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Other Stock Phrases

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This page is not for phrases that have their own page and spot on the Stock Phrases index. If it doesn't already have a page, then you stick it here. If it does, then you don't.

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    A 
  • "Abandon ship!"
  • "Abort (mission)! Abort!"
  • "According to my calculations..."
  • "After them!"
  • "Ah, <name>! At last, we meet face-to-face!" The hero and his distant nemesis encounter each other in person for the first time; usually said by the villain.
  • "Ahh! [animal species]!" — Said when encountering a dangerous animal like a lion.
    • Parodied in The Cleveland Show where Tim The Bear says to Cleveland "Ahhh! A black man! Doesn't feel so good now, does it?"
  • "Alert! Alert!"
  • "Alright... but I/we do it my way!": The hero is put in charge to solve a serious problem, but the one condition the hero demands is that s/he has a free hand to address it with the methods of their choice.
  • "Alright, fine!" — Used to mean, "I don't care about your opinion anymore".
  • "All in a day's work!"
  • "All in good time, my dear. All in good time."
  • "All's well that ends well.": The title line of a William Shakespeare play. Used either:
    • Honestly, to show that, despite all the troubles they went through, the protagonists finally have what they want, and life is good, or:
    • Satirically, to show that, even though the main plot has been wrapped up, there's a dangling thread the protagonists never took care of. (They don't usually care.)
    • Was the last line ever said on Another World, and was the last line of an ep of Detention.
    • Worst time to say this line is when "The city's been fucking destroyed!!"
  • "All the cool kids are doing it!"
    • It's pretty much impossible to use this one straight anymore, due to its use in anti-drug and peer-pressure resistance education back in The '80s.
  • "All the X you can Y!" — A common bribe or promise. "All the [food item] you can eat" is a common variation.
  • "America's sweetheart": Used to describe a fresh-faced celebrity with a family-friendly image evoking the Girl Next Door. First used to describe silent film actress Mary Pickford, and a moniker inherited by the biggest stars of the 20th century, including Shirley Temple, Doris Day, and Meg Ryan.
  • "And as for you..."
  • "And don't come back!" Usually said after throwing someone out the door.
  • "And if I refuse?" Response to being asked to cooperate or come quietly. Can be answered by something sufficiently threatening to make the first person quickly go, "Okay, okay..." with the internal rationalization,"Sounded reasonable to me!"
  • "And stay out" — Said after kicking someone out.
  • "Any more bright ideas?"
  • "Anyone get the [license] number of that truck?" The most common form of Non Sequitur, *Thud*. Said after taking a walloping of some kind, usually one that knocked the recipient unconscious. In a low-tech/fantasy world, "truck" can be replaced with "Donkey Cart," "Chariot," "Elephant," "Dragon," etc.
  • "A real X wouldn't Y."
  • "Are you a man, or a mouse?": A form of Dare to Be Badass. Munchkin may be used instead of mouse.
    • ASDF Movie: Said to a horse.
    • Red Dwarf:
      Lister: What are you, a man or a munchkin?
      Rimmer: [singing] We're off to see the Wizard, the wonderful Wizard of Oz...
    • In A Day at the Races (1937), Groucho's response is "Put a piece of cheese down there and you'll find out".
  • "Are you all right?" "I will be." Used when a character has undergone a traumatic experience, to illustrate that a character is getting over their experience without cheapening the meaning of the Aesop by shortening the adjustment process.
  • "Are you calling me an X?" Typically used to call out somebody making more-or-less veiled accusations of just that. Since 'X' is usually something bluntly unflattering such as "coward" or "liar", this also plays on the common social impulse to be tactful first and honest second in order to get the accuser to temporarily shut up or at least backpedal while flustered.
  • "Are you happy now?" (or, alternatively, "I hope you're happy." or "I hope you're proud of yourself." or "I hope you're satisfied.")
    • Often a Nice Job Breaking It, Hero situation.
    • Multiple repetitions of this line or variations thereof make up much of the entire first half of the showstopper "Defying Gravity" from the musical Wicked.
    • xkcd gives us this example of "I hope you're happy".
  • "Are you OK? Did the mean/nasty/bad one hurt you?" — Said usually to pets, when another character hurts or insults the pet. "Hurt" can sometimes be replaced by "scare".
  • "Are you OK in there?" — Said when one character is doing something zany and secret (inventing something, keeping a secret pet, etc) in a closed room (usually their bedroom or the bathroom) and another character (usually their parent) hears sounds. Usually responded with, "Yes, fine, just... [doing something mundane]".
  • "Are you sure about that?"
  • "As an X ... you make an excellent Y."
  • "...As you do." Usually used to hang a lampshade on the fact that an activity or event that's just been described is extremely strange and/or uncommon.
  • "As I said to [name], '[name]', I said, '[phrase]'.", usually said by a chatty person.
  • "As they say in [country], '[phrase from a different country].'"
  • "...Assuming that IS your real name." Said by characters finding out about their friend's dark secrets, making them question how well they really know them.
  • Authorized Personnel Only.
  • "Aww!" — The stock noise characters (and real people who don't make high-pitched noises instead) say when something's cute.

    B 
  • "Bad dog/boy/girl!" — Used to scold a dog, usually for barking or for chasing someone.
  • "Back! Back!" or "Back, you [insult]!" — Said to tell someone to back away.
  • "Back in my day, we didn't have fancy _____. All we had was _____, and we liked it!" The standard Grumpy Old Man rant on technological progress.
  • "Well, back to the drawing board" — An invention has proven a total bust and the inventor must start over at the concept stage.
  • "Be afraid. Be very afraid" — originally from The Fly (1986), but now mostly used for comedy purposes.
  • *beat* "...Sir." Either a sarcastic honorific given after a putdown, or spoken after one realizes one has said too much.
  • "Beginner's luck." Usually used to rationalise why a beginner is more skilled than the speaker.
  • "Behold, my true form" or "It's time to show you my true form" — The mating cry of the One-Winged Angel.
  • "*exasperated sigh* Boys!" — or — "*exasperated sigh* Girls!"
  • "Bob's your uncle" — Cockney way of saying "quickly".
  • "Brains!!" — Stereotypically associated with zombies.
  • "Business or Pleasure?" — A question typically posed by customs, hotel personnel, and travel agents to the traveling character- the answer is usually given after a moment of thought, and tells the audience about the character's state of mind.
  • "But at what cost?" — a retort to characters proclaiming they've done something the other character considers bad/reckless. Considered cliché enough now that any straight use is likely to be scoffed at. If the bad/reckless thing has already been done and the consequences felt, the original character can instead say "I've won... but at what cost?"
  • "But I don't want [him/her/you] in my [thoughts/mind/heart], I want [him/her/you] here!" — Said about a dead or dying person or animal.
  • "But I don't want a new X, I want Y!" — Someone doesn't want their item/pet/friend etc replaced.
  • "But I'm not [sleepy/tired]!" — Said by kids who want to stay up past bedtime. Either a lie or a Cassandra Truth.
  • "But it looks good on you!" — Said after a character describes a certain outfit as being ugly, only to realize that the person they're talking to is wearing the same outfit.
  • "But these creatures have been extinct for millions of years!" (They're Not So Extinct.)
  • "BUT YOU NEVER KEEP YOUR PROMISES!" — This is a stock line in countless family films. The dialogue will always be as follows: Mum or dad promises something to their son or daughter, but has proven in the past to be always late on their children's baseball game, music recital, school play, scouts meeting or whatever. Therefore the crying child belts this phrase out.
  • "But why am I telling you all this? And you, a total stranger."
  • "Brace yourself/yourselves" — Either it's someone's warning that they're about to say something emotionally scarring, or an impact preparation phrase.

    C 
  • "Calm down" said to a character in a bad mood or (if the speaker dislikes enthusiasm) a good mood.
  • "Can I be an X too?" or "I wanna be an X too!" — A child wants to join the heroes' cool club.
  • "Can I do anything?" "You've done enough!" The exchange between a contrite character whose fault everything is, and anyone trying to sort it out.
  • "Can't think why", used insincerely in older works, chiefly in the UK.
  • "Can't this thing go any faster?" Common in vehicle Chase Scenes.
  • "Can we keep him/her/it?" See Pet Baby Wild Animal. Occasionally prefaced with "He/she/it followed me home". Sometimes, it starts with "Can I" instead of "we".
    • This is the title of a George Shrinks episode where George finds an injured mouse and decides to take care of it.
    • Said in the ending of Commander Keen Episode I, when Keen's mom discovers a Yorp he brought back with him from Mars.
  • "Can't you see I'm busy?" Said while doing something relatively mundane while someone is trying to inform you about the apocalypse or a masked gunman aiming at you.
    • Occasionally "can't you see we're busy?" is used.
  • "Catch!" Said while throwing something sharp, heavy and/or explosive at an opponent.
  • "The cat's out of the bag." A secret has been revealed and can no longer be hidden.
  • "X had changed over the summer": stock phrase associated with a Fanservice Pack. Originated in Harry Potter Fan Fic, and usually used satirically nowadays not necessarily in that context. Often paired with Curves in All the Right Places. Lindsay Lohan and the cast of Saturday Night Live [[demonstrating how to do it.
  • "Clean up on aisle five." Usually done these days as a form of understatement; the mess to be cleaned up being of comically horrific proportions: usually the result of some action sequence taking place within the supermarket. Alternately, used in a non-store context to indicate that something has just caused a huge mess. "Five" can be replaced with any random number.
  • "Clever girl." — Usually said to a human woman, but in Jurassic Park, which popularized the phrase, it's used to comment on a conniving female dinosaur.
  • "Come back! Come back!" — Said by a character who's running away or dying.
  • "Come back here, you cowards!" Said to either (a) your comrades who have just deserted you in combat or (b) the enemy, who are running away so you can't kill them as they deserve. An (a) example occurs in ¡Three Amigos! Another (a) example occurs in Disney's The Hunchback of Notre Dame.
  • "Come on, just live a little!"
  • "Coming through!" — Someone is running out of control, and is warning everyone in their way.
  • "The condemned man ate a hearty meal." Common quip metaphorically alluding to the Prisoner's Last Meal regarding someone marked for death being strung along with small favors or Schmuck Bait.
  • "Congratulations, you're pregnant!" or "Congratulations, you've just given birth to a healthy baby boy/girl."
  • "Consider it a parting gift."
  • "Consider it done." Usually said by The Dragon or the Mook Lieutenant when Big Bad (or Big Good in some cases) gave them a mission.
  • "Consider yourself lucky." — Said to someone who was unlucky, but lucky at the same time because it could have been worse.
  • "Could clear a room" — refers to unpleasant smells or bad music.
  • "Couldn't have happened to a nicer person" Usually used completely sarcastically though occasionally used in earnest. "Nicer" is sometimes replaced with something like "worse" if the victim was mean.
  • "Could sell ice [in the North Pole/in Antarctica/to Eskimos]" — Means the one being referred to is smooth-talking and/or good at selling things.
  • "Curses! Foiled again!"
  • "Curse you!"

