History Main / SoYouWereSaying

There’s usually an [[MomentKiller interruption]], but not always: see Bob’s failed confession. As long as the confessor’s audience doesn’t get the message. If there is an interruption, it need not be separate from the prompt to continue: Charlie’s prompt to continue was also the interruption that stopped him from confessing. And a character confessing to something different still qualifies as not confessing, as in Alice’s case.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheWeekenders'': In "Tish's Hair" the expected "[[{{the reveal}} reveal]]" conversation with the others finally telling Tish they do ''not'' like Tish's new hairdo... ends up not happening when two kids pass Tish and actually make a positive comment on her hairdo.

Alice resolves to [[LoveConfession confess her love]] to Bob the next time she sees him, and when she runs across him she starts to confess, getting to “Bob, I—“ when Bob [[InterruptedDeclarationOfLove interrupts her]] gushing about his own crush on Charlie. When he finishes, he remembers she was about to speak and asks her what she was going to say. She loses her nerve and lies, saying she needed to tell him his favorite brand of milk was on sale.

There’s usually an [[MomentKiller interruption]], but not always: see Bob’s failed confession. The key part is that the confessor’s audience doesn’t get the message. If there is an interruption, it need not be separate from the prompt to continue: Charlie’s prompt to continue was also the interruption that stopped him from confessing. And a character confessing to something different still qualifies as not confessing, as in Alice’s case.

Alice resolves to [[LoveConfession confess her love]] to Bob the next time she sees him, and when she runs across him she starts to confess. Bob [[InterruptedDeclarationOfLove interrupts her]] gushing about his own crush on Charlie. When he finishes, he remembers she was about to speak and asks her what she was going to say. She says something like "nevermind, it's not important" and doesn't confess.

Charlie needs to tell Alice he's the one who trampled the rose bushes. He's gotten to "Alice, there's something I need to tell you" when Alice replies with "Yes?" Charlie loses his nerve and pretends what he "needed" to say was that her favorite brand of milk is on sale. If Alice didn't prompt him, it's likely he would have gone ahead with his confession.

There’s usually an [[MomentKiller interruption]], but not always: see Bob’s failed confession. The key part is that the confessor’s audience doesn’t get the message. If there is an interruption, it need not be separate from the prompt to continue: Charlie’s prompt to continue was also the interruption that stopped him from confessing. And a character confessing to something different still qualifies as not confessing, again as in Charlie’s case.

The common thread between these examples is that a character tries to share a secret, but something happens and they fail to share it. They’re prompted to say whatever they were going to say, and they don’t. In other words, it’s an UnConfession where the speaker urged to proceed with their confession, and they don’t.

The person attempting to confess often CannotSpitItOut. Compare OnSecondThought. Often overlaps with InterruptedDeclarationOfLove and FalseStart. Simply using the phrase "So you were saying?" [[IThoughtItMeant does not count as this trope]].

The common thread between all these examples is that character knows a big secret and finally musters the courage to share it. But before they can successfully share it, [[MomentKiller something happens]]. Whatever happens, the character is prompted to say whatever they wanted to say, and they don’t.

A type of UnConfession where the speaker is urged to proceed with their confession, and the speaker doesn’t. Simply using the phrase "So you were saying?" does not count as this trope.

The person attempting to confess often CannotSpitItOut. Compare OnSecondThought. Often overlaps with InterruptedDeclarationOfLove and FalseStart.

The common thread between all these examples is that character knows a big secret and finally musters the courage to share it. But before they can successfully share it, [[MomentKiller something happens]]. Whatever happens, the character is prompted to say whatever they wanted to say, and they decline to.

A type of UnConfession where the speaker is urged to proceed with their confession, and the speaker declines. Simply using the phrase "So you were saying?" does not count as this trope.

The person attempting to confess often CannotSpitItOut. Compare OnSecondThought. Often overlaps with InterruptedDeclarationOfLove.

Charlie's spent the whole story trying to find out who his mother is and fighting a villain. Bob knows Charlie's mother is that villain. One day, Bob takes Charlie to a noisy bar to confess and make sure there are drinks nearby in case Charlie wants them to cope. He musters his courage and tells Charlie, but Charlie didn't quite catch what he said, would Bob mind repeating that? Bob says something like "it was nothing" and pretends the whole outing was just meant to be a friendly get-together.

Charlie's spent the whole story trying to find out who his mother is and fighting a villain. Bob knows Charlie's mother is that villain. One day, Bob takes Charlie to a noisy bar with the express purpose of confessing and making sure there are drinks nearby in case Charlie wants them to cope. He musters his courage and tells Charlie, but Charlie didn't quite catch what he said, would Bob mind repeating that? Bob says something like "it was nothing" and pretends the whole outing was just meant to be a friendly get-together.

A type of UnConfession where the speaker is urged to proceed with their confession, and the speaker declines. There must be a “So you were saying?” “Nothing. Nevermind.” element after the Un-Confession, otherwise it’s not this trope.

