posted
Sounds like something Cyrano Jones said in the episode of Star Trek where he was selling the tribbles on space station K9. Uhura asks what does the tribbles do and he says they don't do anything, that's the beauty of it.
Or for some reason Wizard of Oz keeps popping up in my head.
Either that or I'm just making it up.
Posts: 1042 | Registered: Jan 2001
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posted
Those of you that are complaining about this thread getting bumped should realize that each whiny post you make is also, yes, bumping this thread. Which is kind of funny and ironic. Posts: 48 | Registered: Sep 2006
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quote:Originally posted by Launchywiggin: I think our brains are programmed to "remember" that phrase even if you've never heard it before. It's a conspiracy.
that's the beauty of it
Posts: 1592 | Registered: Jan 2001
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posted
Is the original thread still around? *hopeful
I think sndrake did solve this on the first page of this thread, though. However, he claims to have written it originally in another thread, which doesn't exist. *ahem* Anymore.
posted
I do recall there being another thread, something along the lines of "ARRG! Does anyone know where this is from?" Don't completely remember, though. I think it was back in July 2003 sometime.
Posts: 9754 | Registered: Jul 2002
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posted
This thread is really a substitute for "Atheism vs. Belief" debates
There are people who say "I experienced The Phrase/God. I can't explain how it happened, but it changed my life and set me on an eternal quest to find the proof. I know that one day I will again find The Phrase/God."
There are People who say "The Phrase/God does not exist. So far, no proof has been found, and a reliance on faith alone makes things more complicated than necessary. I have accepted the fact that The Phrase/God does not exist. I have found meaning in life in other ways."
Just thought I would bring this in to perspective.
Posts: 684 | Registered: Jun 2002
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posted
I recognize that the phrase may exist, but in a form different than what others say it exists as, and have my own special relationship with said phrase. Should proof be brought to my attention that the phrase exists as what others say it does, I shall accept that as the true phrase.
Posts: 9754 | Registered: Jul 2002
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posted
I think this phrase is imprinted on our collective memory because it is the last thing we heard before The Extrauniversal Overseers reset time.
Overseer Leader: Please, everyone focus your attention this device. Us: What are we supposed to do? OL: All you need to do is look. It is that simple. Us: What does it do? OL: It doesn't do anything. That's the beauty of it!
There was an enourmous flash, and Creation was reset to the Big Bang.
We are getting closer to The End Event because we are reliving our collective memory. This time, we cannot allow the Overseers to win. We have the right to exist!
Posts: 684 | Registered: Jun 2002
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posted
quidscribis, do you want to join the revolt, or not? If not, then you will be missing out on the free girl scout cookies and t-shirts that say "It doesn't do anything. That's the beauty of it."
Posts: 684 | Registered: Jun 2002
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quote:Originally posted by Shigosei: I know that Hatrack was probably the source because I did a google search for the term back when the question was first posted. I don't think I came up with anything.
Also, someday I'm going to figure out a way to get a screenwriter or author to slip it into a book or movie. Then when one of you sees it, you'll get excited that you finally figured it out before realizing that the book or movie came after the Hatrack thread.
Well, we aren't the only people who like this crazy quote.......
Steven Brust just included it in his new Vlad Taltos book.
He starts each chapter with fake quotes from an imaginary play that is being performed in his character's world, and they said this. I did a HUGE double take, and then began laughing in the middle of the bookstore.
Posts: 15082 | Registered: Jul 2001
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posted
I'm pretty sure it was decided that the quote was insufficiently close, and that the source was too obscure to account for the feeling of familiarity associated with it.
Good try though. Welcome to Hatrack. Posts: 2907 | Registered: Nov 2005
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quote:Originally posted by Juxtapose: I'm pretty sure it was decided that the quote was insufficiently close, and that the source was too obscure to account for the feeling of familiarity associated with it.
Good try though. Welcome to Hatrack.
I was thinking that clip may have been excerpted into something more familiar, like The Wonder Years. I've never seen the series, but that clip seemed familiar...
Posts: 6 | Registered: Jul 2008
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quote:Originally posted by Juxtapose: I'm pretty sure it was decided that the quote was insufficiently close, and that the source was too obscure to account for the feeling of familiarity associated with it.
Good try though. Welcome to Hatrack.
Both....although I am pretty sure that is where I remember it from, although I can't be sure.
Posts: 15082 | Registered: Jul 2001
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posted
I can't remember. Have we considered Abott and Costello, and/or The Three Stooges as possible originators?
Posts: 11265 | Registered: Mar 2002
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posted
I'd definitely never seen that before until it was linked on Hatrack. My "memory" of the quote - in terms of enunciation and stress - is also very precise .
Posts: 2907 | Registered: Nov 2005
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quote:Originally posted by Juxtapose: I'm pretty sure it was decided that the quote was insufficiently close, and that the source was too obscure to account for the feeling of familiarity associated with it.
Good try though. Welcome to Hatrack.
Both....although I am pretty sure that is where I remember it from, although I can't be sure.
I think it's sufficiently close to account for people with a true memory who might have seen it despite its obscurity - I mean, it's pretty darn close.
And the explanation that this quote just sounds a lot like other quotes, and thereby evokes a certain amount of memory feeling, makes up for the obscurity.
In other words, I think it wins. Not that my opinion matters. I haven't even read the thread other than half of the first page and half of the last page. Posts: 4287 | Registered: Mar 2005
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posted
I'm beginning to suspect that there is just some property to it that it sounds familiar without having ever really existed beforehand.
Perhaps here is evidence of the collective consciousness. And what does it focus on but the fact that something is so very cool because it doesn't DO anything!
Posts: 1158 | Registered: Feb 2004
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posted
To reiterate for all you johnny-come-latelies on this, I've done extensive research into the meme.
It was part of a psychological experiment in the 1970's, in which test subjects were told that this line was a part of popular culture, and asked to supply the source.
Up to this point in popular culture, it had no extant source, and none has since been recovered that predates the experiment. The immediacy and humor of the line, as well as its absurdity, appeals to the reader and makes it feel authentic. It isn't from the Simpson's, and it isn't from family guy, or Seinfeld, or any other source to which it has been attributed.
Posts: 9912 | Registered: Nov 2005
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posted
That link on the last page is eerily close, but i'm positive beyond all doubt that i've never seen that movie, or the clip of the movie, before in my life. also, after the original "do?" i was anticipating another line, so i've still got that pesky quote ingrained in here somewhere and it isn't the dialogue in that scene.
posted
The problem is it does exist - right here - and its an ingrained part of anyone who read this thread at one time - someone needs to get a movie made that contains this line and put us out of our misery Posts: 1132 | Registered: A Long Time Ago!
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quote:Originally posted by C3PO the Dragon Slayer: Tatiana: By "them" do you mean the VeggieTales films, and "that" you mean the credits?
If that's what you mean, the answer's no. In my first post I tried to make it clear only by the end that I was impressed by the movie, but not with the credits. And of course it's really the movie that matters.
Don't you rememeber "It doesn't do anything. That's the beauty of it?" from this movie.
The link is dead, but the URL hints at "Casablanca."
Posts: 1029 | Registered: Apr 2007
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posted
I wanted so badly to tell someone about it, but none of my friends post here. I was going crazy trying not to annoy my coworkers with the story.
Posts: 2283 | Registered: Dec 2003
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