What have you got to say for yourself, 2012? Plenty, if this year’s most memorable pop culture quotes are anything to go by. Yes, there were some perfect movie catchphrases and galvanizing musical refrains that we’ll be repeating into next year, but there were also plenty of so-bad-they’re-good lines of dialogue that are guaranteed to still draw a giggle, and here at Vulture, we don’t discriminate between the two; instead, we mix ‘em all up into the list below, and let you sort it out! Here, then, are the best, most important, catchiest, silliest, dumbest, and most delightful quotes and lines of the year, in no particular order:
“Argo fuck yourself.” - Is this recurring Argo phrase our favorite movie line of the year? Very possibly. Will it be bleeped out of a future awards telecast when an excited Argo winner gets onstage? Almost definitely.
“Yeah bitch! Magnets!” - Breaking Bad’s Jesse Pinkman is always a font of well-crafted verbal wisdom, and this gem, a rejoinder to the confused, magnet-related queries of Insane Clown Posse, is perhaps his best.
“A dolla makes me holla, honey boo boo!” - Yes, this spinoff-guaranteeing line came in a January episode of Toddlers and Tiaras. Were we ever so young?
“May the odds be ever in your favor.” - Well, obviously. Thanks for the catchphrase, The Hunger Games.
“I think that I may be the voice of my generation. Or at least a voice of a generation.” - And with that line in the pilot — which many took as an actual boast, rather than a self-deprecating line delivered by a character high on opium tea — Lena Dunham cemented Girls as the year’s must-discuss show, for better and for worse.
“I’m in tech!” - Oh, Smash. Yes, you were.
“Zou bisou bisou” - Mad Men can always be counted on for a memorable line, and season five was so stuffed that we could have found twenty lines from it alone. (Lane calling Pete a “grimy little pimp”? Classic.) Ultimately, though, we had to stick with Megan’s flirty French nonsense song from the season opener. Still can’t get it out of our heads.
“This is exhausting.” - Taylor Swift is never, ever getting back together with … whomever. (Jake Gyllenhaal.) But you’re a Vulture reader. You’re not going to quote the too-obvious “never ever” part of this song; instead, on your way out of the bar tonight, you’re going to say “This is exhausting” (with an emphasis on the right syllable) and if it’s meant to be, the person you’re flirting with will just totally get it. And even if they don’t: revenge song!
“Mandy Patinkin holla!” - But don’t confuse Claire Danes and her Emmy shout-out with “Mandy Patinkin challah.” Or rather, do!
“Aca-scuse me?” - If Pitch Perfect truly wanted to be the new Bring It On, it needed to be quotable in spades. Once we heard “Aca-scuse me,” we knew we were in good hands.
“Fuck you, science!” - And thank you, 21 Jump Street.
“Show me your mossy bank.” - The initial episodes of American Horror Story: Asylum took a while to build momentum, but this sublimely ridiculous come-on from James Cromwell was an instant win in hour two. (Take Vulture’s AHS or bad porn quote quiz here.)
“I’m the motherfucker who found the house.” - It’s possible that you haven’t seen Zero Dark Thirty yet, since it comes out December 19. It’s impossible that you will be able to avoid that line on December 20.
“It was an act of whimsy.” - That SNL sketch about a prankster Maya Angelou? Gold.
“Where are the chems?” - Guys, The Bourne Legacy is over, but we bet Jeremy Renner is still looking for his chems. Have you seen them? He’s got some reds, but he needs some blues! Where are they? Do you have them? Where are the chems?
“Have you ever tried shawarma?” - If you hadn’t, The Avengers made sure you would.
