Line #81 Main/MistakenForIndex


1	->'''Chandler:''' Oh, I think this is the episode of ''Series/ThreesCompany'' where there's some kind of misunderstanding!\
2	'''Phoebe:''' Oh. Well then I've already seen this one. ''[Turns off TV]''
3	-->-- ''Series/{{Friends}}''
4
5	A result of a principal character misinterpreting something. In comedy, this often leads to further and further misunderstandings, each more comical than the last, until things get straightened out at the end of the episode. In dramas, the principal character usually exerts much effort trying to prepare for a "showdown," only to discover at the last second it was "all a huge mistake."
6
7	This trope is one of the basic elements of {{Farce}}, but can lead to an IdiotPlot. Related to PoorCommunicationKills.
8
9	See also PublicMediumIgnorance.
10	----
11	!!{{Subtrope}}s:
12	[[index]]
13	* AbuseMistake: Either non-abuse is mistaken for abuse, or abuse is mistaken for non-abuse.
14	* AccidentalBargainingSkills: A character is offered a deal and his reaction is mistaken for an attempt to drive the price up.
15	* AccidentalDanceCraze: Someone is moving about for a different reason (PottyDance, SquirrelsInMyPants, feeling itchy, etc) but is mistaken for dancing and the "dance" catches on.
16	* AccidentalInnuendo: YMMV; the creators did not intend anything saucy by the dialogue, but the audience still interprets it as lewd anyway.
17	* AccidentalPervert: A man unintentionally says or does something near women that makes him look like a perverted creep.
18	* AccidentalProposal: Somebody falsely thinks that another person is proposing to them.
19	* ActuallyFourMooks: What appears to be one enemy is actually multiple ones engaged in battle.
20	* ActuallyNotAVampire: A person with vampire-like characteristics and habits is mistaken for an actual vampire.
21	* ActuallyThatsMyAssistant: The big cheese's assistant is mistaken for the one in charge.
22	* AllPartOfTheShow: Something unexpected happens during a performance and the audience assumes that what's happening is an intended part of the show.
23	* AmbiguousSyntax: The phrasing of a statement allows multiple, confusing interpretations.
24	* AndYouThoughtItWasAGame: A character thinks an event is staged but it's not.
25	* AndYouThoughtItWasReal: A fake situation (such as a roleplay, a work of fiction, or a simulation) or some people practicing for something gets mistaken for something real.
26	* ApopheniaPlot: A string of random events is misinterpreted as having some meaning, often in the sense of a secret or a conspiracy.
27	* AssumedWin: Someone thinks they are about to be announced winner, but then find out they actually lost.
28	* BaitAndSwitchAccusation: Someone thinks they're about to be accused of the thing they're keeping secret, but in reality, they're being accused of something different.
29	* BaitAndSwitchCharacterIntro: When an EstablishingCharacterMoment is subverted to reveal that the character is entirely different than what was first presented.
30	* BaitAndSwitchSentiment: Somebody thinks another character is being sentimental when they're not.
31	* ABloodyMess: A red liquid (almost always ketchup) is mistaken for blood.
32	* CallingMeALogarithm: Mistaking an unfamiliar word for an insult.
33	* CassandraTruth: Somebody is mistaken for lying.
34	* CelebrationMiscalculation: One or more characters think it's a special occasion but it isn't.
35	* CoincidentalAccidentalDisguise: A character accidentally ends up looking like something (such as a ghost, a particular monster, etc) and being mistaken for it.
36	* CommonKnowledge: A portion of the audience has a misconception about the work.
37	* CryingWolf: A subtrope of Cassandra Truth, when someone who lied before tells the truth but is thought to be lying again.
38	* DeliriousMisidentification: Someone is "not all there" (high, seriously injured, etc) and mistakes someone else for a different, specific person.
39	* DiscriminateAndSwitch: Someone is mistaken for discriminating against a person for a particular reason, but it turns out there's a different reason they don't like this person.
40	* DudeLooksLikeALady: Mistaking a feminine-looking man for a woman.
41	** LadyLooksLikeADude: Mistaking a masculine-looking woman for a man.
42	* EatingPetFood: A character mistakenly eats pet food, thinking it's human food.
43	* EntertaininglyWrong: Coming to a completely logical conclusion from what you know and being completely wrong.
