On Thursdays I am a man of my word

[venta]

Spot question for the day:

Without googling, does the following phrase mean anything to anybody ?

Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of the party.

Comments

[narenek.livejournal.com]

It rings a bell, but it just be recognising the "Now is the time for all good men..." bit from something more well known than the precise quote you're using.

[nalsa.livejournal.com]

Yes. And now I'm going to be wracking my brains as to why.

It's a trigger phrase, isn't it? From a film, someone says it and people start doing stupid things, like crashing their cars into walls and killing presidential candidates? Or am I confusing it with The invisible worm that flies in the night?

[smorgasbord.livejournal.com]

Yes.

[taimatsu]

Yes, but I can't remember where it's from. At a guess, it's probably Shakespeare, given how many phrases in the language are his fault.

[wimble.livejournal.com]

It's also a typewriter testing phrase. I think I came across it in The Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E Frankweiler where the runaway teenage heroine sneaks into a typewriter shop to type a letter, and finds this text across the top of the paper. So she carries on from there.

[lanfykins.livejournal.com]

I know I've encountered it before. Like everyone else, I have no idea where.

[secretrebel.livejournal.com]

It's a mnemonic, isn't it? Or a stock phrase of some kind. Err, it turns up in the older sort of typing tests.

[sciolist.livejournal.com]

A trigger phrase for something hypnotic... Can't remember the film though.

[ealuscerwen.livejournal.com]

There's definitely a Peanuts cartoon where Snoopy says "Now is the time for all good dogs [etc]" - this makes me suspect that the phrase is American.

[redcountess]

I know it as the home keys thing :-)

Oh, and I either leave at least one finger or hover over the home keys. I have tried *not* touch typing to save my fingers when they are sore, but it's too ingrained, and I can't not do it!

[diffrentcolours]

It rings a bell in my mind to do with touch-typing, it was one of those phrases used to test your typing speed I think.