A character has a big secret and finally musters the courage to share it. But before they can spit it out, something happens. Maybe there’s a MomentKiller. Maybe the character did spit it out, but nobody heard. Maybe another character reveals something that makes their secret pointless or [[NoYouGoFirst more difficult to reveal]], like Alice telling Bob, who was about to make a LoveConfession to her, about her crush on Charlie. Whatever happens, the character is then prompted to say whatever they wanted to say, and they decline to.

A type of UnConfession where the speaker is urged to proceed with their confession, and the speaker declines. There must be a “So you were saying?” “Nothing. Nevermind.” element after the Un-Confession, otherwise it’s not this trope. Compare OnSecondThought.

A character has a big secret and finally musters the courage to share it. But before they can spit it out, something happens. Maybe there’s a MomentKiller. Maybe the character did spit it out, but nobody heard. Maybe another character reveals something that makes their secret pointless or more difficult to reveal, like Alice telling Bob, who was about to make a LoveConfession, about her crush on Charlie. Whatever happens, the character is then prompted to say whatever they wanted to say, and they decline to.

A character has a big secret and finally musters the courage to share it. But before they can spit it out, something happens. Maybe there’s a MomentKiller. Maybe the character did spit it out, but nobody heard. Maybe another character reveals something that makes their secret pointless or more difficult to reveal. Whatever happens, the character is then prompted to say whatever they wanted to say, and they don’t.

A character has a big secret and finally musters the courage to share it. But before they can spit it out, something happens. Maybe there’s a MomentKiller. Maybe the character did spit it out, but nobody heard. Maybe another character reveals something that makes their secret pointless or more difficult to reveal. Whatever happens, the character is then prompted to say whatever they wanted to say, only for them to falsely report they had nothing to say.

A type of UnConfession where the speaker is urged to proceed with their confession, and the speaker replies with something along the lines of “I didn’t have anything to say.” There must be a “So you were saying?” “Nothing.” element after the Un-Confession, otherwise it’s not this trope. Compare OnSecondThought.

* ''Anime/TheIdolmaster'' :Haruka has been getting increasingly upset about what's been going on, but no one seems to notice and she couldn't even place it herself. When she's finally ready to let it out, the Producer shows up and she starts to tell him. Before she gets to anything important, however, Miki interrupts. When the Producer and Miki are finished, the Producer asks Haruka to finish. Unlike typical examples, when Haruka insists it was nothing, the Producer doesn't buy it, but he doesn't get to find out anyway.

A type of UnConfession. It’s not the exact same trope, because this trope also requires the character to be urged to proceed with their confession, and for the character to reply with something along the lines of “I didn’t have anything to say.” There has to be a “So you were saying?” “Nothing.” element after the un-confession. Compare OnSecondThought.

A subset of CannotSpitItOut and UnConfession. Compare OnSecondThought.

A character has this big secret and finally gathered the courage to share it. But before they can spit it out, the conversation is [[MomentKiller interrupted by something]] which gives the character time to think twice and change their mind. Or the other will want to say something first, and that moots out the whole point of the conversation. When the first one is then urged to pick up where they left off, it usually goes something like: "So you were saying?" "...Nothing.".

A character has this big secret and finally gathered the courage to share it. But before they can spit it out, the conversation is interrupted by something which gives the character time to think twice and change their mind. Or the other will want to say something first, and that moots out the whole point of the conversation. When the first one is then urged to pick up where they left off, it usually goes something like: "So you were saying?" "...Nothing.".

A subset of CannotSpitItOut. Compare OnSecondThought.

A character has this big secret and finally gathered the courage to share it. But before they can spit it out, the conversation is interrupted by something which gives the character time to think twice and change their mind. Or the other will want to say something first, and that moots out the whole point of the conversation. When the first one is then urged to pick up where they left off, it usually goes something like : "So you were saying?" "...Nothing.".

A subset of CannotSpitItOut.

Needs some WikiMagic.

* ''Series/OnceUponATime'': Mulan, having finally [[CannotSpitItOut gotten up the courage]], is about to confess to Aurora that [[BiTheWay she loves her]]. But Aurora interrupts her because she can't hold in her own exciting news--she is pregnant with Philip's baby! Naturally, when urged to continue with what she was going to say, Mulan can only feign happiness for Aurora's news, then claims she only wanted to say [[DramaticIrony she's joining Robin Hood's Merry Men]]...[[TearJerker and walk off heartbroken]].

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* ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'': In "Peggy's Headache", Peggy finally realizes that Joseph isn't really Dale's son and tries to tell him the truth. As she is about to, she witnesses Dale and Joseph sharing [[HeartwarmingMoments rather heartwarming moment]], and she decides to keep it a secret.

-->'''Skinny:''' And...hold the onions.
-->'''Fat:''' Huh? What'd you say?
-->'''Skinny:''' ''(composing himself)'' Oh...nothing.

-->'''Mike:''' So, what was it that you wanted to tell me?
-->'''Margery:''' That... we're so happy you're here!