A Christmas Story is definitely one of the most beloved Christmas movies out there. Many people watch this movie every year or just catch it on the TV when it’s airing. However, one of the reasons it’s so memorable is because there are a variety of great quotes from the movie that you’ve probably heard even if you’ve somehow never seen the movie. Here are five of the top quotes that come straight from the house in A Christmas Story.
- The Bunny Suit: “A Deranged Easter Bunny”
When the Parker family is opening presents, Ralphie gets a number of presents that he’s not that excited about. Possibly top on the list of bad presents is the hot pink bunny suit that Ralphie gets from his Aunt Clara. His mother says that she thinks he looks cute, but both Ralphie and Ralphie’s father disagree. In a quote that’s stuck with many people for decades, Ralphie’s father says that Ralphie looks more like “a deranged Easter bunny.”
- The Red Ryder BB Gun: “You’ll Shoot Your Eye Out”
The entire plot of A Christmas Story revolves around Ralphie’s one wish for the Christmas season: a Red Ryder BB gun, which he sees in the window of the Higbee’s Department Store and immediately falls in love with. However, nobody around him seems to think that he’s really going to be able to get this BB gun. In fact, they all taunt him with the now well-known phrase, “You’ll shoot your eye out!” He eventually does get his Red Ryder BB gun, causing adult Ralphie to muse that it was the best Christmas he had ever experienced.
- The Car Hubcap: “The Queen Mother of Dirty Words”
At one point, the family car gets a flat tire. Ralphie decides to try and help remove and replace the tire. However, as he’s fumbling with lug nuts to try and replace the car’s hubcap, he drops some of them. He says a word that the movie portrays as “Oh, fudge!” However, he explains, “Only I didn’t say ‘fudge.’ I said the queen mother of dirty words.” He has actually learned this word from his dad, who says these kinds of words as he fights with the home’s furnace, but he doesn’t let his mom know that.
- The Bathroom Soap: “A Connoisseur of Soap”
When Ralphie’s mom overhears him say the “queen mother of dirty words,” she’s shocked and horrified. She immediately drags him into the bathroom and washes his mouth out with soap, hoping that it’ll stop him from saying other dirty words in the future. Although it seems like this might be the first time Ralphie has ever said that specific word, as Ralphie’s mom demands to know where he learned it, he seems to have said other dirty words as well. This is displayed by the fact that Ralphie says, “Over the years, I got to be quite the connoisseur of soap.
- The Secret Decoder: “Drink Your Ovaltine”
Ralphie is a huge fan of the Little Orphan Annie radio show; at the end of every radio show, there’s a secret message that only members of the Little Orphan Annie Secret Society can decode. Ralphie drinks gallons of Ovaltine to send away for the decoder, but he’s shocked to learn that the secret message is just a commercial that says, “Drink your Ovaltine!” The Little Orphan Annie Secret Society was a real thing that kids could become part of; after the movie, they actually issued a statement that their secret messages pertained to the Little Orphan Annie radio show’s plot and was not a commercial.
Conclusion
Whether you watch A Christmas Story every year or you just watch it if someone else is, chances are you’ve heard one of these great quotes. That’s a tribute to the lasting power of a Christmas movie that becomes a classic.