Premature launch, odd title:: Mulligan The Headsman

This trope was just launched, and so it doesn't have much of anything in it... except a much better name (Klutz the Surgeon) lurking in the description.

Of course, it was obviously launched a bit early, so I'm wondering whether we want to send this back to YKTTW or just rename it and wait for Wiki Magic?

I'm convinced that our modern day analogues to ancient scholars are comedians. -0dd1

I'm partial to saying early launch = back to YKTTW with it.

For the record, this trope is about people having oddly inappropriate names, correct? Like how a surprising number of fictional dentists are named Dr. Payne?

Belief or disbelief rests with you.

I'm agreeing with Balmung.

Fight smart, not fair.

I concur, this needs a better title on grounds that most people probably don't know what "mulligan" means.

There's plenty of simple examples in Terry Pratchett's Lords And Ladies, which has a baker named Miller, a miller named Butcher, a butcher named Hunter, and so forth.

Rhetorical, eh? ... Eight!

I saw it in YKTTW and thought it was an interesting idea, but I'm sure there's a more indicative name and more examples. Send it back to YKTTW to collect them, I think.

"Well, it's a lifestyle"

petrie 911,

I am pretty sure you are right about that, at least, I interpreted the trope to mean the same thing.

I agree with moving the trope back to YKTTW, if only because I think doing that will help save the time and effort of going through a rename process here.

"irhgT nm0w tehre might b ea lotof th1nmgs i dont udarstannd, ubt oim ujst goinjg to keepfollowing this pazth i belieove iN !!!!!1 d

What's a headsman? Is that the executioner guy with the big axe and the hood who chops off people's heads?

Rhymes with "Protracted."

Yes.

Fight smart, not fair.

This looks to be Unfortunate Name under a different title.

I had a dog-themed avatar before it was cool.

Actually it seems like a Scrappy Title or Unfortunate Title

Sparkling and glittering! Jan-Ken-Pon!

@bwburke: No, that's names like Ann Chovy that just sound funny. This is names like Klutz the Surgeon that are conditional versions of Names to Run Away from Really Fast.

I'm convinced that our modern day analogues to ancient scholars are comedians. -0dd1

Ahh ok misunderstood... Seeing how the page is built like shit I would say back to YKTTW.

I would also add (Not sure if I should since its going to be cut.)

• Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei The doctor Mikoto Itoshiki when his name is written horizontally it becomes Zetsumei which means Death so he is Doctor Death, anytime this is brought up it leads to a Head Desk moment.
  • Their entire family has names like this, The teacher Nozomu Itoshiki means "Despair" so he is Despair-Sensei. Rin Itoshiki means "peerless in bed" not something you want to have if you want to be a Yamato Nadeshiko.

edited 23rd Apr '11 11:30:50 AM by Raso

Sparkling and glittering! Jan-Ken-Pon!

This trope doesn't seem to have done anything. It's still a stub with a horrid name. Is it worth fixing or shall we cut it?

Reality is that, which when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away. -Philip K. Dick

It would be worth a new YKTTW I think I can only think of that example there but it seems tropeable. Jay Leno does lots on Headlines.

Sparkling and glittering! Jan-Ken-Pon!

Or all the Car Talk "staff":

• Lawncare specialist—Moses Lannigan
• Meteorologist—Claudio Verrnight
• Quality Control—Lucinda Bolts
• Working Mothers Support Group Leader—Erasmus B. Dragon

and one of my personal faves,

• Tommy's Post-Dinner Beard Cleaner—Emile Inez Zelf

EDIT: Disregard. Those are all Punny Name.

edited 19th Sep '11 6:53:34 PM by ArtemisStrong

Get a slant at this glossary of Pulp Detective terms. It rates. Pipe that?

I don't really play golf, but I do know what a "mulligan" is through popcultural osmosis. (In Magic The Gathering, it's also a term for redrawing an unplayable opening hand, but that wasn't the first place I heard it.) I had a pretty good idea what the trope was about from reading the name (specifically, people whose names imply they're bad at their jobs), but I can see why people might call for a rename. It might help to specify it as a subtrope of Unfortunate Name to filter the square pegs over to there.

Concerning the suggestions above, Itoshiki Mikoto definitely fits (definitely enough that I'm going to go ahead and add him), as "death" is precisely what physicians generally try to prevent. His siblings probably don't, as "despair" has little to do with teaching, and sexual prowess would actually be pretty desirable in a romantic interest. Going farther up, Dr. Payne the dentist doesn't really fit as discomfort is neither counterproductive nor unexpected from a dental visit. Meanwhile, there's no reason to think Mr. Butcher would be a poor miller; Dr. Butcher the veterinarian, on the other hand, would be pretty disconcerting if he were to show up.

Most Mt G players I know treat "mulligan" as a verb. So this trope title, to me, reads like "we picked a headsman, and then we selected a new one".

That "headsman" isn't a common word either doesn't help matters.

Rhetorical, eh? ... Eight!

Call it Klutz the Surgeon if you like.

Fuhrmann, es kostet dir noch dein Leben

Something like Doctor Death MD, Doctor Death Is A Good Guy, or something along those lines to get the point across that these are good people with an inappropriately bad name for their chosen profession.

edited 11th Oct '11 4:03:09 AM by Raso

Sparkling and glittering! Jan-Ken-Pon!

Stressing the fact that the trope applies to good people with unfortunate names just confuses the issue. It's completely irrelevant whether they're good, bad, or orange. They just have a terrible name for their profession.

"Klutz," to me, is a little generic. You expect somebody named Klutz to be a screw-up no matter what their profession. I think if you're going to change the name, you may as well make it clear we're talking ABOUT names (Occupation Inappropriate Name, for example).

Doctor Payne DDS.

Send it back to YKTTW with a clearer definition and a better title.

edited 11th Oct '11 5:08:56 AM by Worldmaker

Being in a Japanese-produced work is not enough of a difference to warrant its own trope.

I like Klutz the Surgeon, and no Klutz isn't a bad name for any profession. Klutz The Bureaucrat might be perfectly competent.

I'm convinced that our modern day analogues to ancient scholars are comedians. -0dd1

I still think it'd be better to go with a title that's explicitly about names, but if we need an actual name we can't do better than Klutz? I think, say, Scavenger The Surgeon might scare me worse than ol' Klutzy.

A store near my house is named Leghacker; they sell wheelchairs. True story.

Shall we do a crowner with all these names?

Rhetorical, eh? ... Eight!