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Garfield / Tropes H to O

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    H 
  • Hiccup Hijinks: One arc from 1998 featured Garfield "freestyle hiccuping◊," with the downright silly Written Sound Effects of "hickety," "huc huc" and "hickey" (no, not that kind of hickey).
  • Hidden Wire: Discussed. Liz asks what's on Garfield's mind and he asks if she's wearing a wire.
  • High on Catnip: Used several times.
  • Hoist by His Own Petard:
    • Garfield tries to pounce on Odie from the top of a chair, only for his blanket that he's wearing as a cape to get caught in the chair before he manages to touch Odie, leaving him hanging high and dry.
    • In this strip, Garfield spots a seagull at a beach and decides to use a slice of bread to lure it close enough for Garfield to attack and eat, only to end up with a flock of seagulls dive-bombing him the moment he takes out the bread before the seagull he intends to bait can even move.
  • Holding in Laughter: In this strip, Jon has a blind date with a woman whose name turns out to be Euphemia. When Jon hears it, he tries to hold back laughter but fails and falls under the table, while she gets offended and leaves.
  • Homage:
    • Some of the barn animals in the April 22, 2001 comic may be familiar: among them are Booker, Orson and Roy from U.S. Acres.
    • Related to U.S. Acres: in the August 21, 2022 comic, one of the animals wears Wade's life preserver.
    • This strip, made 100 years after the birth of Peanuts creator Charles Schulz, is dedicated to him. Snoopy brings a cake and Garfield asks if he's going to finish it.
  • Homemade Sweater from Hell: A Running Gag is that Jon's mom always sends Garfield one of these for Christmas, and they usually have a glaring defect (no neck hole, three arms, etc.).
  • Honest John's Dealership:
    • Invoked in a 1987 Story Arc where Jon buys a new car:
      Jon: Honest Ed seems nice enough, Garfield, but there's something about him I don't trust.
      Garfield: Maybe it's the fact his office is in a pickup truck with the engine running.
    • Appears in an early 1990s strip where Jon buys a Christmas tree from "Honest Frosty's."
    • Honest Arnie's Used Car Emporium. Arnie's cars are as bad as expected from this kind of dealership but, unlike most examples, Arnie is really honest about them.
      Honest Arnie: You want cars?! We've got cars!! Here's a sweet 2009 minivan... candy apple red, and only driven off a cliff twice! And how about this little beauty? Just 30,000 miles, and absolutely no, that's right... no brakes! Want an economy car? Look no further! It's a V-8, but only four of them work! Think of the gas savings!! Like folks to know you're coming? The engine in this stunner shrieks like a debutante at a rat convention! So come on down to Honest Arnie's used car emporium, and push one of these bargains off our lot!
      Garfield: He never sells anything, but he is honest.
      Honest Arnie: Flat soda and day-old balloons for the kids, too!
  • Hope Spot: In the February 19, 2023 strip, Garfield and Odie zip all the way to the oven after hearing the ding, fully expecting the pizza to be ready, only for Jon to inform them that it'll be another 20 minutes.
  • Horrible Camping Trip: Garfield has been forced to go an a few of these (though from his perspective, a camping trip can only be horrible).
  • Horrible Judge of Character: Garfield considers Liz "a lousy judge of character" for believing he has "the fortitude and inner strength necessary to resist eating that donut".
  • Humanlike Foot Anatomy: Strangely, Garfield's feet are still shown to be digitigrade when he's laying down, but turn into humanlike feet when he stands up. They've also gotten progressively bigger over time, as demonstrated in Square Root of Minus Garfield.
  • Human Snowman: Happened twice;
  • Humiliation Conga: Garfield has experienced several of these.
  • Humiliating Wager: Odie once participated in one; if him having to wear a shirt saying he loves squirrels after losing it is anything to go by.
  • Hypocritical Humor:
    • In this strip◊, Garfield smacks Jon upside the head for turning on a violent TV show, then says, "I don't like violence."