    D 
  • "Damn, I'm good."
  • "... Dead to me." This phrase usually has "you're" or some sort of noun and "is" before it.
  • "Define X." Said whenever the speaker is told information with vague or unclear wording. Usually the unclear words are spoken as a euphemism.
  • "Destroy them!" Said by cheesy Saturday Morning Cartoon villains.
  • "Did <name> send you?" "<name> doesn't know I'm here." Usually spoken when the second speaker comes to the first (usually the villain) to make a deal on behalf of their love interest/best friend/etc.
    • Subverted in the Conan the Barbarian story "The Scarlet Citadel," where the guy making the deal turns out to be a former tribesman out for vengeance for a brother killed during Conan's pirate days, where he was known as "Amra." He meets his end at the fangs of Tsotha's snake Satha before he can kill Conan.
  • "Did I say [insert unintentional insult]? I meant [insert supposed compliment]." Usually said when someone unintentionally insults another person who is right next to them.
  • "Did your mommy/daddy/whatever buy/make that [garment] for you?" — Used to call a garment someone's wearing childish.
  • "Die! Die! Die!" or "Die, [name], die!"
  • "Dive! Dive!" — Said in submarines.
  • "Does your mother know you're out?" Asked when someone isn't deemed tough enough—or old enough—for the context. (Averted and Lampshaded in Gilbert and Sullivan's Iolanthe (1882) when Phyllis asks Strephon if his immortal fairy mother is aware of their engagement.)
  • "Do I hear a 'but' coming?": Said when a character said something positive, but the second character thinks they're about to add something negative. The other character may respond with a butt joke.
  • "Do you expect me to believe that?"
  • "Do you have an appointment?" Response from snooty secretary when a character goes to see their high-ranking friend.
  • "Do you kiss your mother with that mouth?": When someone swears.
  • "Do you know who I am?" Said by the arrogant famous/powerful villain. Can be comically subverted by answering, "Uh... no."
    • A great subversion occurs in the Justice League episode, "Maid of Honor". Wonder Woman is accompanying the Princess of Kasnia to a popular night club in Paris. Diana wonders how they are going to get in with the long line leading the Princess to use this line on the bouncer. The bouncer lets them in because she is with Wonder Woman (it is never revealed whether the bouncer recognizes the princess).
    • Arrogant celebrities may shout, "Don't you know who I am?! I'm [first name] [last name]!" when they feel they deserve better treatment due to their status. Occasionally they might suffix it with, "[occupation] or [doer of specific awesome thing]".
  • "Do you like what you see?" Usually spoken by a lingerie-clad (or nude) Femme Fatale as she prepares to seduce (or outright rape) the hero, perhaps after her Dress Hits Floor.
  • "Do you think he/she/they bought it?" Quick way of letting the audience know that whatever they just did was staged for another character's benefit.
  • "Do you wanna drive?!" The Drives Like Crazy equivalent of Let's See YOU Do Better!
  • "Do you hear what you're saying?" — Said when someone says something so blasphemous or dumb, that another character simply requests that they reflect on what they just said.
  • "Does this answer your question?" When one character is wondering what happened to another, who just happens to show up to show the results.
  • "Don't call me, I'll call you." — The classic, all-purpose brush-off.
  • "Don't call me 'Mr. <name>' — I look around for my father whenever I hear 'Mr. <name>'." (See They Call Me MISTER Tibbs!)
  • "Don't come crawling/running back to me when X." — Usually said by someone, sometimes an antihero or an antagonist, when they're trying to protect the character from something for what they think is their own good. A variation is "don't come crying to me".
  • "Don't cry" or "Don't be [emotion]" — Said by someone trying, usually unsuccessfully, to reassure someone else, usually a child.
  • "Don't even think about it." — Said when someone feels the urge to do something (usually something crazy or bad), only to be reprimanded by another person.
  • "Don't forget the X" — Said when someone is shopping for someone else.
  • "Don't forget to X before/after you Y" — Usually said by a parent or babysitter to a child.
  • "Don't just stand there, do something!"
    • Occasionally inverted to "Don't just do something, stand there!" for comedy purposes.
  • "Don't leave (me)/die!" — Said to a dying person.
  • "Don't look now, but..." Usually a sign of things getting worse.
  • "Don't mess with Mother Nature." — Any "nature runs amuck" movie trailer. Or margarine commercials from the 1970s.
  • "Don't piss on my leg and tell me it's raining." Popularized, but not coined, by Judge Judy.
    • The inevitable The Simpsons parody: "Don't spit on my cupcake and tell me it's frosting." — Judge Constance Harm
  • "Don't tell me [unpleasant or unwelcome fact]". "Okay, I won't tell you."
  • Alternately, "ugh, don't remind me."
    • Sometimes the second person tells the first person said unwelcome fact followed by "I told you not to tell me that."
    • A specific form of this is: "Don't tell me that [character] is/will [action]". Often followed by either:
      • A Gilligan Cut to [character] doing [action].
      • Bob saying "Okay, [character] is/will not [action]." Which in turn can be followed by the Gilligan Cut and Alice complaining, "You lied."
  • "Don't touch!" or "Don't touch the X!" — Usually an Inevitably Broken Rule.
  • "Don't worry about me." Usually said by a hero stuck in an unpleasant situation encouraging his team to focus on their mission. May be followed by "You go on without me." A minor form of Heroic Sacrifice.
  • "Don't worry, I'll/we'll be right behind you!" Usually said by the Lovable Coward to The Hero when faced with threatening situations, usually followed by the speakers running and taking cover behind something, or hiding behind the hero.
  • "Don't worry! I know this [country|city|land|terrain] like the back of my hand." Sometimes subverted or spoofed by having a character say this, then examine the back of their hand and say "Wow! I never noticed that before!"
    • In another common spoof, the other person says, "That's the front of your hand (you're looking at)."
    • And yet another spoof features them running headfirst into something immediately afterward.
  • "Do you have any better ideas?" — Used when someone comes up with an idea, another character rejects it for being too strange, dangerous, unlikely to work, etc, but the first one acknowledges that it's the best chance they have.

    E 
  • "Eat lead!" — The classic Pre-Mortem One-Liner, often used by gun-toting gangsters.
  • "Eat your X!" to a Picky Eater, often followed by "It's good for you!", "...Or you won't get any dessert!", or "There are are starving children in [place]!".
    • All of these are referenced in "Eat It" by Weird Al.
  • "English, please?" — When asking for a sentence or statement to be spoken in Layman's Terms.
  • "Everybody else's mother lets them!" The usual response is "I'm not everybody else's mother."
  • "Everybody needs a hobby." Usually said in response to hearing about someone's unusual / weird habits or pastimes.
  • Every Man Has His Price
  • "[Exclamation]!" .... "Double [exclamation]!": Something worth exclaiming about (shocking, frustrating, amazing, etc) has happened, and then something else happened that's also worth exclaiming about.
  • "Extra, extra, read all about it!" — To advertise newspapers.

    F 
  • “A face that only a mother could love.” — Because it's usually too ugly for everyone else.
  • "Faster than you can say (short phrase related to topic)." — A fun way to say "almost immediately," the original idiom is "faster than you can say Jack Robinson."
  • "A few X's short of a Y." Not particularly bright; as in "a few teaspoons short of a cup."
  • "Figures!"
  • "First time for everything." — Especially in (smug) response to "Nobody has ever succeeded in this task!", "I have never been defeated!", etc.
  • "...for a small fee, of course."
  • "For crying out loud!" — Used to express annoyance.
  • "For the love of X!" — Exclamation used to express annoyance or, less commonly, surprise. "X" is usually God, another deity the speaker worships, or a celebrity/historical figure the speaker admires.
  • "Flattery will get you nowhere."
  • "From up here, they all look like ants!" — Said from atop a skyscraper or airplane. Cue the giant ants.
  • "Fuck you."
    • "No, fuck you."
  • "Freeze!" (by cops or a hero)
  • From the creators of X (and Y). (Promoting a new movie by mentioning that the makers of that film also made a previous movie that was very popular.)

    G 
  • "Gee, you think?" Used sarcastically in response to a statement by the designated Captain Obvious.
    • Or for a bolder statement: "No shit, Sherlock!"
    • Another rude, though non-profane, version, is "What else is new?", which actually means something like "That wasn't new. Tell me something that is."
  • "Get a room!" — Telling people to stop kissing in public.
  • "Get off my lawn!" Battle cry of bitter and cantankerous old men and women. Increasingly used ironically by characters and people realizing they're older than they thought. Often preceded or followed by "You damn/darn/dog-gone kids!"
  • "Get out of my head!" Uttered by those trying to resist a telepath or an attempt at mind control.
  • "Get out of my life!" — Said when someone is really mad at someone else.
  • "Get out of my room/study/office/etc!" — Said to someone who barged into the room without permission.
  • "Get the hell out of there!" The nuke's about to go off, what are you doing standing around?! Get the hell out of there!
  • "Get them!" Used to initiate a chase scene. "Them" can be replaced with "him", "her", or "that [noun]" depending on who's being chased.
  • "Gimme that!" Yank something out of another character's hand.
  • "Gives a whole new meaning to X." A flag that some formerly innocent expression has now become a Double Entendre thanks to someone's actions. Sometimes also used for Literal Metaphors.
  • "God, I missed you."
  • "God save/bless the King/Queen/Nation/State/Constitution/Flag/Revolution/Military". A ubiquitous, versatile, internationally recognised, and generic (as well as slightly hollow) patriotic phrase passionately wishing health and wellbeing on a particular subject. Practically the Trope Codifier of the One-Tract Mind. The agnostic variation of this phrase would be "Long live x". If used inappropriately, it can veer into the satirical sphere quite quickly.
  • "Good boy/girl/dog/doggie" — Used to praise a dog.
  • "Good luck... you'll need it."
  • "Good thing I landed on my head..."
  • "Goodbye, cruel world!" Pre-suicide stock phrase. Usually satiric. Sometimes used when a character thinks they're dying, but not by their own hand.
    • Veronica Mars has a faked "sucide" using this phrase, where Veronica had previously discussed the idea that using this phrase would be a good way to commit a perfect murder in a criminology paper.
    • Also parodied in Futurama where the Professor is preparing to be put in stasis for the rest of his life and says, "Goodbye, cruel world!", then begins saying goodbye to random items like the lamp and the curtains which he also dubs "cruel".
  • "Go on..." — A line delivered by a hero character who appeals to someone of authority to hear their story or reasoning behind how they ended up in their audience. Perhaps a villain or first threshold guardian.
  • "Grab onto my hand/[object]" — Used when saving someone's life.
  • "Great, JUST, great." said by the more pessimistic character after a disaster/failure, followed by the level headed leader telling them to calm down and formulating a new plan. Occasionally parodied by it turning out that they did mean something was great.
  • "Great [noun or proper noun]!" — Stock wacky exclamation. For added comedy, the blank often also begins with a G.

    H 
  • An emphasized "had" (so as to mean the past tense of "have"): Without saying so many words, a character is disappointed say, that a villain he was chasing somehow got away when he was so confident that, well, he had him (think of Arnold Schwarzenegger complaining to a horse in a scene from True Lies after it refuses to chase a baddie who's just jumped across a street, airborne, on a motorcycle).
    • An emphasized "was" appears in the original Casino Royale novel — it's virtually the last line of the book and is used by Bond when he's informing his superiors of Vesper Lynd's suicide and the fact she was a double.
  • "Hands up!" Said by anyone with a gun. The phrase isn't even needed sometimes; if a character sees someone with a gun they'll automatically raise their hands with no prompting. (See also Stick 'em Up, which is a Sub-Trope of this.)
  • "Hang on!" "To what?!"
  • "Has anyone ever told you..."
  • "Have I ever let you down?" Usually spoken with confidence, the speaker is certain he has not let anyone down. Often played for comedy with an answer in the affirmative.
  • "He won't get far..." The person in question is trying to flee, but the speaker indicates that he knows that person will not be getting away so no long chase is necessary, typically either because the person's ride is sabotaged or he will be dropping dead shortly.
  • "Head them off at the pass". Standard (but Cliché) instructions for a chase, particularly on horseback.
  • "Hear me out." Generally used when the speaker is in the middle of describing a Zany Scheme that might be Crazy Enough to Work.
  • "Hello, father/mother/brother/sister.": Whenever someone confronts an estranged family member, especially when they're on opposite ends of the good/evil scale. Usually delivered in a mocking tone.
  • "Hello, Nurse!" An exclamation upon seeing an attractive woman. Most associated with soldiers in World War II, and something of a Forgotten Trope now. Popularized by Western Animation/Animaniacs.
  • "Here!" — Said either as a response to a roll call, or to call a dog.
  • "Here it comes." Said by someone who's about to be asked for clearance to do something he thinks is a Death Wish.
  • "Here he / she comes."
  • "Here come(s) the X!"
  • "Here, kitty, kitty, kitty!" — Said to call a cat, usually when it's on the loose.
  • "He's mine!" Usually used as a Pre Ass Kicking One Liner. Watch for a Curb-Stomp Battle or No-Holds-Barred Beatdown.
  • "(He's/She's) beautiful!" Said by a woman after giving birth.
  • "He/She/They will be back." Said by a Genre Savvy character after someone opts towards Refusal of the Call.
  • "He's/She's/They're getting away!" Announced by heroes or villains when the other side is escaping.
  • "(He/she) is better than I am." (pause) "If you ever tell (him/her) I said that, I'll kill you."
  • "Hey, I think you wanna take a look at this!" "Are you seeing this?"
  • "Hi, I'm X.": The opposite of "Who are you and what have you done with..", X is making the point that anyone surprised by his/her current actions must never have met him/her. Also sometimes said by a cheerful character introducing themselves.
  • "Highway robbery!" or "This is highway robbery!" Nine times out of ten this phrase is not said in response to an actual highway robbery, but to a situation wherein one believes they're getting ripped off or charged an unfair amount for a common good or service. Typically said by an older character.
  • "Holy X!" — Stock exclamation. Common words used in it are "moly", "guacamole", "shit", "hell", "smoke", "mackerel", "mother of God", "mother of pearl", "crap", "crud", "codfish", and "cow". Sometimes used as a reference to Batman: The Animated Series by having a character exclaim, "Holy [thing related to the situation], [other character's name]!".
  • "The horror! THE HORROR!!!" — Used either by scared characters reacting to some kind of disaster, or by Drama Queens overreacting to something.
  • "How about we make things a little more interesting?" Said whenever a character wants to turn a friendly game into a wagered one.
  • "How bad could it be?" Hint: It's very bad. That's what they get for Tempting Fate.
  • "How can we ever repay you?"
  • "How convenient": Used to point out that something is so convenient that it might actually be too good to be true. A variation is "How convenient for you", which is used in a derogatory way to mean something along the lines of "You're doing this because it conveniences you; I can tell."
  • "How could I have been so (stupid/blind)?": A character sees the light, so to speak, about whatever he's been doing for the duration of the story.
  • "How could you?" Common line uttered by the shocked and/or betrayed. The other character might answer by explaining why he could and how he did, as in, for instance, Albert Herring.
  • "How could you do that?" "Read the manual." A standard response from an ally upon watching a Badass Bookworm (or anyone) doing something really cool with the same equipment they have.
  • "How dare you!"
  • "How does that make sense?" A specific flavor of Lampshade Hanging.
  • "How do I know I can trust you?" "You don't." Common in an Enemy Mine situation.
  • "How do I know you'll keep your word?" (Alternately, "How do we know he'll keep his word?") The obvious question the hero(es) should be asking (and often do) in a Hostage for MacGuffin or similar situation. The most common response is more or less equivalent to the one Khan gave in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan: "Oh, I've given you no word to keep, Admiral. In my judgment, you simply have no alternative." "What choice do we have?", or "You don't" are alternate versions. In dramatic terms, this means that the hero now has karmic permission to use any kind of trickery on the villain necessary to regain the advantage.
  • "How do you play this game, then?" Part of The Magic Poker Equation. As stated in Witches Abroad "When an obvious innocent sits down with three experienced card sharpers and says 'How do you play this game, then?', someone is about to be shaken down until their teeth fall out." It also works with pool.
  • "How do you stop this thing?!" The speaker has taken the controls of a vehicle of which he has absolutely no idea of how to pilot. Sure enough, he's started it up and now it is careening out of control and he is screaming this line to get some idea of how to bring it to a halt.
    • The opposite is "How do you drive this thing?!", for when the person wants the vehicle to move but doesn't know how to make it do so.
  • "How did/do you know that.../'Y'? I never said/mentioned that.../'Y'." Used in suspenseful moments, especially when the person being asked says a piece of information that makes them seem suspicious (i.e. something only the real killer would know).
  • "How hard can it be?": Whenever a character comments on the apparent easiness of a task, it almost invariably turns out to be stunningly difficult. Suddenly things as simple as buying milk become epic quests or even life-or-death experiences. See all of the tropes in Tempting Fate, such as Retirony.
    • Sometimes used satirically after listing a series of incredibly difficult and/or obviously fatal tasks. "We just have to sneak into a guarded fortress at noon, find the one person we're looking for, and convince them to betray the love of their life. How hard can it be?" Occasionally this is not intended satirically, to illustrate that the speaker is either clueless, arrogant to the point of insanity, or Just That Good.
    • Often the Deadpan Snarker or the Literal-Minded character will answer the question, and recount the things that could possibly go wrong. The other character will angrily remind them that it was a rhetorical question. (However, using this joke will provide some safety from this particular Chekhov's Gun actually going off.)
  • "How long have you been standing there?" "Long enough." Usually in a Right Behind Me situation.
  • "How many times do I have to X?!" — Said by a frustrated character. "X" is often "tell you" or "say this".
  • "How you holding up?": After some disaster or other bad thing has befallen a character. Done to death in Smallville.
  • "Hurry, hurry, hurry! Step right up and..."
    • There's no record of any carnival talker (not "barker") ever yelling "Hurry, hurry, hurry! Step right up!" The "cant" was always much more elaborate, which is part of why the talker was the best-paid man on the lot.

