History Headscratchers / DiaryOfAWimpyKid

* When Mr. Winsky forces Rowley to apologize to the kindergarteners for terrorizing them with an earth-worm, why the kindergarteners didn't tell Mr. Winsky or their teacher that it wasn't Rowley who chased them with the earth-worm but Greg? When Rowley apologizes to them, the look on their faces indicate that they don't understand why Rowley is apologazing to them, and that's because they know Rowley wasn't the one who scared them. Why they didn't tell the truth?

* Greg's claim that the longest Rodrick has slept is 36 hours seems very implausible. Lets check some facts: Considering how much their Dad despises laziness from his sons, it doesn't seem likely that Frank would let Rodrick sleep that long and would wake him up around hour 13 at the most. Then it's shown Rodrick asking where Monday Night Football is after he wakes up, so we can assume he sleeps from a Sunday night all the way until Tuesday morning. Since he's wondering where Monday Night Football is, this clearly happened in Fall, hence school is in session. Did Susan and Frank actually let Rodrick miss school just so he could sleep? If they tried to wake him up to no avail, shouldn't they think something was wrong with him and they would call someone? Unless of course this was a Holiday Weekend like Columbus Day. Which brings me to my final and most important point: What kind of bum parents don't immediately tell their son that he slept through an entire day of his life? What if he never noticed? Would they ever have told him? Ugh.

* When Mr. Winsky forces Rowley to apologize to the kindergarteners for terrorizing them with an earth-worm, why the kindergarteners didn't tell Mr. Winsky or their teacher that it wasn't Rowley who chased them with the earth-worm but Greg? When Rowley apologizes to them, the look on their faces indicate that they don't understand why Rowley is apologazing to them, and that's because they know Rowley wasn't the one who scared them. They should have told the truth...

* The first book took place in 6th grade, books 2 and 3 were 7th, and 5-8 were 8th. Greg should be in high school as of this book but it says he's still in middle schoop

*** You answered your own question. Greg is an UnreliableNarrator, therefore he was being less than honest about what was happening at the camp. Alternatively, everyone in charge is a complete moron.

*** Don't forget, Grandpa Heffley still lives with them. Perhaps he stayed home to take care of the pig while the rest of the family went on their trip.

* How was the three-year-old Manny able to build a full house and sprinkler system in his family's yard all by himself? Other than RuleOfFunny, that is.

*** Usually, if a site asks for the parent's email, it's usually first asked when you register (You see this in literally every browser online game, like ''Animal Jam'' or ''Club Penguin''.) so Greg would need the email even to have an account.

* According to the YMMV page, ''The Long Haul'' is regarded as the point where the series started going downhill quality-wise. Why that book, in particular? In my opinion, the quality has always been high, and if there were a point where the series dropped a bit in quality it's ''Cabin Fever'' (which--like the following books--still was a great book, but sadly didn't have as many relatable jokes about what being a kid is like as the early books did). So to close off this lengthy question: What is it about ''The Long Haul'' that makes people like it a bit less than the earlier books?
** Because it had a somewhat weaker premise. While the book's predecessors had something for Greg to work for (trying to become popular at school, settling conflicts with his family, getting a Valentine's Dance date, dealing with the pressures of growing up, etc.), The Long Haul was just a family road trip gone nuts. Plus, this was arguably when the books started their GenreShift from realistic fiction to a cartoony tone, what with the freakishly smart pig and the Beardo family running into the Heffleys over and over and over again. Speaking of which, the Beardos were a part of it. When you think about it, the whole conflict with them is pretty weak. Greg falsely believes that the Beardos would steal his family's luggage... because he berated their kids for making noise at night?
** I do have a few guesses. The first is the fact that they got a ''lot'' denser and wackier, as mentioned above. The second is that there appears to be not as much passage of time, if anything it's gone into ComicBookTime by now, and this has been lampshaded a few times. Along with the transition to comic book time, it feels like the books cover less and less time. While somewhat justifiable for ''The Long Haul'' or ''The Getaway'', it feels as if everything is just... the few weeks before it happened. The last few books maybe cover about a month or less of time. Old school, Double Down and The Getaway seem to take place over fall semester, with the Meltdown taking place in January. Then Wrecking Ball appears to be the latter half of the Spring Semester. This means he's gone through about... three summers? I'll have to check since he could easily have gone through more.

