You Need a Breath Mint

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

Rarity: Uh! What is that smell?
Diamond Dog: Smeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeell?
Rarity: Ah, mystery solved. It's your breath.

—My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic, "A Dog and Pony Show"

Stock Phrases used when someone comments on another one's bad breath.

Examples of You Need a Breath Mint include:

Advertising

  • Cited in a commercial for CreditStinks.com. "If someone told you you had bad breath, you'd brush your teeth."

Anime and Manga

  • Tai in the Digimon Adventure movie makes a remark about Koromon's breath after he kisses him.
  • David and Veemon in Digimon Adventure 02 both say Tortomon has bad breath after he pants near them from exhaustion.
  • Takato from Digimon Tamers mutters in his sleep "bad breath" after sleeping directly next to Guilmon's head and mouth.

Comic Books

  • Parodied in Le Petit Spirou, where the chronic romantic general failure that is the P.E. teacher freshens his breath with a deodorant spray and his armpits with Tic Tac mints.

Film

  • Subverted in Mickey's Twice Upon a Christmas, when Santa yawns in Louie's face, causing him to recoil. He suddenly says that his breath smells like peppermint and mocha.
  • Timon tells Simba in The Lion King 1 ½ to aim his foul morning breath in a different direction after he yawns in his face.
  • When Crash and Eddie from Ice Age 2 try to save an unconscious Sid from drowning, one of them grabs him by the mouth and opens it, causing one of them to say, "You really need to brush."
  • Nonverbal, but Darwin in Rugrats Go Wild clearly can't stand Spike's breath when he's yelling at him, and repeatedly waves a hand in front of his face and tries to get away from him.
  • Shrek, after Shrek roars at Donkey to try and scare him:

Donkey: Wow, that was really scary. And if you don't mind me saying, if that doesn't work, your breath will certainly get the job done, 'cause you definitely need some Tic Tacs or something, 'cause your breath stinks!

  • In Hoodwinked, after Wolf's useless attempt at posing as Red's granny, demands to know Granny's recipe from her. He gets too close to her face, prompting her to say, "Oh, Granny, what bad breath you have!"
  • Master Shifu in Kung Fu Panda tells Po not to stand so close to him so he won't smell his breath.
  • The wolf in The Rugrats Movie growls and opens its mouth as it prepares to eat Angelica. She becomes disgusted by its breath, although blames the smell on Spike.
  • The Princess and the Frog has this exchange:

Louis: You okay, li'l bug?
Ray: I'm fine. Just your breath done near killed me to death.

  • Happens subtly in Roadside Romeo, when Romeo gets a whiff of Chhainu's breath and waves a paw in front of his nose.
  • In Treasure Planet, we get Jim doing this while Mr. Scroop is trying to scare him into minding his own business.

Jim: Too bad my nose is working just fine.

  • In Code Name: The Cleaner, Jake tells the Big Bad that his breath "smells like ass" after he angrily demands information from him.
  • Holly from Die Hard 2 advises Dick Thornburg to use stronger mouthwash after he gets too close to her a few times.
  • Steven from Primeval offers Jojo Tic-Tacs as a friendly gesture. He later tells Tim that he did it only because his breath was bad.
  • In the live-action Marmaduke film (and in the novel), the titular dog exhales in Mazie's face, causing her to back away and tell him that he has garbage breath.
  • Subverted in Pirates of the Caribbean with the Kraken. A few people mentioned that the monster had horrible breath, but after it roars in Captain Jack Sparrow's face, he simply shudders and mutters, "Not so bad."
  • Godzilla from 1998 Godzilla, after he roars in Nick's face.
  • Lucky from the first Doctor Dolittle film, after he barks next to Rodney.

Rodney: "You know, a Tic-Tac wouldn't kill ya."

