Line #15 Main/HollywoodSpelling


1	In television and movies, due in part to TheLawOfConservationOfDetail, no matter how many ways to spell a name there are, the person in question will ''always'' spell it correctly, first try, even if only told the name over a telephone or even a bad radio transmission. This includes slang words, given names, surnames, chemical names, astronomical names... there is never a need for a spell-checker in Hollywood.
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3	Many given names and surnames can also be legitimately spelled in various ways (Claire, Clare, Clair...) and are seldom disambiguated. This is especially evident when the name is an example of PsmithPsyndrome or MyNaymeIs...
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5	This trope is less of an issue in languages that have spelling systems that provide less ambiguity than English, but may still manifest itself to some degree. And in some languages, such as Japanese, [[AlternateCharacterReading the issue is even worse]].
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7	----
8	!!Examples (Note: Aversions are listed separately below)
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10	[[foldercontrol]]
11
12	[[folder:Fan Works]]
13	* Lampshaded in [[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/4754974/7/Forgotten this]] ''Franchise/{{Castlevania}}'' fanfiction, where Mina experiences some PastLifeMemories in the form of dreams, and tries to check if they're legit by looking up the people she saw. She immediately realizes that she's never seen Mathias Cronqvist's (pronounced Cronk-vist) surname written down, but spells it correctly because those past life memories are real.
14	[[/folder]]
15
16	[[folder:Film — Animation]]
17	* In ''WesternAnimation/FernGullyTheLastRainforest'', when Zak starts to carve Crysta's name in a tree trunk, he somehow knows to spell it "Crysta" rather than "Crista", "Krista" or any other variation, despite never having seen it written.
18	[[/folder]]
19
20	[[folder:Film — Live-Action]]
21	* There's a scene at the end of the film ''Film/TheCowboys'', where a man is being commissioned to make a gravestone. Despite never asking, he somehow knows how the name on the stone should be spelled (it's a fairly common name, spelled in an unusual way).
22	* In the Creator/{{Syfy}} [[Film/SyfyOriginalMovie original movie]] ''Film/ScreamOfTheBanshee'', two characters watch a video clip of a man who mutters something that sounds like "bean see." One of them jokes that it might be Spanish for "beans, yes" but the other promptly types it into a search engine and - in about two seconds - informs him that it's Gaelic for "banshee." The problem with this is that the "see" part of that Gaelic term is spelled "sidhe", and "bean sidhe" is in any case pronounced "banshee". There's no way she could have Googled it that quickly (if at all) if she didn't already know that.
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24
25	[[folder:Literature]]
26	* The English translation of the novel [[Literature/TheRing Rasen]] lampshades this as a plot point: Ando unconsciously writes down the kanji for "Asakawa", and Mai realises that she's never learned to spell the name.
27	* Used as a plot point in Creator/AgathaChristie's ''The Secret Adversary'', featuring Literature/TommyAndTuppence. A note allegedly written by Tuppence is shown clearly to be a forgery when her name is misspelled "Twopence".[[note]]which, in the days of UsefulNotes/OldBritishMoney, was pronounced "tuppence"[[/note]] Not only that, but Tommy is able to identify the novel's culprit based on the misspelling, because one of the two main suspects had seen Tuppence's name written down while the other hadn't.
28	* Zigzagged in ''Literature/ShadowsOfSelf''. Wax meets an attractive socialite who introduces herself as Milan, and the narrative spells it as such. After saving his life, she repeats her name without spelling it, but this time Wax recognizes her name is [=MeLaan=].
29	[[/folder]]
30
31	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
32	* An episode of ''Series/CSIMiami'' involving a "Black Dawg Productions".
33	* A bizarre version on ''Series/GameOfThrones''; Daenerys is told her scouts have discovered a city called 'Qarth', and when she meets its envoys she mispronounces it 'Kwarth' (as if it were spelled Qu- instead of Q-) and gets corrected. This is [[FandomNod a common misspelling among fans]], but makes very little sense for a woman who's only ever heard the name spoken aloud and never seen it written down.
34	* Barbara has perhaps the most impressive example of this on ''Series/{{Gotham}}''. She's attacked by a terrifying assassin, only ever hears his name, never sees it written, and writes Jim Gordon a note saying she's leaving him. Partly because she's so traumatised by "Zsasz".