44	* FakeHigh: Someone eats or drinks something they think is a drug but it isn't, which leads to them mistakenly believing themselves to be drunk or high.
45	* FakeRabies: A character (usually a dog) is mistaken for being rabid because of something frothy on their mouth.
46	* FauxDeath: A character is in suspended animation and mistaken for dead.
47	* FileMixup: Somebody's files get mixed up with someone else's.
48	* FooledByTheSound: A character is fooled by a sound, thinking it's something other than what it actually is.
49	* FrightBesideThem: A character realizes they're in danger when the friend or loved one who they thought was right next to them is actually revealed to be somewhere else.
50	* FunnyPhoneMisunderstanding: Someone misunderstands what someone else says on the phone, PlayedForLaughs.
51	* GassyScare: Someone thinks they're sick/dying, but actually just have gas or need to go to the bathroom.
52	* {{Gesundheit}}: Someone uses an unusual word and another character thinks they sneezed.
53	* GiantFootprintReveal: A footprint is so big, it's initially not recognized as a footprint.
54	* GodGuise: A mortal is mistaken for being divine.
55	* GreatnessMistakenForFailure: A character is so far beyond the norm that their brilliance is mistaken for incompetence.
56	* GuiltyUntilSomeoneElseIsGuilty: A character is incorrectly accused of doing a bad thing, and nobody believes their innocence until the real culprit is revealed.
57	* HelpMistakenForAttack: A character is trying to help someone, but a third person thinks they're attacking the one being helped.
58	* IAmNotShazam: A name in the title of a work, which may or may not be an actual character, is mistakenly assumed to be a name belonging to a prominent character within the work.
59	* IAmNotWeasel: Mistaking an animal for a species it plainly isn't.
60	* IAteWhat: A character eats or drinks something without realising what it is.
61	* IdenticalTwinMistake: Someone gets confused with their identical twin.
62	* ImaginedInnuendo: A character assumes something innocuous is lewd, but the audience knows it isn't.
63	* InnocentInaccurate: A naive character mistakes a dark or adult scenario for an innocuous one.
64	* InnocentInnuendo: A creator ''does'' intend the audience or an InUniverse character to interpret something as lewd, but it turns out to be totally innocuous.
65	* IsThatCuteKidYours: An adult is mistaken for the parent of the child they're with.
66	* LiteralMinded: Someone takes an idiom literally.
67	* MacGuffinBlindness: Two opposing factions are both looking for a particular object. The object is right in front of them, but they don't realise.
68	* MandelaEffect: A large group of unconnected people have a false memory.
69	* MisaimedStereotyping: A character applies a stereotype to someone who isn't actually a member of the group the stereotype is about.
70	* MistakenAge: Having an incorrect assumption on how old a person is.
71	* MistakenConfession: A character confesses to something because they wrongly believe the person they're talking to is trying to get that secret out of them. The person they're talking to may think they're confessing to something else.
72	* MistakenDeathConfirmation: A character's death is confirmed by examination of the body or sure-fire evidence, but this turns out to be wrong.
73	* MistakenEthnicity: A character's ethnicity is confused for one not their own.
74	** MistakenForForeigner: Someone is assumed to not be a native citizen of the country they're actually from.
75	** MistakenNationality: Someone is assumed to be a member of an ethnicity or nationality they're not part of.
76	* MistakenForAfterlife: A character thinks they've died and gone to the afterlife.
77	* MistakenForAliens: Oddly-behaving human beings are mistaken for being extraterrestrials.
78	* MistakenForApocalypse: The world is not actually ending.
79	* MistakenForBadass: A character is mistaken for being very formidable and competent.
80	* MistakenForBadVision: Someone who has good eyesight thinks they have eyesight problems when ridiculously absurd/fantastic moments occur.
81	* MistakenForBetrayal: Someone is wrongly suspected of disloyalty or treachery.
82	* MistakenForBrooding: Somebody mistakes somebody else as being sad.
83	* MistakenForCheating: Someone wrongly believes that another person is engaged in an adulterous sexual affair.
84	* MistakenForClown: A character thinks another character in a strange outfit is a clown.
85	* MistakenForDestitute: Someone is mistaken for being homeless and/or impoverished.
86	* MistakenForDisease: A character assumes a series of strange experiences are the symptoms of a disease.
