History Main / MultipleChoiceFormLetter

-->Only the Director can wield the Gun/Sword/Intentionally left blank\\
Now you/we control the gun/you

* In ''VideoGame/{{Control}}'', this is how the Board, the EnigmaticEmpoweringEntity, ''speaks'', occasionally giving you several options for its lines. Usually, the options are functionally identical, which makes the ones that don't seem to mean the same... ever so slightly unsettling.

-->"Dear [''Aunt Loretta''], Thank you so much for the awesome [''Pants'']! How did you now I wanted that for Christmas? I love the way the [''Pants''] looks on my [''Legs'']! All my friends will be so jealous that I have my very own [''Pants'']."

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* ''[[Series/TopGearUK The Big Book of Top Gear]]'' includes a parody form letter for Daily Mail readers to use every time they want to complain about the show, with checkboxes for things like "I was [disgusted/enraged/sickened/aroused] to see [Jeremy/James/That girl]..." and so on.

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* In ''VideoGame/{{Control}}'', this is how the Board, the Enigmatic Empowering Entity, ''speaks'', ocassionally giving you several options for its lines. Usually, the options are functionally identical, which makes the ones that don't seem to mean the same... ever so slightly unsettling.

[[folder: Web Comics ]]

[[folder: Web Original ]]

[[folder: Real Life ]]

* In ''VideoGame/{{Stellaris}}'', the [[RobotWar Contingency]] that may spawn as an endgame Crisis faction communicates like this, as it announces its attention to redact/offline/dismantle the sapient races of the galaxy. It's another indication that [[AIIsACrapshoot it's not functioning quite right.]]

* Used by [[TestosteronePoisoning Saxton Hale]] of ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'' fame. [[http://www.teamfortress.com/images/posts/app_pending_02.jpg Most famously]] he uses the same form letter for prospective business partners and lawsuit targets, just with the friendly or hostile options ticked respectively.

-->Only the Director can wield the Gun/Sword/Intentionally left blank
-->Now you/we control the gun/you

* Back in TheSeventies when the Generic "brand" first became popular, there was a parody "Generic Greeting Card". It looked like the standard generic style on the outside, reading GREETING CARD, and on the inside there was a list of checkoffs with boxes [Happy Birthday / Happy Anniversary / Congratulations / Hello / etc.]

* Field Postcards sent by soldiers to their loved ones contained nothing but a series of basic statements that were scratched out to leave a coherent message. To censor sensitive information, anything that was added to the card other than the multiple-choice answers was destroyed.

* ''[[TopGear The Big Book of Top Gear]]'' includes a parody form letter for Daily Mail readers to use every time they want to complain about the show, with checkboxes for things like "I was [disgusted/enraged/sickened/aroused] to see [Jeremy/James/That girl]..." and so on.

* A [[http://craphound.com/spamsolutions.txt form letter detailing common objections]] to suggested methods of fighting {{spam|mer}} has widely circulated on {{Slashdot}}'s comments section and other forums.

* In ''DiaryOfAWimpyKid'', Greg uses a form with blanks to write his thank you notes. It's not very personal.

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* There are lots of these in ''PrivateEye'', in the form of apologies from papers. For example, in a year when news about youth anorexia and obesity had been circulating, the apology would end with the note, "For God's sake, [stop/keep] eating."

* SteveMartin's [[http://laughingsquid.com/steve-martin-personalized-form-letter-for-fans/ stock fan letter reply]].

* Common military saying is "Don't worry about the bullet with your name on it. Instead worry about shrapnel addressed 'occupant'".

* In ''PennyArcade'', Tycho writes a comic using blanks so that he has a comic ready about a convention he has yet to attend. It's [[http://penny-arcade.com/comic/2011/03/16 played for laughs]] because it results in MadLibsDialogue.

* A [[http://craphound.com/spamsolutions.txt form letter detailing common objections]] to suggested methods of fighting [[{{Spammer}} spam]] has widely circulated on {{Slashdot}}'s comments section and other forums.

* There are lots of these in ''PrivateEye'', in the form of apologies from papers. For example, in a year when news about youth anorexia and obesity had been circulating, the apology would end with the note, "For God's sake, [stop/keep] eating."

* In ''[[CatchTwentyTwo Catch-22]]'' to show how little the commanding officers cared about their men, Colonel Cathcart and Lieutenant Colonel Korn use a form letter to tell the relatives of soldiers that their [Husband / Father / Brother / Son] has been [Wounded / Killed / Captured].

* In ''HowIMetYourMother'', Barney has a form letter he leaves to girls who he sleeps with and then walks out on. At one point, he cannot remember the girls name and simply fills in "Resident".

* In ''{{Discworld}}'', Corporal Carrot doesn't seem to grasp the concept of form letters as he leads the new Night Watch recruits in taking the oath:

** RobertAHeinlein also had a [[http://io9.com/5048215/robert-heinleins-bizarre-fan-mail-response-letter checkbox letter]] that he used for responses to fan mail.

A form of letter or other writing where the least amount of personalization has been made via circling multiple choices or fill-in-the-blanks. The blanks are often names or dates as these are elements that are impossible to make uniform. For example a letter might start "Dear [ ], we were happy to receive your opinions on [ ]" so that the blanks can be filled in and customized with the correct name and information later.

In RealLife this trope is simply a practical way to save effort, but in fiction it is often played for laughs as a fill-in-the-blanks letter contains faux-sincere language or is hilariously inapplicable to the given situation. This is actually the concept behind the children's game, ''Mad Libs'' where a short story is told with blanks left so that a group can yell out random words fill it in creating a humorous nonsense story.

* In ''{{Discworld}}'', Corporal Carrot doesn't seem to grasp the concept of form letters as he leads the new Night Watch recruits in taking the oath:
-->"I comma square bracket recruit's name square bracket comma do solemnly swear by square bracket recruit's deity of choice square bracket to uphold the Laws and Ordinances of the city of Ankh-Morpork, serve the public trust comma and defend the subjects of His stroke Her bracket delete whichever is inappropriate bracket Majesty bracket name of reigning monarch bracket..." and so on.

-->"Dear [''Aunt Loretta''], Thank you so much for the awesome [''Pants'']! How did you now I wanted that for Christmas? I love the way the [''Pants''] looks on my [''Legs'']! All my friends will be so jealous that I have my very own [''Pants'']."

* ''{{Shadowrun}}'' sometimes used this with electronic form letters. The computer sending the letter decides which phrase to use depending on the recipient's status.

* There are lots of these in ''PrivateEye'', in the form of apologies from papers. For example, in a year when news about youth anorexia and obesity had been circulating, the apology would end with the note, "For God's sake, [stop/keep] eating."

A form of letter or other writing where the least amount of personalization has been made via circling multiple choices or fill-in-the-blanks. The blanks may are often names or dates as these are elements that are impossible to make uniform. For example a letter might start "Dear [ ], we were happy to receive your opinions on [ ]" so that the blanks can be filled in and customized with the correct name and information later.

In RealLife this trope is simply a practical way to save effort, but in fiction it is often played for laughs as a fill in the blanks letter contains faux-sincere language or is hilariously inapplicable to the given situation. This is actually the concept behind the children's game, ''Mad Libs'' where a short story is told with blanks left so that a group can yell out random words fill it in.