Misused: I Need To Go Iron My Dog

This trope has a very specific meaning.

"A type of Room Shuffle whereby a character volunteers some random reason for leaving a room, so that the remaining characters can talk amongst themselves."

That is the first line. Wicks make it seem like any really lousy and paper thin excuse. Worse is the next line.

"Usually of the mundane "Well, I'm off to work," "I think I'll call it a night," "Gotta use the head," "Going To The Store" type of comment, rarely related to the plot."

So the trope more fits an excuse that is at least semi-plausible, but the name is of a lesser used form.

Furthermore, when looking at the wicks, I found a Super-Trope, Deus ex 'Scuse Me, which this trope doesn't even list, and of course some of the wicks for this trope fall under that.

Either we should rename this trope to something that doesn't look like that trope, or we might as well merge them, since this trope is so narrow.

Wick check - first 25 (total - 131 wicks, 312 inbounds):

Misuses:

• All the President's Men: Potholed with "a weird excuse to avoid questioning".
• Batman The Movie: Uses it as a trope about a cover story.
• Better Off Dead: Text reads "Lane ditching the paperboy".
• Buffy Speak: This is more to be in two places, not to let to people talk.
• Recap.Buffy The Vampire Slayer S 2 E 12 Bad Eggs: This is more so they can be alone, not so others can be alone.
• Burn Notice: Uses it as a trope about a cover story.
• Camp Lazlo: Used as an excuse for the character to do something secret.
• Consummate Liar: Uses it as a trope about a cover story.
• Corner Gas: Used for ducking a question.
• Covert Affairs: Used as a way to leave an embarrassing situation.
• Danny Phantom: So Dan can go off to do his thing.
• Dexter: So Dexter can go off to do his thing.

Correct:

• Bolt
• Recap.Buffy The Vampire Slayer S 6 E 8 Tabula Rasa
• Castle

Not Enough Context to Tell:

• {Altermeta}
• Alvin and the Chipmunks
• Body of Proof
• Funny.Castle
• Recap.Castle S 3 E 11 Nikki Heat
• Class Of 3000
• Recap.Community S2 E18 Custody Law and Eastern European Diplomacy (for some reason it shows up red, but you can see the proper link on the related page.
• Cry_Wolf
• Fanfic.Dark Titans
• Diary Of A Mad Black Woman

edited 10th Mar '12 12:50:58 PM by DragonQuestZ

I'm on the internet. My arguments are invalid.

I argued against that definition back when the page was being made, holding that it should be "a paper-thin reason to leave is made by a character and accepted by the other characters" and that why he wants to leave should be irrelevant. Making it "An excuse is made to leave by a character who knows that the other characters want to talk to each other without him being there" seemed to me then, and still seems to me, to be too narrow.

...if you don’t love you’re dead, and if you do, they’ll kill you for it.

I'm gonna suggest broadening / redefining to "a thin, contrived or implausible excuse to leave a gathering / a conversation", minus the "leave the other characters to talk alone" part. The trope as stated is pretty narrow.

[edit] What she said.

edited 10th Mar '12 12:56:05 PM by lebrel

Calling someone a pedant is an automatic Insult Backfire. Real pedants will be flattered.

I think a broader definition would help.

Agree with everybody, broaden the definition.

"Did anybody invent this stuff on purpose?" - Phillip Marlowe on tequila, Finger Man by Raymond Chandler.

And it still has misuse for things like cover stories. I think this needs a more indicative name, not just an example of a poorly done excuse, that could be for any reason, even the broader definition.

I'm on the internet. My arguments are invalid.

I'm forced to admit it could use a better name, even though I think the current name is hilarious.

It's a funny name, but unfortunately isn't that clear.

I'm on the internet. My arguments are invalid.

I love the name and would be sad to see it go. I think it gets the point across nicely for the broader "flimsy excuse to leave" trope, although not for the "let them talk among themselves" thing it's currently defined as.

Calling someone a pedant is an automatic Insult Backfire. Real pedants will be flattered.

I already shows in the wicks that it's misused as an excuse for anything, not just to leave.

I'm on the internet. My arguments are invalid.

BTW, do we have a trope for incredibly lame excuses? Because we could do a Trope Transplant.

I'm on the internet. My arguments are invalid.

You know, I distinctly believe I was looking for a flimsy-excuse-to-leave trope before, but didn't find one. I can't recall what example I had in mind, though.

It needs broadening. If we are to make a transplant instead, we need to make sure that the difference is actually significant, which I frankly don't think.

It's basically saying, "I need to be over there," in a less-than-believable fashion, but I don't see why the purpose for leaving is important to the trope.

The Internet misuses, abuses, and overuses everything.

Deus ex 'Scuse Me lists it as essentially intentionally Deus ex 'Scuse Me -ing yourself, so I don't see why we can't just use that definition.

edited 16th Mar '12 4:07:55 AM by Kriegsmesser

Egad, another Bad Snowclone.

An Ear Worm is like a Rickroll: It is never going to give you up.

Definition of Deus Exscuse Me:

"Any quick, cheap device that serves to remove a character from a scene so a plot point can take place.

Example: A kid wanders into an antiques store, and the owner tells him not to touch anything. Suddenly, the phone rings. When the owner leaves to answer it, the kid touches something and it breaks. Cue plot. The Deus ex 'Scuse Me in this scene is the off-screen phone call— it draws the owner out of the scene so the kid can break the antique."

edited 16th Mar '12 9:00:19 AM by Catbert

It's a subtrope. Instead of the phone ringing so The Hero and The Chick can have their Relationship Upgrade talk, the Plucky Comic Relief notices the tension, and distractedly mumbles that he left his shoe in the microwave, and should probably go get it.

Or sees things are about to get serious and he intentionally invokes Shoo Out the Clowns.

edited 16th Mar '12 9:07:01 AM by Kriegsmesser

When I first saw the name, I thought of a different scenario. It's the unconvincing excuse given by the cute girl for why she can't go on a date with the nerd (or similar scenario). For some reason, "I have to stay home and wash my hair" seems to be the archetypal form.

Jet-a-Reeno!

Thank you so much for posting that. I knew the name seemed familiar, but I couldn't place what it made me think of. You just described what I must have been thinking of.

I'm definitely on the side of making this trope broad enough to include situations like the one between the cute girl and the nerd.

edited 16th Mar '12 3:55:14 PM by abk0100

I think that's slightly different, though. It's not about leaving the scene, but about excusing yourself from an event in the future.

The Internet misuses, abuses, and overuses everything.

But the psychology of the situation is similar, and I think the current description is overly narrow.

Jet-a-Reeno!

Looks like the Super-Trope to this is "Character gives really lame excuse in order to get out of a situation, present or future."

Yeah, I think that's about right, but the question in my mind is whether the subtrope division provides anything of value. I'm inclined to say no, and just use the current name as the name of the supertrope, and roll everything up into it.

Jet-a-Reeno!

I had always interpreted the "so they can talk amongst themselves" as a Doylist rather than Watsonian comment. The character can have any motivation at all for leaving, but they ultimately have this motivation because the author wants them out of the scene.

I didn't write any of that.

I think this should be "Character gives really lame excuse in order to get out of a situation, present or future." I don't really see a need for the specific subtrope that it currently is.

Calling someone a pedant is an automatic Insult Backfire. Real pedants will be flattered.

I was under the impression it already was. That's exactly what the trope title suggests and, from what I read from the examples, exactly how it's used.

Belief or disbelief rests with you.