Line #22 Main/PersonalDictionary


1	[[quoteright:242:[[Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dictionary.png]]]]
2	[[caption-width-right:242:The ''five'' of us never left our cells. That is, everybody but me snuck out.]]
3	->''"When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said, in a rather scornful tone, "it means just what I choose it to mean -- neither more nor less."''
4	-->-- ''[[Literature/AlicesAdventuresInWonderland Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There]]''
5
6	Pretending that a word means something it does not; not in an attempt to help a language evolve, but in a LastStand defending [[HonorBeforeReason your words and your honor]]!
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8	Say you're trying to convince people on a message board that a [[Administrivia/ComplainingAboutShowsYouDontLike politician you don't like]] is a [[GodwinsLaw fascist]] (this could apply to just about any major political party). They aren't buying it. Well, the dictionary is irrefutable, so you look up fascism.
9
10	Damn it! This politician's views don't fit the definition of fascism at all!
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12	Wait... That's just ''their'' definition of fascism, not yours. Of course, it's the ''label'' of fascism that is bad, and not the actual definition, [[RefugeInAudacity so you just make the label apply and make everyone believe you]]. And maybe if you do it for long enough, it will catch on [[IRejectYourReality and they'll fix the dictionary]]!
13
14	Ways to do this are:
15	# Stretch the definition to make it apply.
16	# Use loose connections or [[HitlerAteSugar associations]].
17	# [[SelectiveObliviousness Selectively use just one part or application of the definition]].
18	# [[NoTrueScotsman Exclude any examples that don't fit your meaning]].
19	# [[FromTheLatinIntroDucere Draw a specious connection to something from the word's etymology]].
20	# [[AssPull Just make something up]].
21
22	Naturally, making this one’s main argument is among [[DirtySocialTricks the dirtiest of social tricks]], since it all but forces your interlocutor to accept your [[TheWarOnStraw strawman]] if they want to converse with you at all.
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24	That said, Administrivia/TropesAreTools still applies, and the dictionary meaning of words can and do change over time -- many dictionaries now include some variation on "derogatory term for a disliked politician/political group seen as dictatorial" as one definition of fascism, for instance. (Dictionaries, we should remember, simply record the ways words are commonly used, not necessarily the ways any prescriptivist groups think they "should" be used.) Attempting to create a new meaning by yourself, however, is a good way to prove you have DelusionsOfEloquence.
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26	Compare {{Malaproper}}, {{Newspeak}}, ImplausibleDeniability, ChewbaccaDefense, NoTrueScotsman, MetaphoricallyTrue, and UnusualEuphemism. Not to be confused with {{Neologism}} which is making up words to ''add'' to current dictionaries. TwistingTheWords is when someone applies this trope to a word someone ''else'' used, and SeparatedByACommonLanguage and DidNotDoTheBloodyResearch is when they are using the word correctly -- with a different dictionary.
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28	Contrast AccidentalInnuendo, and UnfortunateImplications when someone uses a word ''strictly'' by the dictionary definition ignoring important colloquial meanings, JiveTurkey and TotallyRadical for when dictionaries finally catch up with past vernacular a few years late, HaveAGayOldTime and HilarityEnsues when the alternate slang meaning becomes the primary meaning, and GetTheeToANunnery occurs when a slang meaning is lost to time.
29
30	The [[InvertedTrope antithesis of this trope]] is when someone observes, "YouKeepUsingThatWord..."
31
32	When someone literally makes up an actual dictionary for their personal amusement or art, that's {{Conlang}} or PerfectlyCromulentWord.
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34	See also: ArtisticLicenseLinguistics.
35
36	!!Administrivia/InUniverseExamplesOnly:
37	[[foldercontrol]]
38
39	[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
40	* ''Anime/TurnAGundam'': As Dianna drily notes, 'people with violent tendencies' dovetails pretty much exactly with 'people I don't like'.
41	[[/folder]]
42
43	[[folder:Comic Books]]
44	* ''ComicBook/TheRedeemer'': According to the Redeemer, "decimation" involves ''sparing'' one man out of ten[[note]](in his defence, killing nine of every ten is a common misunderstanding of the practice presumably caused by the [[https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/decimate#Usage_notes increasing use of "decimate"]] to mean this)[[/note]], leaving him in a pillory so he can spread word of the Redeemer's "forgiveness".
