Where did the phrase "strangely intriguing" get popularized?

January 21, 2007 4:45 PM

Where was the phrase "strangely intriguing" popularized?

I know this is kind of asking a lot but I feel like there was some specific use on a television show or maybe in a movie that was particularly funny and started this tiny meme a spreadin'. Can anyone remember any recent uses of the phrase "strangely intriguing" in popular culture? Just curious since I keep noticing it being used by many people with very different tastes.

posted by hidinginabunker to Society & Culture (7 answers total)

Hmm. My first thought was: it might be a phrase used often by Spock in the original Star Trek series. But Google didn't agree with me.
posted by hot soup girl at 5:22 PM on January 21, 2007

From a google search for "* is strangely intriguing" it appears the most hits are for movie and book reviews. So perhaps one of the more prominent movie reviewers used it as a crutch phrase at some point, and people are just imitating it so that they sound more like a pro reviewer. To me it does seem like one of those phrases that doesn't actually mean anything but sort of sounds like you're being profound, so I could see this happening.

My initial reaction was that somebody misremembered the "curiously strong" slogan of Altoids.
posted by Rhomboid at 5:40 PM on January 21, 2007

Hot soup: That's where I'd have traced it to, as well.
posted by SpecialK at 5:48 PM on January 21, 2007

Aren't you jumping the gun here by assuming that the phrase "strangely intriguing" is in fact popular? I haven't particularly noticed it more than other phrases in my readings. Perhaps it's popular only regionally or in the circles you hang out in? If that's the case, it may be a clew.

(I don't think "strangely intriguing" would be something Spock would say, incidentally. Intriguing, yes -- he said "fascinating" many times -- but strange? It implies a value judgment and/or emotional reaction that does not really fit with his Vulcan character.)
posted by kindall at 7:51 PM on January 21, 2007

Response by poster: kindall: A couple of days ago I would have agreed with you that the phrase "strangely intriguing" wasn't that popular, but I kept having these synchronicity moments with the phrase and then I just kept noticing it more and more. At first I noticed that a good friend had been saying it for some time now, then another friend of mine who didn't know the first friend said it about the same thing my other friend was talking about, and then someone nearby me in a restaurant said it as I was leaving. I heard it on SNL the next day and it always seems to be said with this wry delivery that sounded like it was from somewhere that I couldn't place. I have a feeling it's from some comedy film, but I'd settle for Spock. It's usually said in a way like "I find it disgusting yet strangely intriguing" and the "yet strangely intriguing" bit is the punchline.
posted by hidinginabunker at 10:00 PM on January 21, 2007

Response by poster: Rhomboid: The review filler theory seems to be accurate, but I feel like it turned into a joke somewhere along the road, maybe in a Will Farrel movie or something filled with one-liners that are easily quotable
posted by hidinginabunker at 10:06 PM on January 21, 2007

For me, it's all about Liquorice Allsorts. The epitome of disturbing, yet "strangely intriguing." (Except for the all-black ones, they're just gross.)

I said that back in 1997 when first presented with them, so that's what I associate that phrase with. Not sure where I got it from.
posted by pyjammy at 10:48 AM on January 25, 2007