How Did We Miss This One? - Television Tropes & Idioms

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How Did We Miss This One?

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alt title(s): How Did We Miss This One

It is a rare mind indeed that can render the hitherto non-existent blindingly obvious. The cry 'I could have thought of that' is a very popular and misleading one, for the fact is that they didn't, and a very significant and revealing fact it is too.

— Douglas Adams

Some tropes are so pervasive that they're like air, normally difficult to notice. Then one day, it suddenly hits you: of course, The Epic! Or Bank Robbery, or Magic Carpet, or what have you. Oddly, nothing comes up on a site search, so you take it to YKTTW

in puzzled disbelief.

But we must have this, you say. It's so obvious! Surely it's here somewhere. I really can't believe that we don't have this yet. Come on, people! It's the bleeping True Meaning Of Christmas! It's one of The Oldest Ones In The Book, and it's all over the place. And The Great Crash of 2008 had nothing to do with its absence!

How Did We Miss This One?!?

The answer is pretty ironic: Usually, it was missed because it was so bleeding obvious, common, and/or basic. So nobody thought an entry was needed, or everybody figured it was already here. Or everyone just Failed A Spot Check.

Or maybe, just maybe, we missed it because it isn't actually as important or remarkable as you think. You choose.

Important note: this kind of thing happens in real life all the time, many of the most earth-shattering philosophical ideas of all time are now known as "common sense", mathematically even more so: someone had to actually design the standard puncuation system of mathematical processes. "I think therefore i am"? Not before Descartes ya didn't.

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