History Main / OverlyLiteralTranscription

--> '''Nobita''': [''dictating the pen''] Dear Auntie, thank you for the lovely present you've sent me. I have been a well-behaved child since...\\
'''Tamako''': [''calling her son from downstairs''] Nobita! There's a letter for you!\\
[''the sentence "Nobita! There's a letter for you!" promptly shows up in the middle of Nobita's letter, to his chagrin'']

--> REST IN PEACE BOB. ''AND'' SEE YOU IN HEAVEN ''IF THERE IS ROOM TO FIT''.

--> '''Leslie:''' Mr. Traeger: That was beautiful. I'm literally crying and jumping. Crying noise, crying noise, nose blow.

* ''WesternAnimation/BojackHorseman'': A RunningGag throughout the series, whenever someone wants to get something printed, [[AcquiredErrorAtThePrinter their instructions will inevitably get printed along with it]], as the page image demonstrates. A small sample:

-->'''Marge:''' [[VoiceoverLetter Dear Mr. Sherman, on behalf of the people of Springfield I would like to invite you to judge our film festival. You can stay with us, and enjoy the sights and sounds of the country.]]
-->'''Homer:''' Marge, is this a pimple or a boil?
-->'''Marge:''' Just a minute, Homer! [[LampshadeHanging Oh, look what you made me write.]]

Compare RepeatAfterMe, LiteralMinded, RealisticDictionIsUnrealistic, VirtualAssistantBlunder.

* In ''Film/ShazamFuryOfTheGods'', Steve, an enchanted pen found in the Rock of Eternity's library, will dictate everything when tasked with writing a letter, whether it was supposed to be included in said letter or not. When [[https://youtu.be/tzgS8IPsm9g the Daughters of Atlas read one such letter,]] they're utterly confused when presented with the various tangents in it.

* One of the random gadgets in ''Manga/{{Doraemon}}'', the Microphone Pen, which has a mini-microphone on it's base and does the writing for you while you point it's tip on paper, the downside being that it takes in ''literally'' everything, even background noises (in retrospect, this is among the few gadgets which has a real-life counterpart superior to it's fictional equivalent). It appears in a manga issue where Nobita is tasked with writing a letter by his mother Tamako, but had his handwriting criticized and begs Doraemon for help. Doraemon produces the gadget, but things goes hilariously wrong as usual.

* ''Film/BlazingSaddles''. Taggart and Lyle callously leave Bart to die in quicksand. After Bart gets out, he prepares to hit Taggart over the head with a shovel.

* In ''Film/HotFuzz'', Sergeant Angel and Officer Butterman pull over Martin Blower, an actor who was speeding to get to the community theater on time. Angel takes note of Blower's statement and makes clear that he is doing this, even writing down Blower asking twice (quite exasperated) to stop writing.

* In ''Literature/CaptainUnderpants'' ''and the Wrath of the Wicked Wedgie Woman'', Ms. Ribble makes every student in her class write goodbye cards for her retirement by copying the poem she wrote on the chalkboard, which ends with a "Write your own name here" fill-in. Most of the students are shown copying verbatim the "write your own name here" part.

* ''Series/AlasSmithAndJones'' had a sketch where a criminal is cautioned that "anything he may say will be taken down and may be used in a court of law". the criminal then starts saying (deadpan) "What are you doing, officer? Please stop hitting me. Ow. Ow." as the police officer dutifully writes it all down, looking increasingly worried as the monologue goes on.

* Here on TV Tropes, this sort of mistake is where the JustForFun/DescribeTopicHere inside joke came from. As "Describe topic here" was the default message for a blank article on the first version of the wiki software, many editors early in the site's life thought it should be included as part of the article as well.

[[JustForFun/DescribeTopicHere Describe topic here. And I mean in that spot. Ctrl + A, Backspace, THEN describe it. That's just the default message, you're supposed to replace it -- are you getting all this?]]

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': In "Lisa's Sax", as Homer dictates a dedication for Lisa's saxophone, he tells the clerk to write "To Lisa, never forget your Daddy loves-", when he drops the sax on his feet and says "D'oh!", which is transcribed as "To Lisa, never forget your Daddy loves D'OH!" In the end of the episode, Lisa gets a new sax with the dedication "To Lisa, may your new saxophone bring you years of D'OH!"

* ''Webcomic/TheNonadventuresOfWonderella'': In [[https://nonadventures.com/2014/11/01/funeral-for-ofrenda this comic]], Wonderella, as a superheroine who frequently dies, attempts to inform her sidekick about how she'd like her gravestone to look. Unfortunately, Wonderita interprets the instructions as the inscription.

* One of the random gadgets in ''Manga/{{Doraemon}}'', the Microphone Pen, which has a mini-microphone on it's base and does the writing for you while you point it's tip on paper, the downside being that it takes in ''literally'' everything, even background noises (in retrospect, this is among the few gadgets which has a real-life counterpart superior to it's fictional equivalent). It appears in a manga issue where Nobita is tasked with writing a letter by Tamako, but had his handwriting criticized by his mother Tamako and begs Doraemon for help as usual. Doraemon produces the gadget, but things goes hilariously wrong as usual.

