What's an X Like You Doing In a Y Like This?: Difference between revisions

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.
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== [[Film]] - Live Action ==
== [[Film]] - Live Action ==
* ''[[George of the Jungle (Film)|George of the Jungle]]'' has Ape's book on "human courtship rituals" (''Coffee, Tea or Me'', a real-life book about two lusty young fictional stewardesses) offer this pickup line: "What's a nice girl like you doing in a plane like this?"
* ''[[George of the Jungle (film)|George of the Jungle]]'' has Ape's book on "human courtship rituals" (''Coffee, Tea or Me'', a real-life book about two lusty young fictional stewardesses) offer this pickup line: "What's a nice girl like you doing in a plane like this?"
* A short by [[Martin Scorsese]] is titled "What's a nice girl like you doing in a place like this?"
* A short by [[Martin Scorsese]] is titled "What's a nice girl like you doing in a place like this?"
* Evie from ''[[The Mummy 1999 (Film)|The Mummy 1999]]'' gets the line mixed up while drunk. "I know what you're thinking. What is a place like me doing in a girl like this?" Rick responds, "Something like that."
* Evie from ''[[The Mummy Trilogy|The Mummy 1999]]'' gets the line mixed up while drunk. "I know what you're thinking. What is a place like me doing in a girl like this?" Rick responds, "Something like that."
* ''[[Following]]'':
* ''[[Following]]'':
{{quote| '''The young man:''' So what's a nice girl like you-<br />
{{quote| '''The young man:''' So what's a nice girl like you-<br />
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* In ''[[Finding Nemo]]'', Bruce the shark asks Dory and Marlin, "What's a couple of bites like you doing in a zone like this?"
* In ''[[Finding Nemo]]'', Bruce the shark asks Dory and Marlin, "What's a couple of bites like you doing in a zone like this?"
* [[Hanna-Barbera]]'s animated musical version of ''[[Alice in Wonderland]]'', produced in 1966, was subtitled ''What's a Nice Kid Like You Doing in a Place Like This?'' (which was also the title of [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eyFSHggHZME one of the songs]).
* [[Hanna-Barbera]]'s animated musical version of ''[[Alice in Wonderland]]'', produced in 1966, was subtitled ''What's a Nice Kid Like You Doing in a Place Like This?'' (which was also the title of [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eyFSHggHZME one of the songs]).
* In Disney's ''[[Home On the Range]]'':
* In Disney's ''[[Home on the Range]]'':
{{quote| '''Bull #1:''' What are a couple of ladies like you...<br />
{{quote| '''Bull #1:''' What are a couple of ladies like you...<br />
'''Bull #2:''' Doing on a drive like this? }}
'''Bull #2:''' Doing on a drive like this? }}
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* In the ''[[Doctor Who]]'' story "[[Doctor Who/Recap/S5 E5 The Web of Fear|The Web of Fear]]", someone asks a female scientist "What's a girl like you doing in a job like this?". She's not impressed.
* In the ''[[Doctor Who]]'' story "[[Doctor Who/Recap/S5 E5 The Web of Fear|The Web of Fear]]", someone asks a female scientist "What's a girl like you doing in a job like this?". She's not impressed.
* In ''[[The Pretender]]'' episode ''A Stand-Up Guy'', Jarod strikes up a conversation with a woman whose restaurant has become a gang hangout, and asks her in a joking tone what a nice girl like her is doing in a place like this.
* In ''[[The Pretender]]'' episode ''A Stand-Up Guy'', Jarod strikes up a conversation with a woman whose restaurant has become a gang hangout, and asks her in a joking tone what a nice girl like her is doing in a place like this.
* In the ''[[Star Trek the Next Generation]]'' first-season episode "11001001", said by Riker to a hologram: "What's a knockout brunette like you doing in a computer-generated gin joint like this?"
* In the ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation]]'' first-season episode "11001001", said by Riker to a hologram: "What's a knockout brunette like you doing in a computer-generated gin joint like this?"


