History Literature / MacdonaldHall

* CharacterizationMarchesOn: In ''This Can't Be Happening!'', Boots enthusiastically goes along with any and all of Bruno's mad schemes. In later books, he's much more the OnlySaneMan trying to talk Bruno out of his latest ZanyScheme. Of course, despite any misgivings he may privately have, Boots had a much more personal stake in this particular plotline; that may have had something to do with his willingness to follow along.

* BavarianFireDrill: In ''Something Fishy'', Bruno and Boots are on dishwashing duty when the dishwasher overflows because a prankster has overloaded it with detergent. Overwhelmed by the cascade of suds, Bruno yells, "Fire!" and everyone on the kitchen staff rushes in. The irritated chef points out that there is no fire, and Bruno defends himself by [[CrowningMomentOfFunny saying that nobody would have come if he had yelled "Bubbles!"]]

* ArtisticLicenseBiology: It is highly unlikely that Elmer could really have invented a cure for the common cold. The common cold isn't caused by a single virus; there are literally hundreds of viruses that can cause colds, and they mutate frequently. Sure, Elmer is a genius, but this is pushing it.

** Bruno when Cathy claims to be Elmer to play on the football field.

* BavarianFireDrill: In ''Something Fishy'', Bruno and Boots are on dishwashing duty when the dishwasher overflows because a prankster has overloaded it with detergent. Overwhelmed by the cascade of suds, Bruno yells, "Fire!" and everyone on the kitchen staff rushes in. The irritated chef points out that there is no fire, and Bruno defends himself by saying that nobody would have come if he had yelled "Bubbles!"

* Miss Peabody and Mr. Wizzle, both non drinkers, polish off at least two bottles of wine at dinner as well as several liqueurs. By the end of the night they're both blackout drunk.

* HeyLetsPutOnAShow

* SleepLearning: In ''The War With Mr. Wizzle'', the girl students try to improve Miss Peabody's temper by playing motivational tapes while she sleeps. Unfortunately they just make Peabody even crankier because she's not sleeping properly.

* WritingLines: In ''The War With Mr. Wizzle'', the new PointyHairedBoss of an assistant principal introduces lines as a standardized universal punishment. The students retaliate by picking a handful to write everybody's lines for them, giving the other students time to sabotage Wizzle's computer, make an InventedIndividual, and so on. By contrast, Mr. Sturgeon, whose power the students respect, disapproves of lines and prefers to impose lengthy essays as punishment.

* InventedIndividual - In ''The War with Mr. Wizzle'', the protagonists create a fictitious student named Gavin Gunhold to mess with the school's new administration. The name becomes a running gag in many of Korman's later books. Gavin Gunhold (sometimes G. Gavin Gunhold) is mentioned, usually in passing, always as an incidental character who never actually appears (unless you count [[TheRealRemingtonSteele imposters posing as him]]).

* LoopholeAbuse: After Cathy is discovered moonlighting on the football team in ''The Zucchini Warriors'', they attempt to argue that there's no rule saying girls can't play. The referee points out that there ''is'' a rule saying that all the players in the school team have to be students at the school.

* SweetPollyOliver: Cathy does this in order to join the football team in ''The Zucchini Warriors.''

Bruno Walton and Melvin 'Boots' O'Neal are roommates at a prestigious boys' boarding school called Macdonald Hall, overseen by stern Headmaster William Sturgeon (known affectionately as 'The Fish'). The books generally feature the completely irrepressible -- not to say irresponsible -- Bruno trying to achieve some goal via a series of increasingly crazy plans, often getting the entire student body involved by the time he's done. The equally excitable Cathy Burton and her fellow students across the road at Miss Scrimmage's Finishing School for Young Ladies frequently work themselves into the mix as well. More cautious Boots spends much of his time trying to keep his friends in check, but it rarely has much of an effect.

* DrillSergeantNasty: Again, Miss Peabody, ex-Marine Corps[[note:why she subsequently decided to emigrate to Canada, which has no Marine Corps, is never explained]] and damn proud of it.

