Big OMG

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.
Even Joseph Joestar is afraid!
"They're eating her! Then they're going to eat me! OH MY GOD!!!"
—Arnold, Troll 2

Sometimes, an astonished someone just has to scream: "OH MY GOD!!!"

Anime that use this as Gratuitous English are always strange because they enunciate it like a Valley Girl—but they obviously intended the less... silly version.

Note that the Big OMG in more intimate situations has its own trope.

Rarely does their god answer, no matter how loud they shout.

Compare Big No, Big Word Shout.

Examples of Big OMG include:

Anime and Manga

Film

  • In a movie that consists of Ray Bradbury vignettes, the segment dealing with "the Veldt" ends with a psychologist discovering that two kids have fed their parents to lions in a "virtual" nursery. His reaction? A deadpan "Oh my god…".
  • Troll 2 shows how not to say it.
    • The worst part about it? Listen to the very end. He's not actually shouting "Oh my God!", he's shouting "Oh my Gosh!" - though it might just be a case of Gosh Dang It to Heck. Hopefully.
  • Dr. Cockroach has one of these in Monsters vs. Aliens. The twist? It's a literal "Oh-em-GEE!"
  • The Goonies loves this. "Oh my God" is stated 17 times, spoken by 7 characters. Some of the more drawn out ones include:
    • Mikey and Chunk when Chunk breaks the small statue of David.
    • Brand when he's about to fly off the road at high speed on a child-sized bicycle.
    • Stef and Andi when they step on the rake.
    • Mouth and Stef when they spot the pirate ship for the first time.
    • Mama Fratelli when Mouth spits out all the jewels he was hiding.
    • And finally topped off by the sheriff with "Holy Mary, mother of God" when he sees the pirate ship sailing off at the end.
  • In The Wicker Man (1972), Sgt. Howie lets out a few of these in the final scene, as well as a well-delivered Big No. Given Howie's strict Christianity, it seems likely that he is deliberately invoking God, rather than simply using the Big Man's name as an expletive.

Oh My God! Oh, Jesus Christ!

    • Pretty much a given, considering that he's just realized the locals are going to burn him alive and there's nothing he can do about it.
  • In Rookie of the Year as the kid goes up to bat for the first time the mother who's watching the game on television starts chanting oh my god then it switches to the the pitcher who he replaced who chants the same thing, than finally it switches to the titular kid who says the exact same thing before ducking the pitch.

Mother: Oh my god, oh my god
Replacedpitcher: Oh my god, oh my god
Kid: Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god, oh my god * pitch comes* Gaaaah! * ducks*

  • A great example is shouted by Austin Powers when he discovers his wife is a Fembot.
  • Tough Guys Don't Dance: The 'Oh, God! Oh, man!' from Ryan O' Neal.
  • Volcano: From Dr. Jaye Calder(Jacquline Kim) after the La Brea Tarpits exploded and erupted lava for the first time on Wilshire Blvd.
  • Happy Gilmore: Shooter Mcgavin said this when he turned around and saw Richard Kiel's character after he taunted him if he can drive the ball farther than Happy.
  • Liv Tyler has a hysterical (and hilarious) one of these when she first hears the Oneders on the radio in That Thing You Do
  • The Iron Giant: Kent when he notices half of his car is destroyed.
    • Also hilariously done when Hogarth says it during dinner and he's just noticed the giant's hand in the living room... and he turns it into part of the prayer he's saying.
  • Rick O'Connell gives us a slightly toned-down version when faced with a giant sand wall:

Rick: "Oh my god! Winston! PEDAL FASTEEER!!"

Ace: Oh my God! Einhorn is a man?!


Literature


Live-Action TV

  • iCarly: Spencer lets this loose when Sam's boyfriend Jonah ruins his claymation movie in iHate Sam's Boyfriend.
    • Carly, Sam, and Freddie also say this on various occasions.
    • In iGo To Japan Freddie shouts the three-letter version when pushed out of the airplane by Sam.
    • There was a whole episode called iOMG!
  • Janice on Friends has this as a catchphrase, typically with short pauses between each word.
    • Janice? This is arguably the catchphrase of the whole show - albeit more frequently used when Janice is around.
  • Roslin in Battlestar Galactica; "Oh My Gods, it's Ellen Tigh."
  • The Mouse Organ sketch from Monty Python's Flying Circus.
  • A mimed version by Donna in the Doctor Who episode "Partners in Crime."
  • The West Wing: C.J. does this in response to Bartlet's comeback in the presidential debate.
  • In a case of Gratuitous English for Hyakujuu Sentai Gaoranger, Gao Yellow yells this upon seeing a vampire-type thing rising from a coffin, smacking it with the nearest blunt object to emphsize each word.
  • House emits two of these in the same scene (with the same inflections as Janice above) when he inquires about Cuddy's missing underwear.
  • This has been said near the end in almost every Pimp My Ride episode when they reveal the drivers pimped out vehicle.
    • Take any American reality show. Rare is the episode when no big OMGs can be heard when they reveal the pimped out wardrobe/wife/friend/apartment. Shows with only young female participants (take America's Next Top Model) are extremely loaded with this...
      • ...to the point where many Finnish viewers, put off by the deadness of the horse as well as the very loudness of the flogging thereof, deliberately will watch a Canadian or Australian version instead. They are known as a stoic people, and the usage of similar phrases is rare, usually a result from heavy influece of American tv shows.
  • Andy has one of these on The Office when he realizes his girlfriend is actually a high school student. (Which sounds bad, but he says they "didn't do anything illegal...except knock over those mailboxes with her friends.") Jim then has a sarcastic "Oh my God" of his own in response.
  • On One Day At a Time, Ann Romano turned it into a catchphrase. She didn't say it loud, but she did draw it out: "Ohhhh, myyyy goooood..."


