--- description: Say it with us... title: George Takei To Be Takei Movie Interview: Oh My Howard Stern Story image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8bef6bd2717cf920/6986a055f983e711a104f50d/ohmy_1280.png?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) ## Entertainment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Pop Culture](/tag/pop-culture/) ## Pop Culture Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # See How 'Oh My' Became George Takei's Catchphrase by [Diane Tsai](/author/diane-tsai/) and [Lily Rothman](/author/lily-rothman/) Aug 21, 2014 1:42 PM CUT  George Takei explains how 'Oh my' became his catchphrase George Takei explains how 'Oh my' became his catchphraseDiane Tsai—TIME by [Diane Tsai](/author/diane-tsai/) and [Lily Rothman](/author/lily-rothman/) Aug 21, 2014 1:42 PM CUT 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](http://t.co/z0qb2OTthJ "undefined") — George Takei (@GeorgeTakei) [July 31, 2014](https://twitter.com/GeorgeTakei/status/494898637009604608?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw "undefined") He uses it as a hashtag: In case you missed it: These [@StarTrek](https://twitter.com/StarTrek?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw "undefined") memes are sure to make you Shatner yourself [#OhMyy](https://twitter.com/hashtag/OhMyy?src=hash&ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw "undefined") — George Takei (@GeorgeTakei) [July 31, 2014](https://twitter.com/GeorgeTakei/status/494830146864836608?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw "undefined") He even has his own link shortener, which churns out catchphrase-inspired short URLs for him to tweet: These hilariously reinterpreted "selfies" on [@CollegeHumor](https://twitter.com/CollegeHumor?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw "undefined") made me giggle. You must see: [pic.twitter.com/rHmpIzbrtv](http://t.co/rHmpIzbrtv "undefined") — George Takei (@GeorgeTakei) [July 30, 2014](https://twitter.com/GeorgeTakei/status/494549527982899200?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw "undefined") But how did “Oh my!” come to be his catchphrase? Here, Takei tells TIME. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3067261/george-takei-oh-my/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3067261/george-takei-oh-my/"},"headline":"See How 'Oh My' Became George Takei's Catchphrase","datePublished":"2014-08-21T13:42:24.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-30T11:34:13.661Z","description":"Say it with us now...","url":"https://time.com/3067261/george-takei-oh-my/","keywords":["Pop Culture","movies","celebrities","Documentary","George Takei"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8bef6bd2717cf920/6986a055f983e711a104f50d/ohmy_1280.png?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Diane Tsai","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/diane-tsai/"},{"@type":"Person","name":"Lily Rothman","jobTitle":"Rothman is managing editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8bef6bd2717cf920/6986a055f983e711a104f50d/ohmy_1280.png?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"George Takei Oh My","caption":"George Takei explains how 'Oh my' became his catchphrase","creditText":"Diane Tsai—TIME","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/pop-culture/","name":"Pop Culture"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3067261/george-takei-oh-my/","name":"See How 'Oh My' Became George Takei's Catchphrase"}}]}] ```