    I 
  • "I almost feel sorry for him. Almost." Speaking about a nasty fate that the subject very much deserves.
  • "I am a man of my word."
  • "I am a [man/woman/etc] of [science/business/etc]"
  • "I am not jealous!" I'm heading right for a Green-Eyed Epiphany.
  • "I AM NOT SHOUTING!" and "I'M NOT ANGRY!" When someone is obviously very angry and the person they are speaking to (in a clearly angry, often shouting tone) is upset they are being yelled at.
  • "I am so fired."
  • "I am so grounded."
  • "I blame X." Everyone knows it was your fault, but you want to say something funny in a last ditch effort to take the blame off of you.
  • "I can't do this without you" often together with "I love you so much." this usually means the loved one is about to eat it, and the hero will be doing it without them.
  • "I can't feel my [body part]!" — Said after an injury or if the body part is numb from cold temperatures. I Can't Feel My Legs! is a specific variation.
  • "I can't hold on [much/any] longer!" — Said by a character who's holding onto a ledge.
  • "I could get used to this!" Said when a character is acknowledging the appeal of a life of luxury.
  • "I could kiss you!" Impulsively said during after a particularly exciting victory. Cue uncomfortable silence and/or stammering.
  • "I'd die if anyone sees me like this." Commonly said by the Bratty Teenage Daughter. Usually followed by someone seeing her like this, but it's rare for them to actually die.
  • "I deserved that." Said when acknowledging, however grudgingly, the truth of an argument or insult. Common in Soap Opera or Family Drama arguments.
  • "[I/we] did all [I/we] could" — Said by a doctor when declaring a patient is dead. Other times, "Sorry" or "I'm so sorry" is said instead. Artistic License – Medicine, since real life doctors are legally required to specify when a patient dies.
  • "I didn't come all this way... *pained gasp* just to die here!" And if it's a villainous character, guess what? They die!
  • "I don't have time for this!" Usually said by The Hero as he's becoming bored or frustrated taking down all the Evil Minions between him and the Big Bad. Alternatively, the protagonist yells this sentence while he is trying to get something important done but people keep bothering him with trivial things.
  • "I don't know how to say this..." When someone is about to lay down some Brutal Honesty.
    • "I don't know how to tell you this..." Like the above, but much more likely to be sneered, the speaker having little-to-no sympathy for the person he's laying the Brutal Honesty onto.
  • "I don't know what you're talking about." The standard denial line for a character, and the asking person is never fooled by that denial.
  • "I don't know why I'm telling you this." Standard Hand Wave for getting a stranger involved in the plot.
  • "I don't know you anymore." Often said during a Heel–Face Turn or Face–Heel Turn. A common response: "You never did."
  • "I don't see your name on it." A standard declaration when somebody tries to claim a right to something like a particular seat at a table, etc.
  • "I don't think, I know." "I don't think you know, either."
  • "I don't want to die!" The potentially last desperate plea of anybody helplessly staring death in the face.
    • If the character saying this line is the target of someone's vengeance, the avenger may well respond with "Neither did (person who character killed)."
    • Lampshaded in the Death Row scene of The Adding Machine, where this line causes the guards dragging Zero off to his execution to stop in their tracks. One of them timidly approaches the Fixer to ask him about Zero saying that "he wants to live." "No," replies the Fixer. "He's no good." The guards dutifully resume.
  • "I don't want to know." An attempt to head off Too Much Information.
  • "I don't want your money." Response to someone who feels they are being robbed.
  • "I eat X for breakfast!" A common type of Badass Boast.
  • "I feel like I've known you all my life" Often said when someone feels an immediate affinity for someone without knowing why. Common in both fiction and Real Life.
  • "I hate to be that guy, but..."
  • "If I had my way..."
  • "If I didn't know (you) better I'd say you were X". X is often an action or emotion and if it's an emotion it's usually fear or jealousy.
  • "If I told you, it wouldn't be much of a secret, (now) would it?"
  • "If I were you" — To share what they'd do if they were in the shoes of the person they were speaking to.
  • "If it's a fight you want, it's a fight you'll get!"
  • "If he/she could do it, then so can I!"
  • "If I've told you once, I've told you a thousand times!"
  • "If you don't like it here, why don't you go back where you came from?" A common line indicating the speaker is some flavor of bigot, and usually directed against either immigrants or those with foreign ancestry. If the bigot, especially a North American one of colonizer ancestry is being really dumb, they could say that line to a Native American.
  • "If you have to ask the price, you can't afford it." Basically saying something is only meant for the super-rich for which money is not an object. Sometimes attributed to tycoon J. P. Morgan though not verified.
  • "If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself!"
  • "I leave you alone for five minutes..." usually said to a rambunctious child whom gets up to shenanigans if you don't watch him, or to a Fight Magnet.
  • "I know a guy." Or sometimes, "I know a guy who knows a guy."
  • "I should/would know"
  • "If these walls could talk...": Your stock phrase for an Evidence Scavenger Hunt. Here's a straight use, from CSI.
    • Alternately used to explain that a room has seen a lot of notable moments. One episode of Benson has Kraus lobbying to have a local hotel saved from demolition due to its history. She and Benson are inside the hotel with the man leading the demolition when one of his bulldozers plows through the wall. Kraus goes on to discus the history of the hotel, saying "If only these walls could talk." Benson replies "Yeah, that one would have said 'Watch out! There's a bulldozer coming!'"
  • "If you ignore it, it goes away." The standard use is in reference to some sort of medical issue, but can be used for anything up to people.
  • "If you were a man, I'd...," and the invariable response, "If you were a man..."
  • "If you were, you wouldn't ask": The inevitable reply to a character wondering if they're insane, thoughtless, evil, or otherwise not that different from the villain.
  • "If you were anyone else...." A character is informed by another that s/he only gets away with something because they are them. A good example is what Worf says after Picard accuses him of being a coward in Star Trek: First Contact.
  • "If you're here, and I'm here, then who is that?!" Often said when two people try a Sham Supernatural on each other, but then realize that the ghost/monster in the room with them isn't either of their doing.
  • "If you're [reading|watching] this, I'm most likely dead." See Dead Man Writing.
  • "If you're X, then I'm Y." X is usually true, Y is usually ludicrous. A cousin of If I Wanted X, I Would Y.
  • "If we met in different circumstances… we might have been friends".
  • "I have to go now" — Said before a Screw This, I'm Outta Here moment or remembering you have to go home or to the bathroom.
  • "I have to try!" Usually preceded by something like "But you'll die!"
  • "I got nothing on my radar." Suddenly, an ambush.
  • "I got to get me one of those!" Jokingly said by a character upon encountering some incredibly awesome but wholly implausible weapon or device (Will Smith in Independence Day, Commissioner Gordon reacting to the Batmobile in Batman Begins).
  • "I had no choice!" and its variants, immediately followed by the equally stock phrase "There's ALWAYS a choice!"
  • "I had nothing to do with this!" Often spoken by someone who has been dragged, unwittingly or unwillingly, into a scheme that has gone wrong.
  • "I have an idea." Usually a sign that things are about to go your way. Alternatively, it could mean it's time to run.
  • "I have a plan." Usually a sign you should run away — fast.
    • Especially if it's a cunning plan.
  • "I have a prescription for that!" Said by anyone caught popping pills.
  • "I have a reputation to maintain." Said by the Jerk with a Heart of Gold who prefers to be known as a straight Jerkass.
  • "I heard that!" "You were supposed to!"
  • "I hope I'm wrong, because otherwise..." aaaaand... cut to a different scene. Note that the thing-too-terrible-to-contemplate that is the subject of this line always, always happens. See also Unspoken Plan Guarantee.
  • "I knew that." No they didn't.
  • "I knew you were alive!" After you find out your loved one survived the thing that supposedly killed them.
  • "I know that, and you know that, but he doesn't know that."
  • "I know what is best for you." Usually the one who says it is misinformed. If they're not misinformed, they're often malevolent.
  • "I see the way you look at her/him/me." Compare You Never Did That for Me and Everyone Can See It.
  • "I was about to ask you the same thing."
  • "I was just... um... [doing something obviously not true]" — Common phrasing for Blatant Lies.
  • "I wouldn't do that if I were you."
  • "I wouldn't date/marry you if you were the last man/woman on earth." Deconstructed by David Slater in The Moon is Blue.
  • "I'll believe it when I see it." Used by the skeptic. Most often, the thing he won't believe turns out to be true.
  • "I'll be right back." — If it's a comedy, you're going to the bathroom or to do something crazy. If it's a horror, you're a dead character walking.
  • "I'll deal with you later." Usually a villain's response to a Hero's Sidekick's snarky comments that usually translates as "You piss me off too and you'll pay for it, but I have more important business for now."
  • "I'll do it, {{or my name isn't}}..."
  • "I'll give you three guesses, and the first two don't count." Said when the situation is so painfully obvious that no one with half a brain should need more than the one guess, hence the first two being worthless.
    • A Little Night Music turns the stock phrase into a rhyming exchange in "A Weekend In The Country":
      Carl-Magnus: You don't mean—!
      Charlotte: I'll give you three guesses.
      Carl-Magnus: She wouldn't!
      Charlotte: Reduce it to two.
      Carl-Magnus: It can't be—!
      Charlotte: It nevertheless is—
      Carl-Magnus: Egerman!
      Charlotte: Right! Score one for you.
  • "I gotta be dreaming this..." Spoiler alert, more often than not the person isn't.
  • "I'll never get to walk her down the aisle..." A father's lament: he always hoped to Give Away the Bride, but something happened. He's about to die, she died, they got teleported to opposite sides of the galaxy, he got stuck in a Ground Hog Day Loop, or whatever.
  • "I'll never wash (these clothes/this body part) again": Something romantic happens to a character involving his/her clothes/body part. Examples: Doug holding Patty's arm (Doug), Arnold hugging Helga (Hey Arnold!, "Arnold's Hat"), and there's also a variation in Hey Arnold!, "It Girl", involving Helga shoving Eugene.
    • Subverted in The Simpsons episode "New Kid on the Block", where, after Bart declares this about his hand, we cut to ten minutes later, where we see it's become incredibly dirty.
    • Similarly in the Discworld novel Jingo, Nobby says he'll never wash his handkerchief again, then blows his nose ("It still bends, see?")
    • In My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, Spike says this after Rarity kisses his cheek. He's serious about it, as a week later, the lipstick from the kiss (along with random accumulated dirt) is still on his cheek.
    • One episode of Cow and Chicken has the latter declaring never to wash his eyeball again.
  • "I'll see you in court!" Uttered by those seeking to bring a lawsuit against someone.
