# What is the most commonly used phrase in English that came from a movie? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** movies\ **Created:** [December 2, 2024, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-commonly-used-phrase-in-english-that-came-from-a-movie/1011068 "2024-12-02T16:37:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 16
**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 8, 2025, 10:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-commonly-used-phrase-in-english-that-came-from-a-movie/1011068/301 "2025-02-08T10:26:40Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > I’m not sure the lights are ever referred to as “gas lights,” because the movie is set at a time when they are the most common kind of light, the only other kind I can think of being candle light. Until electric lights had mostly supplanted gas lights, would you refer to gas lights as such. In the first place, there were other types of lighting available, such as oil lamps, and limelights. In the second place, it’s perfectly easy to find [many examples](https://www.google.co.uk/search?tbo=p&tbm=bks&q=gaslight&tbs=,cdr:1,cd_min:Jan+1_2+1700,cd_max:Dec+31_2+1890&num=10) of people saying “gas light” in the 19th century, before electric lights were common. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2025, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-commonly-used-phrase-in-english-that-came-from-a-movie/1011068/302 "2025-02-08T18:14:37Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > In the second place, it’s perfectly easy to find [many examples](https://www.google.co.uk/search?tbo=p&tbm=bks&q=gaslight&tbs=,cdr:1,cd_min:Jan+1_2+1700,cd_max:Dec+31_2+1890&num=10) of people saying “gas light” in the 19th century, before electric lights were common. Yeah, but those aren’t common parlance, and I have seen the Ingrid Bergman film a number of times; I’m pretty sure that no one says “gas light,” just “gas” and “light” separately, albeit, it could be deliberate in order not to telegraph the ending. The title doesn’t count, because no one is going to have it in mind by the film’s end-- not like characters repeating “gaslight” throughout the film. My point wasn’t that no one ever said “gas light” before there were electrical lights; it was that for most things, there is a standard model, that is referred to my something simple, and other types are modified, and it can change. “Phone” now mean “Smartphone-type device.” When those were not common, they were called “Smart phones,” and simple cell phones that called, texted, and maybe took still images, were “phones.” Other kinds were “landlines,” or “desk phones.” “Computer” almost always means a laptop-style computer, and another type is a “desk top,” or whatever. But when they were new, they were “laptops,” and desk tops models were simple “computers.” I’m postulating a time when it was usual that in common parlance, gas lights were “lights,” and anything else was modified. ---
**Author:** ![MrAtoz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MrAtoz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrAtoz)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2025, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-commonly-used-phrase-in-english-that-came-from-a-movie/1011068/303 "2025-02-08T18:22:37Z")
> [@Dropo](#): > > In the context of the film, it seems to mean: Klaatu is down, go find him, bring him back to the spaceship and raise him from the dead. In his book _Keep Watching the Skies_, Bill Warren speculated that, because it seems to convey so much information in so few words, it probably means something like “Execute Plan B.” ---
**Author:** ![Dropo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce7236/32.png) [@Dropo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dropo)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2025, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-commonly-used-phrase-in-english-that-came-from-a-movie/1011068/304 "2025-02-08T21:01:06Z")
> [@MrAtoz](#): > > …it probably means something like “Execute Plan B.” I was thinking more about this and remembered that before Gort heads off to reclaim Michael Rennie’s body, he abducts Patricia Neal and deposits her on the spaceship. Why? I have no idea. Doesn’t seem like having Neal aboard serves any useful purpose…except of course, so that the resurrected Rennie can explain some things to the viewer without talking to himself. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2025, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-commonly-used-phrase-in-english-that-came-from-a-movie/1011068/305 "2025-02-09T01:09:44Z")
I’ve always thought he brought her on board to protect her from the government’s sinister agents. If they’ve come after Klaatu, they’re gonna come after her. Anyway, Klaatu sent her to fetch Galt in the first place and tell him to come and get him. That’s why she was at the flying saucer when Galt zapped the guards who were on duty. He’s not gonna just leave her lying on the lawn. (Though it seems he’s not sure what to do with her at first.) ---
**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 9, 2025, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-commonly-used-phrase-in-english-that-came-from-a-movie/1011068/306 "2025-02-09T02:41:23Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > fetch Galt Gort. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2025, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-commonly-used-phrase-in-english-that-came-from-a-movie/1011068/307 "2025-02-09T02:48:45Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > It was never actually used in the play or film, was it? I think it acquired the meaning it has now after someone who had seen the movie coined it. Wasnt there a famous cartoon, maybe by David Malk? The guy who came up with sealioning? ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2025, 10:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-commonly-used-phrase-in-english-that-came-from-a-movie/1011068/308 "2025-02-09T10:59:14Z")
Duh! 😖 ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2025, 11:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-commonly-used-phrase-in-english-that-came-from-a-movie/1011068/309 "2025-02-09T11:01:31Z")
Never heard of him. Was he writing about WWII? ---
**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 9, 2025, 11:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-commonly-used-phrase-in-english-that-came-from-a-movie/1011068/310 "2025-02-09T11:08:56Z")
Creator of the comic _Wondermark_, from which the term sealioning comes. > **[\#1062; The Terrible Sea Lion](https://wondermark.com/c/1062/)** > > This sea lion has made the rounds. Also, a clarification on the sea lion character. [![](https://i.imgur.com/pIsXF8y.png) ](https://i.imgur.com/pIsXF8y.png) ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2025, 11:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-commonly-used-phrase-in-english-that-came-from-a-movie/1011068/311 "2025-02-09T11:12:52Z")