* Greg's claim that the longest Rodrick has slept is 36 hours seems very implausible. Lets check some facts: Considering how much their Dad despises laziness from his sons, it doesn't seem likely that Frank would let Rodrick sleep that long and would wake him up around hour 13 at the most. Then it's shown Rodrick asking where Monday Night Football is after he wakes up, so we can assume he sleeps from a Sunday night all the way until Tuesday morning. Since he's wondering where Monday Night Football is, this clearly happened in Fall, hence school is in session. Did Susan and Frank actually let Rodrick miss school just so he could sleep? If they tried to wake him up to no avail, shouldn't they think something was wrong with him and they would call someone? Unless of course this was a Holiday Weekend like Columbus Day. Which brings me to my final and most important point: What kind of bum parents don't immediately tell their son that he slept through an entire day of his life? What if he never noticed? Would they ever have told him? Ugh.
** For the last one, it'd be rather hard for him not to notice at some point. If there was nothing else to alert him to it through the week, he'd at least realize it when the weekend comes and he still thinks it's a school day.
** You're forgetting ''who'' these parents are.
** Some schools give a four-day weekend over fall, either Monday-Tuesday or Thursday-Friday is off. It could have been during a fall recess - Greg doesn't state specifically ''when'' this happened, only that it was "last fall", so this could have been a "Fall recess". Not only that, but it's likely that, since Greg is an UnreliableNarrator, he left a few things out - As the person above said, you have to remember just ''who'' these parents are, but it's possible their dad didn't throw Rodrick out of bed because Rodrick was sick, and they didn't tell Greg or Manny. (What reason do they have to want to do ''ANYTHING'' with Rodrick anyway?)
** Alternatively, Rodrick's parents did try to wake him up, but he managed to sleep through all of their attempts.

* In ''Wrecking Ball,'' Manny is shown to be able to build a full house and sprinkler system in his family's yard. To which this troper says "no." Manny is only three years old. How on earth could he have done all that by himself?????? Yes, he's proven to be smart in other books, but this just pushes it. I mean, RuleOfFunny doesn't hold water if the joke isn't funny, does it?

* In the movie version of ''The Long Haul,'' Greg and the diaper become a huge Internet meme. Why, exactly? That kind of thing gets uploaded every day. It takes more than that to become a meme. The movie makers seem to think that anything slightly embarrassing caught on video will blow up across the web.
** Easy answer. The writers were dumbing themselves down in an attempt to make the kids laugh.

* In the first and second DOAWK books, it's implied that Greg was forced to write in his journal by his mom. However, Greg's on his twelfth journal now. What happened then?

* The film version of ''Dog Days''. If the country club doesn't employ minors, how come Holly gets to work as a tennis instructor?

* In ''The Ugly Truth'', why did the Peachy Breeze company shoot the commercial over and over again in the years instead of using the first commercial in the years?

* So in ''Cabin Fever'', how on earth did Manny turn off the power at the circuit breaker at his young age and in a flooded basement? How did Greg's mom NOT notice that the power was on in Manny's room -- didn't she ever check on her youngest child all night?

* If Greg had gotten arrested in ''Cabin Fever'', would he have gotten a trial and been able to defend himself by saying the neon green paint was not his fault, but it was rainy when the posters were put up?

* In ''The Third Wheel'', why didn't Greg's parents get him vaccinated for Chicken Pox, let alone all the other parents of the kids who got it? DOAWK obviously takes place in the modern era, and the vaccine is supposed to be routine already. Greg's parents should have been sued.

* Why doesn't Greg just keep his bedroom door shut so the dog can't get to his bed?
** It is possible that the door doesn't lock.
*** A shut door isn't the same as a locked door.
** Two things: One, he probably doesn't close the door all the way (so the dog an push in - most bedroom doors open ''into'' the room) and two, it's possible that his parents see the dog outside the door and let the dog in.

* So in ''Cabin Fever'', how on earth did Manny turn off the power at the circuit breaker at his young age and in a flooded basement? How did Greg's mom NOT notice that the power was on in Manny's room - didn't she ever check on her youngest child all night?

