History Main / FourTermsFallacy

* An old joke: When you drink, you get drunk. When you get drunk, you go to sleep. When you go to sleep, you commit no sin. When you commit no sin, you go to {{Heaven}}. So, let's all get drunk and go to Heaven!

* On Website/ThisVeryWiki, the trope names NothingIsScarier and NothingIsFunnier are a {{pun}} based on the fallacy. The actual tropes are about how "nothing" (leaving it to the audience's imagination) can in many cases be more effective than actually showing what's so scary or funny, but the joke behind the titles is that phrasing it like this can be read as implying it to be the ''inherently best'' option.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' episode [[Recap/FamilyGuyS9E8NewKidneyInTown New Kidney In Town]], [[ItMakesSenseInContext Peter attempts to make his own Red Bull]]. When Brian objects to using kerosene as an ingredient, Peter explains it thusly:

* Played for laughs in a ''WesternAnimation/{{Histeria}}'' sketch about Rene Descartes (and a number of other jokes on the same topic): After Descartes makes his famous proposition that "I think, therefore I am."[[labelnote:Meaning]]If he can think at all, he must exist.[[/labelnote]], a cavalcade of distractions cause him to proclaim "I can't think!"[[labelnote:meaning]]He is not literally unable to think, he just can't think ''clearly''.[[/labelnote]], whereupon he disappears in a PuffOfLogic.

* Then there's the story about the parent who buys {{Hentai}} for their 10-year-old, only to return it in a rage to the store where they bought it, because in spite of the explicit picture on the front, and the ratings and warnings all over the box, they reasoned that, [[AnimationAgeGhetto "It's animated, cartoons are animated]], and [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotForKids cartoons are for kids, so it must be for kids!"]]

* This joke: A kid asks his teacher "You wouldn't punish me for something I didn't do, would you?" The teacher says "Of course I wouldn't." The kid says, "Good, because I didn't do my homework!" (He's changing the meaning of "something I didn't do" from "something wrong that was not done by me" to "something I should have done and failed to.")

* The ''Literature/{{TheSecretsOfDroon}}'', the Wand of Urik works by [[RealityWarper making illogical syllogisms true]]. For example, "Cape is blue/Water is blue/Cape is water" turns a blue cape into a pool of water. Or "Stone is good/Fountain is good/Stone is fountain" turns a demon of stone into an ornate fountain.

-->'''Benedick'': Only foul words, and thereupon I will kiss thee.\\

[[HeManWomenHater Women = Evil]]

Women = Evil

* In the ''WesternAnimaion/FamilyGuy'' episode [[Recap/FamilyGuyS9E8NewKidneyInTown New Kidney In Town]], [[ItMakesSenseInContext Peter attempts to make his own Red Bull]]. When Brian objects to using kerosene as an ingredient, Peter explains it thusly:

* A less humorous one is parents or other authority figures dealing with children mixing the meanings of "respect" in the form of "If you don't respect me [obey my authority] I won't respect you [treat you like a real person]."

This fallacy can often be the core of a joke or pun, such as if someone were to suggest that Batman must be good at baseball, since he's so well-acquainted with bats.

** Another similar drinking joke: The more I drink, the more my hands shake. The more my hands shake, the more drink I spill. The more drink I spill, the less I drink. Therefore, the more I drink, the less I drink.

* In ''Theatre/Hamlet'', the gravedigger and Hamlet make wordplay on "lying" (physically remaining in one place and fibbing):

'''Hamlet''': What woman, then?

'''Hamlet''': Who is to be buried in't?
'''Clown''': One that was a woman, sir; but, rest her soul, she's dead.

Therefore, a dry crust of bread is better than a big juicy steak.