General Page Quote Discussion:

The Beard is about someone pretending to be in a relationship with someone else. The page quote is a discussion about whether or not someone is gay (which may be a reason why a person might need to have the Beard, but the quote itself doesn't really explain how the situation relates to the actual trope definition). Most of the ones in the subpage have the same issue.

The first one from Glee seems like an improvement.

I have a problem with the Morality Kitchen Sink pagequote:

Among the Alps and Pyrenees, perhaps, there were no mixed characters. There, such as were not as spotless as an angel might have the dispositions of a fiend. But in England it was not so; among the English, she believed, in their hearts and habits, there was a general though unequal mixture of good and bad. Upon this conviction, she would not be surprised if even in Henry and Eleanor Tilney, some slight imperfection might hereafter appear; and upon this conviction she need not fear to acknowledge some actual specks in the character of their father, who, though cleared from the grossly injurious suspicions which she must ever blush to have entertained, she did believe, upon serious consideration, to be not perfectly amiable.

— Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey

Firstly, I think the quote is too long and verbose. Secondly, it's xenophobic, it says that people of the Alps and Pyrenees don't have mixed characters whereas English people do (I know Jane Austen uses the modifier "perhaps" as a get out of jail for free card but the implication of the paragraph is off-putting). This by itself contradicts the trope which is about. Thirdly, it's not general, it refers to Henry and Eleanor Tilney, characters from the book, which means that it doesn't work without context.

I propose this replacement. The current pagequote from Jean Renoir's creator page, without the Gratuitous French (though I am okay putting that in if it's fine by mods):
->"The most terrible thing in the world is that everyone has their reasons."\\

— Octave in The Rules of the Game

It's short, succinct, general and universal and works without context.

That suggestion one looks good

I agree.

The quote in Christmas Cake has nothing to do with the trope. Unfortunately the page doesn't have a quotes subpage, and the one found in the examples list are useless. May I just remove it? Or does anyone has a better suggestion?

I was all set to propose a Sense and Sensibility quote, then I realized that this was supposed to be a Japanese cultural trope. (Which would seem to be The Same But More Specific.) A quick wick check revealed I wasn't the only one confused. There are plenty of non-Japanese examples, when those ought to go under Old Maid.

Someone might want to go to TRS and propose a merge. The page quote is kind of the least of this trope's problems; just axe it for now and move on.

Expergiscēre cras, medior quam hodie. (Awaken tomorrow, better than today.)

Yeah, quote's not doing it justice. Axe it.

I may prepare a TRS thread for Christmas Cake once I get the chance.

she/her | TRS needs your help! | Contributor of Trope Report

I'm 99% positive it's one of those tropes that was originally created with an inexplicably Japanese-culture-specific name, got TRSed, and wound up being split instead of just renamed because people got mad.

I believe the distinction is intended to be that a Christmas Cake is still young and attractive to look at (and most examples are under 30) with the only disqualifying characteristic preventing them from marriage being the arbitrary fact of her age, whereas an Old Maid is, well, old. Even when a youngish woman is teased with the trope, the phrasing is usually a warning that the way they're going they're apt to become one.

That said, the explanation of the Japanese origin of the term Christmas Cake is fine, but the part that says that the example list "should" be kept to mostly Japanese examples should be removed. Tropes have however many examples they have; we're not aiming to reach a quota of Japanese vs Western examples.

edited 17th May '16 8:56:41 PM by HighCrate

Well, if that's that case, then the description needs cleaning up. I'll take it to the trope description projects thread. On second thought, it probably needs TRS anyway, since some tweaks may have to be made to Old Maid as well.

Incidentally, here's the full quote I had in mind, in case anyone thinks it could work out.

edited 17th May '16 9:03:55 PM by TotemicHero

Expergiscēre cras, medior quam hodie. (Awaken tomorrow, better than today.)

Christmas Cake is a culture-specific trope. These are allowed and in fact encouraged. The problem is when they get misused. It is a sub-trope of an Old Maid. It is ok to have both IMO. I am strongly against the merge.

Honestly, I am kinda tired of this issue. English Rose is a great trope, but specific for England. It got misused and people tried listing other pale-skinned beauties from all over the world. Why should we remove it when we can have other culture-specific tropes, like Southern Belle or Yamato Nadeshiko. And more broad, but still fairly specific tropes like Proper Lady...

I agree that the quote on Christmas Cake should be removed. But I disagree with a quote from Jane Austen. We need something that mentions the age, being not married and Japan.

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Anyway, I came to this thread to report that UsefulNotes.Ice Hockey has 4 quotes. I kinda like the "Hello Canada and hockey fans in The United States and Newfoundland..." one.

I've removed the quote in Christmas Cake.

The X of Y has a really long quote. Could it be trimmed, or should it be replaced?

Expergiscēre cras, medior quam hodie. (Awaken tomorrow, better than today.)

We only really need like 4 or 5 examples to get the idea.

San Dimas Time definitely needs a better quote (and probably a rename but that's a problem for another thread), I think the one from Phelous in the quotes subpage would work better.

While not a quote for the page itself, for the caption of 12 Angry Men's image

I was thinking, "Your fate rests in their hands."

You should go to this thread for that.

Thanks.

Dropping in to say that both Lost in Translation and Translation with an Agenda have the same quote, specifically:

It's probably more fitting for the Translation with an Agenda page.

edited 3rd Jun '16 12:17:16 PM by JapaneseTeeth

Reaction Image Repository

I agree.

Somewhat tongue-in-cheek suggestion for Lost in Translation:

“Translation is the art of failure.”

— Umberto Eco

edited 3rd Jun '16 12:46:06 PM by JapaneseTeeth

Reaction Image Repository

Our page on the band Devo has two quotes. I don't know a lot about them, so...

Expergiscēre cras, medior quam hodie. (Awaken tomorrow, better than today.)

Tomato in the Mirror has two quotes. Not sure which is better.

The second one doesn't seem to have anything to do with the actual trope, just a play on the trope's name. Chainsaw it, I say.

Expergiscēre cras, medior quam hodie. (Awaken tomorrow, better than today.)

Done.