87	* MistakenForDog: A character thinks they've gotten a dog or cat or whatever, but instead it's (literally) a different beast.
88	* MistakenForDyed: A person's hair color is assumed to be dyed when it isn't.
89	* MistakenForDying: A misunderstanding results in a person coming to the conclusion that they, or someone they know, is going to die
90	* MistakenForEvidence: A suspect in an investigation has something that looks like a clue but isn't.
91	* MistakenForExhibit: A character at a museum/art gallery/etc mistakes a mundane thing for art.
92	* MistakenForFakeHair: A character's hair is mistakenly assumed to be fake.
93	* MistakenForFlatulence: A character is assumed to have farted when the sound is actually something else.
94	* MistakenForFlirting: A character mistakes a social interaction from another as flirting with them.
95	* MistakenForGay: Someone incorrectly assumes that a straight person is gay.
96	* MistakenForAnImposter: The real person is mistaken for someone impersonating them.
97	* MistakenForImprisonment: A character believes that they're being held prisoner but aren't.
98	* MistakenForIncest: Two characters in a romantic relationship are mistakenly assumed to be biologically related.
99	* MistakenForInsane: One character thinks another is insane.
100	* MistakenForJunkie: Someone is assumed to be a drug addict.
101	* MistakenForMasturbating: A person is thought to be masturbating when they aren't.
102	* MistakenForMisogynist: A man (usually) accidentally says or does something that can be interpreted as sexist against women.
103	* MistakenForMurderer: An innocent person is assumed to be a killer because the real killer resembles them, or because they did things that caused witnesses to assume they killed or are planning to kill someone.
104	* MistakenForObjectOfAffection: Someone tries to romance someone else but does it to the wrong person.
105	* MistakenForOwnMurderer: A transformed or disguised person is mistaken for having killed their true identity.
106	* MistakenForPedophile: An innocent person gets in trouble for statements or actions that give people the impression that they have an inappropriate interest in children.
107	* MistakenForPrankCall: Someone phones someone else for a bizarre/unlikely, but sincere, reason (such as "There are monsters attacking" or "You've won a competition") and the person on the other end of the line mistakes it for a PrankCall.
108	* MistakenForPregnant: A woman is thought to be pregnant when she isn't.
109	* MistakenForProfound: Something is mistaken for being deep or intelligent when it isn't.
110	* MistakenForProstitute: A woman who dresses provocatively is wrongly assumed to be a prostitute.
111	* MistakenForQuake: A large object or creature is shaking the ground and the shaking is mistaken for an earthquake.
112	* MistakenForRacist: A person accidentally says or does something that can be interpreted as racist.
113	* MistakenForRelated: When people think that they or someone else are blood related, but they're wrong.
114	* MistakenForRomance: Two people are believed to be lovers when they're not.
115	* MistakenForSanta: A character is mistaken for SantaClaus.
116	* MistakenForServant: A character gets mistaken for hired help.
117	* MistakenForSpecialGuest: Someone's expecting a guest who's special in some way (an inspector, a celebrity, etc), and mistakes a random person for the special guest.
118	* MistakenForSpies: Someone is assumed to be a secret agent or infiltrator.
119	* MistakenForStray: An animal is incorrectly believed to be a stray.
120	* MistakenForSubculture: Somebody mistakes someone else for being in a subculture they're not because of their clothes, hair (or lack thereof) or behaviour.
121	* MistakenForSuicidal: Someone is mistaken for being suicidal, because they showed signs of depression and/or looked like they were ready to kill themselves.
122	* MistakenForSuperpowered: A muggle is confused (by themselves and/or others) of having superpowers.
123	* MistakenForTerrorist: An innocent person is assumed to be a violent political extremist. Especially happens to people who are (or get mistaken for being) Muslims.
124	* MistakenForThief: An innocent person is assumed to be stealing something.
125	* MistakenForToilet: Someone mistakes something for a toilet or bathroom.
126	* MistakenForTransformed: An observer confuses a person, animal, or object for a transformed character.
127	* MistakenForUndead: A living person is assumed to be a ghost or zombie.
128	* MistakenFromBehind: Someone mistakes a stranger for someone they know because the stranger looks like the person they know from behind.
129	* MistakenIdentity: Wrongly guessing that someone is somebody else.
130	* MistakenMessage: Someone writes someone else a note, but another person reads the note and makes a wrong assumption about it.
