Goodnight Sweet Prince

Haha, nice try troll...oh wait

Goodnight Sweet Prince is a line that appears in many esteemed works of literature and films like Robocop. It is most notably used in the film classic The Big Lebowski:

"Donny was a good bowler, and a good man. He was one of us. He was a man who loved the outdoors... and bowling, and as a surfer he explored the beaches of Southern California, from La Jolla to Leo Carrillo and... up to... Pismo. He died, like so many young men of his generation, he died before his time. In your wisdom, Lord, you took him, as you took so many bright flowering young men at Khe Sanh, at Langdok, at Hill 364. These young men gave their lives. And so would Donny. Donny, who loved bowling. And so, Theodore Donald Karabotsos, in accordance with what we think your dying wishes might well have been, we commit your final mortal remains to the bosom of the Pacific Ocean, which you loved so well. Good night, sweet prince." ~Walter Sobchak

An appearance of the phrase has also been recorded in a rightfully unknown Richard Pryor's movie called Brewster's millions. The phrase appears as "Nighty-night, sweet prince" and thus possibly does not qualify to be on this page.

As a common phrase, "Good night, sweet prince" is used to mourn the death of a loved one who has recently passed. As an internet meme, it is used as an oft-repeated phrase on /b/ to falsely claim somebody famous has died IRL. It no longer has any effect, since it is nearly always just a troll to send /b/tards off in a Google-frenzy looking for the 'death' in question. The post usually starts with a picture of the dead guy in question (always a man, since otherwise it would be "Sweet Princess," and also because noone cares when women die) with a simple line or two of text such as Joey Bishop, (1918-2007), Goodnight Sweet Prince. If the death is real and a beloved hero to Anonymous (usually somebody fucked up like Pol Pot or Hitler, but sometimes an 'innocent' downy water mammal such as Bucketseal) much heartfelt discussion ensues. However, if it's just a troll (and it always is), you can bet the farm that it will be followed by 500 similar fake death notices. Additionally, a common twist on the trolling involves purposely mislabeling the celeb in question: for instance, use a picture of David Bowie and call him Iggy Pop.

Gallery

Gallery About missing Pics

• 
  Michael Jackson dies...
• 
  ...but not that one
• gone too soon? not nearly soon enough.
  gone too soon? not nearly soon enough.
• 
  Posted after the death of U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson's wife, Lady Bird Johnson

[Collapse GalleryExpand Gallery]

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  Line Trap - not dead
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• 
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  You are DOING IT WRONG
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  An rare example of this meme not being used to perpetuate a hoax
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  Goodnight, fresh prince?
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  Some say he can't die, and that he is really a walking coffin.
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  Argies will miss him.

External Links

• Find A Death A site where necrophiliacs can fap to pictures of dead celebrities

Goodnight Sweet Prince is part of a series on Memes Visit the Memes Portal for complete coverage.

Featured article April 2, 2009
Preceded by Chris-chan	Goodnight Sweet Prince	Succeeded by Lulzcast