What are "pet sayings"?

Hey guys I'm thinking about writing a mystery novel and i was looking on the internet as to how to plan one out and I came across an aspect the the website asking "Do all your characters have the same pet sayings?". What are pet sayings? are they like sayings that are distinctive to the character? If anyone could clarify this I'd greatly appreciate it. Thanks and have a good one!

 

"Ah, but you are wrong m'sieur!"

"It's elemenatry, my dear Watson."

Both of these, of course, we never actually said by the characters they are associated with.

 

You've got it right that they're expressions that are distinctive to the individual character. If you want to come up with some, think about that character's education, social status, life experience, etc. What's appropriate for a battle-hardened soldier might not work for a bank clerk. Unless, of course, the bank clerk sees his life as a war.

Be careful about overdoing pet sayings. It should be just enough to give the music of the character's voice, or to establish the kind of person she is. But do let us hear the character using it, himself! I read a book once where the narrator remarked that a certain secondary character was "always" using the expression "That's ridiculous!" But he was given only one piece of dialogue with that phrase. The narrator's statement seemed intrusive and false, especially at that point in the story.

 

How are we defining pet sayings versus a catch phrase?

One of my late mother’s favorite saying, when we kids would say we wanted something, was ‘wish in one hand, shit in the other and see which fills first.’ If she wasn’t interested enough to string the words together, she’d just say ‘It’s good to want, isn’t it?. It was her way of saying no.

Elementary, dear Watson, I’ll be back, I love it when a plan comes together, Book ‘im, Dano, are all what I would think to be catch phrases.

 

"Just the facts, ma'am, just the facts."

"Inconceivable!"

Really?

 

Yep. Sherlock Holmes did say "Elementary" and "My dear Watson" a lot, but never together. And I'm pretty sure Poirot didn't say "Ah, but you are wrong m'sieur" in the books.

 

Sort of like how "play it again, Sam" was never actually spoken in Casablanca.