    • Jon asks Garfield if he'd like to go for a walk with him and Liz, Garfield decides to stay home, and thinks about how he tried walking once, didn't like it, and how it'll never catch on, before getting up and walking away.
    • The August 22, 2020 strip has Garfield trying to put up a dignified appearance, only to abandon it the moment Jon shows up asking if he wants some snacks, at which point Garfield jumps up and down with his arms/front-legs flailing about, all dignities forgotten. Then it ends as shown below:
      Garfield: (with mouth full of snacks) You didn't see that.
    • In the September 22, 2015 strip, Garfield is about to use a rolled-up newspaper to smack a spider due to his hatred of them. Said spider agrees.
      Garfield: You know what I hate? I hate spiders.
      Spider: Oh, me, too!
      Garfield: You ARE a spider.
      Spider: I mean all the other guys.
    • The September 13, 2021 strip starts with Jon announcing that "lunch is ready", with Garfield responding by opening his mouth, not wanting to go where Jon and the lunch are to be fed but expecting Jon to toss his food into his mouth instead.
      Jon: Not gonna happen.
      Garfield: What are you, lazy?!
    • Garfield chastises Arlene for being late for being late for their scheduled date in the July 8, 2022 strip despite Garfield being late for it himself as well.
      Garfield: Arlene! You are twenty minutes late for our date!
      Arlene: How late were you?
      Garfield: Only fifteen.

    I 
  • I Always Wanted to Say That:
    • Jon told Garfield "Stop whatever you're doing" and later admitted he "just always wanted to say that".
    • Likely the same thing happens in this strip, where Garfield had really, really wanted to make that joke, and Arlene had finally given him the right set-up line.
    • Jon YELLS "ROCK AND ROLL!" out of the blue and admits that he "always wanted to yell that". Unfortunately for Garfield, he was drinking coffee when Jon yelled, which causes Garfield to spit out his coffee in shock and spill it all over himself.
  • I Am Big Boned: Garfield does it sometimes, a few with the trope name (the page image is the response of his sarcastic bathroom scale).
  • I Am Not Weasel: Garfield is often mistaken for a pig. He's also been mistaken for a fat weasel and an elephant.
  • I Ate WHAT?!:

    J - L 
  • Jaw Drop: Lampshaded in one strip where Garfield lists off the ways he's seen Jon express surprise after Garfield claws the couch. "All right! 'Jaw dropping'!"
  • "Jaws" Attack Parody: This◊ Sunday strip banner featured a Jaws parody.
  • Jaywalking Will Ruin Your Life: In one strip, it was implied that the police were after Jon for trying to redeem expired coupons at the supermarket.
  • Jerk Jock: Jon encounters one when he and Liz go to the beach. He kicks sand in Jon's face then tries to hit on Liz, who is clearly unimpressed and tells him to get lost.
  • Jumping Out of a Cake:
    • Garfield is not amused◊ to find a mouse jumping out of his birthday cake.
    • In another strip◊, Garfield gets a cake for his birthday from the mice in the house. He gulps it down, then spits out a female mouse.
  • Karmic Injury: Many instances have Garfield kick Odie. However, at least a few times (e.g. one 1995 strip), Odie does the same thing to him.
  • Kent Brockman News:
    • "The weatherman is losing it."◊
    • "Here's the news! ...Uh! Gee, this is small print! Unfortunately, I can't see a thing without my glasses. So here's a song! Feeeeliiiiings..."
  • "Kick Me" Prank: Jon came home looking dirty and beaten up, because someone apparently stuck a "Bury Me Alive" sign on his back.
  • Kick the Dog:
    • Garfield often does this quite literally via kicking Odie (a dog).
    • Lyman literally does this in an earlier strip by kicking Odie.
  • Kids Prefer Boxes:
    • For Garfield's diet, Jon brings a box of fat-free, unsalted pretzel sticks. Garfield would rather eat the box than the sticks.
    • In a Christmas Episode on December 25, 2022, Garfield reacts to his present — an empty box — with genuine appreciation that he displays towards Jon, in plain view of Odie and Liz. The strip ends with Garfield happily sleeping in said box.
