I’ll have what she’s having.

In When Harry Met Sally (1989), Meg Ryan (as Sally) fakes an orgasm in a New York deli to prove to Harry that women really can do that without men knowing. An older woman at a nearby table sees this and, when the waiter arrives to take her order, says, “I’ll have what she’s having.” Today, we use the phrase when we really envy someone.

In (1996), Cuba Gooding, Jr., plays star athlete Rodney Tidwell and Tom Cruise plays his sports agent, Jerry Maguire. In a memorable scene, Tidwell gets Maguire to scream out this phrase again and again over the phone as proof that Maguire will get the best deal for him. Today, the phrase is used when the speaker wants to see some sort of financial reward.

In the 1976 film Taxi Driver, Robert De Niro, as psychopathic cabbie Travis Bickle, repeats this line in front of a mirror while imagining a confrontation in which he would have to draw a gun. Today, the phrase is used, usually ironically, to challenge someone to an argument or fight.

I hope you enjoyed my little collection of catchphrases. If you’d like to practice using them, have a look at the following page.