35	* In ''Series/{{Greek}}'', Lizzi points out that her name is spelled "With two Zeta Beta Z's!"... but neglects to mention the actual potential for misspelling, the final 'i' instead of the more common 'ie' or 'y'.
36	* Nobody in the recent series ''Series/TheInvisibleMan'' ever mistook Darien Fawkes for a Darian Fox. (Though to be fair, Fawkes and Fox are occasionally pronounced slightly differently, depending on the speaker's accent.)
37	* Not a name, but a minor plot point in the first series finale of ''Series/{{Life on Mars\|2006}}'' involves a man's last word being "key"... or possibly "quay".
38	* ''Series/TheLoneGunmen'' had a character going by the alias Yves Adele Harlow, an [[SignificantAnagram anagram]] of Lee Harvey Oswald. Her name was never spelled out until the Gunmen made the connection, despite there being at ''least'' four different ways to spell the names involved. For one thing, "Yves" is usually a men's name, and is pronounced exactly like the women's name "Eve".
39	* ''Series/MacGyver1985'': Somehow, [=MacGyver=] apparently knows the correct letter case for and space in the password in "Ugly Duckling", though this may be [[JustifiedTrope justified]] thanks to the particulars of the system in question (Mac canonically knows his way around computers) and basic logic regarding English, respectively.
40	* In an early episode of ''Series/StargateSG1'', O'Neill is adamant about the correct spelling of Teal'c's name, including the apostrophe. This despite the fact that Teal'c himself comes from a culture that doesn't seem to use the Roman alphabet, and the episode takes place before he's learned practically anything about Earth culture. You wouldn't think his name would even ''have'' a standard spelling yet, let alone such a weird one.
41	** O'Neill constantly insists that everyone, including aliens, spell his name with "two L's", which is a ShoutOut to the fact that the character's name in the original film was spelled with one L, and also the fact that Richard Dean Anderson is nothing like Creator/KurtRussell.
42	** They also, in one episode, insist on the correct spelling of "Goa'uld", despite the fact that they ''almost'' never pronounce it like it's spelled, usually slurring it into "Goold" instead.
43	* Comes up frequently on ''Series/WithoutATrace'' (a show on which - at least in the early seasons - the writers often seemed to forget that the main characters don't actually get to ''see'' witnesses' flashbacks or receive copies of the script) but a particularly egregious example was in an episode where a witness tells detectives about an African activist and then, upon returning to headquarters, one of them tells someone who wasn't present when the man was first mentioned (so even if the witness spelled the name off camera it wouldn't matter) to search for him in the FBI records. The detective promptly types the name in and rattles off the details of the man's life. The camera then shows the screen the detective is reading. This is the point at which the viewer realizes that the man's name is "Adisa Teno" and not "Adis Ateno", which is how everyone has been pronouncing it to this point.
44	* On the same note, ''Series/TheXFiles'', constantly. The trope is further highlighted by the deliberately odd names possessed by apparently everyone in the X-Files universe. (The cast of new characters in the [[Film/TheXFilesFightTheFuture first movie]], for instance: Alvin Kurtzweil; Ben Bronschweig; Jana Cassidy; Darius Michaud; Conrad Strughold.)
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46
47	[[folder:Video Games and Visual Novels]]
48	* Critical to the plot of ''VideoGame/HeavyRain'' is that [[spoiler: the Origami Killer uses the name "John '''Sheppard'''." Several characters only hear this name but miraculously know how it is spelled]].
49	* ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsBirthBySleep'' has a weird example - Master Xehanort's plan is to create a superweapon with a PunnyName: [[spoiler: the "X-blade", which uses the greek letter "Chi", making it sound exactly like "Keyblade".]] This confuses Ventus, and Xehanort actually interrupts his supervillain speech to clarify it, even conjuring a glowing letter as a visual aid. This explanation is only offered in Ventus's storyline, however - in Aqua and Terra's, it's almost like they can read the subtitles and pick up on the difference themselves.
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52	[[folder:Western Animation]]
53	* In the ''WesternAnimation/{{Fillmore}}'' episode "Codename: Electric Haircut" the heroes search for a student who does not seem to exist, despite people remembering her. When the computer expert they ask for help searches for her in the school's system, she only tries one way to spell the name (despite only hearing it) before saying this student isn't in the system. [[spoiler: Justified or maybe subverted (though, since it never comes up, maybe not on purpose) since the computer expert actually IS the missing student and of course can spell her own name.]]