45	[[/folder]]
46
47	[[folder:Literature]]
48	* Deconstructed in ''Literature/TheUnbearableLightnessOfBeing'', where a few chapters, labeled "A Short Dictionary of Misunderstood Words," center around different connotations and meanings certain words have to certain characters, and how these slightly different meanings lead to relationship problems.
49	* ''Literature/AlicesAdventuresInWonderland'': "When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said, in a rather scornful tone, "it means just what I choose it to mean—neither more nor less."
50	[[/folder]]
51
52	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
53	* In a rare example of using personal dictionaries in a way other than as a logical fallacy, there's an episode of ''Series/{{Friends}}'' in which Monica gets angry at Chandler for describing their relationship as "just goofing around" and he placates the argument by saying what that means in ''his'' dictionary.
54	* In the ''Series/Babylon5'' episode "Voices of Authority", PoliticalOfficer Julie Musante claims that Earth has no problems with homelessness, unemployment, crime, or prejudice:
55	-->'''Sheridan:''' And when, exactly, did all this happen?
56	-->'''Musante:''' When we rewrote the dictionary.
57	[[/folder]]
58
59	[[folder:Toys]]
60	* ''Toys/{{Bionicle}}'': Farshtey used "universe" to mean the Matoran world, not the entire cosmos, as from the Matoran perspective that is their universe and they are aware of very little outside it.
61	[[/folder]]
62
63	[[folder:Video Games]]
64	* ''VideoGame/AnotherEden'': Benedict often mentions being a normal lumberjack. The only thing he knows about lumberjacks is that they're normal and carry around an ax.
65	* ''VideoGame/DissidiaFinalFantasyOperaOmnia'': When Cecil asks if Kain has the Light, Mog's reply is that "if he's using his powers for good, then yes." This is much different from his earlier statements, in which he claimed to sense the Light from a pure heart in the area ''before'' the party actually caught up to the new person.
66	%% * ''VideoGame/GuiltyGearXrd'': Leo's hobby is making a dictionary with his own definitions. He writes into it during a match as a taunt, along with consulting it after winning a match.
67	[[/folder]]
68
69	[[folder:Webcomics]]
70	* Webcomic/EightBitTheater: Temple's a kind of castle. Everyone in the world knows that. [[http://www.nuklearpower.com/2008/04/24/episode-983-a-clear-goal/ It's in the Sardapedia]].
71	-->'''Sardapedia''': castle ('''tem'''-puhl) - noun: Where the goddamn Light Warriors are going.
72	-->'''Thief''': That's all this book says. [[{{Railroading}} Over and over, for hundreds of pages.]]
73	-->'''Sarda''': Yes. I know.
74	* In the ''Webcomic/{{xkcd}}'' strip "[[https://xkcd.com/1860/ Communicating]]", Humpty Dumpty from ''[[Literature/AlicesAdventuresInWonderland Through the Looking-Glass]]'' explains that whatever word he says means whatever he wants it to mean. Alice throws it back at him by using her own personal dictionary to [[TwistingTheWords interpret]] what he said to mean that she can take all of his stuff, including his car.
75	[[/folder]]
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77	[[folder:Web Video]]
78	* ''WebVideo/FoldingIdeas'': In "This Is Financial Advice", Dan Olson points out the excessive slang thrown around in the ape community (as in, meme stock buyers), and draws special attention to their usage of the word "shill." Apes use it to refer to naysayers who tell them to maybe consider cashing out before the going gets tough, despite the fact that in most other circumstances, a shill means a person who tries to convince other people to ''buy into a scheme'', especially if they stand to make money off those people buying in—in short, the thing apes are defined by doing.
79	* ''WebVideo/RoseOfVersaillesAbridged'': The Duke of Orleans, aka [[VideoGame/GuitarHero Light Guitar Hero]], insists that Oscar is a whore, no matter how much others point out she doesn't fit the definition of a prostitute.
80	[[/folder]]
81
82	[[folder:WesternAnimation]]
83	%%* ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'': 'Odelay' ''is'' a word! Just look it up in the Becktionary! ... No, the ''rhyming'' Becktionary!
84	* ''WesternAnimation/TheSecretShow'': The UZZ agents Victor brings along consider themselves vegetarians despite eating fish. Victor calls them out on this.
85	[[/folder]]

Context Main / PersonalDictionary