Duplicate Trope: Call Back

"I'm just repeating what the articles are saying."

That's the part I'm disagreeing about and hoping that you could prove if you think it's so — by some quotes, and if you're going to use that one above ("Distinct from a..."), you'll also need to show how it doesn't contradict the rest of both of the articles the way I've pointed to.

edited 17th May '12 1:51:29 AM by VVK

Okay, I think I can finally see it, though I'm still not sure whether it's actually the interpretation that was originally intended. But I stand by my earlier statement that if this is the intended distinction, it's too small and vague.

Calling crowner in favour of merging the tropes.

I believe Call-Back is the established term for this outside of our wiki, so should we use that as the name to merge under?

I'll make an Alt-Names crowner for this, including Call-Back and Continuity Nod.

New crowner pasted to thread.

I would just like to point out that a Continuity Nod would require a "continuity" in the first place. To me this means there has to be a sense of continuing narrative

For example: If a singer were to reference another song or album, would you call it a Call-Back or Continuity Nod?

That said, I'm not entirely sure about the difference between Nod and Mythology Gag. I can sort of tell them apart, but I can't really flesh out the diffs.

Let me put some examples:

In the RPG Persona 4, the exp cap you can get in one single battle is 65535, and was put this way because it's the same amount you can gain in SMT2. This is a mythology gag because even if both games are under the umbrela of MegaTen, the belong in different continuites.

The True Final Boss of Nocturne also give the same amount of exp, but is explicitely in the same continuity of SMT2, even if how exactly they relate is a little messy. This makes not a MG, but rather a Call-Back.

edited 17th May '12 1:24:47 PM by fakeangelbr

Continuity Nod is the more popular name by several hundred wicks and inbounds. It also sounds better. I strongly favor Continuity Nod.

Also, I'm not totally convinced Call-Back is a pre-established term. Note also that it has alternate meanings (I'm thinking mainly of calling back actors for followup auditions), although YMMV how relevant that is.

The difference between a continuity nod and a mythology gag is simply that in a mythology gag, things are not in the same continuity. That's clear enough, unlike this other distinction.

It's a preexisting term, especially in comedy. It's a standard technique that stand-ups use.

Wikipedia's article on it. In that "Television" section, they're actually using it the same way we use Continuity Nod.

I think it has to be Call-Back, not Continuity Nod. You can't say that a comedian made a "continuity nod" to an earlier joke in his routine, or that a sitcom made a "continuity nod" to a joke from earlier in the episode.

edited 18th May '12 7:29:28 AM by abk0100

The preexisting term is Callback, as a single word.

You wouldn't say that they "made" it anyway, you would say they "gave" a nod. I'm not saying this entirely invalidates your point, but I'd say it makes it weaker because put that way it doesn't sound quite as unnatural.

Another point is that TV Tropes Will Ruin Your Vocabulary anyway (more specifically, it has its own vocabulary), so it doesn't specifically matter whether you can use a trope name in normal language or not; but that certainly doesn't entirely invalidate the point about an existing term being good to use either.

So you have a point, and I'm uncertain about which is the better option now, even though I can find a couple of minor counterpoints.

edited 18th May '12 10:07:38 AM by VVK

These are both useful terms with distinct meanings. A small distinction, but one just the same. What is the problem this is solving? I'm just going to lock this.

edited 18th May '12 10:12:35 AM by FastEddie