  • In Theodore Rex, Katie remarks about Theodore's bad breath several times. At one point she even squirted breath spray in his mouth.
  • After one of the demons in the live-action |Scooby Doo film roars in Velma's face, she responds by saying it has a great mask, but bad breath.
  • In the Dirty Harry film The Enforcer, Harry tells Lieutenant Briggs, after Briggs gives Harry a too close dressing down, "Your mouthwash ain't cutting it".
  • The Big Bad in Good Burger threatens Ed while standing too close to his face. Ed calmly tells him afterwards that he needs a Tic-Tac.
  • Eddie Murphy's character does this to a biker in The Golden Child:

Chandler Jarrell: Hey, hey, hey...In my pocket, there's a whole thing of Tic-Tacs. Take as many as you want.

  • Draco from Dragonheart, when Bowen says that his breath is foul after sitting in his mouth for several hours.
  • The wyvern from the SyFy film Wyvern. One of the characters makes a comment about a horrible smell in the air after it roars for a rather long time inside the bar she and other characters are hiding in.

Literature

  • Foremole in Mariel of Redwall jokingly tells Burgo that his garlic breath is so strong that he could slay enemies with it.
    • Lask Frildur (and his Monitor lizards) from Pearls of Lutra. Nonverbal though since anyone who actually smelled Lask's breath simply scowled and turned their head away.
    • Eefera from Taggerung after he eats wild ramsons. Vallug Bowbeast jokes that his breath is so bad that he could climb into Redwall and knock out the guards just by breathing on them.
  • Tavi to Ambassador Varg in the Codex Alera. Made more badass by their relative size difference, the fact that Tavi had assumed a command that he didn't have, Tavi's total lack of magical protection, and so he put a knife to Varg's throat and then insulted him. Retrospectively, Varg knew from that encounter that Tavi was a Gaius.

Live-Action TV

Abed: Conflicts like this will ultimately bring us together as an unlikely family.
Troy: You have horrible breath right now.

  • In Flashpoint, during a practice takedown, the "suspect" jokes that Sam's breath needs to be classified as less-lethal (they're old army buddies).
  • In one episode of NCIS a suspect's repeat offender breath makes Ziva request mints.
  • In the House episode "House Divided", Cuddy is trying to sober up House's team.

Cuddy: "Wait! Everyone's getting breath mints!"

Music

Newspaper Comics

Seth's Boyfriend: I'd be more inclined to dish the dirt if you'd stop lunching on garlic pizza.

Recorded and Stand Up Comedy

Peanut: (to Jeff) Dude, you need a Tic-Tac. Don't you know what you breath smells like?
Jeff: What?
Peanut: Dun-ham!! Dot com!

Video Games

  • In Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, Petuni makes a remark saying that Bowser is a scary "Giant Bad Breath Monster."
  • A couple of the characters in the Jak and Daxter series, most of which involve Daxter telling said person about their breath.
  • In Ratchet: Deadlocked, Gleeman Vox laughs airily in Ratchet's face, prompting him to wave a hand in front of his nose.
  • In Sly Cooper 3, Bently insults Muggshot by saying he gargled with raw sewage overnight. Muggshot doesn't even try to deny it, stating that the smell of his breath helps him maintain his "personal space."
  • Pox from Destroy All Humans! mentions that the Blisk aliens have "withering halitosis."
  • Nonverbal it may be, but Amaterasu is clearly thinking this when she gets a faceful of Mr. Orange's sake breath in Okami.
  • In The Secret of Monkey Island, Guybrush can't even talk to the prisoner in the town jail until he find some breath mints, the poor guy's halitosis is so bad (it apparently stems from not being fed regularly and being forced to feed on rats).
  • In Mother 3, when Kumatora first meets Duster, she suddenly approaches his face. After a few moments she backs away and comments "his breath kinda stinks".
  • Primordial Serpent Kingseeker Frampt of Dark Souls apparently has terrible breath according to the Crestfallen Warrior. And he transports you in his mouth...
  • Knights of the Old Republic: Mission comments her best-buddy Zaalbar has dog breath.

"The Vulkar was so scared, he fainted. Either that, or Big Z's breath just knocked him out. I keep telling Zaalbar to brush those choppers of his, but he never listens. Just stay upwind when he's talking and you'll be fine."

  • Also applies to the PC -if you believe Jolee Bindo, anyway:

Jolee: "You remind me of someone I used to know. Great destiny, all of that. Breath like a Bantha."
PC: "Is that a comment on my breath?"
Jolee: "No, but it could be. An Anduvian salt tablet would clear that right up, you know."