Music

  • Moon Zappa's first words in "Valley Girl", of course (along with 'like').
  • The first words in the video for Sir Mix-a-Lot's "Baby Got Back".
  • Doug E. Fresh and Slick Rick's "The Show" features "Oh My God" being scratched.
  • A Brazilian funk song starts with something: "Oh My God! They stole my Beetle!"
  • How about "Oh My God" by Ida Maria?
  • There's an excellent parody of the Valley Girl version in Marina & The Diamonds' "Hollywood".
  • The hip hop song 'Oh My God' by A Tribe Called Quest.
  • The last line of Van Halen's "Hot for Teacher".
  • "Oh My God" by The Police.
  • "Sunday Morning After" by Amanda Marshall has this.
  • Jars of Clay's "Oh My God", which is definitely of the prayer type.


Newspaper Comics

  • Comic strip Zits makes a commentary on the frequency in which girls spout this phrase; in one, D'ijon (Pierce's GF) and Sara gush over the the birthday present Pierce gave her- ergo, many omgs from both girls. On the side, Pierce's friend Jeremy tells him "Nicely done", to which Pierce responds, "Thanks- anything beyond six 'Oh My Gods' ranks as genius."


Professional Wrestling

  • Joey Styles used this as his catchphrase. After a particularly high-risk spot, he lets out a high-pitched "OH MY GOD!!!"
    • Alternately, if it involves luchadores, it will become the Spanish equivalent: "¡AY DIOS MIO!!!"
  • You also have Jim Ross's Southern variant: "BAH GAWD!"
    • "GOOD GAWD ALMIGHTY, THEY'VE KILLED 'IM! AS GAWD AS MY WITNESS HE IS BROKEN IN HALF!"
  • Jerry Lawler's no stranger to this trope, either.
  • Booker T says "Oh My Goodness"


Radio

  • Griff Rhys Jones' Radio 2 comedy show had a recurring sketch about a stereotypical American sitcom called "Oh My God", so called because, indeed, at least 50% of the dialogue was characters screaming "Oh...My...God!" for no reason.


Theater

  • Legally Blonde: The Musical, naturally, turns it into a song. A long, bouncy, joyful song.
  • Noises Off features one of these, shouted very loudly by a man backstage during the middle of a performance. Fortunately, it coincided exactly with a point in the script at which the same phrase was to be shouted.
  • Sweeney Todd get both this and a Big No when he discovers that the Beggar Woman he just murdered is actually his wife. He even sings it.


Video Games

  • Fatal Fury: Franco Bash's Death Cry Echo is arguably his most recognizable gimmick.
  • Hilariously done in Shadow Hearts: From The New World; when it is revealed just how much is at stakes, hyperactive Frank lets out a non-subtitled "OH MY GOD!" with over-dramatic body language. Nobody notices. Or cares.
  • In The World Ends With You, Shiki, upon seeing her idol the Prince: "Omi- omi- omi- oho ho ho ho ohh! emm! gee!" Joshua thinks she's having a stroke.
  • Final Fight: OH, MY CAR!
  • Used seriously a couple of times in Portal 2, most notably when GLaDOS realizes that she used to be Caroline.

Web Comics

Web Originals

Lemon: OH MY GOD! It's WASABIII!

  • Idiots of Garry's Mod had a scene where an actor invoked this trope upon noticing his chat buddy being covered in headcrabs.
  • In episode three of Team XGP's Outlaw Star Abridged, Hilda does this upon seeing a "Space-F-C" restaurant. McDougal's drive-through is closer, but "They don't have the Double-Down!"
  • This single match Let's Play deserves a special mention... Try to shout OMG 34 TIMES. OUT LOUD. And that's as a part of an Affectionate Parody of Joel Gertner... or was it more of a bad impersonation? Well, YMMV.
  • Chuggaaconroy's walkthrough of Pokémon Crystal contains this. Specifically, when he finds a shiny Koffing in Burned Tower. Lampshaded later in the walkthrough, given that it is Chuggaaconroy.
  • Duke Nukem quotes the exact line from Troll 2 in Duke Nukem Forever Fail


Western Animation

  • In King of the Hill, this is one of Hank's favorite catchphrases, usually denoting something he either does not or can not understand.
  • Brian gives a truncated one in Family Guy while Stewie's beating him senseless over an unpaid loan, just before Stewie takes the Amusing Injuries to the next level...

Brian: "Stewie, this is crazy, you've got to... oh my god!" (gets roasted by a flamethrower)

  • South Park has the oft-repeated line, "OH MY GOD! They Killed Kenny! You bastards!"
    • Randy Marsh gets two separate Big OMGs when he realizes every senior citizen in town is driving at the same time.
  • Candace of Phineas and Ferb gets a good one. Bonus points for actually saying the letters instead of the phrase.
  • The Simpsons: Here's one from "Missionary: Impossible":

Homer: Oh, how's the TV reception here? Excellent, or ...
Q'Toktok: [wondering] Tee ... vee?
Homer: You don't have TV? But what will I watch when I'm sitting on the couch?
Ak: [slowly] Couch?
Homer: No couches either? Oh, man, I need a beer.
[Q'Toktok and Ak just stare at each other]
[Homer collapses to the ground] Oh, God! Oh, God! Oh, God! Oh, God!
Natives: [imitating and collapsing like Homer] Oh, God! Oh, God! Oh, God! Oh, God!

  • A pre-credits sketch in Animaniacs makes fun of "previously on" clips in tv shows. Sprinkled amongst numerous clip are an action-heroy looking guy looking off camera while exclaiming "Oh My GOD!" after which an explosion goes off.
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