A catchphrase (alternatively spelled catch phrase) is a phrase or expression recognized by its repeated utterance. Such phrases often originate in

popular culture Popular culture (also called pop culture or mass culture) is generally recognized by members of a society as a set of cultural practice, practices, beliefs, artistic output (also known as popular art

f. pop art F is the sixth letter of the Latin alphabet. F may also refer to: Science and technology Mathematics * F or f, the number 15 (number), 15 in hexadecimal and higher positional systems * ''p'F'q'', the hypergeometric function * F-distributi ...

or mass art, sometimes contraste ...

and in the arts, and typically spread through word of mouth and a variety of mass media (such as films, internet, literature and publishing, television, and radio). Some become the de facto or literal "trademark" or "signature" of the person or character with whom they originated, and can be instrumental in the

typecasting In film, television, and theatre, typecasting is the process by which a particular actor becomes strongly identified with a specific character, one or more particular roles, or characters having the same traits or coming from the same social or ...

of a particular actor. Catchphrases are often humorous, can be (or become) the

punch line A punch line (also punch-line or punchline) concludes a joke; it is intended to make people Laughter, laugh. It is the third and final part of the Joke#Telling jokes, typical joke structure. It follows the introductory framing of the joke and th ...

of a joke, or a callback reminder of a previous joke.

Culture

According to Richard Harris, a psychology professor at

Kansas State University Kansas State University (KSU, Kansas State, or K-State) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university with its main campus in Manhattan, Kansas, United States. It was opened as the state's land-grant coll ...

who studied why people like to cite films in social situations, using film quotes in everyday conversation is similar to telling a joke and a way to form solidarity with others. "People are doing it to feel good about themselves, to make others laugh, to make themselves laugh," he said. He found that all of the participants in his study had used film quotes in conversation at one point or another. "They overwhelmingly cited comedies, followed distantly by dramas and action adventure flicks." Horror films, musicals and children's films were hardly ever cited.

History

The existence of catchphrases predates modern mass media. A description of the phenomenon is found in ''

Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds ''Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds'' is an early study of crowd psychology by Scottish journalist Charles Mackay, first published in 1841 under the title ''Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions''. The book was pu ...

'' published by Charles Mackay in 1841:

And, first of all, walk where we will, we cannot help hearing from every side a phrase repeated with delight, and received with laughter, by men with hard hands and dirty faces, by saucy butcher lads and errand-boys, by loose women, by hackney coachmen, cabriolet-drivers, and idle fellows who loiter at the corners of streets. Not one utters this phrase without producing a laugh from all within hearing. It seems applicable to every circumstance, and is the universal answer to every question; in short, it is the favourite slang phrase of the day, a phrase that, while its brief season of popularity lasts, throws a dash of fun and frolicsomeness over the existence of squalid poverty and ill-requited labour, and gives them reason to laugh as well as their more fortunate fellows in a higher stage of society.Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds, by Charles Mackay, p. 239–240
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Culture

History

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