# 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:** 5
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2024, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-commonly-used-phrase-in-english-that-came-from-a-movie/1011068/81 "2024-12-05T01:45:19Z")
I’ve got a bad feeling about this. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2024, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-commonly-used-phrase-in-english-that-came-from-a-movie/1011068/82 "2024-12-05T01:49:18Z")
> [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](#): > > Was the expression “go full [whatever]” in common usage before Robert Downey, Jr. used it in _Tropic Thunder_?. I don’t think so. Actually, I don’t really hear it outside that movie unless someone is mentioning the movie. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2024, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-commonly-used-phrase-in-english-that-came-from-a-movie/1011068/83 "2024-12-05T13:39:13Z")
Most of these common phrases came from well-known, well-loved movies, naturally. But possibly the most common phrase that came from a relatively obscure movie is ‘stop me before I \_\_\_\_ again!’ Used humorously, as in: someone on a diet saying ‘stop me before I eat again!’. The original phrase is ‘stop me before I kill again!’ and it’s from a 1960 British thriller called ‘The Full Treatment’, also known now by its alternate title ‘Stop Me Before I Kill!’. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2024, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-commonly-used-phrase-in-english-that-came-from-a-movie/1011068/84 "2024-12-05T14:54:46Z")
James Lipton claimed “ **Are we having fun yet?** ” comes from an Alan Alda movie, I think “Same Time, Next Year”, but I’m not sure. Might be a different movie. Early 80’s for sure, either just before end of MASH or just after. If that did not pre-exist in common usage, that is a good one. ---
**Author:** ![Railer13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/railer13/32/9742_2.png) [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2024, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-commonly-used-phrase-in-english-that-came-from-a-movie/1011068/85 "2024-12-05T15:14:13Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > “ **Are we having fun yet?** ” comes from an Alan Alda movie According to [Wiki](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zippy_the_Pinhead), that phrase comes from Zippy the Pinhead, the star of the comic strip _Zippy_. The creator of the strip, Bill Griffith, discovered that he first used the phrase in a strip in 1979. He was researching the phrase because it was to be included in _Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations_ and attributed to Zippy. So probably just before the Alan Alda movie, perhaps? ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2024, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-commonly-used-phrase-in-english-that-came-from-a-movie/1011068/86 "2024-12-05T15:45:03Z")
> [@Railer13](#): > > So probably just before the Alan Alda movie, perhaps? I wondered. I think Lipton, who actually was highly interested in word and phrase origins, just assumed it was an original line since he had not heard it at that point. ---
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2024, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-commonly-used-phrase-in-english-that-came-from-a-movie/1011068/87 "2024-12-05T17:15:33Z")
In British English, at least, quite often you hear > You’re only supposed to blow the bloody doors off! (Or variants thereof) j ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2024, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-commonly-used-phrase-in-english-that-came-from-a-movie/1011068/88 "2024-12-05T17:33:25Z")
Have fun storming the castle! May the Force be with you. Go ahead. Make my day. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2024, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-commonly-used-phrase-in-english-that-came-from-a-movie/1011068/89 "2024-12-05T17:35:29Z")
> [@Zoobi](#): > > “Revenge is dish best served cold” What if we complete the line “… and it is very cold in space.” Khan attributed it to the Klingons so I always assumed it was a line in ST2 created ex nihilo. ---
**Author:** ![sciurophobic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cab0a1/32.png) [@sciurophobic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sciurophobic)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2024, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-commonly-used-phrase-in-english-that-came-from-a-movie/1011068/90 "2024-12-05T17:43:27Z")
> [@Telemark](#): > > Have fun storming the castle! As you wish. ---
**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:** [December 5, 2024, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-commonly-used-phrase-in-english-that-came-from-a-movie/1011068/91 "2024-12-05T18:19:03Z")
“We’ll always have Paris.” Or did they say that first in _The Iliad_ ? ---
**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:** [December 5, 2024, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-commonly-used-phrase-in-english-that-came-from-a-movie/1011068/92 "2024-12-05T18:29:13Z")
“Lions and Tigers and Bears, oh my!” No, they don’t say it in L. Frank Baum’s OZ books. Nor in any previous incarnation of the story I’m aware of. Interestingly, in the original book of _The Wizard of Oz_ one of the hazards of Oz was a creature called the _kalidah_, which combined features of the tiger and the bear (and there already is the Cowardly Lion, of course). I’ve wondered if that’s what inspired the line in the movie. I’ve also wondered if they were called Kalidahs because you could look for them with a Kalidah-scope. > **[Kalidahs](https://oz.fandom.com/wiki/Kalidahs)** > > "They had just started to cross this queer bridge when a sharp growl made them all look up, and to their horror they saw running toward them two great beasts with bodies like bears and heads like tigers. "It's the Ka-Ka-Kalidahs!" said the Cowardly... ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2024, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-commonly-used-phrase-in-english-that-came-from-a-movie/1011068/93 "2024-12-05T18:34:40Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > “Lions and Tigers and Bears, oh my!” > > No, they don’t say it in L. Frank Baum’s OZ books. Nor in any previous incarnation of the story I’m aware of. Side note: that’s one of very, very few elements from the 1939 film _The Wizard of Oz_ (as opposed to Baum’s novel) that’s directly referenced in _Wicked_. (A character points out that the punch at a college party is made with “lemons and melons and pears.”) ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2024, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-commonly-used-phrase-in-english-that-came-from-a-movie/1011068/94 "2024-12-05T18:41:18Z")
OK, but for the purposes of this thread (most commonly used phrase that was pretty much unheard of before the movie (or TV show)), it has to be bucket list, right? ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2024, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-commonly-used-phrase-in-english-that-came-from-a-movie/1011068/95 "2024-12-05T19:06:32Z")
> [@RitterSport](#): > > it has to be bucket list, right? I use that phrase about once a decade at most, while there are about fifteen other phrases in this thread that I use at least one a year – a few of them closer to once a month. But maybe that’s just me. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2024, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-commonly-used-phrase-in-english-that-came-from-a-movie/1011068/96 "2024-12-05T19:17:35Z")
Some of the ones mentioned seem like common phrases outside of the movie to me. How do the other ones look on nGrams? Bucket list shoots up from basically zero. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2024, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-commonly-used-phrase-in-english-that-came-from-a-movie/1011068/97 "2024-12-05T19:26:13Z")
“Perfect storm” (or rather “perfect storm,” all lowercase) does the same around 2000: > **[Google Books Ngram Viewer](https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=perfect%2Bstorm&year_start=1800&year_end=2022&corpus=en&smoothing=3)** > > Google Ngrams: perfect storm, 1800-2022 ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2024, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-commonly-used-phrase-in-english-that-came-from-a-movie/1011068/98 "2024-12-05T19:29:33Z")
Huh? No it doesn’t. It’s up and down for a century. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2024, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-commonly-used-phrase-in-english-that-came-from-a-movie/1011068/99 "2024-12-05T19:31:55Z")
Well, that’s bizarre. Here’s what my screen showed: [[Album] imgur.com ![](https://i.imgur.com/xyaZ6Q5.png?fb "imgur.com") ](https://imgur.com/a/oOMy84X) ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2024, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-commonly-used-phrase-in-english-that-came-from-a-movie/1011068/100 "2024-12-05T19:38:36Z")
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