Innocent phrases that become terrifying

[Brother Oni]

So I've been pinched to work on another project for a bit and as part of the requirements, I have to read up on the various safety information regarding the chemicals they're working on.

I'm reading the SDS for their active ingredient and reach the toxicology section:

Acute toxicity

Inhalation: Not available
Skin contact: Not available
Ingestion: Not available
Sensitisation: Not available

Chronic toxicity

Carcinogenicity: Not available
Mutagenicity: Not available
Reproductive toxicity: Not available

While this isn't the first time I've worked with NCEs, I don't know whether it's better if it was highly toxic and had to be used inside a sealed cabinet while wrapped up in an environmentally sealed hazmat suit with an independent filtered air supply or that they don't have a clue as to how poisonous this stuff is. :smalltongue:

Anybody else have an example of an otherwise innocuous phrase that suddenly becomes terrifying when used in a certain context?

[Serpentine]

It's not the same thing, but I've always thought Bunnings Warehouse's slogan "Lowest prices are just the beginning" was pretty sinister.

[El'the Ellie]

It's not the same thing, but I've always thought Bunnings Warehouse's slogan "Lowest prices are just the beginning" was pretty sinister.

I've always felt the same way about the Sleepy's Mattress slogan: "Trust Sleepy's for the rest of your life."
Maybe it's just the way they sing it, but it gives me the feeling that 'the rest of my life' won't be very long.

[Vinyadan]

It's locked.
Customers bring their own beverages.
I eat Hamburgers all the time.
Is she still sleeping?
These shoes aren't my size.
We can start casting.

[Sredni Vashtar]

Good night.









:smalleek:

[Telonius]

Two bars.

(More text to allow a post).

[Winter_Wolf]

"This'll be over before you know it."
"It will all be over soon."
"Don't worry; it's not your problem anymore."
"Just a walk in the woods."
"Look, stars!"
"It's a very simple/easy procedure."

The maniacal grin is what sells it. Or the deadpan stare and monotone voice. Or the very serene, dreamy voice.

[LaZodiac]

"Interesting", particularly when a doctor says it.

[Hoosigander]

It's not the same thing, but I've always thought Bunnings Warehouse's slogan "Lowest prices are just the beginning" was pretty sinister.

Speaking of slogans, I feel similarly about Sprite's "Obey your Thirst." It sounds like something Emperor Palpatine would say, " Good, Good, Young Skywalker. Obey your thirst. Let it consume you."

My home state's tourism campaign slogan, "Pure Michigan," sounds vaguely fascistic to me as well.

[Dodom]

"Interesting", particularly when a doctor says it.

I had equivalents of that one happening to me a couple of times, turns out doctors tend to have enough tact not to act that way over serious diseases, when they get excited and phone in the interns it's over something rare but not scary.

Last time it happened to me it was because my retinas' capillaries had an unusual pattern. No reason to think it'll ever be a problem, just an anatomical oddity.

[Frozen_Feet]

"Everything is (just) fine."

[TuggyNE]

"We'll be together… forever!"

This one doesn't exactly qualify as terrifying, but I always thought Juicy Juice's slogan, "Quench your child's thirst to know", was amazingly terribad. Quench it? Like, permanently?

[Lethologica]

"Come play with us" is, perhaps, too obvious.

There's a whole barrel of such statements starting with "come". Come inside, come with me, come here, come tonight, come and see...

[Ruslan]

Anybody else have an example of an otherwise innocuous phrase that suddenly becomes terrifying when used in a certain context?"We need to talk"

[enderlord99]

{Simpsons example}
"Hello, Bart."
{James Bond examples}
"They don't eat coconut anymore..."
"Brothers always seem to know which buttons to push."
{Literature example(s)}

♪(last lines to Farmer in the Dell)

{TFS examples}
"One hundred and ninety!"
"[I call it] Pity."
{OFFICIAL DBZ example}
(serenely) "You're missing the point."

[ebony]

Anyone who works IT should feel the terror invoked by the phrase, "Hey, I've got a quick question."

[Gnomvid]

Anyone who works IT should feel the terror invoked by the phrase, "Hey, I've got a quick question."

Thou jesteth not! it is truly the sentence of nightmares.

My contribution would be: "this won't hurt a bit"

[tensai_oni]

"The results are in"

[Asmodean_]

{reassuring phrase}, but...

