# Favorite turns of phrase



## KatmanDu (Jan 31, 2009)

What phrases or lines from stuff you've read stand out in your mind? Things that you read and marvel at their clever construction, the craftsmanship of the writer? Or, on the other hand, things you read that make you say "holy wow, that's horrible"- written so poorly that they become parody.

What brought this to mind was a phrase from a Stephen Hunter novel- he's by no means a scholarly author, but it stood out while I was reading: "He wore an elegantly fitted white dinner jacket, with a rose cummerbund. It fit him like a coating of thick cream poured by a delighted milkmaid."

That one could go towards either spectrum, I think. He did have the best opening hook for a novel though, I think. "Lamar Pye had the largest penis ever seen on a white man at McAlester State Prison." After you finish that first paragraph, you've either thrown the book away or are hooked through to the end.


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## Chanticleer (Jan 31, 2009)

"TOOOOOOOOOM!"

"The best drink in the galaxy is the 'pan-galactic garble blaster' the effect of which is similar to having your brain rammed out of your skull by a lemon wrapped around a golden brick."

"I am the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end."

"KNIFE EYE ATTACK!!!!"

I'll post more if I can think of them.


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## Yorokonde2 (Feb 1, 2009)

"At last! My arm is complete again!"
I've always loved that from Sweeny Todd. So full of emotion. Of course, I have a similar reaction sometimes when I have an idea and can't find my pen. XD

And then there's the picture book series from the Manga "Chobits". I don't want to quote it all here, but I love reading it. Something deep about it. I know that doesn't really count, cause it's a whole book, but still.


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## Gavrill (Feb 2, 2009)

In Rozen Maiden, the phrase "To live is to fight."

It's just so...I don't know. Emotional. You suddenly realize everything the series was saying.


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## Endless Humiliation (Feb 2, 2009)

"That you will become way less concerned with what other people think of you when you realize how seldom they do" - David Foster Wallace; _Infinite Jest_; pg. 203


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## mrredfox (Feb 2, 2009)

"What the shit is this fuck"

No seriously what the shit is this fuck


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## Art Vulpine (Feb 2, 2009)

"I am many things, Kallel, but on this planet I am God." - Darkseid to Superman

"What is real? How do you define real? If what you see or hear is real than these are just chemical impulses inside your brain." - Morpheus

"Every genius has a hint of insanity." - Anonymous Greek philosopher


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## Wakboth (Feb 3, 2009)

I'm inordinately fond of "a smorgasbord of feminine pulchritude". I encountered it in some fanfiction story years ago, and it's lodged permanently in my brain.


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