Hello, I would like a complete list of the most well known American Phrases.

These should be, quick, simple, and easy to remember. Three examples are:
Houston, we've got a problem.
Life is like a box of chocolates.
Ei-Ei-O.

These are not the best examples but give an idea of what I am looking for.

Hello willstein-ga,

I hope you?ll have as much browsing through these resources as I had
finding them. I suggest you start with the movie quotes since two of
your examples are from movies. I?ve provided a selection of websites
and some books to continue your explorations.

Enjoy!

~ czh ~



http://www.afi.com/tvevents/100years/quotes.aspx#list
100 GREATEST MOVIE QUOTES OF ALL TIME

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http://www.rootsweb.com/~genepool/amerispeak/
AmeriSpeak ? Expressions of Our Ancestors

Here?s a place to record those phrases that have been passed down
through the generations in your family!

This site offers hundreds of expressions organized into the following
categories. It also offers an updated (and much more pedestrian)
translation for each expression.

Example:
	THEY SAID: Beggars can't be choosers 
	WE SAY: Be thankful for anything you get free

To view a collection, pick one from the list below and then enjoy!
 -- New Phrases (yet to be sorted)
 -- Advice & Life Lessons 
 -- Aging & Dying 
 -- Body Functions & Health 
 -- Character Traits
 -- Crazy 
 -- Dumb 
 -- Emotions (happy, sad, angry...)
 -- Farm & Barnyard Animals 
 -- Food & Drink 
 -- Hillbilly Talk
 -- Kids 
 -- Looks & Observations 
 -- Money & Numbers 
 -- Senses (sight, smell, hearing...) 
 -- Sports & Entertainment 
 -- Statements & Exclamations 
 -- Time, Calendars, Clocks, etc. 
 -- Travel & Movement 
 -- Unclassified
 -- Weather 
 -- Work & Activity

-------------------------------------------------


http://www.manythings.org/slang/
More Than 280 Common American Slang Expressions Sorted Alphabetically

Esample:
ace
He's an ace reporter.
Click the button to see the meaning.


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http://www.forbes.com/fyi/2000/0918/092.html
10 Indispensable American Expressions

ho knows if there's a deep, subliminal connection between a decade and
decadence? The past ten years have seen the national idiom and
vernacular flecked anew with drool and euphemism and superfluity.
"Thank you for using the Holland Tunnel/Dulles Airport/the New Jersey
Turnpike." Thanks for what? What choice did one have? On all sides the
nonreassuring incantation "No problem" or (worse) "Not a
problem"--when there was no reason to suppose that there could or
should have been. "Sir, I'm going to need you to..." I dare say you
are, but pray don't speak without introduction of your needs. And of
course, since the fish rots from the head (and also the guts, the
heart, the leaping piscine genitalia and the most extreme and flapping
fins, in a positive orgy of moral and linguistic deliquescence): "It
all depends on what the meaning of is is." You want to take the poor
old language into your arms and kiss away its tears.

Here are the ten best bull**** busters, all of them models of economy. 

1. "Get a life.
2. "Why not?"
3. "Dream on"/"In your dreams."
4. "Get real."
5. "If it weren't for bad luck, I'd have had no luck at all."
6. "What's not to like?"
7. "Who needs it?"/"I don't need this."
8. "You're history."
9. "As if."
10. "F***ed up."

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http://www.englishdaily626.com/slang.php
American Slang expressions

-------------------------------------------------


://www.google.com/search?num=100&hl=en&lr=&q=memorable+quotes&btnG=Search
Search results for < memorable quotes > will provide lots of results
from movies or current events. You can add your own search terms to
get quotes related to any topic you?re interested in.

-------------------------------------------------


http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0844251542/102-4105004-5056906?v=glance&n=283155
Common American Phrases in Everyday Context (Paperback)

Book Description
This guide helps new speakers unravel the mystery of colloquial
American speech. Each of the 1,700 entries includes a mini-dialogue
that dramatizes the meaning and use of phrases in greetings, goodbyes,
and in small talk.

-------------------------------------------------


http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/037570468X/ref=pd_sim_b_2/102-4105004-5056906?%5Fencoding=UTF8&v=glance&n=283155
Speak American : A Survival Guide to the Language and Culture of the
U.S.A. (Paperback)

Book Description
Imagine that you're from England, or India, or Hong Kong, and your
English is impeccable. But when you travel to America, you get a funny
look when you tell a colleague,"I'll knock you up tomorrow at
half-eight." And you can't find bangers on a single restaurant menu.

You feel like you speak a foreign language-because you do! You need to
know how to survive in American English, and this book will help you
do it. This user-friendly guide focuses on the vocabulary that
newcomers to the U.S. really need to know. Arranged by subject, from
driving to shopping to eating, the book includes information on basic
cultural and linguistic differences between British and American
English, including particular pitfalls to watch for, and a handy
glossary.

-------------------------------------------------


http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0844204625/funwithwordscom/102-4105004-5056906
NTC's Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions

From Library Journal 
This compact and well-formatted book features "more than 8500
contemporary slang and informal expressions." With 800 more entries
than the previous edition, this third edition includes street slang,
popular culture terms, and the telegraphic language peculiar to the
Internet.

See also 20 additional books listed under ?You may also be interested
in these items...?