For example: "I don't mean to alarm you, but..."
"The test results were okay, but..."
"You did your best, but..."
"I fed your cat, but..."
"You're free to go, but..."

[Telonius]

Anyone who works IT should feel the terror invoked by the phrase, "Hey, I've got a quick question."

Oh yeah. When the user starts to pull a Columbo, you know it's going to be awful. "Just one more thing..."

[Jaycemonde]

"Hey." - Nobody ever just says "hey" to me unless they're about to ask for four hundred dollars or complain about me turning the A/C off for ten minutes.
"You don't have a barrel on that." - Usually right before I burn my lip on an exposed coil conducting 4.2 amps of electricity.
"What's up with the Jeep?"
"We don't show you as having any assignments right now."
"Bank statement not available."
"Warrant Round-Up on March 1st." (That didn't actually happen, though.)
"Phone Storage Almost Full. Okay. Settings."
"Loading Error."

Those are all the ones I can think of off the top of my head.

[Ravens_cry]

"You are unique . . . just like everyone else."
For some reason, that always gave me shudders, especially when said in a treacly, kindergarten teacher voice.

[Murska]

I help blind children in my spare time.

[Rater202]

Whenever a supposed expert says "that's new" when talking about something in their area of expertise.

[Peelee]

I don't know why, but this thread makes me think of that old story.

"My daughter has kept me up all night with her crying for months. I've visited her grave and asked her to stop, but it doesn't help."

[Jaycemonde]

I don't know why, but this thread makes me think of that old story.

"My daughter has kept me up all night with her crying for months. I've visited her grave and asked her to stop, but it doesn't help."

That's ironically one of the less scary things I've read. It just puts me in mind of a medium trying to bribe a headstone with candy and matchbox cars so she can work on other peoples' problems.

[Scarlet Knight]

"I don't drink...wine."

"Just a reminder that IT will be updating our systems tonight."

DM: "Are you sure?"

[DeadpanSal]

One that's pretty terrible is when I get gas at the local Mobil. It says two things. One's something like "Good Job, You Saved A Ton! (paraphrased and/or guessed at)" and the other one is "Thanks! Come Back Soon!"

But it doesn't have that many characters available on the pump's display. So it's "Good Job, You" and "Saved A Ton!" or "Thanks! Come Back"

And then a moment later the screen only says... "Soon!"

[Alent]

These pretty much sum it up:


Anyone who works IT should feel the terror invoked by the phrase, "Hey, I've got a quick question."


"Just a reminder that IT will be updating our systems tonight."

DM: "Are you sure?"

I'd also like to nominate Tarquin and Elan's uses of "You'll live" from the Blood runs in the Family arc. Somehow quite creepy.

[TherianTheorist]

"Cover the earth" Was a paint slogan if I remember correctly?

[RyumaruMG]

Amusingly, one of the elementary schools in my area had this on its board as I drove past earlier:

"See you next September."

[tomandtish]

"Don't Jerk and Drive". No really, South Dakota had this as an advertising campaign back in 2014. If you don't know what the campaign is actually about (http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2014/12/south-dakota-yanks-dont-jerk-drive-campaign.html), it is terrifying to think how big a problem THAT must be in South Dakota that they were advertising about it...

[Jaycemonde]

"Don't Jerk and Drive". No really, South Dakota had this as an advertising campaign back in 2014. If you don't know what the campaign is actually about (http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2014/12/south-dakota-yanks-dont-jerk-drive-campaign.html), it is terrifying to think how big a problem THAT must be in South Dakota that they were advertising about it...

Sounds like my kind of ad campaign.

[SaintRidley]

Gonna go with an old one, which could become pretty horrible.

"I'm sorry, I love you."

[sktarq]

Level 4 (signage on the ground floor) . . . in a facility that works with infectious agents. . . worse on the stuff my sister brought home from said work (paperwork and later explained as totally safe but freaked out the first time i saw it)

[J-H]

From a long AvatarTLA fanfic: "Harmonious accord." (ie, brainwashing if you're out of alignment, like caring too much about your child being raised by monks at another temple)

"Work makes you free." (duh)

"Hey, take a look at this." - at the dentist

"The science is settled, it's perfectly safe."

[Peelee]

"Cover the earth" Was a paint slogan if I remember correctly?

Sherwin Williams, I believe. Logo is a paint can literally covering the world with paint. Always got a bit perturbed by that.

[Jaycemonde]

Wasn't it just red paint? Because I can't see where they were being creepy or menacing if it were simply red paint or something. Definitely not. Nope.
I'm trying too hard to be funny, ignore me.