  • "I'll sleep when I'm dead," or "Sleep is for the dead." May be countered with "If you don't sleep, you are/will be dead!"
  • "I love you!" "You don't know what love is!" Alternate replies along the lines of "Not enough." or "I actually used to believe that..." are also common.
  • "I love (or like) you... as a(n) friend/sister/brother/X!" Mostly said by Oblivious to Love characters.
  • "I meant recently!" You asked a hypothetical "When has X ever happened?" question, and someone just gave a genuine example. May get a response of "That was yesterday" or similar.
  • "I'm alive?" Reaction from waking up after a near-death experience.
  • "I'm gonna pretend I didn't hear/see that." Standard response to Too Much Information.
  • "I'm gonna regret this."
  • "I'm gonna write a number down on this piece of paper..."
  • "I'm in." (When The Cracker or the Playful Hacker breaks that last layer of security on a system. Often said within seconds of claiming that the security is extremely sophisticated, and will be hard to defeat.)
    • Alternate usage: X is expressing hesitation over a daring/dangerous plan. The convincer throws in an irresistible perk. Cue this line. Example: Jayne from the Firefly episode "Heart of Gold" upon learning that the people the crew are trying to help are whores.
  • "I'm just resting my eyes." Cue snoring.
  • "I'm just sayin'..." trailing off to an awkward pause. It usually follows some harsh criticism disguised as friendly advice, in a feeble attempt to prevent hard feelings.
  • "I'm just so angry all the time." Spoken by many an angsty teenage boy. Predominately when the writers need to illustrate the character to be conflicted but can't think of anything better to have him say.
  • "I'm just teasing!"
  • "I'm leaving, don't try to stop me!" "I don't want to stop you, I want to help/come with you!"
  • "I'm listening." A character has been offered to hear a proposal from someone, usually at a unusual time or place, and he's now intrigued enough to hear it out.
  • "I'm not going anywhere until you tell me what this is all about."
  • "I'm not that kind of girl!" You Accidental Pervert spouting Innocent Innuendo!
  • "I'm not smart enough to come up with this." The person is using their known shortcomings to support the veracity of what they just said or did. Can be reversed ("Do you think I'm stupid enough to have done that.") or use a different shortcoming (i.e. evil character could not come up with a story of someone doing something noble.)
  • "I'm on it!"
  • "[I'm sorry, but] I won't let you do that."
  • "I'm sorry, who are you?"
  • "I'm sorry you had to find out this way." Usually spoken by a character who has been hiding an often dark secret that the one who's spoken to has just found out about.
  • "I'm too young to die!" Or, in more comedic settings, "I'm too pretty to die!"
  • "Incoming!" Accompanied by "Get down!"
  • "I never asked for this." The main character has an incredible power/gift/ability but the writers want to make things seem angsty? Cue this phrase.
  • "I never miss." The standard Badass Boast for any sharpshooter with Improbable Aiming Skills.
  • "I never thought I'd be back here."
  • "In my country we have a saying..."
  • "Insert [insert noun here] here." Appears as a placeholder within a sentence. Often comedic, a la [Trope Name] or Left It In.
  • "In your dreams!" or "You wish!" — Means it will never happen, no matter how much the person being spoken to wants it to happen.
  • "I remember... I remember everything!" or "I remember it all!" A character recovers from Easy Amnesia or Identity Amnesia, possibly through a Regained Memories Sequence.
  • "I said sit down!"
  • "Is he/she always like that?" A confused bystander or a Naïve Newcomer asked a colleague about bizarre behaviours of the seniors.
  • "Is he/she..." followed by trailing off or being interrupted. The last word is implied to be "dead".
  • "Is it getting hot in here, or is it just me?" The standard quip by anyone under a great deal of pressure, especially as a result of trying to conceal lustful thoughts. Or maybe the building is on fire.
    • "Is it just me, or is it X?" — Said when something crazy is happening. A variation is "Is it just my imagination or..."
  • "Is it time yet?! Is it time yet?!" (Not yet! Not yet!) A variation on Are We There Yet?.
    • Similarly, "Is it [special occasion] yet?!" (usually said by children.)
  • "Is that what they're calling it now?" A typical reply to someone's Not What It Looks Like excuse, especially when it can be interpreted as an Unusual Euphemism
  • "I should have seen this coming!"
  • "I should have stayed home/in bed today."
  • I should/would know. Someone swears like a sailor, and the person saying it IS a sailor.
  • "Isn't it sad?" — a stock phrase that, sadly enough, is now a member of the Permanent Red Link Club.
  • "I suppose you're all wondering why I've gathered you here today..."
  • "It can't happen here"
  • "It could have happened to anyone."
    • Bonus response: "Yeah, but it happened to me."
  • "It doesn't have to end this way!"
  • "It doesn't make any sense!!"
  • "I think I'm going to be sick."
  • "I think (s)he's dead already." Often uttered near the end of a killing where the killer is Pummeling the Corpse.
  • "I think we lost them." Often uttered moments before the bad guys reappear. A common example of Tempting Fate.
  • "It feels like I'm arguing with a [specific inanimate object]!" — When complaining about a one-sided argument.
  • "It may be a (noun phrase), but it's my (noun phrase)." Often rendered as "He/She may be...", where the noun phrase is something derogatory.
    • Real Life example (allegedly, anyway): Franklin D. Roosevelt of Anastasio Somoza García: "He may be a son of a bitch, but he's our son of a bitch."
  • "I told you so." Spoken by the Genre Savvy or the Deadpan Snarker after Hilarity Ensues. Includes the following variations:
    • "I hate to say 'I told you so,' but I told you so."
    • "I hate to say it, but... hmmm, actually I don't. I told you so!"
  • "Is that the same thing as your regular X?" Said when someone mentions their "fucking X".
  • "It was just a [dream/nightmare]" — Someone is relieved after waking up from a nightmare, or believes or is pretending that something was a dream, or is reassuring another character (usually a child) who had a nightmare.
  • "It worked", "It actually works!", or "I can't believe it worked". Said when the plan that sounds Crazy Enough to Work, does. Ditto the insane invention that really does work.
  • "It's a bird! It's a plane!" — Due to Popcultural Osmosis.
  • "It's a boy/girl!" — When a baby is born.
  • "It's a [dirty, tough, etc.] job, but somebody's got to do it."
  • "It's a gift...and a curse." Stock line for the Defective Detective, reminding everyone that their Holmesian acuity comes at a price. Popularized by Monk.
  • "It's amazing what they can do with X these days."
  • "It's a long shot, but it might just work!"
  • "It's a trap!" — Said when something thought to be innocent turns out to be a setup or a form of ensnarement.
  • "It's beautiful!" — Usually said by a female character when she receives a gift.
  • "It's dead." / "Could you please not use the word 'dead'?" Exchange that takes place at that point in a horror movie when someone tries to phone for help.
  • "It's got to work!" (or "It has to work!"). Because if it doesn't work, they're dead.
  • "It's just a [movie/story/etc]" — Trying to reassure someone who was scared or saddened by a work of fiction.
  • "It's just your/my imagination!" — Said to reassure someone, often a child, that something scary isn't real. Usually a variation of Tempting Fate and that it does turn out to be real.
  • "It's no use, Johnny. I'm done for. You save yourself." From classic WWII films, the soon-to-be-martyred hero urges his friend to escape the oncoming enemy while he bleeds out. Sometimes results in the martyr being picked up and carried to medical aid, though.
  • "It's not (a) X, it's (a) Y." Often used in commercials, such as "It's not TV, it's HBO" or It's not a phone, it's a Galaxy."
  • "It's not about the (trivial thing)!" Said when it's time to discuss What's Going Wrong in This Relationship.
  • "It's not the end of the world." Said to console someone overwhelmed by loss or guilt, or in a more facetious tone to mock excessive self-pity.
  • "It's not what it looks like" When someone catches their partner in bed, this is what the cheater will say, usually complete with a Modesty Bedsheet. Also used for when it actually is something innocent, but looks suspicious.
  • "It's not your fault."
  • "It's OK to X. Everybody X sometimes, even Y!" — Said on kids shows about mistakes or emotions (whether sadness, fear, or anger).
  • "It's our anniversary!" followed by "..." and "YOU FORGOT, DIDN'T YOU." or some variation on that.
  • "It's our only hope!"
  • "It's over (between us)." Standard breakup line. See Let's Just Be Friends for the more polite version.
  • It's showtime! Apparently Eddie Murphy's catchphrase. And Mr. Incredible's. "It's play time" is also sometimes used.
  • "It's so hard to get good help these days." Usually by the head villain regarding his bumbling Evil Minions (often with regard to the one he's just killed). See Surrounded by Idiots.
    • In Cactus Flower, Julian says, "You can't get decent help these days," after his nurse Stephanie protests against being made to play his wife so he can marry Toni.
  • "It's time!" — Said by people declaring they mean business, and by women who've just gone into labour.
  • "It's time to party!" — Said before either an actual party or a battle.
  • "It burns!" The appropriate response to contact with open flames, strongly acidic substances, or anything that is too painful to look at. Most often preceded with a declaration of whatever is causing the burning or what is being burned.
  • "It's the right thing to do."
  • "It's working!" Sometimes a harbinger of Tempting Fate.
  • "It was all just a huge misunderstanding." Openly uttered at the very end of cliche sitcoms. See Three Is Company.
  • "I've been having these dreams lately." The character may be Dreaming of Things to Come.
  • "I've been waiting a long time for this."
  • "I've done it before and I can do it again!"
  • "I've got a bad feeling about this." Featured in all six Star Wars movies and several tie-in titles. Generally considered/acknowledged to be an homage when seen in a more recent show.
  • "I've got to take that chance!" Someone has a plan that is a dangerous gamble with disastrous consequences if it fails, but there is no alternative.
  • "I've got this." Someone who's calmly surveying a situation their colleague / associate thinks is going to be a big problem. Another possible harbinger of Tempting Fate.
  • "I've heard of _____, but this is ridiculous!"
    • On the March 15th 2016 episode of The Nightly Show, in response to a misfired "funny caption" that used a photo of a lynching, the show makes several such captions based on dramatic historic events, culminating in one of an atomic bomb captioned "I like my Jambalaya spicy, but this is ridiculous!"
  • "I've never met anyone like you before."
  • "I've said it before and I'll say it again..."
  • "I walked right into that one." A character realizes he just incited a joke at his own expense.
  • "I was afraid you were gonna say that."
  • "I was this close" (to achieving something): with the "this" accompanied by the appropriate one hand gesture. Without the hand gesture "this" is changed to "so". Either way, the character knows almost doesn't count, and lets others know it. Made famous by Get Smart, where it took the form "Missed it by that much". (The trope Missed Him by That Much is related In Name Only.)
  • "I wouldn't [cross the street to piss on] you if you were on fire." An expression of a strong hatred towards another that drives a person to simply avoid any interaction with them.
  • "I'm not made of money." Usually said in response to someone asking if they can have something expensive. Alternate version: "What am I, made of money?"

    J 
  • "Just described a dog." — When a character names what makes a person so likeable (almost always mentioning loyalty/fidelity, but also being friendly or playful), and then someone points out that everything they've just said could also be used to describe the perfect dog.
  • "Just got that suit cleaned!" — usually said by a Badass in a Nice Suit after an action sequence to indicate his Dirt Forcefield failed and now he's got a dirty expensive suit. May overlap with Major Injury Underreaction.
  • "Just my luck!" — Someone having a run of bad luck acknowledges that some more bad luck is typical.
  • "Just where do you think you're going?" Someone got caught sneaking out.
  • "Just relax, it'll be okay."

    K 
  • "Kill me! Go ahead, do it!" says the villain, and as always, the hero will rescue them from the ledge/put down the weapon without fail.
  • "Kill me and be done with it!"
  • "(Shut up and) Kiss me, you fool!"
  • "Knock it off!" Enough already.
  • "Know your place!" Typically spoken by an arrogant character (such as a Rich Bitch or Feudal Overlord) to someone they regard as inferior.

    L 
  • "Leave it to (name)" — Means something was typical of the person.
  • "Leave no stone unturned." An admonishment to be extremely thorough when searching for something or someone.
  • "Leave (a particular task) to the experts." The standard annoyed response by an expert at a particular task after seeing a complete amateur trying to accomplish something with that task and failing completely. Also see The World's Expert (on Getting Killed). Another variation is "Leave the [action] to the [occupation]s".
  • "Let 'em have it!" Someone's about to open fire or punch someone in the face.
  • "Let 'er rip!" Meaning to go ahead with a task, usually an unveiling. Expect a Stripping Snag or a huge hole in a large sheet of fabric to follow.
  • "Let me join." or "I want to join." The usual line said by a former enemy that has been used by Big Bad and wants revenge.
  • "Let's dance." The confident good guy accepting the inevitable fight that's about to break out. Anime dubs also use this to translate I Am Your Opponent. "Let's play" is also sometimes said.
  • "Let's finish this."
  • "Let's go!" — Used to start a journey.
  • "Let's not and say we did."
  • "Let's pretend I don't know what that means." The Watson to Mr. Exposition. If it's the sidekick saying it, they may try to pretend they're not the ones in the dark, along the lines of, "Let's say the Hero doesn't know what the Technobabble device does."
  • "Let's rock and roll."
    • "Let's roll." Famously used during 9/11.
  • "Let's see how X likes this!" In response to a significant attack.
  • "Let me slip into something more comfortable." Spoken by a seductress right before she changes into lingerie, often behind a see-through screen. This can be parodic, since the lingerie sometimes looks more uncomfortable than the original clothing.
  • "Let them come." Spoken by the villain (often of the Evil Overlord persuasion) to his far-more-sensible underling when the heroes are on their way. Sometimes, it's because they're leading the heroes into a trap. Other times, it's basically a cheat based on the bad guy's unyielding arrogance to let the heroes get as far as the front door.
  • "Let them have each other." Spoken by The Chessmaster villain who sees his enemies eliminating one another.
  • "Like herding cats." Used to describe something that's difficult but not impossible to do.
  • "Listen to your body" — Said in any Edutainment Show when talking about bodies, but chiefly the Toilet Training Plot, with the Sleep Aesop being the runner-up. Also, sometimes said by sports coaches.
  • "A little help here? Anyone?!"
  • "Lock and load." followed by cocking a large gun.
  • "Looking for [something/someone]?" — A way of taunting those who are looking for you, or something you have.
  • "Look, mommy/daddy, there's [an unusual thing usually related to the protagonist]!"
  • "Look out! Coming through!"
  • "Look out for the—-*crash*—-.... [object]."
  • "Look out! He's got a bomb/gun/knife!"
  • "... loves this trope." Used on this wiki in lists of examples, to describe series (games, whatever) that use the same trope too many times to count.

    M 
  • "Many will enter; few will win." Used in ads for contests aimed at children.
  • "Me and my big fat mouth..."
  • "Medic..." Whimpered by the victim of Amusing Injuries while he lies in a mangled heap upon the ground.
  • "Mine" on repeat. Often used to show a character expressing a desire for something. "Mine" said once usually means the speaker is a Bratty Half-Pint.
  • "The mission has been compromised." Said when secret mission goes awry.
  • "Mistakes were made." The quintessential non-apology apology. Alternatively, a much more restrained version of Oh, Crap!.
  • "Moderate to severe X". Used in prescription drug ads. Also weather forecasts.
  • "More!", said several times in a row. A person has eaten some delicious food and is still hungry, or someone is greedy and wants more money.
  • "More tea, vicar?" A Discredited Trope these days, but in seventies Brit Coms, the standard way of distracting The Vicar from whatever hilarity is ensuing.
  • "The more you buy, the more you save." (Advertising)
  • "Move, move, move!" Alternately, "Move, people!" (Primarily used in military settings, when an authority figure wants his or her subordinates to hurry up and do whatever they're doing, but faster.)
    • See also; "Go, go, go!" and variants.
  • "My body is a temple." International law dictates that this line must always be followed by a suggestion that a more appropriate comparison might be to an amusement park. Alternate comeback is "Yeah, the Temple of Doom."
    • Or, as Welcome to Night Vale put it;
      "Your body is a temple. A temple of blood rituals and pagan tributes, a lost temple, a temple that needs more calcium. You should maybe try vitamin supplements."
  • "My door is always open." Extra points if the actual door is shut shortly afterwards.
  • "My eyes! MY EYES!!!" Often accompanies Eye Scream or Screaming at Squick. See also Ow, My Body Part!.
  • "My, my, what have we here?" Usually said by older good characters, or occasionally the villain from afar.
  • "My patience is growing thin." Spoken by many an Evil Overlord after repeated attempts to do whatever have proven futile.
  • "My wife doesn't have to know about it." The cad's excuse for proposing adultery or bigamy.
  • "My work here is done."
  • "My (X)!" — Said when the X is going away or being destroyed.
  • "My (x), my rules."

    N 
  • "Need a lift?"
  • "Never again." Phrase used to emphasize someone's oath to never allow an incident ever again.
  • "Never leave home without it." catchphrase of the Crazy-Prepared.
  • "Never send an X to do a Y's job." Phrase said when someone has to do something that another person fails to. "Y" is frequently "a man."
  • "New plan: RUN!" A character will say this to initiate a Tactical Withdrawal.
  • "No, it couldn't be." catchphrase for the Master of Delusion.
  • "No kidding / fooling / duh." Someone just heard the obvious. Also a synonym for, "Ya think?"
  • "No more Mister Nice Guy!"
  • "No one is indispensable!" A boss tells their underling(s) that they're easily replaced.
  • "No one will call it X when I'm done." A defecting teammate is exposed to have an extremist agenda which they're seizing an opportunity to pursue. The agenda's endgame may range from genuine Utopia and all the way to World of Silence. The X is often an abstract label for the transgression being committed by the defector (usually at the expense of ex-teammates and/or innocent bystanders) such as "betrayal", "treason", "madness", "terrorism", etc.
  • "NO! PLEASE!" shouts the heroine after being captured by the Big Bad and presumably taken to his lair to have things done to her, just seconds before the hero busts in.
  • “Nobody *insert phrase here*. Nobody.” Often heard in commercials.
  • "Nothing human could have done this!" Used in horror movies on discovering a savagely mutilated corpse.
  • "No, this is not a prank!" See Cassandra Truth.
  • "No trial for us, we're for stringing him up right away!" The Wild West lynch mob streamlines the legal process.
  • "Not again!" A variant of Oh, Crap! that occurs when the same bad thing happens that a character has previously experienced.
  • "Not the X-est Y in the Z." Another way to describe a not-too-bright character; "the brightest bulb in the box" is not an uncommon description. Subversion: "But still in the Z."
  • "Not if I have anything to say about it." A way of saying, "Over my dead body." Or, "We'll just see about that."
  • "Not tonight, dear, I have a headache." The standard bedmate rebuff (usually said by a woman, and usually she's lying). Memetic Mutation associated Midnight Resistance with this phrase.
  • "Not where, when." Said by one time traveler after the less experienced companion asks "Where are we?"
  • "Now if you will excuse me, I have a <noun> to <verb>!"
  • "Now it's my turn."
  • "Now it's your turn."
  • "Now I've seen everything." Said by a miscellaneous character on seeing the ridiculous culmination of ridiculous events. Used to be followed by the character's suicide until the Media Watchdogs put a stop to that.
  • "Now, now". Usually followed by "It's not so bad" or "That's not polite."
  • "Now that's how you <verb>!" A frustrated person (usually senior ones) does a task that a character fails at or done horribly and then says this line.
  • "Now what?" Another take on So What Do We Do Now?
  • "Now, where were we?"
  • "Nobody said it would be easy".

    O 
  • "... of the ____shire Smiths." That is, the old-money ones. Sometimes shortened to "... of those Smiths."
  • "Oh God, let this work!": The character has a Million to One Chance of survival with a plan that could be Crazy Enough to Work and is praying that it does.
  • "Oh no..." Is said when someone realizes that they're screwed or is about to experience some misfortune. "Uh-oh" is also an alternative, though that's more common for young kids.
  • "Oh no! Not Cool and Unusual Punishment! Anything but Cool and Unusual Punishment!"
  • "Oh no! Not Plan X! Anything but Plan X!......what's Plan X?" Common joke cartoon writers still think is funny.
  • "Oh no... they got to you too!" Mostly used by conspiracy theorists referring to skeptics, or friends/family who are no longer as patient or understanding as they used to be.
  • "Oh no, X!" — Either X is a threat, or something bad has happened to X. X can be either a person or an object.
  • "Oh, please, Judge — my Tony, he's a good boy." The mobster's mother pleads for leniency for her child. Most often seen in 1930s and 40s dramas, more often parodied today.
  • "Oh, the agony!"
  • "Oh, the humanity!": Said as a response to a disaster that kills a lot of humans. Because the line is somewhat nonsensical, it's usually played for Black Comedy or parodied by having a non-human say, "Oh, the [different species]!".
  • "Oh, this old thing?": Said after someone has complimented the speaker's garment, car, or house.
  • "Oh well, you can't win 'em all."
  • "Oh, X!" — Can be said either to express frustration towards something a character did, or romantic attraction to the character, depending on the inflection.
  • "Oh, X, not you too!" — Said by a character who's discovered yet another victim of the Plague Episode.
  • "Oh yes, well done." Said in a mocking tone. Occasionally accompanied by Sarcastic Clapping.
  • "Okay...okay, okay, okay, okay..." While freaking out as a Survival Mantra.
  • "Okay then..." Standard response to Too Much Information, Digging Yourself Deeper, Bread, Eggs, Milk, Squick and other tropes of that ilk, generally indicates a Sarcasm Failure.
  • "Olé!" Response to any lively music that sounds even vaguely Spanish.
  • "... once and for all!" — how thoroughly the hero is going to defeat the villain, or vice-versa.
  • "One for all and all for one!" or "All for one and one for all!"
  • "One, two, a one, two, three, four"— To start a song. Originated with counting beats, but sometimes put in "just for show" due to the association with cool songs.
  • "One, two, three, one, two, three..." Counting out the beats of 3/4 time is the perfect way to set people waltzing.
  • "One of these days..." A character does something that annoys another character frequently, with the annoyed one swearing to do something to the person annoying them some day as an expression of their frustration.
  • "One-way ticket" to someplace that you wouldn't want to go, e.g., "a one-way ticket to jail."
  • "...Or not." Used by a character who knows they're being ignored. For example, "We could always take the back road! ...Or not."
    • Also used when unexpected circumstances prevent that action. "Hey guys! I know a faster way. Let's take this bridge." *UFO crashes, destroying bridge* "Or not."
  • "Or what?": Means "I'm not going to do what you say, unless not doing it has a negative consequence". If the speaker is especially rude/cocky, they'll say, "Or what? You'll [ridiculously harmless action]?".
  • "Out of my way!" when someone's running, usually through a crowded area like a hallway.
  • "Over my dead body." Ironic and serious.
    • Traditional responses include "That can be arranged," "That's the plan," or "Have it your way then," followed by a gunshot. There's also the slightly less evil "If necessary." In Mork & Mindy once had Mork respond, "It may trip us, but it won't stop us."

    P 
  • "Perhaps not."
  • "Play time is over." Often used by villains to indicate that they're going to start taking the fight serious, and that the heroes had better do the same or else. Kind of like an inverse Let's Get Dangerous!
    • And of course, from the video game that manages to directly use so so many stock phrases completely straight: "Play time is over, Star Fox!"
  • "Please don't freak out!"
  • "Please don't shoot my dog, he couldn't have eaten those sheep!": "Shoot" can be replaced with any other punishment, and "eaten those sheep" can be replaced with any other misdeed.
  • "Please don't take this the wrong way, but..." The character is about to ask a blunt question that would seem offensive in most circumstances, but it has to be asked like "Why aren't you dead?" if the person has just escaped certain death for some reason. The person asked typically understands the spirit of the question and provides an explanation.
  • "Please tell me you're kidding..."
  • "Pretty please with sugar/a cherry on top?"
  • "Put that thing down." That "thing" is usually a device its owner isn't sure the person holding it knows how to use properly. Often a loaded gun.

    R 
  • "Rape isn't about sex, it's about power." Often Truth in Television.
  • "Ready?"
    • Sometimes followed up with "Ready as I'll ever be" or "I was born ready!".
  • "Remember where we parked." Usually a comedic phrase that either follows parking the automobile/ship in a crowded or unusual spot.
  • "Rest in pieces". Back when this joke was used for the first time, it might have been amusing. It's not amusing when you hear it millions of times, though.
  • "Right, let's do this."
  • "Rules are meant/made to be broken." Common response to The Fettered from someone who doesn't hold to their rules.
  • "Rules are rules" Means "I know you're being inconvenienced by this rule, but it must be followed anyway".
  • "RUN FOR (IT/THE HILLS/YOUR LIFE/LIVES)!!!"

