How I Met Your Mother was one of the greatest comedy series of all time. A particular fan favorite is Barney Stinson, played by Neil Patrick Harris. However, his most famous catchphrase almost didn’t exist because Barney was not supposed to be annoying.
What is How I Met Your Mother? How I Met Your Mother aired from 2005 to 2014. In its nine seasons, it follows a group of friends who meet regularly at a bar. Similar to Friends, the main themes of the series are love, absurd situations, and many jokes.
Many of the laughs are attributed to the character Barney Stinson, played by Neil Patrick Harris. His trademark is his suit and the phrase: “It will be legen… it’s coming… daar
.” Originally, they didn’t want to give Barney such a phrase, as they were concerned he would become annoying. However, a joke in the script overcame all concerns.
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Complicated but Good
Barney has two trademarks. He always wears a suit, with few exceptions, and he says the phrase as often as possible: It will be legen….där
. Usually, he fills something between legen
and där
according to the situation. Originally, they didn’t want to give Barney such a phrase because they were worried he would become annoying.
The creators of the series, Carter Bay and Craig Thomas, explained in an interview with Entertainment Weekly that the iconic phrase was not actually planned to be a recurring element. However, the writers of the first season, Chris Miller and Phil Lord, turned legen…där
in the third episode into a wordplay that was very well received.
Why did Barney still get a catchphrase? In the episode, Barney says in the English version: legend… wait for it, and I hope you´re not lactose intolerant, cause the second half of this word is…dary.
The mentioned lactose intolerance is a pun with the word Dairy
, which means dairy. In the German version, Barney actually says: It will be legen… today, the girls will only want you because the last part of this word is…där
.
However, the wordplay alone was not the decisive argument for Thomas and Craig, but the addition of cause the second half of this word is
. This makes the sentence more complicated and lengthy, but that’s exactly what was their twist for the recurring catchphrase.
Despite the long and convoluted sentence, Barney’s catchphrase paid off. In the interview, they say that everyone on set laughed when Neil Patrick Harris delivered the line during filming. Ultimately, it became his trademark. Often, unplanned things turn out to be the best. The same goes for a character in Two and a Half Men: A character in Two and a Half Men was supposed to disappear after only 2 episodes, but she was just too good.
