I don't know what that means, but it sounds awesome!

June 25, 2008 11:43 AM

What are some phrases that you enjoy using simply because they are aesthetically enjoyable?

Someone used the phrase "trip the light fantastic" in another post, and I found it to be enjoyable simply for the way that it sounds, and the imagery it creates.

What phrases do you keep on hand, secretly hoping to get the chance to use them?

I found this post, but this question is a little bit different, which I hope are for obvious reasons (words vs. phrases, aesthetics vs. meaning). Also, I'm compiling this information for personal use (to keep this from being chatfilter).

posted by SpacemanStix to writing & language (40 comments total)

"Well, clutch my pearls!!" To show surprise.
"He is workin' my perm!! To express that someone is getting on your nerves.
posted by pearlybob at 11:48 AM on June 25

What phrases do you keep on hand, secretly hoping to get the chance to use them?

I've always been a fan of the phrase "cum blasted sluts" ever since I received it as the subject line for some email spam.

Haven't gotten to use it - except for just now.
posted by wfrgms at 11:49 AM on June 25

Bless his / her heart. (The Southern way of getting a dig in ... "bless her heart, her brains would roll around like BB pellets on a pin head.)
posted by cainiarb at 11:53 AM on June 25

trip the light fantastic with cum blasted sluts
posted by found missing at 11:53 AM on June 25

"for shits and Giggles." As in, "I didn't do it for any real reason, just for shits and giggles."

"Pound sand." as in, "If Hollie thinks I'm going to take something from her just because it's German, she can go pound sand."
posted by bondcliff at 11:56 AM on June 25

For some reason I started saying "Check it!" instead of "Check ya later." It confuses people regularly, but I'm hoping if I say it enough it will catch on one of these days...

A friend of mine used to call people "Skanky Ho Bitches" in middle/high school. I still say that, and if propriety is required, it easily abbreviates to SHB.
posted by sararah at 11:59 AM on June 25

funkadelic
posted by chrisamiller at 12:00 PM on June 25

Lately, I'm partial to the southern-ism "meaner than a gar" as pronounced "meener inna garrr."
posted by mostlymartha at 12:01 PM on June 25

I used to love saying "Let's case this joint" when we were leaving someplace. I had no idea that phrase meant something closer to "let's rob the place". I have now substituted that phrase with "let's blow this popsicle stand" when getting ready to leave.
posted by Flying Squirrel at 12:03 PM on June 25

"Let's blow this popsicle stand" -- useful for leaving somewhere
posted by sperose at 12:04 PM on June 25

Goddamnit, a minute too late.
posted by sperose at 12:04 PM on June 25

"busier than Courtney Love's lawyers"
posted by Atom12 at 12:05 PM on June 25

I had a boss who would proclaim "Glooory be!" whenever something we were testing did what it was supposed to. And I mean really PROCLAIM it, like an exultant preacher. Always worked on me.
posted by contraption at 12:05 PM on June 25

I like saying "praise be to the high places" after hearing good or relieving news. Instead of something mundane like "whew."

I also like "cat's meow" for meaning "really ultra great." It makes me feel olde timey.
posted by tentacle at 12:08 PM on June 25

"Great googly moogly!"
posted by Evangeline at 12:08 PM on June 25

Maybe this is less than PC, but a friend of mine loves to say "they were pickin' in the high cotton!" to signify, I suppose, someone getting a windfall of sorts, or having a time of it.
posted by np312 at 12:08 PM on June 25

"Faster than shit through a goose!"
posted by contraption at 12:12 PM on June 25

I heard some man on tv say the other day to his angry wife, "baby, you gotta take some of that cuckoo outta your clock." It was pretty great.
posted by phunniemee at 12:12 PM on June 25 [2 favorites]

"Well, fry my legs and call them drumsticks" to express surprise or stupefaction.
posted by Oriole Adams at 12:13 PM on June 25

previously similar and
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posted by LobsterMitten at 12:15 PM on June 25

I use, "Sweet Merciful Crap On A Stick!"

Far too often according to my wife.
posted by Hugh2d2 at 12:16 PM on June 25

Used to say, "Frequently, and with great vigor," quite frequently. . . .

I'm also partial to, "Shoots and Googles."
posted by grobstein at 12:17 PM on June 25

My Dad would always say "Like a cow pissing on a flat rock" when it rained really hard. As a kid, picturing that in my head made perfect sense to how hard it was raining, and always made me laugh, still does.
posted by sanka at 12:18 PM on June 25

"Tell me what you really think" - for when someone is saying something truly awful about someone or something.
posted by alrightokay at 12:21 PM on June 25 [1 favorite]

This is an excellent question. Today I read the phrase "country sorry" referring to poor rural Southerners and I can't wait to use it.

I also like to employ the good ol' "Better check yourself before your WRECK yourself" slightly more often than is necessary.