* MistakenIdentity: Bruno and Boots try to force this by pretending to be George Wexford-Smyth III and Elmer Drimsdale in order to frame them for a panty-raid at Scrimmage's, in a ploy to get back together as roommates in ''This Can't Be Happening at Macdonald Hall!'' The Fish is not fooled. Played completely straight in ''Go Jump In the Pool'' when Wilbur sells Miss Scrimmage's shotgun at the garage sale, and she gets arrested for armed robbery later than night.

* DrillSergeantNasty: Again, Miss Peabody, ex-Marine Corps[[note: why she subsequently decided to emigrate to Canada, which has no Marine Corps, is never explained]] and damn proud of it.

* FictionalCountry: The flag of "Malbonia" is mentioned in the first book.

* BavarianFireDrill: In ''Something Fishy'', Bruno and Boots are on dishwashing duty when the dishwasher overflows because a prankster has overloaded it with detergent. Overwhelmed by the cascade of suds, Bruno yells, "Fire!" and everyone on the kitchen staff rushes in. The irritated chef points out that there is no fire, and Bruno defends himself by saying that nobody would have come if he had yelled, "Bubbles!"

* CelebrityStar: Jordie in ''Macdonald Hall Goes Hollywood.''
* CharacterizationMarchesOn: In ''This Can't Be Happening!'', Boots enthusiastically goes along with any and all of Bruno's mad schemes. In later books, he's much more the OnlySaneMan trying to talk Bruno out of his latest ZanyScheme.
** Despite any misgivings he may privately have, Boots had a much more personal stake in this particular plotline; that may have had something to do with his willingness to follow along.
* ChekhovsGunman: George Wexford-Smyth III plays a somewhat important rule in the first book, but only appears in the second to comment on how 'vulgar' their events are (not knowing what is going on) [[spoiler: He manages to invest all the money Bruno and Boots made beforehand into Lorelei Mining, giving them more than enough (around 2 million in the old copy of the book or around 65 thousand in the 2003 version) to build a pool.)]]
* CutHimselfShaving: When Bruno and Boots kidnap York Academy's mascot (a large domestic cat) before the first hockey game of the season, it scratches Boots' face. The coach later asks what happened to his face, and Boots says he cut himself shaving.
* DeadpanSnarker: Mr. Sturgeon usually turns into one of these when he's forced to deal with the ever-frustrating Miss Scrimmage.

* DefrostingIceQueen: Miss Peabody. Initially described by Cathy as a cruel and heartless woman, she later warms up a bit when [[spoiler:she falls in love with Wizzle]].
* DistaffCounterpart: Cathy and Diane to Bruno and Boots.
** Cathy, like Bruno, is the dominant leader who has a penchant for causing trouble. In ''The War with Mr. Wizzle'', they're always the ones to accumulate the most punishments from their new teachers.
** Diane and Boots are the long-suffering betas who try their best to keep their respective best friends in line, but usually just ended up getting caught up with their antics.

* DrillSergeantNasty: Again, Miss Peabody.
* DrivesLikeCrazy: Miss Scrimmage

* IntoxicationEnsues: In the first book, there's a description of Miss Scrimmage accidentally drinking spiked punch at a dance, which caused her to drag Mr. Sturgeon onto the dance floor and dance the funky chicken with him. In ''Beware The Fish!'', Elmer invents a cure for the common cold. Bruno and Boots slip it into Coach Flynn's sports drink when he has a cold; unfortunately, the combination of ingredients has an intoxicating effect.

* LastNameBasis: It's customary for the [=MacDonald Hall=] teachers to address students by their last names.
* LaymansTerms: Due to his SesquipedalianLoquaciousness, Elmer is frequently asked to put things in layman's terms.

* LivingEmotionalCrutch: Bruno and Boots to each other, let's face it.

* MeaningfulName: Miss Scrimmage. Comes in handy in ''The Zucchini Warriors'', when the cheerleaders use the name "The Line Of Scrimmage."
* MinorInjuryOverreaction: In ''The Zucchini Warriors'', Calvin Fizhgart (who has ironically given himself the nickname The Beast) gets a bruised elbow. He then insists that it's actually a compound fracture and walks around with his arm in a sling for nine weeks.
* MistakenIdentity: Bruno and Boots try to force this by pretending to be George Wexford-Smyth III and Elmer Drimsdale in order to frame them for a panty-raid at Scrimmage's, in a ploy to get back together as roommates in ''This Can't Be Happening At Macdonald Hall!'' The Fish is not fooled.
** Played completely straight in ''Go Jump In the Pool'' when Wilbur sells Miss Scrimmage's shotgun at the garage sale, and she gets arrested for armed robbery later than night.