    S 
  • "Said no one, ever." Lampshader of sarcasm (though technically, the suffix makes it no longer that) that seems largely original to the 21st century.
  • “Saw that coming” When you know someone’s gonna get it for what they said or you can tell something’s gonna happen.
  • "Says the X..." In forms like "Says the X to the Y" or "Says the X who/that did whatever."
  • "Shaken, not stirred" or variations thereof. Either used to order a drink or to comment that a character has had a rough predicament but survived.
    • In The West Wing, Bartlet comments that Bond is "ordering a weak martini and being snooty about it".
    • Fabulously subverted by the very franchise that birthed it: in Casino Royale (2006), Daniel Craig's Bond orders a martini and is asked if he wants it shaken or stirred. He snarls, "Do I look like I give a damn?"
  • "Shouldn't you be in bed?" Said to either an invalid at any time, or at night, a young child, or as a way of calling someone childish.
  • "Shouldn't you kids be in school right now?" Related to Shouldn't We Be in School Right Now?.
  • "Oh, shut up...": Usually said after a lame pun or a lame Chew Bubblegum line.
  • "Shut up and X!"
  • "A simple no would have sufficed.": An indignant response to a dismissal or rejection that is overly demeaning, verbose, or both.
  • "Slowly I turn — step by step, inch by inch..."
  • "Smells like something died in here" — In a comedy, the smell turns out to be poop or a dead animal, but in a horror, it's a dead body.
  • An emphasised "Someone" or "Somebody": Code for "I'm not naming names, but it was you."
  • "Someone... or something..." Used to identify that an act may have been done by something paranormal.
    • When Harry Dresden used it, Action Girl Karrin Murphy calls him on it, saying, "You've been waiting years to use that one, haven't you?" Dresden, being the smart ass that he is, shrugs and mentions that opportunities don't arise as often as you'd think.
  • "Something's coming." Often said with great solemnity by a Magical Native American or other Noble Savage, sometimes with ear to the ground.
  • "So there I was..."
  • "Sorry, but duty calls..." What a cop/soldier/firefighter/other "on call" hero says to a pretty girl he's dating that he has to get back to work. She usually is gracious enough to leave it at that.
  • "Stick that in your (noun) and (verb) it." Most commonly used after making a point to rub it in. Original form is almost certainly "Stick that in your pipe and smoke it," but modern usage plays it as a mad libs.
    • West Side Story twists the syntax for the sake of a rhyme: "I like the island Manhattan— / Smoke on your pipe and put that in!"
    • Sometimes 'stick that in' is replaced with a completely different action. Stampylongnose gives us "You can bake it into a cake and you can eat it!".
  • "Stop me anytime." Someone is depressed or angry with themselves and starts listing all of their own failings, expecting the person they're talking to to break in and disagree. If the other person just lets them continue, they get annoyed and say this.
  • "Stop/follow that X!"
  • "Stop the presses!" Originally related to when a reporter has a news story that they absolutely must have in the upcoming issue. It's rarer in Real Life news outlets which would rather resort to an extra issue (actually stopping the presses is damn expensive and takes ages to start back up), and is generally used for any news that may need people to stop whatever they are doing.
    • In the Ed, Edd n Eddy episode "Truth or Ed", Eddy yells this when he hears that the school newspapers actually have profit.
    • Parodied in The Simpsons episode "Guess Who's Coming to Criticize Dinner?" when Homer gets a job as a food critic. The foreman complies, and after Homer tells them to start the presses his frustrated boss says "That takes four hours."
    • Parodied in the My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic episode "Ponyville Confidential". Sweetie Belle shouts "Stop the presses!" as she dramatically bursts into the office for the school newspaper, only for the kid running the press to say "We haven't started yet."
    • Parodied in The Truth, where a dwarf printer yells "Stop the presses!" because the cart carrying his press has come loose and is careening down the street.
    • Parodied on The Great Muppet Caper, where Gonzo shouts it because he always wanted to.
    • In The Three Stooges, one short has the boys become reporters, with Shemp repeating the stock phrase while mimicking a typical newspaper editor for a laugh; Moe quickly tires of this and crushes Shemp's face between two bookends, prompting Shemp to beg Moe to literally "stop the presses!"
  • "Sweet/sacred X!" — Common exclamation, a la "holy".

    T 
  • "Take a picture, it'll last longer!" Said by anyone being stared at, especially by a large group of people.
  • "Take two aspirin and call me in the morning." Commonly used by doctors in movies and TV to dismiss a patient who doesn't have a serious illness or injury, and almost always used in parody. Other analgesics or placebos are often substituted for aspirin in works made since the Turn of the Millennium due to aspirin's antiplatelet properties.
  • "Tell me again!", usually said by children.
  • "Tell me something I don't know." A rude response to someone playing Captain Obvious; about half the time, Captain Obvious will retort with some obscure or personal fact that the rude person couldn't be expected to know.
  • "Tell me/us how you really feel." An ironic response to "The Reason You Suck" Speech or a similarly scathing comment. Can be prefaced with "Don't hold back..." or "Don't sugarcoat it..." Alternatively, used to try to get a sad character to open up on why they're sad.
  • "Tell my (wife/fiancee/girlfriend) I love her." "Tell her yourself.": Exchange often heard when the first speaker is about to go into a very dangerous situation (see also If I Do Not Return). Also sometimes used if the first speaker is severely wounded and the second speaker is trying to convince him/her that his/her wounds aren't fatal (often when this happens the wounds are indeed fatal, and the first speaker dies in the second speaker's arms).
  • "Tell that to ______." The person in the blank is nearly invariably someone whose experience proves whatever statement prompted this line wrong, or at least someone who is very unlikely to believe it.
  • "Tell X I said hi!" ("Hi" can be replaced with any greeting.)
  • "That can be arranged." A standard villain response to a hero saying they Would Rather Suffer than surrender to/join them. (Sometimes follows "Over my dead body." Also for "I can arrange that.")
  • "That can't be good." A catch-all under-reaction to whenever something strange and/or unfortunate is happening, or about to happen.
  • "That doesn't mean I have to like it": Said by a character who's complained about something and then was told it's normal/okay/inevitable/etc.
  • "That's my cue to leave."
    • Used in The Flash (2014) season 1 finale when Eobard Thawne sees what's later confirmed to be Jay Garrick's helmet come out of the wormhole he's about to use to travel back to his time.
  • "That's the X talking!" Used during an intervention, when someone says that they're fine, or they can use X and stay in control.
  • "That wasn't so hard now, was it?" Said to someone who finally admitted something that someone else has been trying to get them to admit for a long time.
  • "That was too close.": Spoken just after a near miss by a projectile, a last-second disarming of a bomb, etc. Sometimes seen in a two-character variation, as "That was close." "Yeah, a little too close."
  • "That went well.": Sentence used to break the appalled hush after something goes terribly wrong.
    • A common subversion involves the apparent disaster to turn out to be a good thing after all — thus making the "sarcastic" remark true.
    • Firefly only used it once, but it was spoken by a naked man marooned in the middle of the desert. What's really funny is that he meant it!
    • Alpha 5's line after the first meeting with the would-be Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers in "The Day Of the Dumpster" goes very wrong.
  • "That's entertainment!" Often used ironically eg. by the Magician Detective.
  • "That's for me to know, and you to find out."
  • "That's just what they want you to think!" Spoken by many an Agent Mulder or Conspiracy Theorist.
  • "That's low, even for you!"
  • "That's what I thought you said."
  • "That's what I've been trying to tell you!" Spoken by The Cassandra after trying to tell a companion who willfully ignored something troubling and now is facing the consequences of doing that.
  • "That's what they all say!" — Someone isn't being believed because other people have lied about it too many times.
  • "That's what you think."
  • "That's your opinion": Code for "I disagree".
  • "That's your problem." A character is facing a seemingly insurmountable problem, but the speaker couldn't care less and is not interested in helping.
  • "The inside of my mouth tasted like something died in it". Usually a First Person narrative remark, made either after a night out drinking or after being knocked unconscious, if not both. Many variations.
  • "The ___'s in the bag." For when a desired outcome seems to be guaranteed, such as getting The Ace on your team before a sports tournament. Not the inverse of "The cat's out of the bag," listed above.
  • "The only good [member of enemy group] is a dead [member of enemy group]." An indicator of murderous hatred toward a group, race or species.
  • "Them's fightin' words!" Taking exception to something said, usually in a Western context.
  • "Then don't talk, just listen." Usually happens when one character is refusing to talk to another, but the character has important information that the first character needs to know. It may or may not convince the other character to agree to talk.
  • "There are no such things as monsters!" Skepticism Failure ensues. "Monsters" can be replaced with any supernatural entity, most often "ghosts".
  • “There are easier ways to kill yourself!” Used at a character doing something reckless and dangerous that could get them killed.
  • "There goes our deposit." Spoken when property damage ensues.
  • "There has to be another way!" When the present option is something somebody doesn't like, and often there isn't any other way.
  • "There is another way, but you're not going to like it."
  • "There's an X in my [food, usually soup]!"
  • "There's no 'I' in 'team'!" Optional stock response: "But there's an 'm' and an 'e', and that spells me!"
    Cuddy: There's no 'I' in team, House.
    House: There is a 'me', though...if you jumble it up a bit.
  • "There's something odd about that guy." Usually said when a bystander, witness, or ally seems legit, but turns out to be The Mole or otherwise sitting on a whopper of a secret.
  • "There's something you don't see every day..." Usually said by someone seeing something outrageous or crazy going on.
  • "There's something you should know..." Usually said by character A to character B when character B is about to do something (or has just done something) that would turn out to be immoral or unwise if character B had the information that character A has. Or if Character A is about to dump a Reveal on B that makes their situation more complicated.
  • "The spirits are restless" Said by mediums, necromancers, demon-slayers, etc.
  • "The very idea!" Shocked utterance of a Grande Dame or one who fancies herself such, often coupled with "Well I never!"
  • "Things can't get any worse." Things will always get worse. See Tempting Fate, Rock Bottom, and Finagle's Law.
  • "Think fast!" Said when the person wants someone else to catch something.
  • "This conversation is NOT over!" Said when an important confrontation is interrupted by a more urgent matter.
  • "This guy knows what I'm talking about." Said when someone makes an off color comment, which is met with Stunned Silence. Can be, but doesn't have to be, used by a comedian.
  • "This is bad." or "This is not good." An understated version of Oh, Crap! or possibly a version of This Is Gonna Suck.
  • "This is going to hurt me more than it hurts you." What every parent says when about to deliver Corporal Punishment to their naughty kids. Spanky in the The Little Rascals has the typical reaction of kids, "That's what they all say!"
  • "This is just a dream, this is just a dream, this is just a dream, ...." A line uttered by someone who saw an Eldritch Abomination, being Forced to Watch, and other traumatic events and tries to deny it.
  • "This isn't fair!" or "This isn't a fair fight." Generally followed by "Life isn't fair..." (see above)
  • "This is not my first rodeo." Usually said by a character who handles a disaster/damage control situation with complete calm.
  • "This is so evil/crazy/insane/hideous etc. I like it!"
    • Variation: "You're an insane maniac/etc. And that's why I like you!"
  • "This is the end!" or "This fight is mine!" A staple of Shōnen fighting series, it ranks right up with "Nothing Can Stop Us Now!" for drawing the ire of the powers that be.
  • "This is the life!" (Often preceded by a satisfied sigh.) Said when a character is enjoying the full indulgence of relaxation. Usually signals that their peace is about to be interrupted.
  • "This is/means war!". See also "That's it!" and "This is the last straw!"
  • "This can't be happening" or "This isn't happening." A staple of horror and sci-fi flicks when the protagonists realize they're caught up in something really crazy, dangerous, surreal, or all of the above.
    • The X-Files had an episode with the title "This Is Not Happening" where abductees including Mulder are turning up dead.
    • Flynn's reaction to discovering he's been transferred into the computer: "This isn't happening. It just thinks it's happening."
  • "This way!" No set scene for this one, but watch for The Hero trying to shake his pursuers and getting some unexpected help (for example 007 running into Melina Havelock when his vehicle is blown to bits).
  • "Those are prescription glasses!" When a Blind Without 'Em character is robbed of his spectacles.
  • "This will all end in tears." Often used by The Eeyore to express doubt in the current plan or actions of other characters.
  • "Those drums are driving me mad!" British explorer/colonial (complete with pith helmet) is having trouble dealing with native communications protocols.
  • "The transformation is almost complete"
  • "Try and get some (rest/sleep)." Said after a particularly trying experience for one or more characters, generally during a down-time scene before The Climax. Often accompanied by a hug, pat on the back, or even a tuck into bed.
  • Any variant of "... try that again." Someone just got humiliated and is itching for another go around. He's definitely going to win this rematch. Like so...
  • "That's X for you!" Used to point out that a previously described behavior is typical of something, usually someone or a class of persons.
  • "To the X!" The X is usually the speaker's trademark vehicle, or a place.
  • "Two can play at this game." Used when someone displays a technique, talent, or weapon, and the speaker then displays a similar technique, talent, or weapon.

    U 
  • "Uh-huh."
  • "Uh-uh!" Stock scold for children and pets.
  • "Until we meet again..."
  • "Umm..." Sometimes used in confusion, shyness, embarrassment, or when something is being waited for.
  • "Unlucky for some" Usually used whenever the number thirteen comes up.

    V 
  • "Very carefully". : As a response to "How did you do that?", "How do I do this?", etc. Sometimes, "carefully" is replaced with a different adverb or the person says, "With (great) difficulty" instead.

