History Main / YouKeepUsingThatWord

* On the game show ''Series/AreYouSmarterThanAFifthGrader'', one of the questions was about what a prime number is. The children in the "classroom" wrote down their answers and then the adult contestant started answering that prime number is the rate which forms the basis of the amount a lending institution uses to set the interest rate for a loan. The children, after some confused looks, started laughing in their seats. The contestant had confused "prime number" with "prime lending rate."

* Likewise, to "remaster" a piece of media is to present the cleanest, highest-fidelity version as close to its original form as possible, but the term is often applied to {{Updated Rerelease}}s and {{Video Game Remake}}s that have obvious graphical and gameplay upgrades from the original.

* Likewise, to "remaster" a piece of media is to present the cleanest, highest-fidelity version as close to its original form as possible, but the term is often applied to {{Video Game Remake}}s that have obvious graphical and gameplay upgrades from the original.

Compare PersonalDictionary, where either character has a different opinion on what a word might mean, and InsistentTerminology, when a character insists on using a particular term and corrects others. Contrast BuffySpeak (the character doesn't know the "right" words, so they just jam similar-enough words together in hopes the other character understands), HaveAGayOldTime (where the meaning of words shift over time), {{Neologism}} (the meaning is unclear because the word is new), and PerfectlyCromulentWord (a word is unfamiliar, but used correctly). For a list of words that tend to cause this reaction, see UsefulNotes/CommonlyMisusedWords. In regards to this wiki, see SquarePegRoundTrope.

* ''Franchise/AceAttorney'': At one point, Jacques Portsman claims that there is a "mountain of evidence" pointing away from him. If you press him on this point, however, it turns out his "mountain of evidence" ''isn't really evidence at all''; simply a claim regarding his supposed lack of motive. If an attorney or Edgeworth tried to pull that kind of baloney in court, they would have gotten penalized. Especially bad because Portsman ''should'' know what the word means; he ''is'' a prosecutor, after all. Edgeworth calls him out on this:

* ''Film/ThePrincessBride'' is the TropeNamer. Vizzini [[InsistentTerminology repeatedly uses]] "inconceivable", meaning impossible to imagine, to refer to things that are simply improbable or unfortunate, until Inigo Montoya finally calls him out on it. Technically, Vizzini is using hyperbole rather than outright misusing it, but his use implies a lack of imagination more than the craziness of the situation, or his ego being so big that it doesn't take much for Dread Pirate Roberts to defy his expectations.

-->-- '''Inigo Montoya''', ''Film/ThePrincessBride'', on Vizzini's use of the word "inconceivable".

[[folder:Fanfiction]]

* PlayedForLaughs in ''Film/SpiderMan1'' when Peter chastises J. Jonah Jameson for writing a trashy article about Spider Man that slanders ol' Web Head as some kind of menace:
--> '''Peter:''' Spider-Man wasn't trying to attack the city, he was trying to save it. That's slander.
--> '''J.J.:''' It is not. I resent that. Slander is spoken. In print, it's libel.

''(a moment of awkward silence)''\\

* In the first episode of ''Series/TheBoys2019'', Butcher criticizes [[{{Invisibility}} Translucent]]'s superhero name:
--> '''Butcher:''' "Translucent" doesn't even mean "invisible." It means "semi-transparent."

* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}''
** After Annagramma Hawkin spends her entire presence in ''Literature/AHatFullOfSky'' using the word "literally" figuratively, Tiffany pleads her to learn what it means.

[[folder:Stand-Up Comedy]]
* The premise of the title track on Creator/BillEngvall's ''Now That's Awesome'' album is how the word "awesome" should be restored to its original meaning of leaving someone in awe and wonder. He goes on to cite several examples, such as "winning the lottery twice", women discovering that [[MisterSeahorse men can now experience childbirth]], or meeting Music/ShaniaTwain NakedInMink "holding a note from my wife that said 'Have a good time.'"
-->'''Bill''': It ain't gonna happen. But that would be awesome.
[[/folder]]

* Most everything Riddler does in the ''Franchise/BatmanArkhamSeries''. He keeps calling his various challenges "riddles", but very few of them qualify, even by a very generous definition of the word. While he ''does'' ask actual riddles in each game, the majority of the challenges he sets to Batman are tests of physicality, puzzle-solving, death traps, and scavenger hunts to find Riddler trophies. This is treated as in-universe MotiveDecay in ''Arkham Knight'', where his challenges are ''car races''; while a few of them do have a small element of puzzle-solving and quick-thinking, they're certainly not riddles, and it's unclear how Batman's inability to complete them would prove the Riddler is intellectually superior to him. [[spoiler:Even his final boss battle is a pure physical task, where Batman fights waves of robots and the Riddler in a mech suit. He claims that the fact he built and programmed these devices to kill Batman would make it an "intellectual victory above all else", but that isn't a riddle either.]] Catwoman calls him out on it in the last of her challenges, after avoiding sweeping sawblades:

[a little later]\\

--> '''Loreweaver:''' "Steven I think you may have had a ''serious'' misunderstanding about the nature of a secret"

* ''Film/ThePrincessBride'' is the TropeNamer. Vizzini [[InsistentTerminology repeatedly uses]] "inconceivable", meaning impossible to imagine, to refer to things that are simply improbable or unfortunate, until Inigo Montoya finally calls him out on it. Technically, Vizzini is using hyperbole rather than outright misusing it, but his use implies a lack of imagination more than the craziness of the situation.

* ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'': Dirk calls Caliborn out on using the word "ironic" to characterize his enjoyment of observing human love and romance, when it's clearly more of a weird {{Fetish}}.

** In season 17, Michelle was strongly encouraged to refer to her dish for an Italian food challenge as a tortellini rather than a dumpling or a pot sticker. Her teammates caught her referring to it as a dumpling multiple times while cooking and corrected her, Thankfully by the time she was presenting her food, she had corrected that error and not only had one of the top scoring dishes of the challenge, but had her dish on the menu for the next dinner service.

* When Gia made her entrance in Season 6 of of ''Series/RuPaulsDragRace'', she called herself "fresh tilapia." As Sharon Needles pointed out in the season recap episode (and Bianca would later point out), that's normally the ''cheapest'' fish in the store, and it was hardly the BadassBoast she was going for.

* PlayedForLaughs in ''Film/SpiderMan'' when Peter chastises J. Jonah Jameson for writing a trashy article about Spider Man that slanders ol' Web Head as some kind of menace:

[[folder:Websites]]
* ''TV Tropes'': This very site misuses the word "trope", which actually means "figure of speech".
[[/folder]]

* After Annagramma Hawkin spends her entire presence in ''Literature/AHatFullOfSky'' using the word "literally" figuratively, Tiffany finally pleads her to learn what it means.

* ''Blog/AskAPony'': One tumblr pony drops the whole line in response when anonymous calls him autistic for creating an ask blog specifically about a pony with human genitalia.

[[folder:Film--Live-Action]]

->''"[[TropeNamers You keep using that word]]. I do not think it means what you think it means."''

* Most everything Riddler does in the Franchise/BatmanArkhamSeries. He keeps calling his various challenges "riddles", but very few of them qualify, even by a very generous definition of the word. While he ''does'' ask actual riddles in each game, the majority of the challenges he sets to Batman are tests of physicality, puzzle-solving, death traps, and scavenger hunts to find Riddler trophies. This is treated as in-universe MotiveDecay in ''Arkham Knight'', where his challenges are ''car races''; while a few of them do have a small element of puzzle-solving and quick-thinking, they're certainly not riddles, and it's unclear how Batman's inability to complete them would prove the Riddler is intellectually superior to him. [[spoiler:Even his final boss battle is a pure physical task, where Batman fights waves of robots and the Riddler in a mech suit. He claims that the fact he built and programmed these devices to kill Batman would make it an "intellectual victory above all else", but that isn't a riddle either.]] Catwoman calls him out on it in the last of her challenges, after avoiding sweeping sawblades:

* ''WebAnimation/HomestarRunner'':
** In the ''WebAnimation/StrongbadEmail'' "secret identity", Strong Bad and various other characters keep talking about "pseudonames". At the end, a hyperactive Strong Sad bursts in and yells that the correct word is "pseudo''nym''".
** In ''WebAnimation/TeenGirlSquad'' issue #12, the girls spend the whole episode talking about "Valentimes Day". So-and-So, the most academically adept one, finally snaps and yells that it's [=ValenTINE=]'S Day. The TGS universe being what it is, she promptly gets run over by a Formula 1 race-car... being driven by a fork.

* Most everything Riddler does in the [[Franchise/BatmanArkhamSeries]]. He keeps calling his various challenges "riddles", but very few of them qualify, even by a very generous definition of the word. While he ''does'' ask actual riddles in each game, the majority of the challenges he sets to Batman are tests of physicality, puzzle-solving, death traps, and scavenger hunts to find Riddler trophies. This is treated as in-universe MotiveDecay in ''Arkham Knight'', where his challenges are ''car races''; while a few of them do have a small element of puzzle-solving and quick-thinking, they're certainly not riddles, and it's unclear how Batman's inability to complete them would prove the Riddler is intellectually superior to him. [[spoiler:Even his final boss battle is a pure physical task, where Batman fights waves of robots and the Riddler in a mech suit. He claims that the fact he built and programmed these devices to kill Batman would make it an "intellectual victory above all else", but that isn't a riddle either.]] Catwoman calls him out on it in the last of her challenges, after avoiding sweeping sawblades:

->''"You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means."''

** In ''WebAnimation/TeenGirlSquad'' issue #12, the girls spend the whole episode talking about "Valentimes Day". So-and-So, the most academically adept one, finally snaps and yells that it's [=ValenTINE=]'S Day. The TGS universe being what it is, she promptly gets impaled by the tines of a fork... strapped to the front of a car.