That'll Put the Lotion In The Basket
Do you remember The Silence of the Lambs? Perhaps you remember the line about “putting the lotion in the basket,” which inspired this highly unusual pop sensation. Urban Dictionary has a very amusing definition of “puts the lotion in the basket” as slang.
Used to describe events or objects that are extraordinary in some way. Derived from the film The Silence of the Lambs, in which the line, “It puts the lotion in the basket, or it gets the hose again” is uttered to a woman in an extraordinarily bad situation. Connotation is often but not necessarily negative, and always implied.
“What do you mean your wife is cheating on you? That puts the lotion in the basket.”
“Man, did you see how fast that car can go? That sucker really puts the lotion in the basket!”
“I spit in Brenda’s coffee. That’ll put the lotion in her basket.”
Pure genius.
I suspect it got spread when the line and the song showed up in an episode of “Grey’s Anatomy.”
— Klug · May 14, 04:44 AM · #
Good blog. One small point of information. Actually, you have the quote wrong. It goes more like “It puts the lotion on its skin, or else it gets the hose again.” It’s a rhyme. He does NOT say “It put the lotion in the basket or else it gets the hose again.” Just a small point.
— Home Slice · May 15, 01:14 AM · #
I’ve finally gotten past thinking about that scene when I watch Monk while channel-surfing and see that actor playing Monk’s boss. That guy creeped me out for years.
— Joules · May 15, 03:47 AM · #
A goal in hockey is sometimes called “putting the biscuit in the basket.” Your job: compare and contrast. You have one hour.
— Alan Jacobs · May 15, 02:02 PM · #
That’s where it comes from? Man, that movie has a lot to answer for.
— Matt Frost · May 15, 02:11 PM · #
This strikes me as the Nehru jacket of rhetorical fashion.
— unclesmedley · May 16, 01:12 AM · #
Didn’t Silence The Musical come out before the Greenskeeper song?
— David Cole · May 16, 02:58 AM · #
home slice – nah man, it’s NOT a small point – this is right up there with a-holes who use the word “literally” incorrectly (i.e. to mean “figuratively”…
anyways, i don’t know where this adage is in use, but i haven’t heard anyone use it. spankings for sure if i ever hear it – it just so happens to be one of my favorite lines in the movie.
— john · May 16, 10:18 AM · #