The Silence of the movie quote

Watch Silence of the Lambs today, and in the scene where Hannibal Lecter first meets Clarice, many people think he says "Hello, Clarice" from behind the glass wall of his cell.

Today, all he says is "Good morning". So where did all these references come from? There are dozens, from parody speeches, refs in sitcoms, comics - you don't have to search too hard to find them.

Even Anthony Hopkins himself said he was amused by the "Lecter-isms" surrounding the character after the film - catchy phrases which became a meme, of which "Hello, Clarice" is one.

Whatever the reason, this seems a very popular example of the Mass Memory Discrepancy Effect we can all get our teeth into.

Sinister

You can easily imagine Hannibal saying "Hello, Clarrrriiceeee" in his drawn out creepy manner. And to be fair, he did actually say it over the phone to her in a later movie, but we all know that's not what we're discussing right now.

There's an aspect to this some are pointing to as strong evidence he didn't say "Hello, Clarice". How would he know her name? No-one is disputing this is the first time they met, so if he did know her name someone must have told him she was coming and actually named her, which would not fit in with the max security he is being subjected to. If told at all, it would be "the FBI" and that's it.

There are literally hundreds of Tweets of the "incorrect" phrase being used, and there's a scene from 8 Simple Rules where it pops up too. Even the official movie page uses the quote. Jim Carey does a famous parody in Cable Guy.

Here's MoneyBags73's take on it: