Stop Saying That

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.
"SAY 'WHAT' AGAIN! SAY 'WHAT AGAIN'! I DARE YOU, I DOUBLE-DARE YOU, MOTHERFUCKER! SAY 'WHAT' ONE MORE GODDAMN TIME!"
—Jules Winfield, Pulp Fiction

When one or more characters repeatedly say a word or phrase so many times that it prompts another character to say "Stop saying that!" or "Stop saying [repeated word or phrase]!" The word or phrase may also be one's Verbal Tic or Catch Phrase. Related to Broken Record and Don't Call Me "Sir"!.

Examples of Stop Saying That include:


Anime

  • In Azumanga Daioh, Osaka-san just won't stop saying "saataa andagii!" after she discovers that pastry in Okinawa. Naturally, she gets this reaction.

Film

Agent Simmons: One man, alone...
Leo: Stop saying that!

  • Toy Story 2. After Jessie repeatedly says "It's you!" upon meeting Woody, he says "Stop saying that!"
  • From Super Troopers:

O'Hagen: We're all in the same boat, fellas.
Mac: But our shenanigans are cheeky and fun.
Thorny: Yeah, his shenanigans are cruel and tragic.
Foster: Which wouldn't make them shenanigans, at all, really.
Mac: (Irish voice) Evil shenanigans!
O'Hagen: I swear to God, I'll pistol whip the next guy that says "shenanigans!"
Mac: Hey Farva, what's the name of that restaurant you like with all the goofy shit on the walls and the mozzarella sticks?
Farva: (from other room) You mean Shenanigans?
Mac, Foster and Thorny: Oh, no! (Laughing) (Mac hands O'Hagen his gun.)

  • The Princess Bride: Count Rugen eventually yells this at Inigo Montoya after he's cut and stabbed Inigo multiple times but he keeps getting back up and repeatedly declaring "Hello! My name is Inigo Montoya! You killed my father. Prepare to die."
  • Pulp Fiction has arguably the most famous and funniest example as listed in the page quote.

Literature

  • In Animorphs, this is one of the running gags. Ax, the local alien, calls the leader, Jake, "Prince Jake". It almost always ends with:

"And stop calling me Prince Jake."
"Yes, Prince Jake."

Live Action TV

  • Whose Line Is It Anyway?: The game "Two Line Vocabulary" loves this. Three people have to act out a scenario (improv) and one person (usually Colin) can say whatever he wants, while the other two can only use two lines. In the one with Whoopi Goldberg, her lines were "Have you thought it through?" and "that's impossible!"

Whoopi: Have you thought it through?!
Colin: IF YOU SAY THAT ONE MORE TIME, I'M RIPPING YOUR FACE OFF!
Whoopi THAT'S IMPOSSIBLE!

  • Chuck
    • "Chuck Versus the Nemesis"

Jeff: Pineapple!
Morgan Grimes: Dude, will you stop saying that? It doesn't have any meaning if you keep saying it.

    • "Chuck Versus the Tango"

Chuck Bartowski: I've been a spy all of five seconds, and I already have soy sauce on my shirt.
Sarah Walker: Well, go wash it off. And, Chuck?
Chuck Bartowski: Yeah?
Sarah Walker: Stop saying you're a spy.

Dr. Meredith Grey: Right, okay. Sorry...
Dr. George O'Malley: Stop saying you're sorry!

    • "Shake Your Groove Thing"

Dr. Cristina Yang: The bigger the party, the less time for bad sex with the hockey player.
Dr. Isobel "Izzie" Stevens: Would you stop saying that?

Gunn: Try not to say the word 'gestating' anymore.

  • The Mystery Science Theater 3000 host segment where they can't say "Owner of a Lonely Heart" anymore because they end up assaulted by the orchestra hit.
  • From Friends, the episode where Phoebe is a surrogate mother and gives birth to triplets, and the one they'd named after Chandler turned out to be a girl:

Frank: Chandler's a girl!
Chandler: Oh god, playground flashback.
Frank: Chandler's a girl! Chandler's a girl!
Chandler: Okay, stop saying it!

  • In the first couple of seasons of Lost, Jack's mantra was "live together, die alone", which he repeated in times when he needed to get the castaways to band together. In an episode where Rose is worried about her husband, who's been captured by the Others:

Rose: If you say 'live together, die alone' to me, Jack, I'm gonna punch you in the face.