[Frozen_Feet]

"I see no flies."

This just occurred to me when I was cleaning my terrace of dead flies again. I hate how those things seem to swarm there just to die. But what if they're not really there? What if they're just hallucinations caused by my self-hating psyche? You can replace "flies" with any mundane object you find disgusting.

[Scarlet Knight]

"What? A mother can't spend time with her son without a reason?"

[Vinyadan]

Gonna go with an old one, which could become pretty horrible.

"I'm sorry, I love you."

And the terrible answer. "Thank you."

[Jaycemonde]

"It's just a prank."

Considering the kinds of horrible internet celebrities and the things they do that are justified with that phrase, I think it's pretty terrifying by now.

[danzibr]

DM: "Are you sure?"
This is my favorite so far.

"The good news is..."

[Tvtyrant]

Anytime an on duty officer asks you to "please wait here." That particular loophole is problematic for reasons I won't go into here.

[Bhu]

When I was doing research in finding a new(er) used car I used car complaints.com a lot to see what people complained about the most. I can't remember the make or model but I found one that only has too complaints, and they're both in the "other, minor" column. I take a peek cause I'm hopeful (minor complaints are stuff like cupholder breaks easy), and what do the two identical complaints say?

"May catch fire when parked." Doesn't say if the car has to actually be on while parked. I just kept getting this vision of the dealership with the occasional explosion and the salesman saying "Damn. Wind took another one."

Edit: I also had a friend with a lead foot who tried to put the (many) officers who pulled him over at ease with the phrase "There's nothing in the trunk.

Sometimes before they said anything.

Sometimes as HIS opening statement.

[The Artisan]

As a props master, these are the scariest phrases I've ever heard:

"Can we try something?"
"I had a question."
"If it's possible..." (hint: it is almost never possible!)

[AuthorGirl]

"I don't drink...wine."

"Just a reminder that IT will be updating our systems tonight."

DM: "Are you sure?"

XD yes, "Are you sure?"
Additionally:
"This will be a fun session."
"It appears to be a perfectly normal ___________."
"I've been reading too much horror lately . . ."
"Hey, I wanted a piece of that pizza." (Fast food-deprived DMs are terrifying!)

[AuthorGirl]

Amusingly, one of the elementary schools in my area had this on its board as I drove past earlier:

"See you next September."

Actually, that reminds me of several creepy Girl Guide songs, mainly because of Linger. Let's see:
"Fire's burning . . . draw nearer." I have a sick mind, but to me this does not suggest anything good.
" . . . mm-mm this is goodnight but not goodbye . . ." that line has always freaked me out. What does it mean, exactly . . . ?
"Out of my window, looking in the night, I can see the barges' flickering light . . ." to me this could be twisted in multiple nasty ways, starting with human traffiicking and proceeding through likelihoods to an attack by water spirits, hence the flickering.

This is just me, but for years, the image of Guider KerryAnne singing "Let me see your Funky Chicken" has haunted my nightmares. Doesn't count, though, since the Funky Chicken is a harbinger of doom no matter the context.

Unrelated but very relevant to this thread: "Let's have a sleepover."

[AtlanteanTroll]

Whenever Nurse Joy would say, "We hope to see you again soon!" or something to that effect. Such a bitch. :smalltongue:

[KillingAScarab]

If you ever watch or read Neverwhere, "Mind the gap (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mind_the_gap)," fits into this topic.

[ebony]

Anytime an on duty officer asks you to "please wait here." That particular loophole is problematic for reasons I won't go into here.

Alternately, "Could you come with me, please?" Delivered by people in uniform, that never bodes well. Or medical professionals, I suppose.

On the subject of Gamemasters:

"Roll a d20." And afterward: "Well, I'm sure it wasn't important."

[Jormengand]

Oh, take a Fortitude save has become quite terrifying to my players. :smalltongue:

[sktarq]

As for a DM/ST -"roll a d8" gets extreme result "oh that's gonna be different"

[Forbiddenwar]

My players never got scared by "Are you sure".

But they learned to fear my "huh. That's weird"

On the lines of innocent images being really disturbing, I recently saw schoolhouse Rock's preamble. In it it shows a large forest being wiped out and replaced with houses. To represent the growth of the us. Seriously messed up.

[Asmodean_]

"It's just a prank."

