Basic Trope: Someone tends to take expressions literally.
- Straight: After Bob tells Alice to "Hit the road", Alice goes out and punches the road.
- Exaggerated: Alice is a demon, and is told by Bob to "go to Hell" during an argument. The gates of hell open and Alice swan-dives in.
- Downplayed:
- After telling Alice "throw that away" she tosses something at a trash can from a distance instead of dropping it in from a shorter distance.
- Bob tells Alice to leave him alone, so Alice tells everyone else present to leave the room with her.
- Justified:
- Alice is a robot, and her AI is not programmed with figures of speech.
- Alice is The Ditz.
- Alice is an alien.
- Alice is a small child who hasn't yet learned about figurative language.
- Alice has an intellectual disability and/or is on the autistic spectrum, so she has difficulty understanding figurative language.
- Alice is a foreigner with a poor grasp of English and doesn't want to offend a citizen of her host country (by breaking some unknown taboo), especially one who sounds angry.
- Inverted: Alice twists even the most straightforward statements into the most ridiculous metaphorical interpretations, as in:
- Subverted: Alice is told to hit the road; she looks like she's going to hit it, but she just leaves.
- Double Subverted: However, when she's told to go fly a kite, she does so.
- Parodied: In a short time frame she "hits the road", "goes kite flying", "chases a wild goose", "shoots a fish in a barrel" and "puts an Elephant in the Living Room".
- Zig-Zagged: When Alice is asked to "hit the road", she just walks away. When she is asked to "go fly a kite", she buys a kite and flies it. When someone says "Alice could not hit the broad side of a barn", she punches the barn. She, somehow, misses.
- Averted: Despite the cast using many ideas, nobody ever takes them literally.
- Enforced: We need people to know Alice is a Robot Girl. Let's have her punch roads when asked to hit the road.
- Lampshaded: "Um, OK, but I don't see what I'm accomplishing by doing this..." [Punch]
- Invoked: Alice's parents don't teach her about figurative language.
- Exploited: Alice becomes a target of mockery for her rival.
- Defied:
- Alice downloads a software patch to help her understand figures of speech.note
- Alice studies more figurative languages to improve her language skills.
- Bob avoids using figurative language around Alice because he knows that she won't understand what he means; instead of telling her to "hit the road", he tells her to leave.
- Alice asks "What do you mean by that?" instead of going out and literally punching the road.
- Discussed:Bob: You have got to stop punching roads, Alice.Alice: Then stop telling me to.
- Conversed: ???
- Deconstructed: Alice's literal-mindedness annoys others, preventing her from socializing with potential friends. This results in her becoming lonely and eventually committing suicide. Not to mention her fist hurts.
- Reconstructed: Alice meets several other literal-minded people who decide to start their own community where they can be as literal as they like.
- Implied: Alice and Bob are at a bar, and Bob asks for a Dry Martini. Alice stares at the drink in confusion, surprised that it is a liquid.
- Played for Laughs:
- Bob and Alice have the next exchange...Bob: Well I will be a monkey's uncle.Alice: You should talk to your brother about his taste in women.
- "You crack me up." "Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry."
- Bob and Alice have the next exchange...
- Played for Drama: Alice is nearly hit by a car while she is hitting the road.
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