On the subject of buttereating, hurf has been surprisingly durf.

July 2, 2014 7:05 AM

You know how when you're falling asleep random half-thoughts will pop into your head? Well, I had one of them last night, and I think it's a quote from something, but I don't really know what it is and can't place it and it's kind of driving me bonkers.

Here's what I've got:

"On the subject of [something], [soandso?] has been [adverb] [something]."

I feel like it's maybe from a book or perhaps a movie? Or something? I think maybe a narrator says it and it's for comedic-ish effect.

I have had zero luck googling. There's not a huge amount to go on and it's possible I've remembered wrong or made it up, but I've seen you guys work identification magic with less.

posted by phunniemee to Grab Bag (10 answers total)

This sounds very Hitchhiker's Guide-ish, which talks "on the subject of" many things with comedic-ish effect.
posted by jozxyqk at 7:12 AM on July 2, 2014

That type of phrasing is used a few times in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy:
"The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy has a few things to say on the subject of towels. A towel, it says, is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitch hiker can have"
posted by Captain_Science at 7:13 AM on July 2, 2014 [3 favorites]

Response by poster: OK, I just read Hitchhiker's Guide last month so this is sounding very likely.
posted by phunniemee at 7:20 AM on July 2, 2014

Hell's bells I love that book.

The Encyclopedia Galactica chapter on love states that it is far too complicated to define. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy has this to say on the subject of love: Avoid, if at all possible.
posted by greenish at 7:30 AM on July 2, 2014 [2 favorites]

I want that adverb to be "surprisingly"

On the subject of X, Y has been surprisingly quiet. (or 'surprisingly silent')

Something like that. Just in case it's not hitchhikers.
posted by St. Peepsburg at 8:03 AM on July 2, 2014

Best answer: Probably not what you're thinking of, but I did just find this awesome quote from G. K. Chesterton: “Poets have been mysteriously silent on the subject of cheese.”
posted by Roommate at 8:37 AM on July 2, 2014 [83 favorites]

Response by poster: THAT'S IT. THAT'S FUCKING IT. THE CHEESE THING OH THANK GOD.
posted by phunniemee at 8:38 AM on July 2, 2014 [64 favorites]

Response by poster: Here is another quote about cheese that I always forget:

"A cheese may disappoint. It may be dull, it may be naive, it may be over-sophisticated. Yet it remains cheese…milk's leap toward immortality."
posted by phunniemee at 8:41 AM on July 2, 2014 [36 favorites]

CHEESE LASTS FOREVER
Fact: We will not be here forever, but our cheese will.

(Captain Park's Imaginary Polar Expedition)
posted by BrashTech at 9:51 AM on July 2, 2014

"On the subject of [something], [soandso?] has been [adverb] [something]."

“Poets have been mysteriously silent on the subject of cheese.”

THAT'S IT. THAT'S FUCKING IT. THE CHEESE THING OH THANK GOD.

askMefi's psychic powers continue to disturb me.
posted by justsomebodythatyouusedtoknow at 9:01 PM on July 2, 2014 [13 favorites]