Guess That Trope: The Zotz

This article has a really obscure name that is from a work unrelated to the context the trope usually appears in. The fact that the name is bad is evidence by the low usage: It has only 17 wicks and 5 inbounds. This is a fairly common sitcom plot that should have more usage but the name is holding it back.

There's also the factor of the recently launched trope Gift-Giving Gaffe that has a name that could cover this trope but it is about two other varients of problematic gift giving not covered by The Zotz, and I'm not sure they should be separate tropes. If we keep them a separate tropes, we need trope names that differentiate the two so people don't confuse them.

edited 4th Jan '12 9:00:47 AM by djbj

Gift-Giving Gaffe is pretty different from The Zotz (the former is just the action of giving a bad gift, the latter is a whole story about someone not wanting to say that the gift is bad, and the shenanigans that go on afterwards, such as trying to destroy it, etc.), but I agree the name is not good. The article says zotz means "unwanted gift", so perhaps "Unwanted Gift Plot"?

Totally support a rename it's an awful title and from the title alone I would have guessed some sort of alien character trope. So fails Guess That Trope for me.

The Zotz is more than just an unwanted gift, though. The trope is that it's "an unwanted gift that the recipient pretends to like in order to be polite, then can't get rid of because of that pretense."

It's the last two thirds of that description that makes it different from a plain Unwanted Gift or Gift-Giving Gaffe.

It also appears that we may have an instance of Missing Supertrope Syndrome going on here, as well, and Gift-Giving Gaffe could be what needs to go in that hole, with the subtropes The Zotz (recipient pretends to like the unwanted gift, then has to keep it because their pretense was too good); Convenience Store Gift Shopping (Giver gives a pointless, silly of unwanted gift because they had to buy it at the last minute at a gas station or convenience store); My New Gift Is Lame (one gift out of those given to a group of people is markedly less appropriate/expensive/whatever than the others; and possibly a couple of others that I can't find or think of right now.

edited 4th Jan '12 11:15:48 AM by Madrugada

Yeah, I can support a rename here. We could always fall back on something like Unwanted Gift Plot, I dunno. *shrug*

That's a baaaaaad name, all right.

Concur with the rename.

Ah yes, a "The [Trope Namer]" title. Always fun. Hard to encapsulate the entire trope in a short, pithy title, though.

How about "The 'Grateful' Recipient"?

Could also go with "Shilling the Awkward Gift." Not very catchy, but it seems pretty unambiguous.

Unwanted Gift Plot sounds good.

How about Stuck With The Unwanted Gift?

Poor Present Plot for Added Alliterative Appeal?

Time for a crowner?

As requested, there is now a single proposition rename crowner for this trope here.

It is now hooked to the thread.

17 wicks in over a year.....yikes. Rename is definitely in order.

Hence why we have a pretty quick consensus.

Unwelcome Gift?

Don't think the word "plot" needs to be in the title, even if that's part of the meaning.

That should work.

But it's more than just an Unwelcome Gift. It's when the plot of the episode, show, work, whatever, revolves around the recipient not being able to get rid of the gift because they made such a good pretense of liking it. Unwelcome Gift is misleading in that there's nothing to indicate there's tighter limits on the trope than simply "one person gives someone else a gift they don't like." That's the missing supertrope. This is a specific subtrope.

So Unwelcome Gift Plot is necessary?

I understand that "it's a kind of plot" is critical to the definition, but I don't think the word "plot" is critical to the title.

Not the word "plot" necessarily, but it needs to be more specific than simply Unwanted Gift. That can cover Convenience Store Gift Shopping, Gift-Giving Gaffe, Homemade Sweater from Hell, and My New Gift Is Lame. At least those four; there may be more that I didn't find in my (admittedly quick) search.

edited 8th Jan '12 6:47:48 PM by Madrugada

Ah, maybe it is the scansion I am reacting to. Unwanted Gift Story?

In that case, your suggestion of Stuck With The Unwanted Gift is also valid.