  • Kissing Discretion Shot: In the December 23, 2022 strip, Liz kisses Jon Under the Mistletoe after turning off the light.
  • "Kiss the Cook" Apron: One strip shows Jon hoping to amuse Garfield with his "Kiss the Cook" apron. He calls Garfield into the room... only to leave disappointed when Garfield comes in wearing a "Feed the Cat" apron.
  • Klatchian Coffee: Garfield's favorite kind.
  • Laborious Laziness: Garfield is prone to this sort of thing.
    • In the comic that provides the page quote, the lazy cat nails the TV to the ceiling above his cat bed so he can watch it without getting up. Think about how much effort it would've taken to hoist that television up there and then keep it in place while he nailed it there, and then think about how much effort it would've taken simply to get up and walk over to where the TV was.
    • Jon, Garfield and Liz were watching TV when the remote control's batteries ran out of power so Jon and Garfield went out to buy new batteries. Liz then pointed out the set was five feet away. Garfield thought "Girls".
  • Last Resort Takeout:
    • One strip had Jon measure chili powder for a dish. He has a heaping pile in a measuring cup, and asks Garfield if it's enough. Garfield okays it, causing the mixture to explode as the chili powder is poured in. Garfield then tells Jon to ditch it out and order pizza.
    • Another has Jon prepare a lasagna dinner for Liz. Off-strip, Garfield, who loves lasagna, gets to it first, so the two decide to eat out.
  • The Last Straw: Happens in this◊ Christmas strip, with an ornament.
  • Latex Perfection: Not done in the typical spy manner, but Garfield has enjoyed scaring people with rubber masks from time to time (usually Jon.)
  • Laughing Mad: Just before he drinks the Blaster Blend from the Bean Me! online game, a clearly jittery and unhinged Garfield emits a deranged laugh that sounds nothing like his usual voice.
  • Lawyer-Friendly Cameo:
    • Parodied in one strip with "Grafield".
    • Marmaduke appears in the title panel of 1991-03-31 - or rather, some unspecified dog whose name just so happens to end in "aduke".
  • Laxative Prank: One time Garfield fed laxative-laced bran muffins to Mrs. Feeny's dog. This made Jon very angry, and Garfield tried to calm Jon down.... by offering him a bran muffin.
  • Least Rhymable Word: In one strip, Jon is trying to write a love poem. After a Beat Panel, he asks Garfield, "What rhymes with 'wolverine'?" and Garfield suggests "loser".
    • Changed to "skunk" in the Spanish translation.
  • Leaving Food for Santa: The comic used this a few times during its Christmas strips.
    • In one early strip◊, Jon sets a hamburger and a glass of milk nearby the chimney, saying, "And here's something for jolly old Saint Nick." Garfield then rises from a present under the tree and begins eating it, saying, "Ho Ho Ho."
    • One strip◊ shows Jon about to have some milk and cookies lying out. He then gets caught in a net booby trap, and Garfield comes over and angrily comments, "Hey! You're not Santa!"
    • In another strip◊, Garfield leaves out a T-bone steak and a pot of coffee for Santa, because "A big fat guy who's driving all night doesn't want milk and cookies."
    • In the Christmas Day 2001 strip◊, Garfield says that Santa is even nicer then he thought, because he left Garfield a cookie.
    • The Christmas-themed book Seasons Eatings has a list of top 10 things Garfield would do if he replaced Santa. Among them is "Order kids to leave out a T-bone steak and curly fries for him instead of milk and cookies."
    • The 12-12-2012 strip had Garfield emailing his wish list to Santa and promising to leave out plenty of cookies for him. Jon claims "You can't bribe Santa!", but at the North Pole the big guy is revealed to be excited about the promise...
  • Legion of Lost Souls: Garfield ate a fish and tried to hide it by leaving a note at the fishbowl claiming the fish joined the French Foreign Legion.
