ask him such questions as: “how’s it goin’?” “Sup?” “how’s it hangin’?” “how’s your day?” With as close to a deadpan and no inflection whatsoever in his voice, he would intone, “Just another day in Paradise.” I’d be several minutes before I quit laughing. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2009, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-real-life-catch-phrases/489124/107 "2009-03-15T12:00:52Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Do you say it with an icy tone and make a little tent with your fingertips like Mr. Burns? > > I do. Nope. I simple say _Excellent!_ and I might add _Well done!_ with a grin. ---
**Author:** ![Baal\_Houtham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baal_houtham/32/13604_2.png) [@Baal\_Houtham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baal_Houtham)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2009, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-real-life-catch-phrases/489124/108 "2009-03-15T15:21:55Z")
> [@TruCelt](#): > > (…) > > And whenever anything remotely Australian is mentioned: > > “Maybe the DINGO ate your Baby!” (Said way too loudly, in a faked Australian accent and with campy serendipitous enthusiasm. This one has gotten me in trouble once or twice. . .) > > (…) I’m not sure why the dingo phrase has such staying power, but it’s been hanging around for 20 years now (the movie came out in 1988.) I’ll still have days where I’ll mutter it off and on for hours. It’s an abbreviated dead baby joke and an excuse to use a (caricatured) Australian accent in one convenient package. It rolls off the tongue in a most satisfying way. “Oight.” Anyway. Most of my catchphrases are unprovoked interjections, rather than replies: “Dead people are vitally important to the economy.” “Arf!” --As an expression of enthusiasm. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2009, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-real-life-catch-phrases/489124/109 "2009-03-15T16:17:12Z")
_Seinfeld_ had a lot to do with continuing the “dingo ate your baby” meme. ---
**Author:** ![Mk\_VII](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Mk\_VII](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mk_VII)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2009, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-real-life-catch-phrases/489124/110 "2009-03-16T11:52:45Z")
Most people have a little stock of phrases and expressions which they resort to, but unless they are placed in a position of authority, such as a schoolmaster, most others don’t notice them. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2009, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-real-life-catch-phrases/489124/111 "2009-03-16T12:26:44Z")
Thought of another: A few years ago, at a Thanksgiving family gathering, a bunch of the littlest kids busted into the house all excited and told my Uncle Dan that there was a toad in the yard. He immediately responded, “Don’t eat it.” The child who received this sage advice very seriously passed it on to the next child, and you could hear it going along the little kid grapevine all the way back to the kids in the yard. “Don’t eat it!” “He says don’t eat it!” “Hey, Kaitlyn! Don’t eat it!” Now anytime someone announces they have found something (say, a huge freakin’ spider in the bathtub), the automatic response is “don’t eat it!” Truly, these are words of wisdom. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2009, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-real-life-catch-phrases/489124/112 "2009-03-16T20:51:21Z")
I forgot one. Whenever I’m asked how I am, or how it is going I say “Life is a cruel joke played on me by the universe.” ---
**Author:** ![CanvasShoes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@CanvasShoes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CanvasShoes)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2009, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-real-life-catch-phrases/489124/113 "2009-04-01T22:13:29Z")
Most of mine are from family jokes, that would entail long background stories. But I have a few slightly more common ones. When someone asks me how I am(I HATE that question btw), I usually answer "fair to middlin’. A lot of “that’s what SHE said” gets used by all of my coworkers, our field work entails industry jargon which can sound kind of suggestive, to downright dirty from time to time. It also entails us doing field sampling which can appear CSI’ish, so we occasionally crack ourselves up with Lt. Cane phrases or safety glasses doffing and donning. “THIS!, Mr. Coworker, is Contaminated soil”. (pause, doff sunglasses) “It could be deadly, or it could just be motor oil”. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-real-life-catch-phrases/489124.md?page=5)