That used to be my sig on a couple of old forums

Another Fine Mess (Short 1930) ⭐ 7.3 | Short, Comedy, Family
29m | Not Rated
Average Rating: 7.3
Duration: 00:00
That used to be my sig on a couple of old forums
Just like the quote from the Book of Bushidō at the start of Le Samouraï and the one from the Buddha at the start of Le Cercle Rouge.
“Terminated with extreme prejudice,” glossed as “Killed,” was published in Time magazine in 1971, in a glossary of spy slang titled “Picnics and Wet Stuff.” I believe that was the first publication that brought it to wide awareness. It was based off an existing phrase, “terminate with prejudice,” literally meaning you’re fired from your job and you’ll never get it back again.
It probably originates from an old Islamic hadith: “Whoever believes in Allah and the last day should say what is good or else keep silent.”
The Quote Investigator has some interesting facts about this, or rather about a variation that people do use in conversation:
If you haven’t anything nice to say about anyone, come sit by me.
Often attributed to either Alice Roosevelt Longworth or to Dorothy Parker, it seems to appear in print first in a 1965 profile of the former. There isn’t evidence of either woman or of anyone else originating it, just evidence of it being attributed to them.
As for the original, it seems to have become trendy online to attribute it to the movie Bambi (as mentioned up-thread).
I came here to mention “another fine mess.” I do hear this in conversation often enough for it to qualify.
In 1930, Laurel and Hardy released a short-subject talkie with that title. Oddly enough, Hardy appears to have always used a variant (“Another nice mess”) rather than the version heard today, “this is another fine mess you’ve gotten us into.”
29m | Not Rated
Average Rating: 7.3
Duration: 00:00
The phrase really caught on in print after Hardy’s death, rather than immediately on the release of the short:
Google Ngrams: another fine mess, 1900-2008
If you haven’t anything nice to say about anyone, come sit by me.
That made it into the movie Steel Magnolias, delivered by Shirley MacLaine, prefaced by “Well, you know what they say…”
Good catch. I suspect it’s the type of cutting cynicism that attracts many screenwriters. We all like to see the more-sanctimonious mottos preached at us get turned upside-down.
I use “glitch in the Matrix” reasonably often.
That may just be me.
“I like to watch,” from Being There.
Not a top contender for this thread, but top forty, for sure.
That’s very close to a phrase used in The Mikado (1911)
Ko: Well, a nice mess you’ve got us into, with your nodding head and the deference due to a man of pedigree!
All of these should be readily recognizable and are used when the occasion calls for it:
What is your major malfunction?
We are not worthy. We are not worthy.
They’re here.
There can be only one (or two).
Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain!
Made it Ma. Top of the world!
(Me) Tarzan, (you) Jane.
It’s good to be the king.
Is it safe?
I’m walkin’ heah!
I’m ready for my close-up.
That one was even a book title:
From The New Yorker’s fiercely original, Pulitzer Prize-winning culture critic, a provocative collection of new and previously published essays arguing that we are what we watch. “Emily...
Price: USD 20
That’s very close to a phrase used in The Mikado (1911)
Cool! I know The Mikado but hadn’t remembered that line.
“Elementary, my dear Watson”
Elementary, my dear Watson: The source of this phrase and how to use it.
“Elementary, my dear Watson”
We disposed of that one in post #32.
This doesn’t fit exactly, since Austin Powers didn’t debut the phrase “Yeah, baby!” but saying it in the style of the character (exuberantly with a British accent) happened like every 20 seconds in 1997 and while usage has waned, it never really went away.
We disposed of that one in post #32.
That’ll teach me to trust “Find in page”.
“Looks like I picked the wrong week to stop sniffing glue!”
“Have you ever seen a grown man naked?”
“Do you like gladiator movies?”(or was it Do you like movies about gladiators?)