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55
56	!!Aversions
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58	[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
59	* Averted a few times in ''Manga/DeathNote'' because it's relevant to the plot and because Japanese contains a very high number of homophones. When Misa learns the kanji of Light's name, she spends much time wondering how it is pronounced.
60	** Greatly complicated by the fact that Light's name is GratuitousEnglish instead of a standard Japanese name.[[note]]These kinds are usually referred to as "''Kira-kira''" (literally "glittering") names, since they're a bit ostentatious. They are a type of AlternateCharacterReading: a name with the spelling of "人" (man), for example, might be pronounced "Adam" due to the Biblical figure being the first man.[[/note]]
61	** A rule of the Death Note is that, if you misspell a victim's name four times, they become immune to that Note. Light does most of his work by looking up his victim's names on the Internet; when he's testing the Note near the beginning on an asshole biker, he writes six different spellings of the guy's name just to make sure (his first one's correct, funny enough).
62	** The wielder of a Death Note can make a deal with the shinigami who owned it, gaining "shinigami eyes". This gives the wielder a form of StatOVision that shows how long someone has left to live - and more importantly, their name, exactly as they personally spell it. While invaluable to anyone who intends to use a Death Note seriously, the cost is ''extremely'' high - [[CastFromLifespan half one's current lifespan]]. If the wielder then loses the Death Note, they lose the shinigami eyes in the process, but they ''don't'' get their lifespan back.
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65	[[folder:Comic Books]]
66	* Averted in the second issue of ''ComicBook/CableAndDeadpool'': Cable phones Irene, a friend of his on the Daily Bugle, and asks her to look up three would-be anarchists with complicated names.
67	-->''Spell those.''\
68	''You're on your own.''
69	[[/folder]]
70
71	[[folder:Fan Works]]
72	* Averted in [[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11971675/1/Broken-Glass this]] ''VideoGame/MegaManX'' fanfiction, where Dr. Cain tells X about a new Reploid named Colonel. X thinks his name is Kernel at first, and his dialogue uses that spelling.
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75	[[folder:Film — Live-Action]]
76	* Inverted in ''Franchise/BillAndTed'', when UsefulNotes/AbrahamLincoln clarifies to a cop how his surname is spelled. Whilst in full '[[YourCostumeNeedsWork Abraham Lincoln costume]]'.
77	* ''Film/TheBourneIdentity'' averts this with a telephone call to a hotel asking if they have a "John Michael Kane" staying there, and then specifying "[[NameOfCain Kane with a 'K']]".
78	* ''Film/KissKissBangBang'' averts this when Perry briefs Harry on their assignment giving the name of his client as "Allison Ames, A-M-E-S".
79	* Averted in ''Film/MysteryDate1991'' where a man trying to name [[spoiler:Craig [=McHugh=]]] as his killer instead scrawls [[spoiler:[=McQ=]]].
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81
82	[[folder:Literature]]
83	* ''Literature/AdrianMole'': In ''Cappuccino Years'', one of the staff at the restaurant asks Adrian what to name the cat. Out loud, Adrian suggests "Humphrey"; and the member of staff buys an engraved cat collar, spelled "Humfri".
84	* Averted in Creator/StephenKing's ''Literature/TheGreenMile'', where John Coffey, whenever having to tell his name, always clarifies that it's not spelled "like the drink".
85	* Averted in Creator/LMMontgomery's ''Literature/AnneOfGreenGables'' series. Anne often introduces herself as "Anne Shirley. Anne -- spelled with an E", to ward off those who would misspell it.
86	* In ''Literature/MemoirsOfAGeisha'', the main character notices someone spells her name wrong, but doesn't correct him.
87	* Generally averted by Literature/{{Spenser}}, who when he gives his name notes that it is spelled with an "s." People who recognize that this is "like the poet" are viewed favorably.
88	* In ''Literature/BigendBooks'', a minor character averts this when giving his name to the police with the air of a man who is tired of questions.
89	-->My name's Daniel Pease. P-e-a-s-e. As in "pudding hot".
