When I was growing up there was a period when the above phrase was uttered by everyone, all the time. I’ve seen similar things happen to, among others, “Show me the money!,” “Time to make the donuts!,” “Where’s the beef?,” and “Sit on it!” In fact, there was once a time when America always had some new catchphrase that acted as both a marker in time and a kind of glue that brought together all segments of our society. Now with a four hundred TV channels, a near infinite number of web sites, Netflix, and advertisers creating different ads for every different medium, those days seem gone forever.
But I say we don’t need some multi-media conglomerate to come up with America’s Newest Catchphrase. I say we’re just as capable as anyone to come up with the catch-all phrase that takes the country – nay, the world – by storm and brands this time as ours. It can be a quote from a movie, book, TV show or ad, or it could be something you just made up. It doesn’t have to make sense or even have context, because back in the day people just said the newest catchphrase just to say it – sometimes it fit in the conversation, sometimes it didn’t.
So I put the question out to the hive mind: What should America’s Newest Catchphrase be?
A few suggestions just to get the ball rolling:
“It puts the lotion on its skin”
“So I tied an onion to my belt, which was the style at the time.”
“I’m a Bieleber!”
Images are cheating, perhaps, I defy you to claim that these do not identify an era:
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*but.
More realistically, perhaps the Twitter trends department already knows what it will beReport
LEEEEROOOOOYYY JENKINSSSReport
Under appreciated, this one is.Report
(for the record, we use “it puts the lotion on its skin” all the time in my house)Report
So do we. I’m glad we’re not the only sickos.Report
Good lord, you people have young children!
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They need lotion!Report
Win.Report
Beautiful.Report
Ditto.Report
I still say, “Time to make the doughnuts.” And I don’t even know that I was old enough to even know what that commercial was when it was popular.Report
Lil Jon‘s “Yeaahhh!” is pretty much one of these phrases.Report
“I would love to Pandora that.”
“I’d DVR her first runs and repeats.”
“Let’s cut the crust right off this sandwich.”
TRReport
“See, because of me, now there’s a warning.”Report
Don’t worry. I’ve sent an email about it.Report
“Territory ain’t shit.”Report
The favorite at our workplace is “I ain’t sayin’ … but I’m just sayin‘ ”
Others:
“Yeah, s/he’s a buhgenius”
(to express that absurd pride we feel in our small children when they reach milestones slightly early)
tl;dr
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Mad-TV got one or two things right over the years. One of them? “What’chu talkin’ ’bout, Batman?”Report
“Yeaahhhh boouuuyyyy!”Report
THIS IS WHY WE CAN’T HAVE NICE THINGS!
I’m not even sure what it’s from… but it works for SO many things…Report
I love that one, we use it all the time.Report
http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/this-is-why-we-cant-have-nice-things
Don’t know how accurate the origin speculations are, but it’s something.Report
“I drive a Dodge Stratus!”Report
“Catchphrases suck”Report
FTWReport
“It puts the lotion in it’s skin” is way too old to be a ‘new’ catcgphrase – c’mon, it’s over 20 years old!
And it seems to me that we just had a national catchphrase that took the world by storm, and it was “Winning.”
My new personal one, however, is “I’m too old for this shit,“Report
That’s older than “lotion”!
One that returns regularly in the IT world is, “I say we take off and nuke the entire site from orbit. It’s the only way to be sure.”Report
Dy-no-mite!Report
If we go with Dy-no-mite, will we have to use it at the end of a rhyming couplet?Report
I looked for some Charlie Chan catchphrases to see if there were any but he was better with the quips than the running gags.Report
“Ahh Come On!”
Gob always had the best.Report
I am going to exploit the “it doesn’t have to make sense” allowance and see what my subconscious dredges up…
“Do you have those in suede?”
“I fry mine in lard!”
“Well, that’s the last time I buy discounted sushi.”
“That reminds me of Model UN.”
“I’m doing my part. I drive a Prius.”Report
“They’re happy because they eat lard!” is a frequent catchphrase in our household.Report
those days seem gone forever.
I’m not sure if this is true. Consider Tod, that you’re 40+ years old. I’m sure kids nowadays have all sorts of new lingo that they all use all the time. The reason why you dont think there is any new catchphrase is because you are not a teen anymore and therefore not hip, cool or with it or whatever phrase kidss are using it nowadays.Report
Me? Not hip to what the young hipsters are up to? You are crazy, girlfriend! Oh, I am definitely “word,” my friend. I am cutting edge! I may be older than a lot of all you in my “posse,” but I still have both Jonas Brothers albums – and let me tell you, I’s still hip enough to know that Paul, Jonah and Nick are all that – and a bag of chips! Oh, snap!
Also: shizzle.Report
+1Report
“Word” is used horribly inappropriately there…Report
If your talking catchphrases there is something I always wanted to ask on this site.
Are you local?Report
Not sure. What do you mean by local?Report
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGntH-aOlWU
From about 3 minutes to 6:40Report
Thank you for that.Report
I’d be surprised if many people here have seen that but given the programme title it was irresistable.
Just don’t bother with the film, it was shall we say not Gatiss’ finest work.
Incidentally I’ve lived in the Pennines and while this is exaggerated its not as far from reality as you might think.
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