Aha! I did _not_ know that! 🤔 ---
**Author:** ![eburacum45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eburacum45/32/8690_2.png) [@eburacum45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eburacum45)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2025, 11:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-commonly-used-phrase-in-english-that-came-from-a-movie/1011068/312 "2025-02-09T11:20:12Z")
The clip of Gomer Pyle posted upthread proves conclusively that people were using ‘gaslighting’ in the 1960s to mean misinformation. Certainly when I head the term ‘gaslighting’ in more recent times I was aware of its origin (the 1944 film, a cult classic). People in the 1960s probably remembered the film, and the association with deception; I remember gaslights in holiday caravans on the Essex coast, where lighting and cooking were derived from a propane cylinder under the floor, and lighting the cooker made the lights dim slightly. No electricity as far as I can remember. ---
**Author:** ![iamatractorboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iamatractorboy/32/21261_2.png) [@iamatractorboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamatractorboy)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2025, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-commonly-used-phrase-in-english-that-came-from-a-movie/1011068/313 "2025-03-19T15:49:04Z")
> [@iamatractorboy](#): > > _Sliding Doors_ is a phrase I’ve seen used a lot over the last 25-odd years, as in ‘a real _Sliding Doors_ moment’, where had something panned out slightly differently, the future could have been very different. Most people on here seem to not be familiar with the phrase being used in common parlance, but this story on the BBC uses it (it’s a horrible story so just a warning there). BBC News - How killer Nicholas Prosper’s school shooting plan was thwarted - BBC News > **[How killer Nicholas Prosper's school shooting plan was thwarted](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c2kg9px5n03o)** > > Nicholas Prosper murdered his family but was spotted before he could carry out a plan to attack his old school. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2025, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-commonly-used-phrase-in-english-that-came-from-a-movie/1011068/314 "2025-03-19T16:28:20Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > “[R]evenge is a dish best served cold” actually is a very old saying … It’s odd Khan would attribute it to the Klingons. It sounds like a Klingon thing to say, but Khan never in his life even met a Klingon or had any dealings with them. The line would have worked fine without the attribution to Klingons. Khan had been marooned on Ceti Alpha V for at least 20 years. He had plenty of time to read up on the Klingons with all the materials Kirk undoubtedly left for him. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2025, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-commonly-used-phrase-in-english-that-came-from-a-movie/1011068/315 "2025-03-19T16:49:50Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Does anyone other than me know what it means? 🤨 Yes. It’s the alien Klaatu telling the robot Gort not to destroy the Earth, because it’s their only source of TV shows like Beretta and Nicktoons. ---
**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:** [March 19, 2025, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-commonly-used-phrase-in-english-that-came-from-a-movie/1011068/316 "2025-03-19T17:14:56Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > but Khan never in his life even met a Klingon or had any dealings with them. He could have learned about them from his wife. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2025, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-commonly-used-phrase-in-english-that-came-from-a-movie/1011068/317 "2025-03-19T19:01:40Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Khan had been marooned on Ceti Alpha V for at least 20 years Fifteen. Khan says so when he meets Terrell and Chekov, and it precisely matched the time between the episode Space Seed (1967) and the release of the movie (1982). ---
**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:** [March 19, 2025, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-commonly-used-phrase-in-english-that-came-from-a-movie/1011068/318 "2025-03-19T19:45:05Z")
They are somewhat inconsistent on the dates. I’ve seen an analysis that dialogue indicates that TMP took place about 4 years after Space Seed, and TWOK about two years after that. So about 6 or 7 years. [Memory Alpha](https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Khan_Noonien_Singh) dates Space Seed as being set in 2267, while TWOK was set in 2285. So about 18 years. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2025, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-commonly-used-phrase-in-english-that-came-from-a-movie/1011068/319 "2025-03-19T19:53:04Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > They are somewhat inconsistent on the dates. I’ve seen an analysis that dialogue indicates that TMP took place about 4 years after Space Seed, and TWOK about two years after that. So about 6 or 7 years. Khan literally says “fifteen years ago.” It’s in the actual movie. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2025, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-commonly-used-phrase-in-english-that-came-from-a-movie/1011068/320 "2025-03-19T21:44:00Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > The first time I encountered “Kick the bucket” was in 1963 (I was eight years old), when Jimmy Durante does just that at the beginning of _ **It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World** _. I didn’t realize the significance of that action until I heard my dad mention it to someone else. I was eight when I saw it in a theater with my dad! That was my introduction to “humor”… After the interminable shot from the bottom of the hill as the pail rolls towards the camera, I turned to Dad and whispered “WHY didn’t they say he kicked the bucket?” His response: “It’s funnier this way.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-commonly-used-phrase-in-english-that-came-from-a-movie/1011068.md?page=15) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-commonly-used-phrase-in-english-that-came-from-a-movie/1011068.md?page=17)