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Does This Make Me Look Fat?
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alt title(s): Does This Make Me Look Fat Said whenever a nervous character is trying on a new set of clothes, especially before a date: "Does this (shirt, pair of pants, etc.) make me look fat?" Sometimes variations are used such as "Do I look fat?", "Does this make my butt look big?" or "I think I've gained some weight, what do you think?"
This is is a trick question that brings terror to husbands in all Dom Coms, as he is never able to answer in a way that won't make his wife angry (saying "No" will convince her he's just saying what she wants to hear). Unless of course he just doesn't give a damn, in which case the answer is either "Yes" or "No, that doesn't make you look fat. The fact that you're fat makes you look fat."
In the UK the usual phrasing is, "Does my bum look big in this?"
This is mostly a Discredited Trope (if not a Dead Horse Trope) now, so a character will rarely ask it except when the question is really absurd. (For instance, if the character is blatantly fat or skinny, or has a hideous facial scar that will draw more attention, or is an alien trying to mate.) However, there is still some element of Truth In Television.
Examples:
Anime and Manga
- In the Cyborg 009 2001 TV series, when Francoise/003 has to put on a Chinese dress to help out in Chang/006's Chinese restaurant, she asks the others if she looks fat on it.
- In the Magic Knight Rayearth anime series, Umi has to wear a very Stripperiffic odalisque outfit when captured by the Chizeta princesses, and one of the reasons why she's NOT happy to dress up in it is that she's sure she's put on weight lately.
Commercials
- A recent Geico commercial shows a wife asking her distracted husband, "Honey, does this dress make me look fat?", to which he — not really hearing the question — cheerfully murmurs "You betcha" in response. The voiceover adds: "In the time it takes to pull out the sleeper sofa, you can save hundreds on car insurance."
- In a Snickers commercial, a husband finally manages to come up with the right answer to the question - by chomping into a Snickers bar then mumbling something incomprehensible around it, thereby allowing his wife to interpret it however she wants.
- In a commercial for a local sofa store, as the couple was preparing to go to bed, the husband says to the wife "remember that dress you tried on today? on second thought it WAS a little tight" turns out he said it just so she would make him sleep on the couch.....the new big very comfortable couch that they just bought from the sofa store.
- An Australian add for Dare iced coffee has the man replying honestly (after taking a swig of Dare) to the question "Does my bum look big in this?" with "At least it takes the attention off your face". Riffed on by another company's add which has the man replying "No" without looking up from his newspaper (the wife is facing away from him at the time).
Film
- Male example from Tommy Boy:
Tommy: Hey, does this suit make me look fat?
Richard: No no no, your face does.
Live Action TV
- Subverted in Married With Children, "Episode 809: No Ma'am":
Al Bundy: It's not the dress that makes you look fat. It's the fat that makes you look fat.
- Also subverted in Buffy The Vampire Slayer, "The Freshman":
Vamp Minion: Does this sweater make me look fat?
Sunday (Vamp Leader): No, the fact that you're fat makes you look fat. That sweater just makes you look purple.
- Subverted in Scrubs: Turk advises JD that if his (African-American) girlfriend asks if her ass looks fat, he should reply "Hell, yeah!"
- In the episode of Code Monkeys "Third Reich's the Charm" Todd asks this question.
Todd: Does this outfit make me look fat?
Clare: No, vision makes you look fat!
- In the Lost episode "Tricia Tanaka is Dead," Sawyer teaches Jin the only three phrases he needs to know in English: "I'm sorry," "You were right," and "Those pants don't make you look fat."
- On Friends, Ross and Rachel help Chandler in the aftermath of a fight with Janice:
Chandler: Okay, well, Janice said "Hi. Do I look fat today?" and I looked at her...
Ross: Whoa. Whoa. You looked at her? You never look. You just answer. It’s like a reflex. "Do I look fat?" "No." "Is she prettier than I am?" "No." "Does size matter?"
Rachel: "No."
Ross: And it works both ways.
- A possible variation by Chandler: "Do my nipples show through this shirt?"
- Used in The Sarah Connor Chronicles when someone asks this question of Cameron. She briefly examines the questioner and responds, "Yes".
- In a later episode Cameron, who's starting to get the hang of this teenage communication thing, asks a male student if the two pizza slices she's eaten make her look fat. The student, his proverbial tongue hanging out, naturally replies that she looks just fine.
- According to Joss Whedon: What were Summer Glau's first words on the set of Firefly? "Does this cryogenic chamber make me look fat?"
- Tony DiNozzo references the trope in the NCIS episode "Faking It," as part of an ongoing argument with Ziva about men lying to women: "'Honey, does my butt look big in these pants to you?' Actually, yes, sweetheart, your butt looks as big as Alabama. Didn't want to say anything, but you've got the 'bama butt going on."
- The Fast Show has a character called "Does My Bum Look Big In This?".
Newspaper Comics
Stand Up Comedy
- Every straight male comedian ever, and probably a few lesbian comedians have done a joke based on this. It usually doesn't end well for them. Bonus points if the wife/girlfriend happens to be pregnant at the time, allowing the exaggerated, hormone-induced personification of rage (No, not 4chan) to toss a bus full of Girl Scouts at whoever dares to answer the question. Then she eats all the Girl Scout cookies. Dipped in tartar sauce. With a glass of breast milk from an endangered leopard.
Web Comics
Western Animation
Web Original
Would more examples make this page look fat? No, honey, you look good just the way you are.
- Don't listen to what he says, it DOES make you look fat, 'cause you ARE fat!
- some of us like big pages...
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