== Magazines ==
== Magazines ==
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== [[Western Animation]] ==
== [[Western Animation]] ==
* Used in ''[[Star Wars the Clone Wars]]'', in the virus episode.
* Used in ''[[Star Wars: The Clone Wars]]'', in the virus episode.
** In season 4 a mook tries to hit on [[Dark Action Girl|Asajj Ventress]] like this.
** In season 4 a mook tries to hit on [[Dark Action Girl|Asajj Ventress]] like this.



Revision as of 18:09, 9 April 2014

When a character (usually female) is captured by the Big Bad or seen in a suspicious place by other characters. Also used as a (bad) pickup line.

The traditional wording is "What's a nice girl like you doing in a place like this?"

Examples of What's an X Like You Doing In a Y Like This? include:


Film - Live Action

  • George of the Jungle has Ape's book on "human courtship rituals" (Coffee, Tea or Me, a real-life book about two lusty young fictional stewardesses) offer this pickup line: "What's a nice girl like you doing in a plane like this?"
  • A short by Martin Scorsese is titled "What's a nice girl like you doing in a place like this?"
  • Evie from The Mummy 1999 gets the line mixed up while drunk. "I know what you're thinking. What is a place like me doing in a girl like this?" Rick responds, "Something like that."
  • Following:

 The young man: So what's a nice girl like you-

The blonde: Doing in a place like this?

The young man: -doing with a bald old cunt like that?

Film - Animation

 Bull #1: What are a couple of ladies like you...

Bull #2: Doing on a drive like this?

Literature

  • Inverted in the Robert A. Heinlein novel The Number of the Beast, when a dissection of a dead female alien who had been posing as a male human leads to the discovery that her legs each had two knees, one bending forward and one bending backwards. Cue the quip, "What's a nice joint like you doing in a girl like this?"

Live Action TV

  • In the Doctor Who story "The Web of Fear", someone asks a female scientist "What's a girl like you doing in a job like this?". She's not impressed.
  • In The Pretender episode A Stand-Up Guy, Jarod strikes up a conversation with a woman whose restaurant has become a gang hangout, and asks her in a joking tone what a nice girl like her is doing in a place like this.
  • In the Star Trek: The Next Generation first-season episode "11001001", said by Riker to a hologram: "What's a knockout brunette like you doing in a computer-generated gin joint like this?"

Magazines

  • Parodied in "Movie Dialogue We'd Like To Hear" from Mad Magazine:

 "Ever since I came in here tonight, somethin's been puzzlin' me... what's a crummy girl like you doin' in a nice place like this?"

Music

  • Bob Dylan: "What's a sweetheart like you doing in a dump like this?"
  • The Spanish band Burning references the line in the song "¿Qué Hace Una Chica Como Tú En Un Lugar Como Éste?"
  • Frank Zappa loved this line and used it in at least five different songs.
  • John Schneider's "What's A Memory Like You(Doing In A Love Like This)"

Newspaper Comics

  • In a cartoon by Swedish artist Beverloo:

 Girl at party: What a nice girl like me is doing at a place like this? I'm a hooker, of course!

 Garfield: What's a girl like you doing in a place like this?

Arlene: But this is a nice place.

Garfield: Like I said... What's a girl like YOU doing in a place like THIS?

Theatre

  • There was a musical revue in the 1970s called "What's a Nice Country Like You Doing in a State Like This?"
  • City of Angels:

 Stone (to Bobbi): "Let me take you away from all this," is that the routine? "What's a nice kid like you, et cetera?" What is a nice kid like you, et cetera?

Video Games

 “What's a nice girl like you doing in a place like this?”

“Uh heh… Waiting desperately for someone to use that pathetic line on me.”

  • Guybrush says this to De Singe in Tales of Monkey Island Chapter 1: Launch of the Screaming Narwhal: "So, how'd a dazzling urbanite like yourself wind up in a sleepy pirate island like Flotsam?"

Western Animation