The catchphrase "Eat My Shorts" was an ad-lib by Cartwright in one of the original table readings, harking back to an incident when she was in high school. Cartwright was in the marching band at Fairmont High School, and one day while performing, the band chanted "Eat my shorts" rather than the usual "Fairmont West! Fairmont West!"It could also be an homage to The Breakfast Club, as John Bender says the phrase at Principal Vernon, and John Bender would become the inspiration for another Matt Groening creation, Bender from Futurama. Bart's other catchphrases, "¡Ay, caramba!" came from a Portuguese flamenco dancer and "Don't have a cow!" had been around since the 1950s which derived from the British phrase "Don't have kittens"; both were featured on T-shirts manufactured during the production of the early seasons of "The Simpsons". "Cowabunga" is also commonly associated with Bart, although it was mostly used on the show after it had been used as a slogan on the T-shirts. Reiss also stated the writers took the phrase from Chief Thunderthud on "The Howdy Doody Show". The use of catchphrase-based humor was mocked in the episode "Bart Gets Famous" (season five, 1994) in which Bart lands a popular role on Krusty the Clown's show for saying the line "I didn't do it." The writers chose the phrase "I didn't do it" because they wanted a "lousy" phrase "to point out how really crummy things can become really popular".