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91
92	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
93	* Averted in ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer''. When Buffy realizes that recurring villain Ethan Rayne is in town again, Riley phones the Initiative and asks for a search on hotel registrations matching his name. "Ethan Rayne, R-A-Y-N-E." (Probably intentional: the entire sequence is about contrasting Riley's down-to-Earth soldier demeanor with Buffy's supernatural methods.)
94	* ''Series/DoctorWho'' (the new series) averts this trope — multiple characters introduce themselves by pointing out a spelling eccentricity with their name ([[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E12BadWolf Lynda-with-a-Y]], [[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E4DaleksInManhattan Tallulah, three L's and an H]], [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E4TheSontaranStratagem Rattigan with two T's]]…).
95	* Not a name, but a minor plot point in the first series finale of ''Series/{{Life on Mars\|2006}}'' involves a man's last word being "key"... or possibly "quay".
96	* Averted on ''Series/{{Lost}}''. When Hurley takes his census, he confirms the spelling of Ethan's last name (Rom, not Rahm or Rohm) before writing it down. Of course, this is so the audience can figure out that "Ethan Rom" is an anagram of "Other Man".
97	* ''Series/{{Monk}}'':
98	** Inverted in "Mr. Monk and the Election", where a threat letter addressed to Natalie Teeger misspells her last name (forgetting the R in her last name). This turns out to be a ChekhovsGun.
99	** There was another episode where someone pronounced her name wrong while reading it off a piece of paper and she corrected him.
100	** Used in another episode, where someone misspelled Natalie's last name on a package containing [[spoiler:a voodoo doll]] (this time, with an A instead of a second E). Again a ChekhovsGun, when Natalie notices that the same mistake is made [[spoiler:by her paramedic, who turns out to be the murderer.]]
101	* Averted in the ''Series/OurMissBrooks'' episode "Suzie Prentisss", where the eponymous Suzie misspells her last name by giving it an extra "s".
102	* On one episode of ''Series/{{Seinfeld}}'', George tries to impress people with his uncanny ability to guess how their names are spelled. When he tries it with the head of the TV network they're trying to impress, he's coldly informed that he's "not even close".
103	* Averted for laughs in ''Series/SmartGuy''. TJ's been trying to find records of a "Baby Boy X" and is frustrated to find out he's really looking for "Baby Boy ''Ecks''".
104	* Averted in the ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' episode ''[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS4E5RememberMe Remember Me]]''. Data, being very thorough, goes through every possible spelling variation of Dr Dalen Quaice's name.
105	* Averted in ''Series/{{Survivor}}'', where misspellings are par for the course at Tribal Council. Under the circumstances, it would be a major mistake to ask how a name is spelled - why would you need to know unless you're going to make a move against them? Incidentally, the first vote ever cast was misspelled, Sue Hawk's vote for "Souna" (Sonya).
106	* ''Series/{{Torchwood}}'':
107	** In ''[[Series/TorchwoodChildrenOfEarth Children of Earth]]'', Ianto (manning the computer) is instructed by Gwen to search for a person called "Clement [=McDonald=]", but with the note to try both Mc/Mac spellings as she only heard the name spoken, not written down.
108	** And again in the eighth episode of ''[[Series/TorchwoodMiracleDay Miracle Day]]''. When getting info on the mysterious three families, the CIA analyst asks them for the spelling of the names.
109	* Averted rather reasonably on ''Series/TheWestWing'' when Josh asks Donna for information on an Indonesian official named Rahmadi Sumahidjo Bambang. She immediately asks if he can spell the name; he replies "not correctly, no."
110	* Averted, [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome of course]], in an episode of ''Series/WhoseLineIsItAnyway'', when Chip and Wayne sing a song for an audience member named "Derek" (or some spelling thereof). As they're doing the song in the style of Music/TheVillagePeople, they decide to make it a SpellingSong, ''a la'' "YMCA". It is only after they get to "D-E-R" that they have a brief "OhCrap" moment when they abruptly realize that they don't know which way to spell his name. They settle for "Derrick".
111	** Also averted in what is widely considered one of the show's funniest moments. In a different singing segment (this time with a person called "Howard"), the players again do a "YMCA"-style SpellingSong. However, Laura Hall (the pianist) accidentally hits the wrong button on her keyboard, and the song's tempo is ''doubled'' - and "YMCA" is already a quick-tempo song. Forced to rush, they end up spelling his name ''"H-O-R-W-A-R-D"''.
