Catch phrase

A catch phrase is a phrase or expression that is popularized, usually through repeated use, by a real person or fictional character. They are especially common among cartoon characters.

Today, catch phrases are frequently seen as an important part of marketing a character, with the phrase appearing on t-shirts and other promotional materials for the character's respective show or film.

Catch phrases attributed to real people often are often based on something that the person would be expected to say, as opposed to something they actually did. These are also known as misquotations. "Beam me up, Scotty" (see below) is a good example of this.

Some well-known catch phrases

• "All your base are belong to us." - Zero Wing, a Japanese video game translated into Engrish
• "And away we go!" - Jackie Gleason
• "And it's goodnight from me..." - "And it's goodnight from him!" - Ronnie Corbett and Ronnie Barker respectively in The Two Ronnies
• "And now for something completely different." - John Cleese in Monty Python's Flying Circus
• "Ay Carumba!" Bart Simpson
• "Backbackbackbackback..." - Sportscaster Chris Berman, describing a home run in a baseball highlight
• "Beam me up, Scotty!" - attributed to Captain Kirk in Star Trek (the actual phrase was "Scotty, beam me up..." or some variation)
• "Book 'em, Dan-o." - Steve McGarrett on Hawaii Five-O
• "Boo-yah!" - sportscaster Stuart Scott on ESPN
• "Come up and see me some time..." - Mae West
• "D'oh!" - Homer Simpson
• "Did I do that?" - Steve Urkel
• "Drat and double drat!" - Dick Dastardly in Wacky Races
• "Dy-no-mite!" - Jimmie Walker
• "Eat my shorts!" Bart Simpson
• "Fascinating." - Mr. Spock in Star Trek
• "Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead..." - Chevy Chase, on the TV show Saturday Night Live
• "Go ahead. Make my day."^* - Clint Eastwood as Harry Callahan in Sudden Impact
• "Good Grief!" - Charlie Brown
• "Good night, Mrs. Calabash, wherever you are!" - Jimmy Durante
• "H'Arsenal!" - Eric Morecambe (originally a quiz answer disguised as a cough, thereafter a random interjection)
• "He could go all the way!" - Howard Cosell; later Chris Berman in a parody of Cosell's distinctive voice
• "He fallen in the water!" Spike Milligan as Little Jim in the Goons
• "Holy cow!" - Baseball announcers Phil Rizzuto and Harry Caray, independently
• "I am outta here!" - Dennis Miller
• "I don't get no respect." - Rodney Dangerfield (and Jabberjaw)
• "I hate the itching. But I don't mind the swelling..." - David Letterman
• "I have a cunning plan which will not fail!" - Baldrick (Tony Robinson) in Blackadder
• "I'll be back." - The Terminator^* (and other Arnold Schwarzenegger movies)
• "I love it when a plan comes together." - Hannibal Smith (played by George Peppard) on The A-Team
• "I'm free!" - John Inman in Are You Being Served (the feed line is "Are you free, Mr Humphries?")
• "I'm Julian, and this is my friend Sandy!" - Kenneth Williams in Round the Horne
• "I pity the fool!" - B. A. Baracus (played by Mr. T) on The A-Team
• "I think you ought to know I'm feeling very depressed..." - Marvin the paranoid android, in The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy
• "I've fallen and I can't get up!" - "Mrs. Fletcher" (played by Dorothy McHugh), in a television commercial for the Lifecall service
• "Nice to see you, to see you - nice!" - Bruce Forsyth
• "No Problem!" - ALF
• "Of course you realize this means WAR!" - Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck and other Looney Tunes characters, always after being insulted three times
• "Oh, boy..." - Samuel Beckett in Quantum Leap
• "Oh, Matron!" Kenneth Williams again, this time in Carry On films, to Hattie Jacques
• "Oh my God, they killed Kenny!" - "You bastards!" - Stan and Kyle in South Park
• "Ooh...I'm being ha-RASS-ed!" - Frank Spencer (Michael Crawford)
• "Smarter than the a-ver-age bear!" - Yogi Bear
• "Stone me, what a life!" - Tony Hancock in Hancock's Half Hour
• "Stop messin' about!" (nasal) - Kenneth Williams in Hancock's Half Hour and elsewhere
• "That's a damn fine cup of coffee." - Kyle MacLachlan as Special Agent Dale Cooper in Twin Peaks
• "They think it's all over, but...it is now!" - Kenneth Wolstenholme commentating on the 1966 World Cup final^*
• "To the moon, Alice!" - Jackie Gleason as Ralph Kramden in The Honeymooners
• "Up, up and away!" - Superman (the old cartoon series)
• "Well, excuuuuse me!" - Steve Martin
• "Well, here's another nice mess you've gotten me into!" - Oliver Hardy to Stan Laurel (note: "nice", not "fine")
• "What do you think of the show so far? - [throws voice] Ruggish!" - Eric Morecambe
• "Where's the Beef" - Clara Peller
• "What's up, Doc?" - Bugs Bunny
• "Yabba-dabba-doo!" - Fred Flintstone
• "Ying tong iddle i po" - The Goons
• "You silly moo!" - Alf Garnett to wife Else in Till Death Us Do Part
• "You stupid boy!" - Captain Manwaring to Frank Pike in Dad's Army
• "You're only supposed to blow the bloody doors off!" - Charlie Croker (Michael Caine) in The Italian Job^*
• "You wouldn't let it lie!" - Bob Mortimer in Vic Reeves' Big Night Out

^* These phrases occur only once in their respective film/series etc, but have still become catch phrases.

see also: Stock phrase