Full House is one of the most beloved sitcoms from the late 1980s and early 1990s. The show continues to build an audience from airing in syndication. I can watch episodes of the classic series with my nieces, and they enjoy the hilarious Tanner clan as much as I did when the show was airing new episodes. Over the course of eight seasons, the cast of Full House had many popular catchphrases that many of its fans still use today. Some of those phrases are even as popular as Family Matters’ Steve Urkel’s “Did I do that?” or The Simpsons’ Bart Simpson’s “Don’t have a cow, man.” We decided to rank all the catchphrases from Full House from worst to best. Enjoy!
Joey’s Popeye Impression
You know what I am talking about. Joey loved Popeye and would constantly impersonate the cartoon sailor. He would speak such lines as, “Well, blow me down. agg agg ga ga.” Even some of the other cast members would try to impersonate Popeye as well. Sadly, this catchphrase cannot compete with some of the other ones we would hear constantly on Full House.
“No way, Jose!”
Michelle Tanner has more catchphrases than any other character on Full House. She was able to get away with uttering most of these because she was a cute little kid. Michelle would say, “No way, Jose.” to someone (usually D.J. or Stephanie) when they were not allowed to do something. Not one of her funnier ones…
“Oh, Mylanta.”
This phrase was uttered by D.J. Tanner during most of Full House’s run. She would use this when she was astounded by an event that just occurred. This would most likely happen when she was interacting with a cute boy. It was D.J.’s version of OMG, but without taking the Lord’s name in vain. Unfortunately, this is the only catchphrase D.J. has unless you count “Geekburger.”
“Cut it out.”
Here is another popular catchphrase from Joey. He would use these words during his stand up routine. He even had hand motions he would use when saying the phrase. Unfortunately, we had to hear this catchphrase often as Joey told countless jokes during eight seasons of Full House.
“Hot Dog.”
Stephanie Tanner is my favorite characters on Full House, and this is her first catchphrase on the list. Since Stephanie was the middle child, her catchphrases appear to give her a way to express her pent up anger from being ignored. She would give this retort if someone told her something she couldn’t care less about and believe us she must not have cared about a lot of things.
“Aww, nuts!”
When Michelle did not get her way on Full House she had to show her dismay in some way. The writers came up with this cute catchphrase for the Olsen twins to say when they were still very young. As Michelle grew up, she would use the cute phrase less and less probably because she knew she it would only be adorable for so long.
“Watch the hair.”
Uncle Jesse loved three things: his family, Elvis, and, most importantly, his hair. He did not like anyone to touch his gorgeous locks and would warn them to “watch the hair,” whenever they would come into close proximity of it on an episode of Full House. It did not always work as Stephanie ended up cutting a chunk of it off while playing beauty parlor during a season two episode.
“Whoa, baby!”
This catchphrase was probably expressed by every single main character on Full House. The kids would often utter these words when walking in on two adults making out or seeing the aftermath of Stephanie driving the car through the kitchen, while the adults would verbalize it when a big event happened like when Jesse realized that he had just performed the wedding walk around the kitchen table with an old flame.
“Well, pin a rose on your nose.”
Here is another classic catchphrase from Stephanie Tanner. Like the previous, “Hot dog,” Stephanie would use this phrase when she did not give a crap about what someone had just said. She would say this during the early seasons of Full House. Unfortunately, when Stephanie turned about 10 she no longer felt the need to say these really cool catchphrases. Thank goodness for reruns.
“You’re in big trouble, mister.”
Michelle Tanner is up to her usual cute antics with this popular catchphrase. Michelle had to exclaim, “You’re in big trouble, mister” many times during Full House‘s heydey. This was due to the fact that someone was usually getting in trouble on the show. My favorite time Michelle had to state these obvious words was when D.J. and Stephanie went into Danny’s bedroom and put a whole in his wall. Lucky for them, they never did get into trouble because Danny did not find out what happened. That was a rare occurrence on Full House.
“How rude!”
Stephanie Tanner had a tough life. She always had to live in D.J.’s shadow. I mean, she could not even get her ears pierced until she was a teen like her older sister. To top it off, she had to tolerate little sister Michelle getting all the attention. I think her anger began when she was kicked out of her bedroom so her Uncle Jesse could have a place to live. If that does not justify a young girl to say, “how rude,” I do not know what would.
“You got it, dude!”
I did not realize how many catchphrases were coined by Michelle Tanner until I decided to do my research for this article. While most of Michelle’s phrases were negative in nature, this one was a positive one. If you heard these four words from Michelle, you were golden!
“Have mercy.”
Uncle Jesse is the winner in the best of Full House catchphrases list. You knew that Jesse was having a good day if he exclaimed these words. He would generally use this phrase after having just kissed a very pretty lady, and since he married Becky, he would be saying, “Have mercy” for the rest of his life.
Which Full House catchphrase is your favorite? Let us know in the comments section below.
Photo by Michael Buckner/Getty Images for Comedy Central
For me, it would have to be, “You’re in big trouble, mister!” and “How rude!”