“Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die.”

Ever had this conversation with a complete stranger?  You: “What is…”

Stranger: “…your favorite color? Blue! No, yellow!!!!  Auggghhhh!!!!  Hahahahaha. Man–LOVED that Holy Grail movie.”

Yeah, me neither. OK, sure, I’ve had my share of Monty Python moments, bonding in the Cultural Literacy of the Self-Consciously Weird. But for REAL satisfaction, give me The Princess Bride every time.

“I…am not left-handed.” Say no more.

I won’t go into analytical detail of WHY this movie, now 26 years old, is so culturally sticky. Is it the hyperbolic campiness–“The Cliffs of Insanity!!!”?  The goofy dialogue–“You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means”? The sweetness of the actors–Carey Elwes’s baby face, Robin Wright’s adorable accent,  Mandy Patinkin’s (sweet!) legs in leather? Oh yeah–I said no detail.

I will say this. I’ve had more Princess Bride moments with my students, friends, my own family, and with complete strangers over the years than I ever had with Monty Python and Star Wars combined–and yes, I am that kind of nerd.

I know that movie by heart, ok? And I have my own favorite sweet line, at the end, when Fezzik the Giant says to the princess he’s just helped to rescue, “Hello, Lady.” But I wasn’t prepared for hearing what the actor Mandy Patinkin had to say about HIS favorite line, when I stumbled upon this interview from CBS:

“The purpose of life is to embrace our fellow man…to turn our darkness into light.”

Now that just might be my favorite line of all.

How about you? What’s YOUR favorite Princess Bride line? Or tell me why YOU think this movie sticks in our hearts.