  • Lethal Chef:
    • Jon is like this at times. In one early strip, Garfield says that "The only time he knows my dinner is ready is when it sets off the smoke alarm." There are other strips where he turns bacon into "bacon flambé" and otherwise proves a bad cook.
      • If the August 29, 2021 strip is anything to go by, many characters, human or not, can't stomach Jon's cooking any more than Garfield can.
        Jon: Who wants another grilled liver tahini satay kebob?
    • Irma, or whoever cooks at her diner, is far worse, at times giving this Trope the potential to be literal. She once claimed that the chef was out sick with anthrax. There was also this tamer exchange:
      Jon: What's good today, Irma?
      (Irma says nothing)
      Jon: What's edible today, Irma?
      Irma: Try the meatloaf.
    • Irma's chef may literally be one, given her response to Jon ordering two tuna specials:
      Irma: (sobs) Sorry, I get emotional... My first husband passed away while eating the tuna special.
      Garfield: Cheese! I'll have a grilled cheese!
  • Let's See YOU Do Better!: There are many Garfield Comic Creators. Here's two of them.
  • Lightbulb Joke: Deconstructed:
    Garfield: Here's a joke, how many mice does it take to screw in a light bulb?
    Mouse: Mice don't screw in light bulbs. Light bulbs are much too big and cumbersome, and not to mention that it's much safer for us to pilfer food in the dark.
    Garfield: That joke took a sobering turn.
  • Life of the Party: Jon thinks he’s this.
    Jon: Hey, it’s never a party until I arrive, pal[.]
  • Like an Old Married Couple: Jon and Garfield have moments like this. This strip has Garfield complain the magic has gone out of their relationship.
  • Limited Wardrobe: Jon almost always wore a "powder blue oxford shirt", as one strip put it. Averted nowadays both by the colorists being unable to make up their minds, and Jim and co. occasionally drawing Jon in a different style of shirt.
  • Literal Ass-Kicking: One of the strip's running gags is Garfield attempting to kick Odie off the table in this fashion.
  • Literally Laughable Question: In one strip, when Jon asks Garfield, "Do you think I'm good enough for Liz?", Garfield starts laughing uncontrollably. Jon says, "You're the wrong guy to ask," and Garfield muses, "Oh, I think I laugh for everyone."
  • Literal Metaphor: Garfield wants to "put a smile on Jon's face". He draws a smile on it.
  • Literal-Minded:
  • Literal Soapbox Speech: One strip has Garfield stand on a box of soap to give a speech about how there's a slight loss of weight while sleeping.
  • Living Toys: Garfield's teddy bear Pooky, although he can't move.
  • Loads and Loads of Loading: Garfield encounters this in a Christmas strip◊.
  • Logging onto the Fourth Wall: Dingleball.com◊ and coffeequick.com◊.
    • Subversion here◊.
  • Logic Bomb:
    Garfield: Today's the day I do nothing. Unless I'm mistaken. Though being mistaken would be something, not nothing. So if today's the day I do nothing, I can't be mistaken. Unless I'm mistaken.◊
  • Look Behind You: Garfield stops chasing a mouse when the mouse uses that trick.
    Mouse: Look, a banana cream pie!
    Garfield: He's gone, isn't he?
  • Loophole Abuse:
    • Jon allows Garfield to have one bite of chicken. Garfield opens his mouth wide enough to eat the chicken whole.
      Jon: If you swallow, I'll tie a knot in your neck.
    • Jon once scolded Garfield for burying Odie in sand at the beach. Garfield defended himself by pointing out that "I only buried him up to his knees." Which would be fine....if he hadn't been buried upside-down.
    • "Ah, it says here carrots are on my diet. And this is a "carrot" cake. A loophole!"
    • Jon once told Garfield, "I'd better not see you hitting Odie". Garfield covered Jon's eyes with his paw, and hit Odie with his other paw.
    • Jon tried to teach Garfield self-control. He left a box of kitty treats in the room Garfield was in, telling him not to take the kitty treats. He left the room, then reentered a short while later. Garfield took everything except the box.