* How can Roderick call himself a rocker and not know how to spell "door", as in "Music/TheDoors"!
** Rodrick is a metal fan, and doesn't seem to be the type to concern himself with other genres of rock.
** Kids these days....
** He was also panicking at the time and may have misspelled it accidentally. Face it, even in the Wimpy Kid world, ''nobody'' who can drive a van and made it to high school is gonna not know how to spell "door".

* Why was Greg's "Creighton the Cretin" comic edited so much, but Rowley's "Zoo-Wee Mama's" wasn't edited at all?
** One of two options: 1) Rowley's AmbiguousDisorder has prompted the school to go against the idea of editing it, whilst ignoring Greg's egomaniac tendencies and possible sociopathy. 2) [[ButtMonkey It's Greg.]] The laws of physics would bend just to humiliate the kid.
** Creighton the Cretin could have been seen as offensive by the staff, especially as Greg claimed to be basing it off of the students in his school. Rowley's comic wasn't making fun of anyone or any stupid behavior, its gimmick was zany twist endings.
** After Greg complained about getting his comic rewritten, the teachers probably didn't want to risk a similar backlash with Rowley. As to why they wouldn't just use Greg's jokes unedited, they might've thought they were too mean-spirited.

* In ''The Ugly Truth'', Greg said that most of the chaperones at the lock in were parents, so how could only Greg and Rowley be the last people there? shouldn't have there been some more kids if their parents were the chaperones?
** Their parents probably took them home before things went awry.
** Maybe some kids got sick and couldn't make it, but the parents decided to go anyway just to be nice.
* In ''The Ugly Truth'', why did the Peachy Breeze company shoot the commercial over and over again in the years instead of using the first commercial in the years?
** The adults are... y'know, idiots.
** A commercial stops making an impression if you just see it again and again year after year. It's better to make a new one. And the repetition of the same basic script is actually pretty realistic--Sunny Delight commercials are one real-life example.

* So in ''Cabin Fever'', how on earth did Manny turn off the power at the circuit breaker at his young age and in a flooded basement? How did Greg's mom NOT notice that the power was on in Manny's room - didn't she ever check on her youngest child all night?
** The part where Manny turns off the power would be unlikely but could happen. He just needed to see an adult do it first. Susan not going into his room to say goodnight is a little harder to buy. Maybe he told her not to come into his room? And she thought he was wrapping presents or something?
** For the Susan not checking, don't forget her glasses had been broken by Manny. She probably just called to him, seeing as she couldn't see.
* How can Roderick call himself a rocker and not know how to spell "door", as in "Music/TheDoors"!
** Rodrick is a metal fan, and doesn't seem to be the type to concern himself with other genres of rock.
** Kids these days....
** He was also panicking at the time and may have misspelled it accidentally. Face it, even in the Wimpy Kid world, ''nobody'' who can drive a van and made it to high school is gonna not know how to spell "door".

* The film version of ''Dog Days''. If the country club doesn't employ minors, how come Holly gets to work as a tennis instructor?
** It was probably a volunteer thing. Or she knew their families, so even if she was being paid, she was being paid by the families and just using the courts there.
** Her parents [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney are rich]].
* In ''Rodrick Rules'' (the book) it says that Greg's dad types Rodrick's school reports for him since Rodrick doesn't know how to type. How can he not know how to type? What's there not to know? Press the M button to write the letter M and so on.
** This is Rodrick we're talking about. He probably knows how to type at least basically, but acts like he doesn't so that his dad will do it for him.
** He might just type very slowly. It's pretty certain that he hasn't put much effort into learning to type, so his typing skills are most likely limited to using the hunt-and-peck method extremely slowly. It's also possible that his horrible spelling skills slow him down further. This makes his parents decide it's easier if someone else does it for him.

