Rename (alt titles 6/4): Efficient Displacement

Two problems here:

• 1. The name: It suggests something related to physics, whatever it is. Actually it is: X goes through wall, a X-shaped hole follows. Title may be too vague, or the creator didn't know his subject. I suggest a rename.

• 2. The last paragraph of the description should be cut completely. How is this trope possible related to Cardiovascular Love?

edited 30th May '12 4:52:00 PM by spacemarine50

It does seem like the name is perhaps unnecessarily oblique.

I like "Coyote-shaped hole." It's character-based, but it's the trope maker and something everyone is familiar with.

Is it actually misused, though? I don't think it's particularly unhealthy, though. It may be a more common trope than the page length implies, at most.

"displacement" has several meanings other than the trope. This is just a bad name overall.

It's a very common trope. I can buy that it's underused.

I can maybe buy that, but only if a good replacement name is suggested. I don't want a character-named trope, though. Not everyone knows the foe of Geococcyx californianus.

Something like Cartoon Character Cavity?

That sounds like something your dentist should deal with

I don't see what the problem is. I actually always thought the name was a very elegant way of describing the trope. I mean, yes, you can get into hair-splitting about the various meanings of "displacement," but one correct definition of the word is being used here. I don't know if we're going to find a title that's any more apt than this one.

I personally side with DQZ: "displacement" is a very broad term that means a variety of things (Archimedes' Law, among them) and this needs a minimum of some Redirect Farming. But a standard Wick Check should be in order, too.

Leaves A Person Shaped Hole, Leaves A Self Shaped Hole.

Efficient Displacement sometimes happens with thrown objects (there's at least one Looney Tunes short where it's done with an anvil, of course). So it isn't just when a character pulls it off.

In fact, considering the physics involved, it comes up even when round objects are thrown and leave perfectly round holes in whatever they plow through. There's been at least once when Wile E. Coyote found a cannonball efficiently displacing a cylinder from his midsection when a cannon fired through him.

What would "inefficient displacement" be? That's not a real or meaningful phrase.

Seems legit. It's when all of an object's energy is transferred to the material it's trying to displace, instead of being used to push it through the material.

Man Shaped Hole is the current redirect. I kind of like Coyote Shaped Hole better though.

When I saw the title, I figured it was going to do with water being displaced, or something. Really, I had no earthly clue. Supporting rename to something.

^^^ The first page of results are references to fluid dynamics and/or an effectively coincidental adjective-noun combination.

My ideas for renames are X Shaped Hole or something like that. Another idea: split this into:

• person/animal shaped hole
• object-shaped hole

On my 2nd point (1st post), should I just do that? It seems to describe a Trope that doesn't exist here.

edited 31st May '12 12:50:17 PM by spacemarine50

I wouldn't split it... I would rename this and use it for all the cases where something leaves a hole with the same shape of the object/body. I don't think the nature of whatever causes the hole is important enough to warrant a split.

edited 31st May '12 12:54:19 PM by Anfauglith

The way it's used to talk about fluid dynamics is the same way we're using it. A boat efficiently displaces water, and Wile E. Coyote efficiently displaces the ground.

I don't see any reason to rename. It's healthy enough, it's not being misused, and the name's an example of TV Tropes actually improving people's vocabulary. This is just one of those "I don't like the name - let's change it." threads.

Displaced water fills in when the boat is removed. So unless the grown fills in when someone gets out of the hole, that argument is invalid.

edited 31st May '12 2:50:48 PM by DragonQuestZ

It's got some stats, but it's also very old. It's been around since December 2007. More than four years. When you take that into account, 100-odd wicks is not very impressive at all.

Yeah, I'm definitely in favor of renaming here. "Efficient Displacement" seems really oblique and ambiguous, and there are obvious alternatives that are both clearer and cleverer. Also, I don't like the current name.

edited 31st May '12 3:41:41 PM by troacctid

I don't understand your point. A boat efficiently displaces water by efficiently moving water fill in behind it. A coyote efficiently displaces the ground by using unrealistic physics. Is there a specific reason why you think the words "efficient" and "displacement" don't fit the trope?

Let's compare some similar cartoon tropes with more obvious names. Accordion Man is just as old, andonly has 25 wicks. Non-Fatal Explosions goes back to '07 too, and it has just a few more. Instant Ice: Just Add Cold! is only a couple years old, but it also only has 42 wicks.

If this really is underused relative to other cartoon physics tropes, I want to see evidence.

edited 31st May '12 4:19:11 PM by abk0100

This does not apply here. You're talking about buoyancy and water, and this deals with walls. Also, the water goes somewhere else. The wall that's hit just disappears without explanation, and does not reappear again. 2nd point: you're saying the less obvious the name, the more popular it is. It just doesn't work; only ends up here.

edited 31st May '12 5:23:08 PM by spacemarine50

It's certainly a fair point. On the other hand, a relatively low wick/inbound count means that renaming will have a relatively low impact on the wiki, which lowers the barrier toward renaming considerably. I dislike the current name, and the stats aren't high enough for me to want to keep it when we've got alternatives that I like a lot better. But hey, I could be wrong here. *shrug*