Comments on: we’re gonna need a bigger X

By: snowclones

snowclones — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 22:32:17 +0000

All the more reason for him to have said “we,” eh?

By: Stephen

Stephen — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 10:07:24 +0000

Sorry, I should have specified the context: he's in the boat!

By: snowclones

snowclones — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 15:31:55 +0000

I got the quote from IMdB, so yes, I was missing some context.

And I think it’s corrupted to ‘We’re…’ because a) it would actually make more sense if he said that…

I think this is arguable. It makes more sense to *me*, having never seen the movie, that he’d say “we”, but there’s nothing about the expression independent of its original context (i.e. how the snowclone is heard) that makes it more natural. Cooperation is implied in fighting a huge fucking shark, which makes the “we” more natural in some sense, but if Brody is speaking from the position of “you people are all on your own on this one, suckers” then “you” would make more sense.

As for the quickness of the original dialogue causing “mishearing”, sure. It would also contribute to misremembering the line, the same way people misremember “beam me up, Scotty” or “it’s elementary, my dear Watson”. (Those lines were never spoken in their respective TV shows/movies.)

By: Stephen

Stephen — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 12:45:18 +0000

‘The group … are told’? I can only conclude that you’re the last remaining sentient life form on Earth who hasn’t seen Jaws, since every other SLF knows that Chief Brody (one of the ‘group’) says it after he sees the villain for the first time.

And I think it’s corrupted to ‘We’re…’ because a) it would actually make more sense if he said that, and b) he says it pretty quickly, so, given (a), it’s easy to mishear.

By: Jim

Jim — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 03:57:02 +0000

In the movie “Clerks,” from 1994, one of the characters uses the original form (“boat”) but says “we’re,” not “you’re.” The Internet was indeed around in 1994, but was not commonly available, so I think the change from “you’re” to “we’re” occurred outside the bounds of Internet dialogue.

By: Mark

Mark — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 13:33:17 +0000

This may also be linked with an ancient joke about two fellas selling watermelons. They drove down to Georgia, bought 100 watermelons for $2 each, and painted a big sign Watermelons $2.50, or 3 for $5.00. After selling out, they counted their money and one said, “Know sumpthin’ Clem? We’re gonna have to git a bigger truck!”

By: Robert

Robert — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 05:26:34 +0000

I think that the most well-known use of this snow clone would have been in the Taco Bell commercial cross-promoting the Godzilla movie. On seeing the size of Godzilla, the Taco Bell chihuahua announces that he’s “gonna need a bigger box”.