Basic Trope: An argument about nothing important.
- Straight: Alice and Bob quibble over whether a tomato counts as a vegetable or a fruit.
- Exaggerated:
- The argument includes hurling vicious insults...and chairs.
- Or Silly Reason for War.
- Downplayed: Seinfeldian Conversation.
- Justified:
- Sometimes people have disagreements...and too much free time.
- They're practicing for debate club.
- Alice and Bob have made a bet and the otherwise inconsequential topic is central to determining who wins.
- Inverted:
- Alice and Bob agree on whether a tomato counts as a vegetable or a fruit.
- Alice and Bob argue over something that really is Serious Business.
- Subverted: Eventually, Alice and Bob come to the conclusion that a tomato is botanically a fruit and culinarily a vegetable.
- Double Subverted: But then Carl interjects with, "But what about rhubarb?"
- Parodied: World War III begins over the issue of whether a tomato counts as a fruit or a vegetable.
- Zig-Zagged: Sometimes they argue over dumb stuff, sometimes they don't.
- Averted: Alice and Bob have no such arguments.
- Enforced: Rule of Funny
- Lampshaded:
- "It's a fruit, you idiot!"
- "Wow, you guys have way too much free time..."
- Invoked: A Seinfeldian Conversation about food begins.
- Exploited: Charlie asks Alice and Bob "Is a tomato a fruit or a vegetable?", then waits until they're too busy arguing to notice him swipe Bob's car keys.
- Defied:
- Alice and Bob change the subject.
- Jim: "I don't care. I'll never care. And you're going to find more productive items to discuss if you know what's good for you."
- Discussed: "So, where do you stand on the fruit versus vegetable debate?"
- Conversed: "This is stupid! Why are we even talking about this?!"
- Implied: Bob and Alice look askance at each other every time tomatoes are mentioned.
- Deconstructed: They're arguing about something pointless, and insulting each other!
- Reconstructed: They agree to disagree and discuss something, you know, relevant.
- Played for Laughs: This argument becomes an Overly Long Gag. Cue Flash Forward, showing a very elderly Alice and Bob, still arguing over this.
- Played for Drama: The argument gets personal and ruins their heretofore great relationship.
- Played For Horror:
- The argument reaches a Rage Breaking Point for Alice and she accidentally kills Bob in a way that definitely looks like a premeditated (or least mad-dog) assassination instead of manslaughter.
- The Argument Slayer decides they need to die for polluting the world with their nonsensical prattling.
- Plotted a Good Waste: Alice and Bob stand in for real people or groups of people who started a needless argument that went too far; the author is trying to make a point that such qualms played on a macro-social level tend to be a net harm.
Back to "Cavemen vs. Astronauts" Debate.
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