    • Even more audacious when Garfield was on another diet and Jon told him "You may have a salad." Garfield promptly helped himself to some pork chops, and when Jon called him out he claimed that no one had ever told him that pork chops were not a salad!
    • And once again: "This salad needs something. I think I'll garnish it. With a ham!" *wham*
    • Taken up to eleven in one strip where Jon put Garfield on a diet, saying he could eat anything he could sip through a straw. Garfield promptly sucked an entire chicken through said straw. "Well, back to the drawing board," said Jon.
    • And in another early strip, he put Garfield on a diet where he was only allowed one drumstick per day. Garfield was somehow able to find a butcher that sold pterodactyl drumsticks.
    • When Liz tells Jon he and Garfield need at least one vegetable on their shopping list, Jon writes "onion rings".
      Jon: Technically a vegetable.
      Garfield: All right, loophole boy!
    • However, Liz gets wise to this in a later strip when she tells Jon that he and Garfield need to eat more greens, and that green sprinkles on a doughnut don't count.
    • This strip features Garfield "trying an all-liquid diet". He says "pancake batter is technically a liquid".
    • Garfield says carrot cakes technically count "as a vegetable serving".
  • Losing Your Head: A headless swamp monster doesn't scare Garfield more than his dish bowl being empty.
  • Lost in Character: Parodied.
    General on TV: Holy bovines, Corporal! There's a giant monster invading the city!
    Soldier on TV: That's not a monster, sir.
    General: What are you talking about? Call out the artillery!
    Soldier: It's just a bad actor in a rubber suit.
    General: Oh, it is not! It's a monster!
    Soldier: Come on... I can see the zipper.
    General: Egad! A zipper monster! That's the worst kind!
    Soldier: And that's not a real city.
    General: Insolence! I'll have you court-martialed!!
    Soldier: These are just tiny little model buildings.
    Garfield: General Cordwood seems to have buried himself in the part.
    Soldier: See?
    General: PUT MY HOUSE DOWN!!!
  • Loud Sleeper Gag: In one strip, Garfield is snoring loudly, which keeps Jon awake, so Jon puts a muffler on him to drown out the noise.
  • Ludicrous Gibs: Mixed with Gory Discretion Shot, had Jon talk to Garfield about an uncle who sold dynamite for a living, while looking at a photo album:
    Jon: Look, here's a picture of him there! And there, and there, and there...
    Garfield gives a squicked-out look at the reader.
  • Lying Finger Cross: Garfield crossed his toes while making a promise.
    M 

    N 
  • Nap-Inducing Speak:
    • Happens frequently when Jon tells stories to Garfield about his boyhood on the farm. During one week of strips Garfield has insomnia and is trying to get to sleep, but can only actually fall asleep when Jon does this. Later invoked by Garfield when he gets insomnia again, he actually goes to Jon and tries to get him to do this.
    • When Garfield has a hard time sleeping in the May 2, 2022 strip, he tunes in to a boring program instead of going to Jon to remedy it.
      Announcer: And now, a 4-hour documentary on the history of certified public accounting.
  • Narrative Profanity Filter:
  • Negative Continuity: When it comes to the house the main characters live in; anytime the house is seen from the outside, it is clearly a one-story building. Yet, several comics show the house with stairs and/or at least 1 other floor.
    O 
  • Obfuscating Stupidity: In the April 27, 1989 strip, Odie waits until Jon and Garfield leave the house. Then he wears a robe, smokes a pipe, watches "A Evening With Mozart" on TV, and has a copy of "War And Peace" on the table.
  • Obnoxious In-Laws: From this strip:
    Spider: Hey! Are you the guy who squished my brother-in-law?!
    Garfield: Yes.
    Spider: Thanks.
  • Obvious Object Could Be Anything: In a 1995 Christmas themed strip, Odie is shown shaking a wrapped bone, then wondering what it could be.