* NotAMorningPerson: Bruno despises getting up in the morning. His usual routine is to sleep in as long as possible and then make a frantic effort to get to class on time.
* NotHelpingYourCase: Mr. Wizzle decides to send Sidney Rampulsky to take ballet lessons at Miss Scrimmage's in the hope that this will make him less clumsy. Sidney tries to argue with Mr. Wizzle about this, but he falls out of his chair and bumps into a desk during the conversation. This just makes Mr. Wizzle all the more convinced that Sidney is too clumsy for his own good.

* OneGenderSchool: Macdonald Hall is an all-boys school. Miss Scrimmage's is an all-girls school.

* PricelessMingVase: Boots deliberately used three of George's mint 1886 Queen Victoria Canadian stamps to mail a letter to his mother.
* PrideBeforeAFall: A RunningGag. Bruno confidently assures Boots that they won't get caught sneaking out of school, or that the Fish has no idea what mischief they've been up to. This practically guarantees that in the next few pages, Bruno and Boots ''will'' be caught sneaking out of school, or the Fish will summon them to his office because he knows ''exactly'' what mischief they've been up to.

* SeriousBusiness: The war games held at Miss Scrimmages' in ''The Wizzle War'' had fortresses, traps, (water) guns, and (water) balloons. Even the pouring rain and fog didn't keep these games from being played.
* SesquipedalianLoquaciousness: Elmer often speaks this way because he's a genius with a very large vocabulary.
* TheShowMustGoWrong: Bruno interferes with the filming of ''Academy Blues'' in ''Macdonald Hall Goes Hollywood''. His attempts to befriend Jordie Jones also lead to some trouble.
* SignsOfDisrepair: In ''This Can't Be Happening at Macdonald Hall!'', Miss Scrimmage accidentally shoots the sign outside her school that reads, "Miss Scrimmage's Finishing School for Young Ladies", changing the word "Finishing" to "Fishing". Mr. Sturgeon then tells her that she ''should'' start teaching her students fishing because they certainly aren't learning any manners.
* SleepLearning: In ''The War With Mr. Wizzle'', the girl students try to change the behaviour of teacher Gloria Peabody by playing tapes telling her to be nice while she sleeps. Unfortunately they just make Peabody even crankier because she's not sleeping properly.

* StrawCritic: The last few pages of ''Macdonald Hall Goes Hollywood'' describe a film critic who hasn't liked a single thing he's ever seen in his whole life... until he happens to watch the video tape Mark made that happened to capture all of the crazy events that took place during the novel. Which, of course, he immediately declares to be brilliant.

* TheTeetotaler: Coach Flynn
* TerrifiedOfGerms: George Wexford-Smyth III. He sterilizes his dorm room with rubbing alcohol every other day and he keeps a huge supply of medicines in the bathroom. In the first book, he puts up a quarantine screen and sprays disinfectant everywhere ... just because Boots sneezed a few times when he woke up.
* ThisIsMySide: After Bruno and Boots have a fight in ''The War With Mr. Wizzle'', Bruno divvies up the room and refuses to talk to Boots. (He does permit him to use the bathroom, though.)

* DangerouslyGenreSavvy: The Fish, much more than his students suspect. Gloria Peabody, the new student advisor at Scrimmages', shows shades of this too.

* HorribleCampingTrip: The students go on the mandatory "Die in the Woods" camping trip. [[spoiler: It really does become a matter of wilderness survival when their supplies end up in the lake.]]

* TheShowMustGoWrong: Bruno interferes with the filming of ''Academy Blues'' in ''Macdonald Hall Goes Hollywood''. His attempts to befriend the movie star also lead to some trouble.

-->Boots: "How come the bathroom and the closet are in your half? Not to mention the door."
-->Bruno: "First come, first served. You can use all three. ''Especially'' the door."

* TheTeetotaller: Coach Flynn