get to the fireworks factory en · VERB
Etymology
From the 1997 Simpsons episode "The Itchy & Scratchy & Poochie Show", which shows an episode of the fictional Itchy & Scratchy Show in which the characters' journey to a fireworks factory is interrupted by the anticlimactic arrival of a new character, Poochie; while watching the episode, Milhouse Van Houten wails, "When are they going to get to the fireworks factory?!".
Meanings
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(idiomatic, slang) To reach the most interesting, eventful or important part of a storyline.
Is Raven ever going to wrestle on TV? Or at least get to the fireworks factory?
2005 November 5, Poot Rootbeer, “Poot's post on TNA iMPACT! primetime, 11/3/05”, in rec.sport.pro-wrestling (Usenet):Jesus falls again, and now some woman brings him a drink. I'm getting so tired of this whole sequence. When are they going to get to the fireworks factory!?
2004 April 9, Johan Gustafsson, “[TAN] Once more, with Passion...”, in rec.arts.sf.written.robert-jordan (Usenet):Punching up and punching down. I've flirted with these terms a bit already, without adequately exploring their trajectories. Here, in Chapter 3, we finally get to the fireworks factory.
2024 April 9, David E. Low, Transgressive Humor in Classrooms: Punching Up, Punching Down, and Critical Literacy Practices, Taylor & Francis, →ISBN, page 1986:No, that's a different crazy Egyptian tycoon, and that's assuming he even is crazy, which is a pretty safe assumption because once Diana Spencer marries into your family all her new relatives are automatically crazy, especially if any of them produced the terrible Spielberg movie "Hook" in which Robin Williams takes forever to get to the fireworks factory.
2006 September 22, James Kibo Parry, “Re: Further research into the word "braintanning"”, in alt.religion.kibology (Usenet):The narrative going around about the new Godzilla, which waits about an hour before it finally gets to the fireworks factory, is that it’s a radical return to this kind of old-fashioned creature-feature restraint.
2014 May 17, Forrest Wickman, “When Should You Show the Monster? The Rules of “Cinematic Foreplay.””, in Slate:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| got to the fireworks factory | Tense=Past, VerbForm=Part | UK | lexicographic |
| got to the fireworks factory | Tense=Past | lexicographic | |
| getting to the fireworks factory | Tense=Pres, VerbForm=Part | lexicographic | |
| gets to the fireworks factory | Number=Sing, Person=3, Tense=Pres | lexicographic | |
| gotten to the fireworks factory | Tense=Past, VerbForm=Part | US | lexicographic |
Synonyms
wikipedia: The Simpsons · wikipedia: The Itchy & Scratchy Show · wikipedia: The Itchy & Scratchy & Poochie Show · wikipedia: Milhouse Van Houten