Basic Trope: Character tells another to stop doing something by mentioning the fact they "haven't" noticed it.
- Straight: Police Officer Bob catches Alice graffitiing Charlie's house. He tells her it's a good thing he left his glasses at home and he's going back to get them.
- Exaggerated: Bob never directly warns someone who's doing something wrong.
- Downplayed: ???
- Justified:
- Bob wants to be able to hide behind Exact Words if questioned.
- Bob prefers to give people a chance to stop their mischief before he has to punish them.
- Bob thinks Alice graffitiing Charlie's house isn't morally wrong, but he can't be on record as letting a criminal go.
- Inverted: Bob subtly implies that it's okay for Alice to graffiti Charlie's house and he won't arrest her if she does.
- Subverted: Bob tells Alice it's a good thing he left his glasses at home...and it turns out he was being completely literal. He's Blind Without 'Em and was afraid he'd lost them somewhere worse.
- Double Subverted: However, once Bob comes back with his glasses, he sees Alice puncturing Dracone's tires and tells her that if he knew who did such a thing, he'd have to write them up.
- Parodied: Alice doesn't understand what Bob is doing, despite repeatedly clear hints. Eventually, Bob gives up and just arrests Alice.
- Zig-Zagged: ???
- Averted:
- Bob just arrests Alice.
- Bob just says he won't arrest Alice.
- Bob genuinely didn't notice, and it was never implied he was lying.
- Enforced: In a previous cut of the film, test audiences complained it wasn't realistic for Alice to be able to graffiti Bob's house without a cop showing up, but they can't let her actually get arrested without radically changing the plot, so this is a good solution.
- Lampshaded:Officer Bob: Alice, it's a good thing I haven't the foggiest who's been responsible for these pranks.Alice: That's an indirect "cut it out", right?Officer Bob: Yeah, whoever's doing this really should cut it out.
- Invoked: At the police academy, it's suggested that cops do this as a way to stop criminals without resorting to more heavy-handed tactics.
- Exploited: Alice uses this as an opportunity to discredit Bob by suggesting his poor eyesight makes him unfit for duty.
- Defied: The police chief severely punishes anyone who tries to let criminals "get away with it" by doing this.
- Discussed: ???
- Conversed: ???
- Implied: Bob doesn't say anything, but he gives Alice a stern glare before pointedly looking away.
I'll pretend I didn't see you trying to sneak back to the main page.