131	* MistakenlyAttackedMole: A mole in an enemy organization is attacked by someone on their own side who mistakes them for an actual traitor.
132	* MistookTheDominantLifeform: Aliens think that we're the ones who aren't sapient and a different species is.
133	* MotiveMisidentification: A character is thought to have a different motivation or goal than they actually do.
134	* MyHovercraftIsFullOfEels: Someone thinks they're saying one thing in a language, but really they're saying another, silly thing.
135	* NeedAHandOrAHandjob: A sexual solicitation is mistaken as a legitimate offer of aid.
136	* NoLongerWithUs: A common euphemism for death turns out to be literal or is mistaken for literal by a naive listener.
137	* NoMoreForMe: A character who is drinking sees something and believes they're drunk and hallucinating.
138	* NonVoyageParty: A party for a character is mistaken for a party celebrating their departure.
139	* NotActuallyTheUltimateQuestion: A character asks a question that's mistaken for a big one, but is quite mundane.
140	* NotHisBlood: A character is mistaken for bleeding but is actually covered in someone else's blood.
141	* NotSoForgottenBirthday: A character thinks another character [[ForgottenBirthday forgot their birthday]] but actually they were planning a SurpriseParty.
142	* NotWhatItLooksLike: A character finds themselves in a compromising position and hastily tries to explain to the others that they're not doing what it looks like they're doing.
143	* NotWhereTheyThought: A character mistakes where they are.
144	* ObviouslyFakeSignature: A blatant forgery of a signature.
145	* OtherworldlyCommunicationFailure: Typically caused by or leads to the human characters mistaking the supernatural characters as being malevolent.
146	* OutOfContextEavesdropping: Someone overhears something or intentionally eavesdrops and gets the wrong idea.
147	* PainMistakenForSex: Sounds of pain are mistaken for sounds of sexual pleasure.
148	* PleaseWakeUp: A dead person is mistaken for sleeping.
149	* PoorCommunicationKills: Failure to explain your intentions clearly will have disastrous consequences.
150	* PossessionPresumesGuilt: Someone is presumed guilty of something just because they have something from or associated with the crime/incident.
151	* ProfoundByPopSong: Where one quotes a song and passes it off as ancient wisdom.
152	* RealJokeName: Someone's name is mistaken for a joke name.
153	* RelativeError: A relative is mistaken for a lover.
154	* ReportsOfMyDeathWereGreatlyExaggerated: Someone is thought to be deceased and has to prove to everyone that they are still alive.
155	* SeekingTheIntangible: Someone thinks an intangible thing or concept (such as a voice or a sense of humour) is missing and searches for it like you might search for your hat.
156	* SeeminglyProfoundFool: A person is thought to be a genius but isn't.
157	* SeriesFauxnale: The viewers think this episode is the end of the show, but it isn't.
158	* SimilarItemConfusion: Mistaking one item for another.
159	* SomeNuttyPublicityStunt: Dismissing a strange event as a publicity stunt.
160	* StripperCopConfusion: Mistaking a real police officer for a stripper dressed as one or vice versa.
161	* SuggestiveCollision: Two characters bump into each other and look like they're having sex.
162	* ThatCameOutWrong: A character says something that they realize sounds unintentionally sleazy.
163	* ThatsNoMoon: A character mistakes a huge entity as part of the scenery or environment.
164	* ThatWasNotADream: A character disbelieves reality, mistaking it for a dream.
165	* ThirdActMisunderstanding: Someone is keeping a secret from someone else, but then genuinely develops a crush on them, then the character finds out the secret, assumes that they're faking the crush, and rejects them.
166	* ThisBillboardNeedsSomeSalt: A monster eats a food-shaped object, mistaking it for food.
167	* ThisIsntHeaven: A character goes to Hell and mistakes it for Heaven.
168	* ThoroughlyMistakenIdentity: Sub-trope of Delirious Misidentification, when the person is senile or insane and mistakes someone for a different specific person.
169	* TotallyNotAWerewolf: A character is mistaken for a mythical creature and they ''were'' using magic but weren't that creature.
170	* TragicMistake: That one mistake that brings everything crashing down for a TragicHero, brought about by the character's FatalFlaw.
171	* TragicallyMisguidedFavor: Someone accidentally causes a lot of trouble by doing an unwarranted favour.
