Swap with redirect: Tin Can You Hear Me Now

My interest in whether this is renamed is near nil. I'm simply trying to remind people that "I think it's stupid and unfunny" is not usually a valid argument for renaming, which is supposed to be a method of last resort, according to our usual guidelines.

But if this feeble attempt at humor really offends people that much — if you really want to stomp on the poor sucker who came up with this silly name that badly — I have no interest in standing in anyone's way. I feel a little sorry for the person, but I certainly won't mourn the name.

It's a very opaque name that you have to think about, know the before and after game on wheel of fortune. as well as know the sprint commercial that uses the phrase.

Then there is the usage... No way to really prove that one, I added one example when I found out this trope existed (Via TRS)

Renaming a page is not "stomping on an editor". And yes, being unclear is certainly a valid reason for renaming; indeed it's a pretty common reason on this forum.

Wit may be a secondary goal, but clarity is a primary goal.

Also, there's a difference between "cleverness" and "wittiness"

Doesn't seem unclear to me. I'm pretty sure it gets the idea across, even if you've never heard of the commercial. I mean, what else could it be? Tin can. Hear. That pretty much sums it up right there. Add a searchable redirect or two, and we could be done here.

I'm not going to vote against a rename. I just don't see the point, and it seems to me to be against our usual guidelines, and hardly seems worth even the minimal effort it would take, so I'm not going to vote for one either. Renaming seems almost as silly as the name itself.

There's also a difference between "wit" and "reference". Not that everyone understands that.

Right, its a clever reference, but not particularly witty.

Yes, very much.

What we need is an Official Policy Page (tm) that spells out in big flashing letters that a simple reference doesn't automatically qualify as "funny", "humorous" or "witty".

I wouldn't call a reference "clever" by means of being a reference. Unless you'd care to call the Seltzer Burger movies the most clever works in existence?

I just think that if we have an existing name for something in Real Life, there's no reason not to just use the real name. Tin-Can Telephone is widely used on other sites, and even The Other Wiki recognizes them as such. There's no reason to Call a Rabbit a "Smeerp" here. We went through the same thing with Rube Goldberg Device.

Humor is pretty subjective. Some people appear to find those odious Seltzer movies funny. What this has to say about the human condition is probably unfortunate, but nevertheless true.

"Wit" and "cleverness" are actually very good synonyms. Both have a meaning of thinking-on-your-feet quick intelligence as well as implying humor. (Which, as I mentioned above, is subjective).

I'm surprised no one has brought up our third goal: conciseness. If someone wanted to argue that the current name is much too long for the amount of wit it conveys, I might well buy that argument. :)

I think that the current name is too long for the amount of wit it conveys. Will you consider the change?

Technically, conciseness is second, wit is third.

Very well, I withdraw my neutrality and endorse a rename. :)

I think "Don't Call a Rabbit a "Smeerp"" should be one of our unofficial rules for naming a trope. If the rest of the world calls it X, there's no reason we can't just call it X too.

+1 for the rename to Tin-Can Telephone

Tin-Can Telephone is what the Other Wiki calls it, so if we do the same, we could add this to the We Are Not Alone Index.

edited 7th Sep '11 2:45:00 PM by Xtifr

I apologize for being so late to this thread, but there is now a page action crowner for this trope here. I guess we could just use a single proposition crowner instead, but I am a bit leery of using that kind of crowner for a rename even if it is as simple as this one.

Calling this one, even though it's short-time. There were no reasons to keep offered besides "I like the old name better." and in a little over a day it hit 14:1 in favor of the swap.

Move needs to be done.

Move done. Please cut Laconic version since I moved that too.