Elisabeth Grace Foley

Historical Fiction Author

How to Speak Movie Quote

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Every family has a collective second language: inside jokes. And I suspect a large part of it is often made up of quotes from their favorite movies. I, for instance, live with three siblings who are amazingly skilled at imitating voices and inflections (my brother’s Walter Brennan imitation has to be heard to be believed), improvising whole conversations “in-character,” and inserting apt quotes into everyday conversation. If we’d gotten started on Shakespeare a little earlier in life, we’d probably be quoting the Bard at each other all day long. As it is, hardly a day goes by when somebody doesn’t get a laugh by using a movie quote in just the right place.

Most of them really are inside jokes, in that they only “work” if everybody else knows the quote thoroughly well. For instance, if one of us quips “You don’t think that would look a trifle coincidental?” in a British accent, we all know exactly what they’re talking about. On the other hand, the other day my mom and I were discussing an item that came in different colors, and I said “Lemon, strawberry, or lilac?”—and it fell a bit flat because I had to refresh her memory on the source. (Bonus points if you can identify either of those.)

However, though most quotes are topical, there are those which, in the immortal words of Mr. Collins, “may be adapted to ordinary occasions.” This list I have compiled, if committed to memory and delivered with the proper flair, will provide you with a handy response in nearly every situation.

When asked to take on a job you thankfully cannot:

“That ain’t in my department.” ~ She Wore A Yellow Ribbon (1949)

When a dubious honor is conferred:

“What ’appiness to be asked!” ~ Martin Chuzzlewit (1994)

When everyone around you is over-excited:

“SPECULATION is the ENEMY of CALM.” ~ Cranford (2007)

After a minor calamity, especially a noisy one:

“I’m all right! I’m a-a-a-all right!” ~ It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)

“I am injured in my feelings…” ~ Martin Chuzzlewit (1994) [Read more…]

A Tribute to Ron Scheer

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I was very sad to learn this week of the passing of Ron Scheer, Western author and blogger at Buddies in the Saddle, who had been battling cancer for the past year. Ron’s blog was one of those that I read most avidly from around the time I started this one, and his opinions on my own posts and writing were always valued. He was an enthusiast for all things Western, and early Western fiction in particular, and his detailed posts on the history of the genre and reviews of those early books eventually turned into a fascinating two-volume study, How the West Was Written (you can read my review of Volume I here). Ron was one of my biggest influences among present-day writers and blogging friends—his always-interesting posts and the ensuing discussions in the comments led me to fiction, nonfiction, movies, and the hundred different side trails that branched off from those discoveries. There are so many things about the West and Westerns that I might never have learned if it wasn’t for him.

Learning of his passing made me think a little about my grandfather, who passed away in 2009, two years before I published my first book. Grandpa always loved hearing about his grandchildren’s accomplishments, and he was also a reader, so I’ve often thought of how lovely it would have been to be able to show him my own published book. Somewhat in the same way, since Ron was kind enough to read my first book of Western short stories and spoke well of them, I would have liked to have been able to send him a full-length Western novel someday—a mature work, so to speak—and have been able to say, “Look how far I’ve come…and some of it was surely because of your influence and encouragement.” I wish I had had that chance.

Ron had Wanderlust Creek and Other Storiesin the currently-reading section of his blog sidebar at the time he stopped posting in February. I do hope he liked it.

My thoughts and prayers are with Ron’s family. He will be sadly missed.