===============
SEARCH STRATEGY
===============

american phrases OR expressions
american colloquial phrases OR expressions
memorable quotes

---

Clarification of Answer by czh-ga on 27 May 2006 14:16 PDT

And here are some more movie quotes -- many with sound clips.

http://www.filmsite.org/greatfilmquotes.html

thank you.
great answer.

How will we know when the list is "complete"?

'You know how to kiss don't you Steve? You just put your lips together ...'

How interesting the American continent has 16,235,706 square miles, of
those the United States occupies 3,537,441 square miles, the US
constitutes 22% of America yet all of the 'American' quotes are United
Statesian quotes only. If you were going to do that why not just
restrict it to say Texan quotes and make the job of answering even
easier...

Yeah but who ever said anything memorable in Spanish, except ¡Olé!?

Or anything memorable in Portuguese, except Obrigado?

Spoken like a true United Statesian!  ;-)

==========
«Sin el Hombre, no hay Dios. Pues sólo el Hombre puede ser tan
vanidoso, para creer que para él se hizo todo el universo» (Javier
Correa).
----------
«La mayoría de los hombres prefiere y encuentra más fácil creer que
tomarse el trabajo y la preocupación de investigar» (León de
Gandarías).
----------
«Los seres humanos pueden vivir sin dioses pero los dioses le deben la
vida a los seres humanos, es decir, son una extensión imaginaria de la
realidad, el resultado de una insatisfacción» (Luís García Montero).
----------
«La Iglesia dice que la Tierra es plana, pero yo sé que es redonda,
porque vi su sombra en la Luna. Y tengo más fe en una sombra que en la
Iglesia» (Fernando de Magallanes).
----------
"¡Carajo, un balazo!"

    * Antonio José de Sucre, tras ser disparado mientras cabalgaba en
la jungla de Colombia. Se díce que fue un caballero que nunca utilizo
un expeletivo hasta ese día.

----------
Muero por la libertad de América
          o José Miguel Carrera

Sorry, elids-ga, I am actually a Brit!

Am I right in assuming that you consider these as among 'the most well
known American phrases'?

-----------

"Without the Man, there is no God. Only Man can be so vain as to think
that all the universe was created for him." (Javier Correa better
known as Jock Strap).

----------

"Most of the men he prefers and he finds easier to think than to take
the work and the preoccupation to investigate." (León de Gandarías).

-----------

"The human beings can live without Gods but the Gods must give life to
human beings, that is to say, they are an imaginary extension of the
reality, the result of a dissatisfaction." (Luís Garcia Montero).

--------------

"The Church says that the Earth is flat, but I know that she is round,
because I saw its shade in the Moon. And I have more faith in a shade
that in the Church." (Fernando de Magallanes).

------------

"Carajo, a shot" Antonio José the Sugarplum, after being shot while he
rode in the jungle of Colombia. I reckon that there was a horseman
that never used a expletive until that day.

---------------

I die for the freedom of America. José Miguel Carrera (Hmmm, well
Chile or Argentina actually.)

-------------

I must try and remember these!

Many thanks!

Bryan

(Translations courtesy of Daisy who doesn't always get everything right.)

Hey Probono, 

?Am I right in assuming that you consider these as among 'the most
well known American phrases'??

Not really, no. Not the ?most well known American phrases? I choose
some rather memorable phrases (from my point of view) in response to
your comment, not attempting to answer the question posed. Had I
looked for some of the ?most well known American phrases? I would?ve
certainly included such phrases as Pizarro?s on the ?Isla del Gallo?

?El que cruze esta raya, se viene conmigo al Perú a ser rico y famoso,
al Norte, a los demas le espera Panamá y la pobreza y deshonra  ? (He
who crosses this line comes with me to Peru to be rich and famous, to
the rest poverty, dishonor and Panama is waiting for)

only 13 men crossed that line and accompanied Pizarro to the Empire of
Tahuantinsuyo. There Pizarron and those ?13 de la fama? conquered an
empire of about 20 million inhabitants for Spain. That empire extended
from modern day Ecuador to halfway down into Chile and as far east as
Brazil, providing so much gold and silver to the conquistadores that
in time they would pay in gold (in today?s dollars) $ 5,000 for a pair
of shoes imported from Spain, or pay for breakfast in gold nuggets
instead of cash.

or the very famous words that Cortes upon conquering the Aztec empire
told those that the Aztecs had conquered before Cortes set foot on
America ?Venid acá, el mexícatl con flechas y con escudos se apoderó
de vuestra tierra, de vuestra pertenencia, allí donde vosotros le
servíais, Pero ahora, de nuevo con flechas y con escudos, os dejo
libres, ya nadie allí tendrá que servir al mexícatl.?  (Come here, the
mexicatl with arrows and shields stole your land, and there you would
serve them. But now, with arrows and shields I liberate you, in the
future nobody will serve the mexicatl)   sure enough, from then on all
natives would only serve the Spaniards...

or ?Rubias y morenas, sacan a un hombre de penas.?  (Blondes and
brunettes take away any man?s sorrows)   Ha ha but seriously, daisy?s
translation leaves a lot to be desired.

Anyways my point was that only 22% of the land and 30% of America?s
population was represented by the response. The United Statesian
nation is only a small part of America, any man with two fingers of
forehead can understand that.

For a non-US American phrase, how about 'the medium is the message'