* In ''Film/ShazamFuryOfTheGods'', Steve, an enchanted pen found in the Rock of Eternity's library, will dictate everything when tasked with writing a letter, whether it was supposed to be included in said letter or not. When the Daughters of Atlas read one such letter, they're utterly confused when presented with the various tangents in it.

''WebAnimation/HelluvaBoss'': In "Murder Family," a billboard advertising [[MurderInc I.M.P]] uses this as the punchline, implied to have been Blitzo sending a mangled text to the signmakers due to a text-to-speech mishap.

* ''Website/TheOnion'': The article [[https://www.theonion.com/note-do-not-run-until-fucking-queen-is-dead-or-people-1849511595 [NOTE: Do Not Run Until Fucking Queen Is Dead Or People Will Lose Their Shit] Queen Elizabeth Dead at 86"]]. In addition to the headline the body of the article is riddled with editor's notes that have been apparently included verbatim rather than implemented.

* Inverted in ''Theatre/AnimalCrackers'', where the secretary decides not to write down what Capt. Spaulding says on the grounds that it was nonsense.
-->'''Jamison:''' Now, uh... you said a lot of things here that I didn't think were important, so I just omitted them.\\
'''Capt. Spaulding:''' So, you just omitted them, eh? You just omitted the body of the letter, that's all. You've just left out the body of the letter, that's all. Yours is not to reason why, Jamison. You've left out the body of the letter.
* In ''Film/{{Brazil}}'', a secretary is seen typing everything she hears. As she works for a TortureTechnician, that includes screams of pain.
* In Romanian film ''Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn'', a grocery store florist shares a story of someone requesting a ribbon on a floral arrangement that says, "Rest in Peace" on both sides and getting a ribbon that says, "Rest in Peace On Both Sides."

* In ''Literature/CaptainUnderpants'' ''and the Wrath of the Wicked Wedgie Woman'', Ms. Ribble makes every student in her class write goodbye cards for her retirement by copying the poem she wrote on the chalkboard, which ends with a "Write your own name here" fill-in. None the less, most of the students are shown copying verbatim the "write your own name here" part.
* In the short story "Riddle me this" by Creator/ChristopherAnvil, the protagonists are trying to sneak into an alien base. Their ship's computer translates their communications to and from the aliens, but prints out all the formatting directives with the text rather than acting on them.

* This is a RunningGag in the parish council meetings in ''Series/TheVicarOfDibley''. The super-pedantic parish clerk Frank Pickle will frequently note down things literally, e.g. "Then Mrs. Cropley said nothing."

* ''Series/AlasSmithAndJones'' had a sketch where a criminal is cautioned that "anything he may say will be taken down and may be used in a court of law". the criminal then starts saying (deadpan) "What are you doing, officer? Please stop hitting me. Ow. Ow" as the police officer dutifully writes it all down, looking increasingly worried as the monologue goes on.

* One Rory Bremner sketch has Alistair Campbell dictating a report on Iraq's weapons capabilities. Tony Blair sticks his head round the door. "When will that report be ready?" he asks. "In forty-five minutes," Campbell replies, unaware that the typist is transcribing those words into the report.
* Used for BlackComedy in an episode of ''Series/RobinOfSherwood'', when the Sheriff of Nottingham reads out a transcript of a witch being interrogated under torture in a deadpan monotone, complete with cries of agony.

[[folder:Puppet Shows]]
* ''Series/{{Dinosaurs}}'': In "And The Winner Is...", every child is named by the Chief Elder in a ceremony, which is transcribed by a bureaucrat who just blithely writes it down. This is why Baby Sinclair's name is briefly [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6LC0ZB4ja4 "Aaugh Aaugh I'm Dying You Idiot."]] Fran mentions that she had a cousin named "Achoo" and a classmate named "Burp Excuse Me Siegelman".
[[/folder]]

-->Congrats [=AcPec=] Seniors\\
copitalize underlined\\
all other lower case

-->[[CutASliceTakeTheRest Mine on all slices]] but I Yours on the I Slice

-->The #25 in Big Font

-->-Congrats Diane and Mr. Peanut Butter Peanut Butter is one word don't write one word
-->-Happy Birthday Diane and Use a Pretty Font
-->-I had a ball at Diane's 35th birthday and underline ball I don't know why this is so hard
-->-Welcome home little bro! Oh also, I have a Groupon
-->-Mr. Peanutbutter's Housewarming Bash [[LampshadeHanging and can you send me a picture of the banner before it goes off to the printers this time?]]

-->'''Soos:''' I've got a story. It's called "Soos's Really Great Pinball Story!" *beat* Is that a good title? Do they have to be, like, puns or whatever?\\

[[quoteright:350:[[WesternAnimation/BojackHorseman https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/hbddiane.png]]]]

-->-Congrats Diane and Mr. Peanut Butter Peanut Butter is one word

* Blog/CakeWrecks has documented an alarming number of supposedly professionally-decorated cakes with icing spelling out things like:

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