Why does Bender say "Please insert girder"?
In Futurama, How Hermes Requisitioned His Groove Back (season 2, episode 15), Bender loses his brain (which looks like a floppy disk), causing him to repeatedly say:
Bender: I am Bender. Please insert girder.
I'm a little confused, since the definition of "girder" is:
girder: A beam, as of steel, wood, or reinforced concrete, used as a main horizontal support in a building or bridge.
Yet Bender seems to be referring to his brain (or something similar). It's not clear how one could insert a girder into Bender.
Question: Why does Bender say "Please insert girder"?
Best Answer
Bending girders is what Bender was built for - and when his personality was removed, he defaulted to his original programming.
If you notice he (almost) always has his arms out when asking to "please insert girder". He's simply asking that someone place a girder into his hands for him to bend. The phrasing is simple and mechanistic - demonstrating his lack of personality.
It's likely that the specific phrase was hit on by the writers when putting together the musical number (to fit in with the rhythm of the song), and they ended up using it throughout to show how void of personality Bender is.
Pictures about "Why does Bender say "Please insert girder"?"
Futurama - Bend a girder to any angle, 30 degrees, 32 degrees... 31
More answers regarding why does Bender say "Please insert girder"?
Answer 2
To extend HorusKol's answer, the phrase is also riffing on many variations of
Please insert disk
that a computer might display when initially starting up. Bender is simply substituting Girder for Disk.
OK it's not quite the same because the girder is raw material not a storage medium, but there are obvious parallels, enough to be funny.
Example 1: an error requesting another disk
Example 2: from the Amiga - its a visual request to "insert a disk"
Example 3: okay its a bit more wordy
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Images: Brett Sayles, Thirdman, RODNAE Productions, Thirdman