15 Hilarious Rickyisms We’ve Added To Our Vocabulary

Summary

• Ricky’s unique choice of words creates memorable Rickyisms that steal the show on Trailer Park Boys.
• These hilarious malapropisms have become fan favorites, with some being so absurd they’re unforgettable.
• Ricky’s dim-witted charm and constant misuse of idioms add a comedic element to the show’s dynamic.

Ricky is one of the funniest parts of Trailer Park Boys and has made his mark thanks to his unique choice of words that result in some memorable “Rickyisms”. The Canadian mockumentary sitcom follows the lives of the residents of a small Nova Scotian trailer park as they spend their time getting up to petty crimes and sharing a unique friendship. When it comes to Ricky, he often steals the show as a dim-witted career criminal who seems to think he is a lot smarter than he really is. This makes for his constant malapropisms and misuse of idioms.

These sayings have become known as Rickyisms by Trailer Park Boys fans and are undoubtedly some of the funniest lines and moments on the show. Every episode has at least one or two that are so memorable that it’s hard to resist quoting them over and over again. However, there are a select few that are just so good, so funny, and so absurd, that they absolutely need to be repeated. These Rickyisms are so memorable that it is hard not to replace the real correct saying with Ricky’s oblivious reimaginings.

15 “It’s Clear To See Who Makes The Pants Here.”

If You Love Something, Set It Free (Season 4, Episode 6)

Corey and Trevor are two of the funniest characters on Trailer Park Boys as they are inept and childish men who, despite their many faults, look up to Julian and Ricky. While they are usually more than willing to be bossed around by these two, the episode “If You Love Something, Set It Free” finds a bit of a breakdown of the dynamic when Cory and Trevor find a new boss in the form of Sarah

After Bubbles adopted a high mountain lion that attacked Cory and Trevor, Sarah told them they weren’t allowed to work with Ricky and Julian anymore, which resulted in Ricky’s incorrect use of the phrase “I see who wears the pants here” to refer to Sarah’s controlling role in their relationship. Whether Ricky actually suspected Sarah made their pants or if he thought it through that far is unclear.

14 “Survival Of The Fitness, Boys.”

We Can’t Call People Without Wings Angels So We Call Them Friends (Season 7, Episode 6)

Ricky is one of the great toxic TV characters who even more the other Trailer Park Boys characters look better and more decent in comparison. Ricky even shows that he has no sympathy for people who have helped him with countless misadventures. After Cory and Trevor disappeared while on a mission for Ricky and Julian in the seventh season’s “We Can’t Call People Without Wings Angels So We Call Them Friends,” the boys discover Julian’s car crashed into the lake, which led them to believe that their two helpers had died.

While Julian and Bubbles were concerned, Ricky brushed it off as nature claiming the weak like the tenets of “survival of the fittest.” It is a heartless reaction from Ricky made hilarious by his misuse of words. Ironically, going by Darwin’s laws of the “Survival of the fittest,” Ricky likely wouldn’t be smart enough to make it in the wild.

13 “Worst-Case Ontario…”

Mr. Lahey Is A F*ckin’ Drunk, And He Always Will Be (Season 5, Episode 5)

The more common saying when discussing the worst possible outcome in any given situation is to wonder about a “worst-case scenario,” though Ricky is definitely not known for his understanding of common sayings. When Ricky tries to convince Bubbles to go along with a check scam so they can buy a rocket set for Bubbles to make him feel better, he drops one of his best Rickyisms by hypothesizing about the “worst-case Ontario” for the situation, referencing one of the provinces of Canada.

While the Canadian TV show has enjoyed international success, it is always proud of its country and includes many references and jokes that would likely be appreciated by Canadian viewers more than anyone else. Ricky’s misuse of this phrase could be a sign of his own views on the more affluent and prominent Canadian province.

12 “He Passed With Flyin’ F*****n’ Carpets.”

Propane, Propane (Season 4, Episode 7)

Trailer Park Boys‘ Bubbles is the standout character of the show and often the most likable of the group. However, it is charming the way Ricky stands up for his friend on occasion. The fourth season episode “Propane, Propane” saw the boys attempting to move Ricky’s dope with a truck that they need Bubbles to drive since Ricky’s dad refused to help with the plan because he didn’t want to get caught in his own disability scam.

The scam is meant to benefit Ricky’s plan, but it also happened to be Bubbles’ dream to drive a truck. When Bubbles predictably doesn’t pass his driving test, Ricky lied to Julian about the test, revealing that he “passed with flying f****n’ carpets,” which didn’t quite nail the original saying of “passed with flying colors“ but made it up for it with unbridled enthusiasm.

11 “Think That’ll Just Be Water Out Of The F***** Fridge?”

Money Can Suck My C**k (Season 8, Episode 1)

One of the funniest aspects of the show is that Ricky and the others allow a documentary crew to follow them around and film them committing crimes without any worries. It is barely acknowledged that the crews are there and the concept simply helps maintain the low-budget approach of the show. This leads to a memorable moment of the mockumentary TV show addressing the format of the show and making it part of the story.

When the film crew from SwearNet arrived to document the season, Ricky attacked them due to their false promises when he signed a contract for them. Ricky couldn’t believe that the film crew thought they would be able to just put their issues behind them, like water under the bridge. It is another example of these Rickyisms being all the more funny when Ricky is worked up when saying them.

10 “Atodaso.”

The Sh*t Puppets (Season 5, Episode 2)

A lot of the most memorable Rickyisms are so funny because of the irony involved. Ricky is perhaps the dimmest guy in the trailer park but he seems to think he is very clever. What’s more, he enjoys talking down to people who he feels have made stupid mistakes without ever realizing his own stupidity. This is where his Rickyisms come from as he is too arrogant to suspect that he could be using the wrong words.

“Atodaso” is one of the most frequently used of Ricky’s exclamations and is meant to be his version of “I told you so.” Whether it is a rushed way of speaking or he truly doesn’t know that saying either is unclear. However, the fact that he uses it so much highlights how much Ricky likes to tell people how right he is and how wrong they are, even if that might not necessarily be the truth.

9 “What Comes Around Is All Around.”

Mr. Lahey’s Got My Porno Tape! (Season 1, Episode 3)

It is clear with some of these Rickyisms that it is not simply Ricky misunderstanding them but also that he didn’t put a moment of thought into whether or not it is correct. Then there are some rare examples of how his Rickyisms are not too off the base. Most people are familiar with the phrase “what goes around comes around,” but Ricky reimagined it as “What comes around is all around.” While that misses the point behind the original saying, there’s a pretty fair argument to be made that it is at least a factually correct statement.

While “what goes around comes around” is meant to be kind of a threatening warning against bad behavior, “what comes around is all around” sounds like a more philosophical way of suggesting how things are how they will always be. However, that is giving Ricky way too much credit and the prior evidence simply suggests that he got it wrong yet again.

8 “I’m Not A Pessimist, I’m An Optometrist.”

Halloween 1977 (Season 6, Episode 5)

Trailer Park Boys is typically about the simple life within the park, and especially with Ricky, the characters don’t often get out and experience much of the world. Ricky seems to solely bounce between the trailer and prison which could account for some of the ways he gets mixed up with these sayings. Had he actually known what an optometrist was, it is likely that Ricky would have easily recognized his mistake.

When challenged on his outlook on life, Ricky denies being a pessimist but suggests the opposite of a pessimist is a doctor who specializes in the examination of the eyes. Of course, this makes him look like quite a fool, but it should be noted that it is impressive that Ricky did at least seem to know what a pessimist was in the first place.

7 “Get Two Birds Stoned At Once.”

Rub ‘N Tiz’zug (Season 4, Episode 3)

When it comes to the life of crime and Ricky and his friends embark on, they are always looking for opportunities to make their lives easier. Ricky gets excited about one of these prospects in season 4’s “Rub ‘N Tiz’zug”, suggesting that they have the opportunity to accomplish two goals in one move, or as Ricky explains, “Get two birds stoned at the same time.”

The correct phrase is obviously, “kill two birds with one stone” but this is yet another instance in which Ricky’s mistaken use of the phrase accidentally works as intended. Given Ricky’s love of marijuana, getting “stoned” is a good thing, and therefore, getting two birds stoned at the same time would be more efficient than getting them stoned separately. Why someone would want to get birds stoned in the first place is not a thought that crosses Ricky’s mind.

6 “Sweet Empowered Chicken?”

The Bible Pimp (Season 2, Episode 5)

Many of Ricky’s misused sayings are close enough to the real thing that they are easy enough to determine just from reading it. “Sweet empowered chicken” is not one of the most intuitive Rickyism on the show and also one of the most baffling when it comes to how he landed on that in the first place.