  • O.O.C. Is Serious Business:
  • Oddball in the Series: In general, the daily strips were carefully designed to have at least 3 panels, occasionally more (i.e. the later strips of the Halloween 1989 arc). The four exceptions are an original strip at the end of Garfield at Large, an original strip at the beginning of Garfield Gains Weight, the 2014-08-02 strip, and the 2014-12-23 strip.
  • Offstage Villainy: Garfield's constant harassment of his neighbors.
  • Oh, Crap!: Garfield gives this facial expression a lot. See the "zippers" strip above as an example.
  • "Oh, Crap!" Smile: Garfield can make these, like after he attacks the wrong mailman.
  • Oh Wait, This Is My Grocery List:
    • Jon mistakes Garfield's shopping list for a poem he wrote for Liz.
    • It happens again in this comic, though this time Jon realizes the mistake before he starts reading the list.
    Garfield: Read it slowly.
    Jon: Although this appears to be a shopping list.
    Garfield: [smiles] And with feeling.
  • Older and Wiser: Garfield believes he's getting smarter as he gets older until he sees Jon asking why people don't make cars out of cardboard and wonders if the others are getting dumber.
  • The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: Garfield likes to stomp spiders and hates when Jon beats him to it. However, when Liz did it, he told Jon to marry her.
  • Operators Are Standing By: On November 15, 2004, Garfield is watching TV and sees the phrase "Operators are standing by to take your order!" He goes to the phone to tell the operators that he won't be buying anything... but as a cat, they can't actually understand him.
  • Or Was It a Dream?: In this strip, Garfield has a dream in which he's about to kick Odie off the table, only for Odie to snap at him "Don't even think about it!". Then Garfield wakes up, sees Odie and goes to kick him for real... only for Odie to turn around and glare at him.
  • Out-of-Context Eavesdropping:
    • In the October 4, 1981 strip, Jon calls the garage to bring in his car for a checkup, and then describes what he wants: "You'd better flush out his system... Tighten his hoses. Replace all the worn parts. Oh yes, and have him reupholstered." Unfortunately, Garfield just heard "I'd like to bring him in for a checkup." and everything afterward, and assumed Jon was speaking to the vet about him. In the final panel he's hitchhiking to Abu Dhabi.
    • In the April 21, 2000 strip, Jon's been sawing something, then Garfield hears him say "Oops. Boy, I hope that can be sewn back on." By the time Jon comes over with the button he's lost, Garfield's fainted, presumably assuming Jon had accidentally cut off a body part.
  • Out of Focus: The comic used to have a large ensemble cast, but since the late 1990's, many of the side characters have been pushed to the background. Even more since Jon and Liz became a couple. These days, any character that is not Garfield, Jon, Odie or Liz is barely seen anymore.
  • Overly Long Gag:
    • Many Sunday strips are padded out to the maximum seven panels, when they could just as easily work in three.
    • This strip is an In-Universe version of this trope, though Garfield doesn't find it funny.
  • Overly Long Name: Betty-Jo Bobbie-Sue Mary-Jane Anna-Lee Becky-Lou Wanda-June Ed. According to Jon, "she was named after her six aunts and one uncle".
  • Overly Long Scream: Jon does one in a 1992 strip that takes up the top of every single panel. In the last panel, we see it's because he had enough Christmas lights to decorate the entire outside and inside of the house, but ran out of cord inches before he could plug it in.
  • Overly-Long Tongue:
    • Sometimes Odie's tongue is shown to be lengthier than his body.
    • One strip reveals Garfield's got a long tongue.
  • Overly Narrow Superlative:
    • Garfield describing Jon in this strip:
      Garfield: Jon is the most interesting guy I know.
      Jon: I just sorted my socks!
      Garfield: He's the only guy I know.
    • Inverted in this strip. Garfield eats a cookie and describes it as the best one he's eaten that day. As Garfield says and the pile of empty boxes shows, "the competition was fierce".
    • This strip has Garfield declaring June 19th, 2020 as his best birthday ever and acknowledging he's "forgotten all the other ones".
  • Overly-Nervous Flop Sweat: Happens to Jon in one strip after Liz tells him whatever he decides to get her will be just perfect.

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