Do you have a personal catch phrase?

Hollywood makes iconic catch phrases seem easy.

Whether it’s McGarrett’s “Book ‘em, Danno” or Vizzini’s “Inconceivable!” in “The Princess Bride,” we take them for granted.

But there is a dismaying amount of trial and error behind the relative handful of utterances that fully capture the public consciousness.

For example, the magisterial “Make it so,” of Captain Jean-Luc Picard in the “Star Trek” u...