This is what Ricky thinks everyone else is saying when they talk about “sweet and sour chicken.” Sweet and sour is a pretty clear and straightforward way of explaining that particular chicken dish which would seemingly be hard for anyone to misinterpret. However, it is perhaps that Ricky is so impressed with this dish that he sees it as some sort of “empowered” chicken, superior to the rest. In any case, it remains one of Ricky’s more embarrassing blunders.

5 “It’s Not Rocket Appliances.”

If I Can’t Smoke And Swear. I’m F**ked (Season 3, Episode 3)

This is another Rickyism that shows Ricky’s ignorance as he is arrogantly trying to show that he is smarter than others. When someone says “It’s not rocket science,” it is often used in a demeaning and passive-aggressive way of suggesting something should be easy because it doesn’t take a lot of brain power or intelligence to get it done. It is the kind of thing Ricky would say to his underlings, Trevor and Corey, even if he doesn’t get the phrase right.

Ricky is one of the great TV protagonists that the audience can laugh at. They do not need to respect him, they just need to find him funny and his dim-witted ways make for some of the funniest parts of the show. Arrogantly telling people, “It’s not rocket appliance” without a sense of irony or awareness is comedic brilliance.

4 “I’m Self-Smarted.”

The Shit Blizzard (Season 5, Episode 10)

Given his limited intellect, the entrepreneurial spirit that Ricky has is at least impressive. While Julian is typically the one with all the ideas, Ricky has embarked upon a number of schemes over the course of the series, suggesting he has more intelligence than he lets on. However, when he starts to discuss that intelligence, that is when Ricky makes himself out to be a fool once again.

Ricky insists that he didn’t have a traditional education and learned things about the world on his own. He credits such things as nature and taking drugs as being important to his education. However, when Ricky describes himself as a self-smarter and boastfully claims that he “self-learned” himself, it suggests that he would have benefited more from some more traditional forms of education rather than relying on drugs and nature.

3 “How Can A Peanut Kill Someone? It’s Not Even A Person.”

The Winds of S**t (Season 5, Episode 7)

It is amazing the things that baffle Ricky that the majority of the world just accepts as basic facts. Once again, this is another example of Ricky venturing outside his comfort zone of the trailer park and finding himself over his head in the real world. However, what is most embarrassing about this is that Ricky gets confused reading a sign that is intended for young children.

Ricky and his friends are at an elementary school when Ricky spots a poster warning the students about peanut allergies in the school, reading “Peanuts The Silent Killer.” Ricky immediately thinks this is ridiculous because he takes the message far too literally. It is a hilarious random moment for a number of reasons but mostly the fact that Ricky assumed the school was trying to erroneously warn students about peanuts murdering them.

2 “My Brain Is Short Circulating.”

The Dirty Dancer (Season 8, Episode 3)

Ricky cannot seem to avoid highlighting his own ignorance with his already ignorant Rickyisms. So many of these sayings point to the irony in his lack of intelligence without him even realizing it. This particular saying shows that not only can Ricky not handle mind-bending news, but he also cannot correctly describe what is happening.

Rather than feeling like his brain is short-circuiting, Ricky gives this explanation that is a little more confusing albeit closer than many of his other Rickyisms. However, diving a little deeper into what he is saying, there is a medical term known as malapropism which means when a person mistakes one word for another. Regardless of a person’s intellect, this can be a sign of “brain short-circuiting” which may just help to explain the reason behind all of these Rickyisms.

1 “This Thing Here Is Smarter Than Me I Guess, But It Has A Battery.”

The Winds of S**t (Season 5, Episode 7)

Ricky probably has hundreds of hilarious Rickyisms over the many seasons of Trailer Park Boys, but there is no other Rickyism that stands out more than this one. Unlike many of his sayings, this one shows a humbled side of Ricky while also giving him a genuinely astute observation, albeit one that matches his particular personality. This particular quote is in reference to a calculator and Ricky reluctantly admitting that it is smarter than him but that he will last longer than it.

It is not likely that Ricky would ever admit defeat like this to an actual human, but he seems to be okay with bowing to an inferior machine. However, the way in which he feels like he still needs to get one up on the calculator by insulting its need for a battery is a classic Ricky move.