Considering the kinds of horrible internet celebrities and the things they do that are justified with that phrase, I think it's pretty terrifying by now.

"Hey stupid!" *decks in face* "Ha! You just got pranked on youtube!!!"
"No... I just got assaulted."
"ITS JUST A PRANK BRO"

[No brains]

"Check out this link!"

[TherianTheorist]

"Good news, Bad news"

[anjxed]

Test results came back positive
-your doctor

[Lethologica]

I do love a good experiment.

[Anachronity]

Steak 'n Shake seems to have two slogans. One of them is "In sight, it must be right!" which borders on the nonsensical.

But the other is just "It's a meal!"

Why yes... umm... what else would it be?

[thirsting]

In the new Multiplayer Robot for Civilization V there is an option slider that says "No Happiness" .... I'm irrationally afraid of someone ticking it on. :smalleek:

[cildan]

How about the perennial favorite of "Hey, watch this"

or


DM: You can certainly try.

[Scarlet Knight]

I heard this during a hockey game when a player broke his stick during a play:

"Now that's embarassing, him just standing there with nothing but 8 inches of shaft in his hand...."

[Winter_Wolf]

"Still alive." When the implication is that the thing is still Not Dead. Some massive spiders and roaches come to mind.

[The Artisan]

"Ya know what we could try?

[KillingAScarab]

"Still alive." When the implication is that the thing is still Not Dead. Some massive spiders and roaches come to mind.Hm. I had a different idea (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSsstXfcRWw) of what this implied.

[RandomNPC]

"It's just a prank."

Considering the kinds of horrible internet celebrities and the things they do that are justified with that phrase, I think it's pretty terrifying by now.

One of the guys who takes over for me on my breaks uses this one. At least five times a day, "Dude, gotta get a sense of humor. Come one man, we're good."

Gonna get in trouble for my reply, probably from his reaction to it. Boss shouldn't have an issue with it, and HR would laugh it off.

[Heliomance]

For anyone that's watched season 6 Buffy:

"Bored now."

[Andre]

I'm expecting.

[Malak'ai]

"Honey... I'm late"

And I have to agree, the "We need to talk" line is always terrifying.

[rajgupta]

"I'm watching you"

[The Sadistic DM]

One of my favorites would be "Oops!"
Alternatively, "uh-oh"

Followed of course by, "Well I am sure that that wasn't important" (Or some variation).

[TherianTheorist]

"I like it better that way", and variations thereof.

[Cerefel]

I personally enjoy sentences with quotes in spots they shouldn't be. For example: "employees must 'wash hands' before returning to work"

[Lady_Springtime]

"Family vacation"

"You *have* to see this"

[Amaril]

I can't believe no one's mentioned "you don't find any traps".

[Ravens_cry]

I can't believe no one's mentioned "you don't find any traps".

How would that ever sound innocent though?
How about . . .
"I love when you do that."

[Lady_Springtime]

"I don't drink...wine."

I actually said that to my neurologist this week, but without the pause.

[Misereor]

Maybe it's my job, but all of mine come from clueless sales people.

"It can't be more than 1-2 hours tops."
So because you didn't bother getting a time/cost estimate, we have to give the customer 25 hours of work and only bill them for 2.

"I estimated the costs myself!"
Meaning that you wanted a quick sale, and so didn't bother to investigate what it actually takes to provide this service for the customer.

"I need a simple answer!"
Any question that doesn't have a simple answer.

"I need a quick answer!"
Any question that can't be answered without a lot of investigation, usually involving multiple people/departments/partners/time zones.

"We need to be able to guarantee this!"
Standard comment after signing unfavorable compensation agreement for something that is inherently subject to acts of God, Nature and people that are Not Us.

"I'm not entirely sure..."
When asked "What are we obliged to provide, and what aren't we?" Well, if you don't have a clue what you sold, who does?

"How would I know?"
When asked "Are you sure this is really what the customer needs?", meaning little effort was expended on finding out.


Gotta cut it short. I see a sales person approaching...

[HalfTangible]

"Come here." Followed by any question about my behavior.

---

This.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Coy3ZkVXgAEsxfV.jpg

---

"Let's have some fun."

[laotze]

I assume the nuclear "we need to talk" has already been covered?

[EarlGreystoke]

Unseen dice roll followed by a soft chuckle.

[Traab]

"Huh. I wonder what these parts were for?" Said after putting together something very intricate or complicated and having a hand full of nuts and bolts left over.