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Timber!

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A Stock Phrase used after a tree, or a tall object, is felled. Common in cartoons where the tree falls on a character or causes considerable damage to something, or both.

Another gag is to have characters wonder who this Tim(othy) Ber person is, and why everybody's calling for him.

Commonly used in Real Life when cutting down a Christmas Tree.


Examples:

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    Anime & Manga 
  • In a dubbed version of Digimon Adventure 02, one of Digmon's one liners when knocking down a Control Spire was "Sorry, I forgot to 'Timber'!"

    Fan Works 
  • Invoked in the Equestria Girls fic The Great Canterlot High School Tradition. When Twilight Sparkle angrily calls out her boyfriend, Timber Spruce, by his first name, Sunset Shimmer can't help joking, "No trees around here, Twilight." Timber's reaction, unsurprisingly, is a Never Heard That One Before.
  • This Bites!: Soundbite yells "Timber!" when Luffy causes him and Cross to fall out of a tree upon first meeting him.

    Comic Books 
  • Lucky Luke:
    • Often used in a Canada, Eh? setting, as in Daltons in the Blizzard: the Daltons are wandering through the forest, when suddenly they hear "Timber!" and huddle around trying to understand what it means. One gets as far as "I think it's something lumberjacks yell whenever they're cutting down a—" before being interrupted by the tree nearly falling on them.
    • In The Singing Wire, a montage of all the obstacles encountered by the construction of the First Transcontinental Telegraph line ends up with a beaver shouting "Timber!" after having just chewed down the bottom of a telegraph pole, with a worker affixing the cables still on top and clinging for dear life.
  • Happens in a Teen Titans comic where Mammoth is knocked out. For a few moments, he just stands there looking dazed but then he starts to fall (landing on Gizmo). Changeling calls out "Timber!" as he falls.

    Films — Animation 

    Films — Live-Action 

    Literature 
  • In the Steerswoman series, one of the hints about the Outskirters' origins is that, although they live (and believe they have always lived) in a place with no trees, they shout "Timber" when felling a tall object.

    Live-Action TV 

    Music 

    Video Games 
  • In Punch-Out!!, lumberjack Bear Hugger says "Timbeeeer!" when knocked down.
  • In Tales of Monkey Island Chapter 2: The Siege of Spinner Cay, with help from Trenchfoot, Guybrush manages to push the rubber tree down to the ground while shouting out, "Timmmm-boing?"
  • "Timber!" is the name of one of the achievements in Terraria, which you get upon chopping down a tree for the first time.

    Web Animation 
  • Chuck Jones produced TimberWolf, an internet cartoon series about a wolf who has a tree fall on him every time he says "Timber".

    Western Animation 
  • Barney Bear: In one cartoon where he took a beaver community's wood supply for firewood, they retaliated by knocking down his cabin, with the leader yelling this when the supports gave way.
  • Josie and the Pussycats: In one episode, Melody is sought after by some spies after she absorbs a vital chemical formula in her memory. She is disguised as a child on a TV quiz show:
    Emcee: [to Melody] What did George Washington say when he cut down the cherry tree?
    Melody: TIMBER!!!
  • Looney Tunes: In the short "A Gruesome Twosome", Tweety looks like he's about to yell "Timber!" as loud as he can when two cats are about to crash into a tree, but instead says it in a low, uninterested tone.
  • The Loud House: One episode revealed that Ronnie Anne has stage fright because as a younger girl, she fell on her face while playing a tree in a play. In response a random kid yelled "Timber!" and the audience laughed at her.
    Ronnie Anne: If I ever find that kid who yelled "timber"...
  • The Pink Panther: There's an episode where Pink tries various jobs and when working as a Lumberjack he is annoyed by a fellow lumberjack who keeps cutting down trees which nearly fall on Pink and doesn't say "Timber" until after the tree has already fallen.
  • Robot Chicken: One skit about the worst name to give a child has a lumberjack chopping down a tree and shouting this phrase, only for a young man to show up stating "My name is Timber!" The man gets crushed.
  • Tex Avery: This is a typical gag:
    • A character like Butch chops down a tree, usually so that it falls on another character. He runs the opposite direction it's falling and shouts "TIMMMMMMM..." when the tree falls on him. "...ber."
    • In his WB short "Land of the Midnight Fun", we see a timber wolf who while laughing hysterically runs from tree to tree shouting "Timber!" each time. Even the wolf admits it's silly.

 
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Timber...

Kate helps Clint get out of his predicament in the tree in The Rink At Rockefeller Center.

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