Sending things regular mail = "Sendin' it slow boat", emphasis on the boat.

I always loved the line "Let's make like a tree and get the hell outta here", I can't remember what it's from, but that's too dorky even for me to say.

"I wouldn't know him if he walked up to me and slapped me upside the head!" is another favorite of mine.
posted by tatiana wishbone at 12:22 PM on June 25

I spontaneously worked "more nervous than a long-tailed cat in a roomful of rocking chairs" into a business conversation last week.
posted by jayCampbell at 12:22 PM on June 25

"dance this mess around"

(bonus video)
posted by equalpants at 12:22 PM on June 25

Jesus Christ on a bike.
posted by chiababe at 12:23 PM on June 25

'Irrational Exuberance' is always fun. I'm always looking for an opportunity to tell people that I'll be out 'taking my evening constitutional'. Also when I have company over I enjoy offering them a beverage from a list of obscure sodas - "Can I get you a Fanta, Shasta, Faygo, Slice, Pepsi Clear, Tab?" Don't even get me started on the word 'fisticuffs'. I never get to use that.
posted by mattholomew at 12:25 PM on June 25

I love "the better angels of our nature." It's the last part of the last line of Lincoln's First Inaugural, on the eve of the Civil War: The mystic chords of memory stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone, all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the organ when again touched, as surely they will be by the better angels of our nature.

I've used it to call upon people to be wise, humble, or compassionate.
posted by mdonley at 12:27 PM on June 25

Of editing: "You can stick an olive in a glass of piss and it still won't be a martini". Variant of "lipstick on a pig".
posted by WPW at 12:28 PM on June 25

trip the light fantastic with cum blasted sluts

That's not ok.
posted by The Light Fantastic at 12:28 PM on June 25

I tend to use "Geez Louise" as an, uh, ejaculation (in the old-fashioned, verbal sense).

In Sherlock Holmes stories, Watson tends to ejaculate every other page whenver Holmes does something surprising. It's an amusing anachronism.
posted by GuyZero at 12:28 PM on June 25

"God's wounds!"

An exclamation that was eventually shorthanded in common parlance as "Zounds!" but the original is better.
posted by [NOT HERMITOSIS-IST] at 12:29 PM on June 25

Oh, the other one is to preface a reply with the phrase "Two words:" and then not use two words.

A: Hey, B, what's your opinion on cheese?
B: Two words: I freakin' love cheese.

I enjoy the un-aesthetic nature of it.
posted by GuyZero at 12:30 PM on June 25 [1 favorite]

My professor in grad school used to say:

"Busier than a three-peckered billy goat."

Raunchy, evocative, and utterly meaningless. (But you get almost 50 hits on Google.)
posted by GarageWine at 12:33 PM on June 25

Once with my grandmother we were in a cramped elevator, the doors opened and even more people came in. She looked at another little old lady next to her and said "If I only have this much room in heaven..." I've been waiting for the proper time to use that one.
posted by sanka at 12:33 PM on June 25

"Well, I'm off like a prom dress..."

"Fuck you, strong letter to follow..."

For an obvious affirmative: "Is a duck's ass watertight?"

When someone expresses frustration with their computer: "Problem with your droid?"

"You can't swing a dead cat without hitting X in here..."

"If you know what I mean, and I think you do..."

"It's all fun and games until someone puts an eye out..."

"If I had done X to Y, I'd still be in orbit without benefit of spacecraft..." (Where Y is usually my ex-wife.)
posted by OneOliveShort at 12:34 PM on June 25

My aunt recalls my grandmother stating disbelief by exclaiming "Great galloping gods of war!"
posted by [NOT HERMITOSIS-IST] at 12:35 PM on June 25

I, for reasons I do not understand, started suddenly pronouncing the h in the word what. It may have been some inadvertent overexposure to Lil Jon or Dave Chappell, I'm not sure. I would try and consciously stop it but it annoys my wife in a way that pleases me, yet spares me any serious retribution. So I continue to do it. And she continues to roll her eyes and worry about the children picking it up. Not really a phrase, but a word I like to say in my own way for my own reasons.

For "really great" I often use "it's the cat's ass." It usually takes people a moment to realize that's a good thing. Of course for most cats, they realize this immediately, which is why they are so keen on showing theirs. I like that folks have to think about it, and I like how it sounds. And I like that it's so much cruder than cat's meow.

I also to like to collect regional idioms or ticks and then use them out of geographical context. Like peppering a bar discussion in Milwaukee with "isn't it?" as happens in the UK. "This Schlitz is a tasty beverage, isn't it?" Or using a Northern second person plural in Mississippi. "Yinz headin' to Cracker Barrel after the church paint ball battle?" I enjoy the dislocating qualities of those bits of language.
posted by Toekneesan at 12:36 PM on June 25