I don’t even know who Casey Stengel is but, in honor of The Spin Cycle over at Sprite’s Keeper, I’m using it!

The Spin Cycle this week is all about quotes which completely captivated me because, well…  you know when you’ve been married for awhile and you can raise an eyebrow from across the room at a cocktail party and your husband knows that you just said, “That woman over there with the big hair and big boobs was at that other party that time where our friend wore that red dress and got really drunk and took home the centerpiece without being told she could and then she barfed in the hedge.  Remember how funny that was?”  And he nods his head and smiles.

Quotes are like that.  There’s something really intimate about saying a few words and a rush of understanding and memory washes over you and your fellow quote-sharer.  Quotes from movies work especially well since it brings back a moment in time for both of you in a way that quotes from books never can (although I’m not opposed to throwing a little Shakespeare around just to make sure my parents know they got their money’s worth when they kept writing all those checks to UCLA).  So, without further ado, here are the ones we use all the time around here, with their provenance and, in some cases, a note about what it means to us:

“Ok, I’ll meet you by the place near the thing where we went that time.”  (Broadcast News)

“Ohh!  Beautiful!  Wish you were here!” (French Kiss, used when we see a beautiful vista of any kind)

“Laugh it up, Fuzzball.”  ( Star Wars, when one of us laughs at the other’s expense)

“Yeah, we’re real proud of that.”  (Goldie Hawn in Protocol, referring to the Declaration of Independence to Japanese tourists, used around here when we hear someone praising something which is not – ironically – at all praise-worthy like if someone said they liked your washing machine)

“Not too bright, though.”  (The Oracle referring to Neo in The Matrix, used when my husband says something eye-rollingly inept like, “what’s going on with your hair?” or “those pants make you look like an Oompa Loompa”)

“That is the sound of inevitability.” (The Matrix, used when we have to do something we don’t want to do)

“You keep trying to pick a fight but I’m still just happy you’re alive.”  (The Incredibles, used when one of us is being unreasonably crabby)

“I already think you’re quite a strudel.”  (How to Marry a Millionaire … it’s a high compliment around here!)

“You’re right, you’re right. I know you’re right.”  (When Harry Met Sally, used when we’re being told something we already know but don’t want to admit)

“It’s amazing.  You look like a normal person but actually you are the angel of death.” (When Harry Met Sally, used when one of us is being uncharacteristically dark)

And, for fun, here’s our regular rotation of Shakespeare and friends:

From King Lear:  “How sharper than the serpent’s tooth it is to have a thankless child.”  (BTW, it’s never too early to make your kid feel guilty using the Bard.)

From Othello, used for all hangovers:  “I have very poor and unhappy brains for drinking.”

Andrew Marvell from To His Coy Mistress, used for anything that is taking too f-ing long: “Had we but world enough and time (this coyness, mistress, would be no crime …)”

I’m going to stop there but, truthfully, there are so many more that it’s a little embarrassing, like I’m a conversational plagiarizer that’s been caught with her hand in the cookie jar full of scripts!  Thanks Sprite’s Keeper, for pulling back the curtain on the “great and powerful OZ”!

Anyway, it’s time for you to head on over to see my partners in crime, doing the Spin Cycle thang over yonder!