See How ‘Oh My’ Became George Takei’s Catchphrase

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Take a quick peek at the Twitter feed from George Takei — the actor famous for his Star Trek and advocacy roles, and the star of the new documentary To Be Takei — and it’s immediately clear that he has a catchphrase.

He uses it in a sentence:

From a fan. Oh Myyy. Let's tiptoe through these tulips. pic.twitter.com/z0qb2OTthJ

— George Takei (@GeorgeTakei) July 31, 2014

He uses it as a hashtag:

In case you missed it: These @StarTrek memes are sure to make you Shatner yourself #OhMyy http://t.co/dnIvCzYY7X

— George Takei (@GeorgeTakei) July 31, 2014

He even has his own link shortener, which churns out catchphrase-inspired short URLs for him to tweet:

These hilariously reinterpreted "selfies" on @CollegeHumor made me giggle. You must see: http://t.co/0P3dzbdz4B pic.twitter.com/rHmpIzbrtv

— George Takei (@GeorgeTakei) July 30, 2014

But how did “Oh my!” come to be his catchphrase? Here, Takei tells TIME.

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Write to Diane Tsai at diane.tsai@time.com and Lily Rothman at lily.rothman@time.com