History Main / WorldsSmallestViolin

** A street mime mocks Lisa with a balloon whale, and after it explodes like the real one did, with a balloon violin.

* ''Fanfic/SoulEaterTroubledSouls'': There’s apparently a freaking ''phone app'' for that in-universe! [[GenkiGirl Nayumi]] and [[TheArcher Tsuji]] play it in response to Caius and Claudia's {{Melodrama}}.

'''Tsuji:''' Word. ''[he and Nayumi take out their [=iPhones=] as if doing something completely different]'')\\

'''Nayumi:''' We're using the World's Smallest Violin app on our [=iPhones=]. See? ''[[[SubvertedTrope she and Tsuji show the apps to Kid that show the world’s smallest violin]]]''

--> '''Robby:''' You want a Wah-burger and some French Cries? How bout a Whine-eken?

* Music/{{AJR}} literally has a song titled “World’s Smallest Violin”, in which the singer invokes this trope on ''himself'', getting annoyed with himself for complaining about small problems when his father and grandfather had it way worse than him. However, he knows that his problems, however small they may seem, are still valid, and this trope is ultimately defied.

-->'''Oscar:''' Well, if it isn't the MVP.
-->'''Dr. Manhattan:'''The power you've accumulated is too much for any one being.
-->'''Oscar:''' You hear that? I'm playing the smallest violin. ''(plays a literal violin with two fingers while making the gesture)''
-->'''Dr. Manhattan:''' Given our current enormity, that's actually the size of a normal violin.
-->'''Oscar:''' Whatever. ''(drops violin on [[ButtMonkey Iron Man]]'s head)''

* Spoofed in the ''WebAnimation/ToonSandwich'' video, ''WebAnimation/SuperVillainBowl'', which has it's main villain Oscar growing himself to kaiju size. One of the heroes, Dr. Manhattan, in similar giant-size, confronts Oscar heads-on, and Oscar makes this gesture while Dr. Manhattan tries to talk him down.
--> '''Oscar''': You hear that? I'm playing the world's smallest violin. [plays a literal violin on two fingers while making the gesture]
--> '''Dr. Manhattan''': Given our current enormity, that's actually a regular-sized violin.
--> '''Oscar''': Whatever. [drops the violin]

* Lampshaded in ''WebAnimation/SuperHeroBowl'', during the dialogue between kaiju-size Oscar and Dr. Manhattan.

-->'''Oscar:''' You hear that? I'm playing the smallest violin for you. ''(plays a real violin with his fingers)''

-->'''Oscar:'''Well if it isn't the MVP.

-->'''Oscar:''' You hear that? I'm playing the smallest violin for you (plays a real violin with his fingers)
-->'''Dr. Manhattan:'''Given our current enormity, that's actually the size of a normal violin.

"BAAAWWWWWW", "somebody call the [=WAAAAAAAAAmbulance=]", "this is so sad, Alexa play '[[Music/LuisFonsi Despacito]]'", and "let me [[Memes/VideoGames press F]] on the world's smallest keyboard" are the internet equivalents.

When a character is presumed to be exaggerating the sorrow of their predicament in order to gain sympathy, another character may respond by rubbing their finger and thumb back and forth as if they were playing the world's smallest violin, possibly making fake violin noises with their mouth. A predominantly Western gesture, the World's Smallest Violin is used to say that a person is whining, or exaggering their plight, and that they will get no sympathy. There are other, [[FlippingTheBird much more rude hand gestures available]] to tell someone they're being an ass, but the violin is more sophisticated. It plays on the idea that [[{{Wangst}} wangsty]] characters expect the Warsaw Symphony Orchestra to pop up out of nowhere to provide some background for their soliloquies.

* A scene from the ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'' episode "Squilliam Returns" has Mr. Krabs ''literally'' plays the World's Smallest Violin as a variant of this trope:

'''Mr. Krabs:''' I know, this really ''is'' the World's Smallest Violin. See? ''[[[LiteralMetaphor camera focuses on his claw to show World's Smallest Violin]]]''

-->''Baby, now and then//
I think about me now and who I could have been//
And then I picture all the perfect that we lived//

When a character is presumed to be exaggerating the sorrow of their predicament in order to gain sympathy, another character may respond by rubbing their finger and thumb back and forth as if they were playing the world's smallest violin, possibly making fake violin noises with their mouth. A predominantly Western gesture, the World's Smallest Violin is used to indicate a person who is exaggerating. There are other, [[FlippingTheBird much more rude hand gestures available]] to tell someone they're being an ass, but the violin is more sophisticated. It plays on the idea that [[{{Wangst}} wangsty]] characters expect the Warsaw Symphony Orchestra to pop up out of nowhere to provide some background for their soliloquies.

%% This gesture is [[DeadHorseTrope rarely seen]] in real-life and in fiction. %%

* [[ComicallyMissingThePoint There actually is a Guinness World Record for "World's Smallest Violin".]] The violin in question is [[http://www.oddee.com/item_96508.aspx only an inch and a half long]]. And it can indeed be used to [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GVjcsHKKKc play a sad song]].

* Music/AJR literally has a song titled “World’s Smallest Violin”, in which the singer invokes this trope on ''himself'', getting annoyed with himself for complaining about small problems when his father and grandfather had it way worse than him. However, he knows that his problems, however small they may seem, are still valid, and this trope is ultimately defied.