172	* UnprovokedPervertPayback: A character is mistakenly assumed to be lusting over someone else when they aren't, but is punished for it regardless.
173	* UnwantedFalseFaith: A normal person is accidentally mistaken for a messiah.
174	* ViewerGenderConfusion: The viewers get the gender of a character wrong.
175	* ViewerNameConfusion: The viewers get the name of a character wrong.
176	* ViewerSpeciesConfusion: The audience gets a character's species wrong.
177	* VirtualAssistantBlunder: Your smart device doesn't understand exactly what it is being asked.
178	* WarningMistakenForThreat: A character warns another, who mistakes the words for a threat.
179	* WrongAssumption: A character believes a trope applies to them when it doesn't.
180	* WrongBathroomIncident: A character (intentionally or not) finds himself in the opposite gender's restroom or dressing room.
181	* WrongGenreSavvy: A character is GenreSavvy but in an irrelevant way.
182	* YouJustRuinedTheShot: Someone thinks a person is in danger, but their heroics are met with a director chastising them for interfering with the movie being made.
183	* YourCostumeNeedsWork: The real person is mistaken for a shoddy impersonator.
184	* YoureDrinkingBreastMilk: A character drinks breast milk, mistaking it for cow's milk.
185	* YourTomcatIsPregnant: An animal is mistaken for the opposite sex (usually involving a female animal being mistaken for male but then getting pregnant or laying eggs).
186	[[/index]]
187	----
188	!!Examples:
189
190	[[AC:LiveActionTV]]
191	* ''Series/{{Coupling}}'' does this a bit, too: Sally approaches Patrick's bisexual girlfriend, trying to get a confession that she "fooled around" with Jeff (when no such thing had occurred), and the girlfriend thinks Sally is hitting on her; Jeff talks about how Jane's clinginess to Steve means "he's got an unflushable", and Susan, who just met Steve in the bathroom, thinks it means something else entirely.
192	** In another episode, Steve and Susan are watching a TV show which mentions the number of men who continue to masturbate when in a committed relationship. In the awkward silence that follows, Steve starts [[NotSoInnocentWhistle whistling]], in an attempt to seem relaxed. He justifies it by saying that he felt like some music but wasn't in the mood for a whole CD. "Sometimes you want a full orchestra, and sometimes you just want a... quick whistle?" Susan tells him that she doesn't mind his whistling, as long as he doesn't get "whistled out." Later in the episode, Susan's parents come round for a visit, and while Susan is out of the room her father mentions that Susan told him that Steve's been "going solo, and Steve interprets it how you'd imagine. This leads to the classic line, "If music be the food of love, then masturbation is just a quick snack between meals." And then Susan walks back in and says, "I was just telling Dad how you've started whistling to yourself." Later in the episode, we see Steve throwing them out for an apparently out-of-line comment, which Steve starts to repeat to Susan before self-censoring the end of it: "With all that whistling, by the time Susan gets home you'll be too tired to--" Susan then finishes it for him to make it clear just how badly he misheard it: "''pucker''."
193	* ''Series/ThreesCompany'':
194	** From the episode when the main characters met the British {{Ventriloquis\|m}}t Leslie and his puppet Pamela. Because he kept Pamela a secret for certain reasons (she was kept in a large suitcase that he would not let anyone touch), several misunderstandings came out. First Pamela was mistaken by Jack as Leslie's [[OutlawCouple crime partner]] after reading a news article on the "Duke and Duchess" (Leslie was mistaken for being the "Duke"), then she's mistaken for being Leslie's girlfriend when Jack lets Janet and Terri hear Pamela's (actually Leslie's) voice through his bedroom wall. There's a case of MistakenForMurderer when the trio break into Leslie's apartment, and Jack opens the suitcase thinking that's where Leslie kept the stolen money in, only to pull out Pamela's hand. Cue the trio screaming in terror and fleeing the scene in the most [[HilarityEnsues hilarious fashion.]]
195	*** This was lampshaded in an early episode of ''Series/{{Friends}}'' (which would later still use this trope plenty anyway):
196	--->'''Chandler:''' Oh, I think this is the episode of ''Three's Company'' where there's some kind of misunderstanding.\
197	[''Studio audience laughs'']\
198	'''Phoebe:''' Well then I've already seen this one. [''Turns off TV'']

Context Main / MistakenForIndex