* In book 6, Manny changes Greg's Net Kritterz password so he can't get into his account. Shouldn't the site have a password recovery system?
** Like all sites such as these, yes there is a password recovery system - however, remember that Greg is an UnreliableNarrator - he probably doesn't state it because he doesn't ''know'' that it has a Password Recovery system. Alternatively, it might require an email address from his parents - meaning he'll have to ask them.
*** Usually, if a site asks for the parent's email, it's usually first asked when you register (You see this in literally every browser online game, like ''Animal Jam'' or ''Club Penguin''.) so Greg would need the email even to have an account.
* I know that Greg is an UnreliableNarrator, but they use all the leftovers that the kids don't eat. Doesn't this strike ''anyone'' as unsanitary?!
** Maybe they believe there's no risk of spreading diseases as long as the leftovers are heated properly.
*** Cross contamination, food going ''bad''?
*** You answered your own question. Greg is an UnreliableNarrator, therefore he was being less than honest about what was happening at the camp. Alternatively, everyone in charge is a complete moron.

* If Greg had gotten arrested in ''Cabin Fever'', would he have gotten a trial and been able to defend himself by saying the neon green paint was not his fault, but it was rainy when the posters were put up?
** He's a middle school kid and it was just two or three splotches of paint; I doubt he'd have gotten arrested once they determined it was him. Heck, when he explains exactly what happened to the principal, the principal basically says "you should have told me sooner" and gives him a comparatively light punishment (makes him clean the paint off with inefficient tools). If the police had been the ones to track him down, chances are they'd do what most police do in situations like this: explain it to the kid's parents and let them handle it.

* In ''The Getaway'':
** Has anyone remembered that the Heffleys have a ''pet pig''? If so, then who was taking care of him while the family were out to Isla de Corales?

*** Answered in The Meltdown. They left the pig in a kennel.
** One day, when Greg was doing an activity with the other kids playing tennis, as soon as all the other kids got into the court, the counselor Rodrigo ''locked the kids in there for an hour and a half without even bothering to teach them tennis or at least give them rackets''. Now wait just a doggone minute! Is this some form of child abuse?! If they were really trapped for about an hour and a half, shouldn't there be other adults who are passing by and noticed this problem? Any normal person would call security and have them talk to the counselor about it! And wasn't the scene recorded in the ''security camera''?
** During the cruise, when scuba diving, Greg thought he accidentaly swallowed a sea horse, which causes his family to call off the cruise and head to the dock. The family got a bit seasick and had to spend the rest of the day trying to relax. But get this: ''they totally forgot all about Rodrick, leaving him out in the middle of the water, suffering from sun poisoning''! Seriously, how can they forget about their oldest son?! Shouldn't the cruise captain notice it also? Didn't Rodrick yell something like ''Hey, wait, don't leave me behind!"? Wasn't Rodrick fit enough to swim back to shore?
** Why did the Director of Fun threw the bucket with the box jellyfish in it into the pool when he freaked out? Seriously, ''[[WhatAnIdiot the jellyfish was in a bucket]]''! It wasn't going to do any harm to anyone to begin with!
*** The reason he threw it in the first place was because he was so scared by the sight of a box jellyfish in a kid's sand pail. He only threw it into the pool because he was standing right next to the pool.
** Speaking of which, ''HOW did Manny even catch such a poisonous jellyfish''?
** Why do the Heffleys believe that "[[FamilyUnfriendlyAesop When Heffleys get in trouble, Heffleys run]]" especially when involving with security?
*** Presumably, because it's proven to be a tactic that works.
** On page 115, Greg traps a spider under the food cover. But the spider's leg sticks out from under the cover, and Greg pushes down on the cover so that the spider loses its leg. But in the very next sentence, he says that the spider fell down on the floor. How did that happen? Greg never mentions actually releasing the spider. One second the spider is under the cover (minus one leg), the next it's on the floor.

* On Halloween in the first book, when dad soaks Greg and Rowley with a bucket of water, all they can salvage of their trick-or-treat candy is some mints wrapped in cellophane and toothbrushes. Does that mean '''none''' of their candy was wrapped besides the mints? Most of my Halloween candy has always been individually wrapped; is this a case of TwoDecadesBehind, and there wasn't individually wrapped Halloween candy when the author was of trick-or-treating age?
** More likely, it's a case of extremely bad luck on Greg's and Rowley's part.

