“I’m going to Yemen!”

From: Friends

Genre: Television

Who said it?: Chandler Bing

The story behind the quote: This week’s quote comes from the incredibly popular ’90s sitcom, Friends. The show is about six eclectic friends who live in New York and go about living their lives. The show was a smash hit and is still very popular, airing on reruns all around the world.

The quote comes from the 4th season episode entitled The One With All The Rugby. In one of the storylines of the episode, Chandler Bing (played by the late Matthew Perry) runs into an old girlfriend, Janice (played by Maggie Wheeler). While Janice would like to rekindle their romance, Chandler doesn’t and tries to come up with an excuse to not get back together without outright rejecting her. The excuse he comes up with is he’s being transferred to Yemen for work. However, the lie works too well and Janice, wanting to spend as much time as possible before Chandler leaves, accompanies him to the airport.

Instead of just coming clean, Chandler actually buys a ticket to Yemen and, when he realizes Janice won’t leave until she sees him actually flies off, he does board the plane and, with a mixture of disbelief and despair, he delivers the quote.

Geek wisdom: Some people would rather continue with a lie than commit to the truth. There are times when their reasons for doing so may be noble or distasteful. Whatever the case, the truth is usually better.