    W 
  • "Wait, I have a better idea": Usually spoken right after a character suggests a conventional course of action. Suddenly, another character preempts that with an idea for more creative and/or dramatic one, which we see in action.
  • "Was it good for you?": Asked after having sex. Or more ironically after killing someone.
  • "Was it something I said?": When a conversation ends with one person suddenly thumping the other person and/or storming out and slamming the door, the other person says this. Usually, what they said or did to prompt the reaction is blindingly obvious to everyone except them. But occasionally, it was something completely external, such as the activation of the Bat Signal.
  • "Watch out for that first step. It's a doozy!" Used most famously in Groundhog Day.
  • "Water! Water!" Has to be exclaimed when someone is fainting in public.
  • "We all want something."
  • "We make a pretty good team (you and I)."
  • "We might actually win this thing!"
  • "We only have one shot at this."
  • "We're even." or "Now, we're even." A line said by someone who was helped or saved by The Hero after they helped them.
  • "We are all X now."
  • "We are asking the questions here!" Usually with a German accent. Can make Talking Your Way Out very difficult.
  • "We attack at dawn!"
  • "We can't do X!" "Not with that attitude we can't!" (If it's just one person, "We" is replaced with "I" or "You")
  • "We can't take that chance!" Indicates when The Federation (or even the Hero) all-but-folds in the face of the huge demands of the villain backed by force.
  • "We didn't start this fight, but we're gonna finish it."
  • "We do not negotiate with terrorists". When this line is uttered, expect negotiation with terrorists to follow fairly quickly.
  • "We don't know what we're fighting for!"
  • "We don't know what we're up against." Said by The Captain or the highest-ranked individual around when going on a mission with any unknown variables.
  • "We don't talk about X!" X is either an infamous person, or an embarrassing incident (perhaps a Noodle Incident).
  • "We got what we came for, now let's go!" said by the mooks, typically after they stole what their Big Bad wants for an Evil Plan, and are going to make their escape.
    • Or by someone on The Hero's side, for much the same thing.
  • "The weak perish, and only the strong survive" or some variation thereof. Typically said by The Social Darwinist
  • "Well, it was worth a shot." These days, often follows the attempted application of a trope that failed.
  • "Well, well, well..." Often said by villains when they discover and approach the heroes in the midst of their heroics and begin their villainous dialogue.
  • "Well I never!" Shocked phrase of the Grande Dame. Often followed with "The very idea!"
    • More often followed by a wisecracker saying either "And you never will with that attitude!" or "You should. It's fun!" Or, in the case of Daria, "Never in her life." when a Grand Dame said "Well, I never in my life!" on being asked if she dyes her hair.
  • "Well, that's new..." Overly calm reaction to a large change, frequently a form of Lampshade Hanging.
  • "Well, [do something weird to me] and call me X!" — A goofy way of expressing shock.
  • "We mustn't. I'd only feel cheap." Obsolete objection to adultery or other illicit behavior.
  • "We need to talk." A phrase that is usually followed by "It's over", "You're fired", or at the very least, "The Reason You Suck" Speech. Of late, it's generally followed by a wary reaction on the part of the person addressed.
    • Seinfeld dubbed this "The four most dangerous words in the English language."
    • Brent Sienna from PVP Online once stated that "In all the history of mankind, nothing good has ever come after the phrase 'Honey, we need to talk.'"
  • "We're all going to die!"
    • "Shut up, Rattrap!"
    • Alternately: "We're doomed!" (Shut up, Threepio.)
    • You've also heard it: "We're screwed/fucked/boned/toast/dead/dead meat."
    • Military version: describing a situation as FUBAR: Fucked/Fouled Up Beyond All Recognition/Repair.
  • "We're all in this together."
  • "We're all X here!" — X is often "friends" or "crazy".
  • "We're both men of the world, you and I..." ...so you know that I'm about to threaten your life in the most genteel manner possible.
  • "We're done here." Said by defense attorneys when interrupting or ending a police interrogation of their client. Often followed by dropping a motion to dismiss evidence, or the whole charge.
  • "We're losing him/her!" Stock phrase used in most medical dramas at some point or other as the patient flatlines on the operating table. Expect the Magical Defibrillator to appear at this point.
  • "We're more than friends. We're family." Often said about a Family of Choice.
  • "We've got company!" Said as a warning of a newly-arrived attack force by the opposite side.
  • "What a waste" is often said by misogynistic men to refer to women who they find attractive but who don't have sex.
  • "What a waste of my time!" Typically said by villains or snobbish Corrupt Corporate Executives and others who feel that something they've been called to address isn't very interesting and they could be devoting their time towards something more worthwhile in their eyes.
  • "What are you always running from?" Bonus points if the reply is, "Maybe myself."
  • "What?! Are you crazy?" Bonus points if the answer is simply, "Yes."
  • "What are you doing?" "Something I should have done a long time ago." Exchange which occurs when a henchman turns on the bad guy, thus saving the hero. Also sometimes as the hero surprises a love interest with their first kiss (or, if their relationship is more advanced, a wedding proposal).
  • "What are you doing here?" "What am I doing here? What are you doing here?!"
  • "What are you, twelve?" When someone makes or snickers at a particularly puerile dirty joke. Alternately, the age might be "four" if it's Potty Humor or they're throwing a tantrum. Occasionally, other numbers between four and twelve might be used. "How old are you?" or "Act your age!" are also sometimes said.
  • "What are your intentions with my daughter?" Bonus if the questioner is cleaning a shotgun.
    • Parodied in the Friends episode "The One with Phoebe's Wedding". In the lack of any other paternal figures in Phoebe's life, Joey is walking her down the aisle, and spends the episode pretending she is his daughter even though they're the same age. At the rehearsal dinner, he meets with Mike, Phoebe's husband-to-be, and asks, "So what are your intentions with my Phoebe?"
  • "What are you talking about?" When someone says something stupid, weird, or just plain confusing, this is the response.
    • "What am I saying?!" When the person is saying it doesn't agree with what he just said and is confused about why he said it.
  • "What, behind the X?" The classical response is "It IS the X."
  • "What did I miss?" Usually for when a character shows up after something important or crazy happens. Expect those already there to say "Not much" or something similar.
  • "What did you/he/she say?" (...) "That's what I thought you/he/she said."
  • "What did you say your name was?" "I didn't." Usually used to up a character's mystique, or if the audience knows their name, to show that they're keeping their identity hidden. Also can take the form of "You never told me your name." "No, I didn't."
  • "What do they have to gain?" The character is considering the exact reason for a suspect's actions, an essential clue.
  • "What do you mean, 'you people'?" A stock indignant response to any line including the phrase "you people".
  • "What do you think you're doing?!" — Said by people who think the other person is doing something crazy.
  • "What do you want?"/ "Ah, it's not what I want, it's what you want." Standard opening to the Deal with the Devil.
    • Subverted in The Proposition: "You want me to kill my brother?" "I want you to kill your brother."
  • "What's happening to me?" Standard response to a Forced Transformation, Puberty Superpowers, Painful Transformation, and other forms of sudden, unwilling bodily change.
  • "What's the matter? Can't sleep?" Can be asked sincerely or sardonically. Sometimes used as part of a Ship Tease moment.
  • "What's the worst that could happen?" Given potential for Tempting Fate, usually said sarcastically in response to someone else's bad idea.
    • There's also "What could go wrong?", which is pretty much always said sarcastically.
  • Flat "Whatever." Meaning, meh.
  • "Whatever <Character> is paying you, I'll (double/triple/etc.) it." Used both for rich kidnapping victims and for rich victims of assassins. Neither variant usually works.
    • Dan Marino in Ace Ventura uses this: "I don't know how much psycho-woman's paying you, but I'll double it." "Forget it. Psycho-woman keeps us out of prison."
    • Tyrion Lannister of A Song of Ice and Fire does this preemptively when he recruits the sellsword Bronn, saying "And remember, if you get an offer to betray me, I'll double it! I like living!" Bronn actually takes him up on the offer in the final season.
    • Also seen as: "Whatever <Character> is paying you, it isn't enough."
  • "Whatever you're gonna do, do it now."
  • "Whatever you say.": Code for "I don't really believe you but I'm going to half-heartedly pretend I do if it makes you happy."
  • "What have I ever done to you?" Often used in Bewildering Punishment, but also with villains who are either perfectly aware of what they did or haven't realised that that family they killed earlier was The Hero's.
  • "What have we here?"
  • "What have you done, You Monster!?!"
  • "What if it's a trick?" "What if it's not?"
  • "What in the name of X is going on here?" where X is usually a Running Gag of the character's interests; i.e. a wrestling fan would put names of famous wrestlers in the place of X. Can be used more generically with "God" or "Hell" in place of X.
  • "What is the meaning of this?": Usually "this" is either a crime or some madcap situation.
    • This is the final line of Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mamma's Hung You in the Closet and I'm Feelin' So Sad, spoken by Madame Rosepettle to Jonathan after he kills Rosalie.
  • "What is this place?": Used to elicit Exposition, in particular about an Eldritch Location.
  • "What [is/are] X gonna do, [ludicrously harmless action]?" Usually a form of Tempting Fate, where X either does something much worse, or they do do what was suggested, but it's a lot worse than the person thought.
  • "What kind of fool do you take me for?" Usually followed immediately by "Don't answer that," usually just before the second person actually does.
  • "What makes you think I know anything about [X]?" Usually a specific kind of Suspiciously Specific Denial.
  • "What's a [compliment] like you doing in an X like this?!" — Common pick-up line.
  • "What's my motivation?" Typically used to indicate a Classically-Trained Extra or roleplayer who's trying to get far too much depth out of a meaningless part.
  • "What sorcery is this?!" Usually said by a character from a primitive civilization/time period, usually when confronted by technology, rather than actual magic.
  • "What's burning?" Someone smells smoke in another room, usually in the kitchen, and there's a good chance of a fire coming into play.
  • "What's that smell?" If Evil Smells Bad or Signature Scent is in play, this can be used to indicate the presence of a villain/monster, or the presence of Deadly Gas or gasoline. Can also be used to add tension if someone is transporting an object (e.g. a dead body) which they don't want discovered.
  • "What the hell happened back there?"
  • "What treachery is this?!" A character realizes that he or she has just been betrayed.
  • "What, was (X) busy?" Mocking - they must be really running out of options if they sent you.
  • "What would <character> want with a place like this?"
  • "What will they think of next?" (Sometimes used sincerely, often used sarcastically.)
  • "When are we?" The time traveler trying to figure out what year he's landed in; often said as a correction after someone else asks where they are ("Where are we?" "I think you mean, when are we?")
    • Stewie says to Brian who says this in the Family Guy episode "Road to the Multiverse", "Ah, that's such a douche time traveler thing to say."
    • When Dipper says the line as-is in the Gravity Falls episode "The Time Traveler's Pig", Mabel apparently expected him to say "where" and tries to correct him by asking, "The real question is, when are we?" before realizing that's what he said.
    • Linkara of Atop the Fourth Wall has criticized this phrase (at least in the context of the common exchange) by saying that the time period could count as a "where," making the correction pointless.
  • "When a mommy and a daddy love each other very much..." The opening of The Talk. Often parodied to explain the existence of Mix-and-Match Critters.
  • "Where am I?" — Said by an amnesiac or someone who's just woken up from unconsciousness.
  • "Where have I heard that voice?" Say hello to the recurring villain.
  • "Where have you been? You missed all the excitement!" Usually said to the one who was secretly the cause of the excitement. Common in the Super Hero genre.
  • "Where did you find/get this guy?"
  • "Where is your sense of adventure?" usually said before a character instigates something reckless and daring.
  • "Where's your sense of humour?" — Said to someone who disapproves of or doesn't understand a joke or dislikes a situation that was inconvenient but at the same time funny.
  • "Whoa, there!" A Motor Mouth is interrupted by someone who noticed something that shouldn't have come up.
    • Or whenever something a little too ambitious is suggested.
  • "Whoa, whoa, whoa!" — The stock exclamation used during a clumsy mistake.
  • "Who are you, and what have you done with X?": Said to X, after some display of out-of-character behaviour. Often said by mothers after a display of affection or gratitude by their teenaged kid.
  • "Who did this to you?"
  • "Who the hell are you?" Usually used in a Hero x Villain situation where the hero shows up hurt, the villain gets pissed, and this line shows up.
  • "Who the hell do you think I am?" — Most prevalent in Gurren Lagann, but you'll find it all over the place, uttered by hot-blooded and/or self-confident characters who just git underestimated.
  • "Who were you expecting? (name of noted figure)? Also as "You were expecting maybe (name of noted figure)?
  • "Whoever he is, he is no amateur!" What the heroes will say when discovering that the villain in question is acting with Genre Savvy and is obviously professional enough to have thought through his plans to present a real challenge.
  • Variants of "Who do you think you're fooling?"
  • "Who said anything about X?" Used when someone has a dark or embarrassing secret about X and thus doesn't want to talk about it.
  • "Who turned out the lights?" A character has just been blinded, often by a bucket landing on his head.
  • "Who wants to know?", or alternatively, "Who's asking?" The classic response of the Private Detective, First-Person Smartass, or The Informant in the Bad Guy Bar to being asked if they're themselves. Frequently, the character being asked or doing the asking is a Mook for The Don or even the Big Bad.
  • "Who's 'we'?" Commonly used in place of "You and What Army?" (type 3).
  • “Why am I not surprised?” Usually when something comes up out of the blue, but the character is Genre Savvy enough to know either the habits of the offending character(s) or the rituals of the event in question. Or both.
  • "Why am I Surrounded by Idiots?!": Said by the Big Bad after displays of particular incompetence by his minions.
  • "Why can't I make you see, Pa? I got music inside of me." The gifted child tries to explain what drives him to his more down-to-earth parent. Variations are common and continue to the present day — see Billy Elliot, for example.
  • "Why don't you come up to my place?" The classic come-on line (though variations in phrasing are numerous).
  • "Why, I oughta..." Spoken with clenched fist and suppressed rage.
  • "Why me?" Often uttered by characters (usually the Deadpan Snarker or Butt-Monkey) when things never seem to go right for them.
  • "Wild horses couldn't/wouldn't/can't stop me/keep me away."
  • "Will you stop saying (X)?": Usually said because X is unpleasant, or because X reminds them of the bad situation the characters are in.
  • "With you by my side as queen...": Said by a villainous ruler who has a creepy crush on a heroine.

