# Words or phrases that were that were coined by a TV show or movie **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 20, 2020, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-or-phrases-that-were-that-were-coined-by-a-tv-show-or-movie/926081 "2020-11-20T23:57:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2020, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-or-phrases-that-were-that-were-coined-by-a-tv-show-or-movie/926081/121 "2020-11-23T21:00:53Z")
unobtainium was standard car/hot-rodder slang by the early 1970s when I was going through that phase. No thought it came from TV/movies. Though it sure might have been popularized among gearheads by enthusiast mags like _Car & Driver_, _Hot Rodder_, etc. Here’s a related aphorism about evaluating the weight of parts for race cars: > Throw the part into the air. If it comes back down, it’s too heavy. Unobtainium was always the suggested replacement material when, of course, the part in question flunked the “test”. ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2020, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-or-phrases-that-were-that-were-coined-by-a-tv-show-or-movie/926081/122 "2020-11-23T21:51:59Z")
I thought it was incredibly stupid to use the word “unibtainium” in _Avatar_, as they weren’t using it in the sense described above, but that was _what the substance was actually called_ in-universe. None too subtle. ---
**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:** [November 23, 2020, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-or-phrases-that-were-that-were-coined-by-a-tv-show-or-movie/926081/123 "2020-11-23T21:54:43Z")
No, but sometimes you do hear people quote “Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!” to mean, yes, we’re going to ignore the hand-wave. ---
**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:** [November 23, 2020, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-or-phrases-that-were-that-were-coined-by-a-tv-show-or-movie/926081/124 "2020-11-23T22:09:19Z")
“Shirley” became a girl’s name when Charlotte Bronte named a girl character that-- the interesting part is that it was a boy’s name, and the character was given the name (in the universe of the book), because her father wanted a boy, and didn’t even have a girl’s name prepared for his impending offspring. As a result of the unusual name, and her father sort of thinking of her as a surrogate son, she is very headstrong, but also very clever in business, and good with money. So the book started a trend. Once Shirley Temple got the name, there was no going back. ---
**Author:** ![Author\_Balk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Author\_Balk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Author_Balk)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2020, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-or-phrases-that-were-that-were-coined-by-a-tv-show-or-movie/926081/125 "2020-11-23T22:23:40Z")
I believe that “toast” meaning destroyed came from Ghostbusters. ---
**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:** [November 24, 2020, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-or-phrases-that-were-that-were-coined-by-a-tv-show-or-movie/926081/126 "2020-11-24T00:10:28Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > “Shirley” became a girl’s name when Charlotte Bronte named a girl character that-- the interesting part is that it was a boy’s name, and the character was given the name (in the universe of the book), because her father wanted a boy, and didn’t even have a girl’s name prepared for his impending offspring. > > As a result of the unusual name, and her father sort of thinking of her as a surrogate son, she is very headstrong, but also very clever in business, and good with money. > > So the book started a trend. A similar naming trend was started by the book _Fragments of ancient poetry, collected in the Highlands of Scotland, and translated from the Gaelic or Erse language_, commonly known as _Ossian_, after the main character. The book purported to be the poetic works of the “northern Homer” Ossian (Oisin)., translated by Scottish poet James MacPherson and published in 1760-1765. The works achieved enormous popularity, showing that Northern Europe had a poet the equal of the ancient Greeks. The works were admired by Napoleon, Diderot, Goethe, and others. It inspired musical works by Felix Mendelssohn, Franz Schubert, and others, and was referenced by Voltaire and Wordsworth (among others). The poem was especially popular in Scandinavia, where a mania developed for names from the poems, including _Oscar, Malvina_, and _Selma_. Immigrants brought these names to America, where their popularity spread. (My own grandmother was named “Malvina”). The kicker is that the poems were a magnificent fraud. Although there is a thread of genuine tradition behind the characters, MacPherson’s poems were made up by him. A lot of the names (including Malvina) were made up by him, too. > **[Ossian](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ossian)** > > Ossian (/ˈɒʃən, ˈɒsiən/; Irish Gaelic/Scottish