  • Death Breath, the first boss in the old NES game Kid Niki, who uses his bad breath as a weapon.

Web Comics

Western Animation

  • Jonny from Ed, Edd 'n' Eddy, after he's force-fed anchovies, belches loudly in Ed's face. He waves a hand in front of his nose before saying, "Low tide!"
  • Wildmutt from Ben 10, after he lands in front of Gwen in the pilot episode.

Gwen: "Ew! Two words: breath mints!"

  • Mr. Herriman in Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends gets a whiff of Bloo's morning breath, which smells so foul he demands Bloo brush his teeth as soon as possible.
  • Set from Tutenstein, after disgusting Tut by yawning in his face.
  • On a Looney Tunes short, Yosemite Sam gets too close to Bugs Bunny as he talks, and Bugs responds with "You've been eating onions."
  • In the Danny Phantom episode "Parental Bonding", Sam (after she transformed into the Ghost Dragon) breaths her fiery breath at Danny. Although he dodges the attack, he still catches wind of her breath.

Danny: "Whoa, Sam! Two words: breath mints."

Applejack: Does [Rainbow Dash] really understand what a pet really needs?
Twilight: Yeah, like care and attention, love and affection...
[Winona licks her face]
Twilight: UGH! And breath mints!

  • In the Looney Tunes short "Pigs in a Polka," The Big Bad Wolf blows on the third pig's door three times in an effort to blow his brick house down. One of the pigs offers the wolf a bottle of mouthwash, which he promptly slaps away.
  • The episode "Dragon Breath" in American Dragon: Jake Long revolves around...well, guess.
  • "The Incredible Shrinking Dinosaurs" episode from Extreme Dinosaurs has Bullzeye saying this to Haxx after he's released from his mouth:

Bullzeye: "UGH! What do you use for mouthwash: rotten eggs?"

  • Mr. Whiskers in Brandy and Mr. Whiskers. Not only have characters commented about his breath, but he managed to kill a flower with it.
    • Whiskers lampshades this with Ed in the same episode after realizing many animals are avoiding them. When Ed exhales in Whisker's face, his fur falls out.
  • In the Dinosaur Train episode "T. Rex Teeth", Tiny whispers to Buddy that Dolores' breath smells awful. Buddy thinks it's because she ate carrion, and after he eats some and exhales in Tiny's face, she confesses that his breath smells too.
  • The Static Shock episode "Static Shaq" has Shaq saying this to Ferret when he tried to bite him:

Shaq: "I've got one word for you: mouthwash!"

  • The SpongeBob SquarePants episode "Something Smells" centers around Spongebob having rancid breath. However everyone around him runs away (or dies in some cases) as opposed to telling him he needs a breath mint.
    • Spongebob does tell Patrick though, when he also gets bad breath near the end.
  • Nina from Camp Lazlo offers Chip and Skip after-dinner mints after smelling their breath on her date with them.
  • Avatar: The Last Airbender:

Actor!Sokka: You're the only girl who's ever managed to take my mind off food. Did you have pickled fish for dinner?
Actor!Yue: I must go, Sokka. I have important moon duties to attend to. And yes. I did have pickled fish for dinner.

  • The Turbo Dogs episode "Turbo Toothache" has GT eating part of an onion in an attempt to soothe his sore tooth. After that doesn't work, Strut comes along and asks him to open his mouth so he can see what's wrong. You can see where this is going.
    • Earlier in "Stink Positive", Stinkbert blows up a balloon and gives it to Dash, advising him not to let it pop. Dash quickly plugs his nose and groans, saying he "wouldn't dream of it."
  • A Halloween Episode of My Gym Partners a Monkey has Jake commenting on an old custodian's bad breath.
  • Arthur, in a conversation between Binky and George about creating a new language:

Binky: "Guess what this means." *belches in George's face*
George: "Ugh! 'I want a breath mint'?"

Kitty: My claws are registered as deadly weapons!
Dudley: Maybe you should register your breath!

  • The Flash when he and the Justice League face the fire-breathing Hades:

Flash Whoo, someone get this guy a breath mint!

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