    X 
  • "X?! Ooh, I love X! ... What's X?"
  • "X? What X?" Usually heard when one or more characters fails to notice or account for the X in question.
  • "X, A, B, X, C, X... and X." "You said X [number] times." "I like X."
  • "X, don't fail me now!" — Said when a character is greatly relying on X. X is either a body part (usually the feet if the character is running away from something, or the hands if the character is working with something) or a tool the character is using.
  • "X has [as much Y as/all the Y of] a Z." — Can be either a compliment, an insult, or just a neutral observation, and can mean either "a lot of Y" or "no Y at all", depending on whether Z's are known for having Y.
  • "X is many things, but he/she/it is not Y."
  • "X needs a new Y" — Said by gamblers to state what they'd do with the money if they won.
  • "X or bust!"
  • "X started it!" — Someone tries to justify having fought and/or argued with someone else. Usually said by children (often siblings or Vitriolic Best Buds) or childish characters to adults or more mature characters. If the characters are particularly bratty, they might say it in unison while pointing at each other.

    Y 
  • "Ya gotta believe me!" The Standard Suspect Punch Line, used to end almost every interrogation that includes an unbelievable alibi.
  • "Yes, I did it, and I'm glad!" Standard line in the Motive Rant, often used by the faithless wife confessing to her husband's murder.
  • "...yes? no?" Funny Foreigners like to turn declarative sentences into questions by appending this.
  • "Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus". Derived from an 1897 editorial in The New York Sun where a little girl is told that Santa Claus is real in our hearts and minds. It is frequently referenced in Santa's Existence Clause plots (or other stories where the existence of a mythical figure is called into question).
  • "You and your [annoying trait]"
  • "You are getting sleepy..." A Standard line used when inducing hypnosis.
  • "You ARE the One!" The usual statement when the most adamant doubter of the The Chosen One is finally convinced.
  • "You call this X?"
  • You can stop me any time now...: Said during an increasingly humiliating string of apologies when they realize the person is clearly just letting them go on for their own amusement/vindictiveness.
  • You Can Take An X Out Of The Y: "You can take the boy out of the country, but you can't take the country out of the boy." Almost any other noun can take the place of "country" in order to fit this to the current context.
    • In Calvin and Hobbes, after a successful sneak attack on Calvin, Hobbes says: "You can take the tiger out of the jungle, but you can't take the jungle out of the tiger!"
      • To which Calvin retorts, "The question is, how do you get the tiger back in the jungle?"
  • "You can't do this!" "I just did!"
  • "You can't get rid of me that easily."
  • "You can't imagine..."
  • "You can't fire me, I quit!" or "You can't quit, you're fired!": A disgruntled employee to an angry boss, or vice versa. Often spoken in tandem. Note that saying this line usually means less juridical hassle to the recipient, so Don't Try This At Work.
  • "You can't save everyone." Often followed by a grimly determined, "I can try."
  • "You did all this for me?"
  • "You did it!" "No... we did it."
  • "You did what?!" (Sometimes "you" is replaced with a name, or a different pronoun, if they're talking about a different person)
  • "You didn't hear this from me." When Character A is giving Character B a warning or information they're not supposed to give.
  • "You didn't hear/see anything!" Means "don't tell anyone about what you just heard/saw".
  • "You don't believe in anything!" Said, for instance, by Starbuck to Lizzie in The Rainmaker when she persists in calling him out as a Con Man.
  • "You don't get out much, do you?" Said in response to a blank look or other uncomprehending response to something the speaker feels is well-known or obvious, usually some element of pop culture.
  • "You don't have to do this!"
  • "You don't just X Y, you X with Y."
  • "You don't know how 'x' feels!"
  • "You go on without me." Typically said by a soldier wounded in battle, or by any other hero stuck in a bad situation. May be preceded by "Don't worry about me."
  • "You just don't get it, do you?"
  • "You insolent fool!"
  • "You had me at X." When the most basic premise of one character's Zany Scheme is cool enough to convince another character to go along with it.
  • "You had one job."
  • "You have a [funny/odd/strange/etc] way of showing it" — A character claims something about themselves, and the speaker says this to communicate that the other person doesn't show their claim very well.
  • "You haven't (really) changed at all" may be preceded or followed by: "You're still the same (X)." It could also be said indirectly and not in the face of the recipient, "She/He/They/'X' haven't changed at all."
  • "You have no idea." Usually said in response to a statement that the speaking character doesn't know is an Understatement. Another variant is "You don't know the half of it".
  • "You have something on your face." Said either as a way of flirting, or by overbearing relatives to children, who often wipe the kid's face with their own spit.
  • "You know me better than that." "I thought I did." The most common exchange in a You Know What You Did plot.
  • "You know what I mean!" The standard irritated response to another character taking a figure of speech literally, or an attempt at exploiting Exact Words, and demanding they then act properly in keeping with the previous statement's intent.
  • "You look different." Usually said after a character has just gone through rapid Character Development. Sometimes said if they've become a werewolf or something, or are deviating from their Limited Wardrobe.
  • "You look like shit." So common, it has its own Fully Automatic Clip Show. "Shit" is also commonly replaced with "death" or "hell", or "...you haven't slept/eaten in [long time]." Occasionally, the person simply says, "You look terrible/awful!" instead.
  • "You make X look like Y." For when someone so embodies a negative trait (stupidity, cruelty, dullness, etc.) that they make someone famously associated with said trait look like someone else who embodies the opposite trait.
  • "You may have won this time..."
  • "You must be mistaking me for someone else..." When someone is brushing off someone who recognizes them for one reason or another, be it Laser-Guided Amnesia or Identical Strangers.
  • "You never write, you never call." ...So I'm complaining about it face-to-face.
  • "You okay?" The starting-point for almost every conversation in almost every scene of Lost.
  • "You sealed your own fate."
  • "You should have killed me when you had the chance."
  • "You should see the other guy!" Usually said after a character is badly injured in a fight or 'won' a bet.
    • Daredevil (2015). When nurse Claire Temple is treating a badly wounded Matt Murdock in her apartment he makes the obligatory quip, only for Claire to reply that she has seen the other guy, as the criminals that Daredevil beat on turn up in her hospital.
    • The Punisher (2017). Frank Castle sleeps with a female bartender who's shocked at the scars he has. "I mean, you should be...should I see the other guy?"
  • "You should sit down." — Someone is giving bad news and doesn't want the other person to go into shock.
  • "You think you're the only person who's ever lost someone!?"
  • "You took everything from me!"
  • "You took the words right out of my mouth."
  • "You want a piece of me?!"
    • Particularly aggressive characters may reply that they want several pieces.
  • "You won't get away with this!" "But I already have." Your typical superhero and enemy exchange. Related to Just Between You and Me.
    • Invoked and to some extent, in modern times, codified in the famous miniseries/graphic novel Watchmen:
      Nite Owl: "When were you planning to do it?"
      Ozymandias: "Do it? Dan, I'm not a Republic serial villain. Do you seriously think I'd explain my master-stroke if there remained the slightest chance of you affecting its outcome? I did it thirty-five minutes ago."
  • "You would do that, after the way I treated you?" Something a former antagonist would say after being shown a good turn by a hero who s/he was an opponent, indicating against all expectations that they are forgiven.
  • "You would have done the same." Standard response of a character confronted by their past morally ambiguous actions.
  • "You wouldn't!" The Phrase Catcher just made a threat s/he's not backing down on.
  • "You'll be dead before you hit the ground." Variation: "You'll be dead before you can feel it." This phrase is most often used to describe poisons or highly destructive weapons. Specifically, it was used in The Lost World: Jurassic Park to describe a poison. More examples can be added.
  • "You'll have to do better than that." And then the Phrase Catcher meets the challenge. ("How am I doing now?" might be their verbal counter.)
  • "You'll never work in this town again!" Originally said by Samuel Goldwyn, the G of MGM.
  • "You'll pay for this!" The usual threat of a villain while being beaten up by the hero, or at least thwarting the Evil Plan. The hero usually defiantly responds with another punch while saying something like, "How's that for a down payment?"
  • "You'll thank me later" The usual statement of a Well-Intentioned Extremist to an opposing member of a group favored by the person, when the masterstroke of his/her scheme is about to be done. The typically resistant opponent usually answers with something like "Don't hold your breath."
  • "You're a dead man! Do you hear me? A dead man!" Standard death threat.
  • "You're a genius!" Usually immediately follows an (inadvertent) "Eureka!" Moment on the part of the hero's friend; neither the friend nor the audience will be told how he's a genius until at least the next scene. House has this reaction pretty much Once an Episode, but rarely actually uses the phrase.
  • "You're/we're alive?!" or "You're/we're okay!?" — Someone, or multiple someones, just survived a disaster.
  • "You're alright." Often said to a Sitcom Archnemesis or some sort of rival who has earned a character's respect in some way.
  • "You're dead! I killed you!" Often said by a villain to someone who is Not Quite Dead, or who has been brought Back from the Dead in some form (such as a cyborg or undead).
  • "You're fired." "No need. I quit."
    • Alternately, “You can’t fire me, slaves have to be sold.”
  • "You're going to do X, and you're going to like it!"
  • "You're joking, right?": Usually, it turns out that the other person was emphatically not joking.
  • "You're not leaving the house dressed like that!" Standard line of a Boyfriend-Blocking Dad to a Bratty Teenage Daughter about to go out partying.
  • "You're not going anywhere!"
  • "You're not my mother/father!" — Said to communicate that the one being spoken to has no right to tell the speaker what to do.
  • "You're not real! You're just in my head!": Said either to a hallucination, or someone (usually someone supernatural) that they think is a hallucination.
  • "You're not the boss of me!"
  • "You're one to talk" saying that they're a hypocrite for critizing a trait they themselves have.
  • "You're pregnant?! How did this happen? Well, I know how, but..."
    • Stage example: Thornton Wilder's The Skin of Our Teeth. In the third act, Gladys Antrobus, depicted in the first two acts as in her early teens, turns up with a baby: Sabina's reaction is a stunned, "Where did you get it? — Forget I asked! After all these months in camp, I've forgotten how to behave." (There is a war on: she's just realized that Gladys could be married, could be widowed, could be a rape victim, or might indeed have been a camp follower like Sabina herself.)
    • This also shows up in Veronica Mars, though Veronica's talking to Duncan about Meg's (and Duncan's) child.
  • "You're probably all wondering why I called you here today." Usually immediately subject to an I Always Wanted to Say That.
  • "You're really starting to piss me off."
  • "You're weird. I'm <really strange thing>, but it's you that's weird." The dark grey pot tells the kettle that it's really, really black.
  • "You see if it doesn't!" Used when someone is suggesting something will go wrong, but nobody is taking much notice of their concerns.
  • "You shouldn't have!" Used when someone receives a gift. Usually means they like the gift, but if they dislike it, they may add, "No, really, you shouldn't have".
  • "You still have family in The Old Country, don't you?" Standard lead-in to a threat/blackmail attempt by an enemy agent in a World War II or Cold War setting.
  • "You've got til noon to leave Santa Fe." Or there's going to be one heck of a gunfight at the climax of the film.
  • "You've been hurt!" Or just "____, you're hurt!"
    • Often followed by "It's nothing." Then they generally stumble or pass out.
  • "You want him? Come and get him!"
  • "You want to try that again?" Alternately, "Dare you to try that again." Get ready to get your ass kicked.
  • "You were saying?" Tempting Fate during Rock Bottom is not an uncommon catalyst.
  • "You were thinking it." Usually uttered after a character protests that they never said X about someone/something (examples: Diego says this to Sid in the first Ice Age movie, Mike says this to Sully in the teaser for Monsters, Inc.). A variation is a character saying something very weird and/or tasteless, and in response to the looks of shock or disgust, protests "Oh come on, you were thinking it too!" Another variation is "I never said—" "No, but you implied."
  • "You weren't so bad yourself."
  • "You will never get away with it!"
  • "You wouldn't hit a lady (would you)?" Said by a female who sees her male companion taken down in a fight. And sometimes answered, "You're no lady!" Upon which she is promptly knocked out cold with one good blow.

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