Gaelic: Oisean) is the narrator and purported author of a cycle of epic poems published by the Scottish poet James Macpherson, originally as Fingal (1761) and Temora (1763), and later combined under the title The Poems of Ossian. Macpherson claimed to have collected word-of-mouth material in Scottish Gaelic, said to be from ancient sources, and that the work was his translation of that material. Ossian is based on Oisín, son of Fionn mac Cumhaill > **[Ossian (given name)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ossian_(given_name))** > > Ossian is an Anglicised form of the Irish Oisín and the Scottish Gaelic Oisein. The latter names are derived from a byname constructed from the element os ("stag"). Another Anglicised form of Oisín is Osian. > Ossian was one of several names popularised by the romantic works of James Macpherson (died 1796), composer of so-called Ossianic poetry. In consequence, it and other Ossianic names—such as Malvina, Minona, Orla, Oscar, and Selma—were enthusiastically adopted in Scandinavia in the nineteenth... ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2020, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-or-phrases-that-were-that-were-coined-by-a-tv-show-or-movie/926081/127 "2020-11-24T01:59:41Z")
> [@Wheelz](#): > > I thought it was incredibly stupid to use the word “unibtainium” in _Avatar_ , as they weren’t using it in the sense described above, but that was _what the substance was actually called_ in-universe. None too subtle. I thought it was brilliant myself to call such an exotic substance a name that had already been in use in technology. It was an exellent in-joke, especially since people who weren’t familiar with it complained that it was made up for the movie. It’s exactly the kind of joke name that scientists create all the time - the Big Bang, quarks, flavors, charm, strange, ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2020, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-or-phrases-that-were-that-were-coined-by-a-tv-show-or-movie/926081/128 "2020-11-24T02:46:30Z")
The show _The Venture Bros._ has the verbs “arch” and “hench” meaning the act of be one’s arch enemy and the act of being a henchman, respectively. Like when The Monarch shows up at the Venture compound he is there to arch him. The guys in his employ would say they hench for a living. ---
**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:** [November 24, 2020, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-or-phrases-that-were-that-were-coined-by-a-tv-show-or-movie/926081/129 "2020-11-24T03:52:27Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > The guys in his employ would say they hench for a living. Damn, I may add this to my mischievous “What to say when someone asks what I do” list. I sometimes say “Salvage Consultant” but haven’t run into any Travis McGee fans who’d recognize it. ---
**Author:** ![Grestarian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grestarian/32/3227_2.png) [@Grestarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grestarian)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2020, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-or-phrases-that-were-that-were-coined-by-a-tv-show-or-movie/926081/130 "2020-11-24T05:58:26Z")
> [@Tripler](#): > > I understand that “ **frak** ,” or “ **frakkin** ’” became somewhat mainstream, due to the 2003ish _BattleStar Galactica_ reboot. It was used as a substitute for “f-ck,” and “f-ckin’”, as in: “ _What the frakkin’ frak was that frakkin’ thing that just hit the windshield of the bridge?_ ” Huh? It seemed pretty popular in the late 1970s when the original series was running .[quote=“Colibri, post:48, topic:926081”] _A-Team_ ; “I pity the fool…” [/quote] There was no L pronounced in that partial phrase when Mr. T would say it. It was more like “I pitty the foo…” What’s “Humina-humina-humina” from? Get Smart, “Missed it by _that_ much!” I don’t quite know if this is what you’re asking for but, in reference to the host of Let’s Make a Deal some unusually easy/lucrative D&D sessions (or campaigns) were referred to as Monty Hall (or “Monty Haul”) campaigns. And maybe this is out-of-bounds, but _please give me an excuse to exact a horrific revenge upon you_ was regurgitated every other minute and recycled in a lot of other works after Clint Eastwood’s Sudden Impact came out: “Go ahead…make my day!” [But then again, each of the Dirty Harry movies spawned at least a few months of “Do ya, Punk?” or “Marvelous!” imitations but they’re no longer ‘part of the language’ used every day..] –G! ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2020, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-or-phrases-that-were-that-were-coined-by-a-tv-show-or-movie/926081/131 "2020-11-24T06:57:52Z")
> [@Grestarian](#): > > What’s “Humina-humina-humina” from? The Honeymooners. When Ralph was caught in a fib, or otherwise found himself in a tight spot, he would stammer incoherently. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/xGprRpuXFj0/maxresdefault.jpg "Homina") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGprRpuXFj0) ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2020, 8:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-or-phrases-that-were-that-were-coined-by-a-tv-show-or-movie/926081/132 "2020-11-24T08:42:54Z")