112	--->'''Wayne:''' It's hard to spell at 200 beats a minute!
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114
115	[[folder:Theatre]]
116	* Averted in ''Theatre/TheOddCouple'', where Gwendolyn tells Felix how to spell her last name:
117	-->"You don't spell it like Creator/WalterPidgeon. You spell it like 'Coo-Coo' Pigeon."
118	[[/folder]]
119
120	[[folder:Video Games and Visual Novels]]
121	* Used as a plot point in the video game ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneyJusticeForAll''. In the first case of the game, a key piece of evidence is a message scrawled on the ground, apparently by a murder victim. The message is the word "Maggie", and the prosecution claims he was identifying his killer as his girlfriend. Phoenix realizes the message was not written by the victim, as the accused spells her name ''Maggey'', and if anyone knew how she spelled her name it would be her boyfriend. In the original Japanese script, Maggey's name is Mako Suzuki, and the mistake is that the person who wrote her name used the standard kanji for it, while the kanji ''she'' uses are noticeably different.
122	** Used the exact same way in the first case of ''VideoGame/LaytonBrothersMysteryRoom''; here with the victim's lover is named "Felps" and the killer plants a clue framing "Phelps".
123	* George Stobbart of ''VideoGame/BrokenSword'' is fond of introducing himself as "[[BondJamesBond Stobbart - George Stobbart]]. That's two b's, and two t's". This tends to just confuse people, as while there ''are'' two t's, they're non-consecutive.
124	* [[AvertedTrope Averted]] in ''VideoGame/MassEffect2''. At one point, [[PlayerCharacter Shepard]] will receive a message from a prisoner he/she shot at during a prison riot. The prisoner spells his / her name "Shepherd". Of course, judging by the spelling of the message, the prisoner was slightly illiterate.
125	* Averted in the ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion'' ExpansionPack, ''Shivering Isles'', where you can find a journal written by an adventurer. He writes about the 'Tsaesci', a race of snake people from Akavir, but because he's only heard the word spoken, he spells it 'Sayessie' (telling players how to pronounce it) until a scholar gets a look at the journal and insists on him writing the correct spelling.
126	* [[AvertedTrope Averted]] in ''VideoGame/RedDeadRedemption2'', where Arthur [[spoiler: and John, in the epilogue]] will write Jean Marc's name as "John Mark" in the journal, due to not knowing French and never having any sort of formal education. If [[spoiler: Arthur/John chooses to spare him, they'll realize their mistake due to being sent a letter with his name properly written.]] If Arthur starts the questline, but [[spoiler: John is the one to finish it, then John will actually poke fun at Arthur's misspelling, writing "It ain't John Mark. It's Jean Marc, Arthur".]]
127	* Used as a plot point in ''VideoGame/{{Catherine}}'', where the heroines are named Katherine and Catherine, along with a third, Qatherine, in the UpdatedReRelease. To preserve the mystery of which one they're talking about, the voice acting will say the name -atherine out loud, but the subtitles will substitute 'she' or 'her'.
128	* PlayedForDrama in ''VideoGame/BaldursGateIII''. Shadowheart's church erased almost all of her memory, including that of her birth name [[spoiler:Jenevelle Hallowleaf]]. When [[spoiler:her parents]] tell her her original name, she's distressed to realize that it's no longer part of her, to the point where she had to look up how it was spelled.
129	[[/folder]]
130
131	[[folder:Web Animation]]
132	* In ''WebAnimation/HunterTheParenting'', when the vampires throw around the names of their clans and factions, Kitten stops to write them down. But since he doesn't know how to spell them, he also asks for clarifications; for example, when a vampire who heavily trills his r's mentions the Brujah, Kitten asks if it's spelled with a j or h, and for how many r's.
133	[[/folder]]
134
135	[[folder:Webcomics]]
136	* ''Webcomic/{{Unsounded}}'': Almost everyone misspells Sette's name as Setty, including her father which raises even more questions about her uncertain origins. Sette herself is not literate though Jivi, Matty and Sara do try to teach her how to spell her own name.
137	[[/folder]]

Context Main / HollywoodSpelling