  • In Season 3, Episode 5 of Gavin and Stacey, Pam and Mick have this conversation about their son Gavin's low sperm count:

Pam: I can't talk to him about... (sperm).
Mick: Well, I'm not going to talk to him sbout sperm!
Pam: Why? That's what the problem is! (Sperm!)
Mick: Well I'm his dad, and I don't want to.
Pam: Exactly! He is your sperm! He is made from your sperm!
Mick: Can we please stop sayin' the word sperm?
Pam: All right... essence! Whatever!

  • An episode of Frasier has Frasier prompt this line from Niles after repeatedly yelling "If I were, doctor, you'd never know it!" in response to every accusation Niles makes towards him.

Niles: You know, Frasier, there is a perfectly sound psychological basis for getting rid of this chair.
Frasier: Oh, really? Well, enlighten me, doctor.
Niles: With pleasure. Originally, Dad needed it to bridge the transition from his old apartment to life here with you. But as with all transitional objects - be they a teddy bear, be they a thumb, be they a blankie, be they a chair...
Frasier: Stop saying "Be they!"

  • There was a Kids in The Hall sketch where a blue-collar worker got in trouble for saying the word "ascertain" at least once per sentence to the annoyance of his colleages. At the end of the discussion his boss says he's happy to have been able to "delineate this little problem," to which the worker wonderingly responds, "...Delineate... Don't worry, sir, you'll never hear that other word again," indicating this is an ongoing cycle.
  • The absurd challenges presenters are set on Top Gear, give Jeremy Clarkson a Catch Phrase that foreshadows them going hilariously wrong. Sometimes he's called on it:

Clarkson: How hard can it be?
Hammond: Don't say that!

Video Games

  • In the My Sims series, Chaz McFreely is a Jerkass extremely obsessed with showing off in extreme ways. His extreme obsession figures into his speech, in that he uses a certain adjective and its other forms an extreme amount in an extremely short period of time. In My Sims Kingdom, this prompts Travis to get extremely fed up with it and yell at him to stop saying it.

Web Comics

Western Animation

  • Regular Show: After Mordecai and Rigby rap about the food they're going to serve at their party in "Party Pete", Benson asks "Why are you guys yelling 'hummus'?"
  • The Simpsons loves this:
    • In the episode "Dumbbell Indemnity", Homer gets jailed for a quasi-botched attempt at stealing and destroying Moe's car so he can collect his insurance coverage to pay for his romantic interludes with his love interest Renee. Homer overhears Moe speaking about Hawaii and provides the page quote, with Chief Wiggum's memorable reaction.
    • The season 6 episode "Bart's Girlfriend" has Bart trying to impress Reverend and Helen Lovejoy when he's invited to dinner by their daughter Jessica. But it backfires horribly:

Rev. Lovejoy: Don't you ever come near my daughter again! Never have I heard such gratuitous use of the word "butt"!
Bart: But-but-but...
Helen Lovejoy: (plugging her ears) Make him stop, make him stop!

    • Also from season 6 is "Homer Badman", where, at the candy convention, Homer sees the stunning candy which will eventually get him in big trouble:

Homer: (lustily) Ohh... (walks up) What's that?
Man: (with German accent) That is the rarest gummi of them all, the gummi Venus de Milo, carved by gummi artisans who were exclusively in the medium of gummi.
Marge: Will you two stop saying "gummi" so much?

Lisa: (holding a black dress) I am not wearing this.
Alex: Oh, come on, Lisa. It's totally you. Just, you know, add some accessories, lip gloss, maybe drop five pounds...
Lisa: Aren't we a little young for make-up, and... what do you mean, five pounds?!
Janey: Well you want to look nice for your date?
Lisa: Date?
Alex: Hello? For the dance? Eh?
Lisa: You guys have dates?
Sherri: Hello?
Lisa: Stop saying "hello"!

    • During the Sid And Nancy spoof in "Love, Springfieldian Style":

Nelson/Sid Vicious: Look, an American nerd bird.
Lisa/Nancy Spungen: Nerd bird? Would a nerd bird have chocolate? Huh? Would a nerd bird?
Bart/Johnny Rotten: Stop saying "nerd bird"!

  • The "evil alternate dimension bearded twin" episode of South Park featured Cartman's overuse of the word "hella", to the annoyance of everyone else.