PageAction:
SomethingTheyWouldNeverSay
19th Oct '11 8:19:45 PM
Crown Description:
Not all options are mutually exclusive. Something They Would Never Say is losing the battle against Trope Decay — misuse has increased from 35% to 45% between June and October 2011.- Actual definition: A character can't directly tell their friends that they're in danger, so they send a message with a deliberately out of character remark added that the bad guys won't even be aware of, but the friends will pick up on and identify that they're in trouble.
- Prevelant misuse: Any time a character appears to say something out of character. May be a case of Spotting The Thread or OOC Is Serious Business.
Rename and Transplant
- Decide on a new title for this trope and rename.
- Clean up wikilinks which are correct usages of the trope.
- Make "Something They Would Never Say" a redirect for whatever trope represents the largest share of misuse. Optionally leave those wikilinks alone.
Pro
- Editors are increasingly assuming the title is Exactly What It Says on the Tin without actually reading the definition. (Not like that's a common occurence or anything.)
Con
Redefine trope
- May be combined with any of the "rename" options.
- Add a requirement to the trope's definition that the OOC clue is an improvised gesture.
- Create a YKTTW for examples of characters being known/trained to use an official "covert distress code".
Pro
- There's a thematic difference between an OOC behavior that alerts their friends that something is wrong (but the friends have to figure out the rest on their own), and an explicitly coded message delivered through cryptic means.
Con
Rename and disambig
- Decide on a new name for this trope and rename.
- Turn "Something They Would Never Say" into a disambig pointing at various tropes which might prompt the phrase.
- Clean up wikilinks
Pro
- May help prevent future misuse by providing a disambig page.
- Disambig pages don't list examples.
Con
- A disambiguation page is essentially a page about the Stock Phrase. We don't do Stock Phrases anymore.
Rename and redirect
- Decide on a new title for this trope and rename.
- Keep "Something They Would Never Say" and redirect it to the new name.
- Clean up wikilinks.
Pro
Con
- The increasing misuse ratio of the current title is still a concern.