* According to the YMMV page, ''The Long Haul'' is regarded as the point where the series started going downhill quality-wise. Why that book, in particular? In my opinion, the quality has always been high, and if there were a point where the series dropped a bit in quality it's ''Cabin Fever'' (which--like the following books--still was a great book, but sadly didn't have as many relatable jokes about what being a kid is like as the early books did). So to close off this lengthy question: What is it about ''The Long Haul'' that makes people like it a bit less than the earlier books?
** Because it had a somewhat weaker premise. While the book's predecessors had something for Greg to work for (trying to become popular at school, settling conflicts with his family, getting a Valentine's Dance date, dealing with the pressures of growing up, etc.), The Long Haul was just a family road trip gone nuts. Plus, this was arguably when the books started their GenreShift from realistic fiction to a cartoony tone, what with the freakishly smart pig and the Beardo family running into the Heffleys over and over and over again. Speaking of which, the Beardos were a part of it. When you think about it, the whole conflict with them is pretty weak. Greg falsely believes that the Beardos would steal his family's luggage... because he berated their kids for making noise at night?
** I do have a few guesses. The first is the fact that they got a ''lot'' denser and wackier, as mentioned above. The second is that there appears to be not as much passage of time, if anything it's gone into ComicBookTime by now, and this has been lampshaded a few times. Along with the transition to comic book time, it feels like the books cover less and less time. While somewhat justifiable for ''The Long Haul'' or ''The Getaway'', it feels as if everything is just... the few weeks before it happened. The last few books maybe cover about a month or less of time. Old school, Double Down and The Getaway seem to take place over fall semester, with the Meltdown taking place in January. Then Wrecking Ball appears to be the latter half of the Spring Semester. This means he's gone through about... three summers? I'll have to check since he could easily have gone through more.

** I do have a few guesses. The first is the fact that they got a ''lot'' denser and wackier, as mentioned above. The second is that there appears to be not as much passage of time, if anything it's gone into ComicBookTime by now, and this has been lampshaded a few times. Along with the transition to comic book time, it feels like the books cover less and less time. While somewhat justifiable for ''The Long Haul'' or ''The Getaway'', it feels as if everything is just... the few weeks before it happened. The last few books maybe cover about a month or less of time. Old school, Double Down and The Getaway seem to take place over fall semester, with the Meltdown taking place in January. Then Wrecking Ball appears to be the latter half of the Spring Semester. This means he's gone through about... three summers? I'll have to check since he could easily have gone through more.

** Because it had a somewhat weaker premise. While the book's predecessors had something for Greg to work for (trying to become popular at school, settling conflicts with his family, getting a Valentine's Dance date, dealing with the pressures of growing up, etc.), The Long Haul was just a family road trip gone nuts. Plus, this was arguably when the books started their GenreShift from realistic fiction to a cartoony tone, what with the freakishly smart pig and the Beardo family running into the Heffleys over and over and over again. Speaking of which, the Beardos were a part of it. When you think about it, the whole conflict with them is pretty weak. Greg falsely believes that the Beardos would steal his family's luggage... because he berated their kids for making noise at night?

** Because it had a somewhat weaker premise. While the book's predecessors had something for Greg to work for (trying to become popular at school, settling conflicts with his family, getting a Valentine's Dance date, dealing with the pressures of growing up, etc.), The Long Haul was just a family road trip gone nuts. Plus, this was arguably when the books started their GenreShift from realistic fiction to a cartoony tone, what with the freakishly smart pig and the Beardo family running into the Heffleys over and over and over again. Speaking of which, the Beardos were a part of it. When you think about it, the whole conflict with them is pretty weak. Greg falsely believes that the Beardos would steal his family's luggage...because he berated their kids for making noise at night?

** Because it had a somewhat weaker premise. While the book's predecessors had something for Greg to work for (trying to become popular at school, settling conflicts with his family, getting a Valentine's Dance date, dealing with the pressures of growing up, etc.), The Long Haul was just a family road trip gone nuts. Plus, this was arguably when the books started their [[GenreShift]] from realistic fiction to a cartoony tone, what with the freakishly smart pig and the Beardo family running into the Heffleys over and over and over again. Speaking of which, the Beardos were a part of it. When you think about it, the whole conflict with them is pretty weak. Greg falsely believes that the Beardos would steal his family's luggage...because he berated their kids for making noise at night?