Memorable phrases (minor swear)

[Garren Jacobsen]

One of my favorite phrases is "I am up to my ass in alligators." (which means that you are super busy and if you don't get it all done you will be in trouble) And I can't really put a finger on why that phrase is so memorable. I think it's because of the image, the connotation, and the alliteration. I want to create some phrases like that for my far-off worlds. So, what are the elements of memorable phrases, like up to my ass in alligators, or kicking a hornet's nest or something like that?

 

[Velka]

For me it's the imagery it creates when hearing/saying it. One of my favourites is "Dumb as a bucket of hammers."

 

[Ireth]

For me it's the imagery it creates when hearing/saying it. One of my favourites is "Dumb as a bucket of hammers."

Second that. This makes me think of one of my favorite Harry Potter lines: "Honestly, Ron, just because you have the emotional range of a teaspoon doesn't mean we all have."

 

[Incanus]

Americans from the south seem to have some wonderfully colorful and memorable phrases (beginning with my favorite)--

Well tie me to an anthill and fill my ears with jam!

Ain't nobody gonna mess on me and call it apple butter!

You couldn't carry a tune in a bucket!

As bad-off as a rubber-nosed woodpecker in a petrified forest.

etc.

 

[Gryphos]

One of my favourites is, when someone asks me to do something I'm obviously not going to do: "There are three chances of that happening: slim chance, fat chance, no chance."

It's difficult to pin down exactly what makes these kinds of phrases and idioms memorable other than I suppose simple cleverness (wordplay, puns, etc) or, as Velka said, amusing imagery. Sometimes you could even play with this idea of idioms and create something so bad that it ends up being amusing.

Case and point, one of the ones I came up with in my writing was: "Well dip me in custard and call me Mr. Custard!" This was the result of me spending five minutes trying to come up with something good and spitting out whatever pile of shit I came up with. Now I think what I came up with is so ridiculous and bad that it's good.

 

[Russ]

That sounds like as much fun as a wire brush enema.

 

[Garren Jacobsen]

That sounds like as much fun as a wire brush enema.

Well, there's an image that I can't get out of my head. Thanks for that.

 

[Heliotrope]

Or one from a book I'm reading right now, similar to what Gryphos is saying:

"He towered over him the way a tall tower towers over smaller, less tall, towers."

Yep, so bad and yet so funny.

Not a saying, per se, but now I'm probably going to use it when referring to tall things.

 

[Demesnedenoir]

First to my head is one I used in a western screenplay: A wax cat's chance in hell.

Real saying from the 1800's as I recall.

 

[MineOwnKing]

You can't rob Peter to pay Paul.

You'll be a man before your mother.

Have you ever seen a grown man naked? (Airplane)

You're not as stupid as I think you look.

Take 'er easy, and if she comes easy, take 'er twice.