> [@Wheelz](#): > > I thought it was incredibly stupid to use the word “unibtainium” Unibtainium would have been better. Or they could have gone with quadoxygen or tetratin. ---
**Author:** ![MrAtoz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MrAtoz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrAtoz)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2020, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-or-phrases-that-were-that-were-coined-by-a-tv-show-or-movie/926081/133 "2020-11-24T15:45:52Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > The show _The Venture Bros._ has the verbs “arch” and “hench” meaning the act of be one’s arch enemy and the act of being a henchman, respectively. Not quite as pithy, but _The Venture Brothers_ also used “costumed aggression” as a name for the practice of supervillainy as a whole. There was even a sales pitch: “Say there, were you the bully at your school? Are you currently an embittered loner with no friends? Do you often think, ‘That guy’s a dork. I’d like to kick his ass.?’ Then a career in costumed aggression might be for you!” ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2020, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-or-phrases-that-were-that-were-coined-by-a-tv-show-or-movie/926081/134 "2020-11-24T15:51:30Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > Unibtainium would have been better. > Or they could have gone with quadoxygen or tetratin. Serendipitous typo, but I agree with you. Even if you never heard the word before, it doesn’t take a genius to realize “Unobtainium” = “Something impossible or difficult to obtain.” So when the stuff they’re trying to obtain is _actually called_ unobtanium… maybe the term “lazy writing” comes to mind? ---
**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:** [November 24, 2020, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-or-phrases-that-were-that-were-coined-by-a-tv-show-or-movie/926081/135 "2020-11-24T16:54:19Z")
If it was used in TBBT or Firefly, where you had actual writers who gave a shit, then it might have been a clever homage. But… > [@Wheelz](#): > > … maybe the term “lazy writing” comes to mind? That’d be my guess, given the context (I mean, it’s _Avatar,_ one of the only movies I enjoyed but had completely forgotten by the time I got to the car). ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2020, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-or-phrases-that-were-that-were-coined-by-a-tv-show-or-movie/926081/136 "2020-11-24T17:18:46Z")
> [@Wheelz](#): > > So when the stuff they’re trying to obtain is _actually called_ unobtanium… maybe the term “lazy writing” comes to mind? No, as I said it’s a scientific in-joke, in keeping with other terms in physics, ---
**Author:** ![Didi44](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47c2d/32.png) [@Didi44](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Didi44)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2020, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-or-phrases-that-were-that-were-coined-by-a-tv-show-or-movie/926081/137 "2020-11-24T20:58:08Z")
Would the entire Klingon and other alien languages count? ---
**Author:** ![Tripler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripler/32/21807_2.png) [@Tripler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tripler)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2020, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-or-phrases-that-were-that-were-coined-by-a-tv-show-or-movie/926081/138 "2020-11-24T21:33:02Z")
> [@Grestarian](#): > > Huh? It seemed pretty popular in the late 1970s when the original series was running Interesting. I was “unavailable for viewership” for the original series over the air, but I do remember some media in “the aughts” commenting on the use of “frak” in the new reboot. Tripler I had to switch to “dag-gum” for my professional, work environment." ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2020, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-or-phrases-that-were-that-were-coined-by-a-tv-show-or-movie/926081/139 "2020-11-24T21:44:55Z")
> [@Didi44](#): > > Would the entire Klingon and other alien languages count? The OP asked for words “that ended up entering the language as everyday words.” As far as I know, this doesn’t apply to any Klingon words, but I could be wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2020, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-or-phrases-that-were-that-were-coined-by-a-tv-show-or-movie/926081/140 "2020-11-24T21:57:14Z")
The comparison “Bigger than a breadbox” came from “What’s My Line?” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-or-phrases-that-were-that-were-coined-by-a-tv-show-or-movie/926081.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-or-phrases-that-were-that-were-coined-by-a-tv-show-or-movie/926081.md?page=8)