I wrote up a YKTTW proposal on characters who only speak by quoting other media. Turns out we already have Radio Mouth, which is when a character communicates only by quoting TV or Radio. It would probably be better to merge the two, possibly under a new name.

At present Radio Mouth isn't thriving, with 12 wicks and 4 inbound.

It's because radio mouth is an awful name. BTW IRL some autistics will do this due to echolachia(sp?)

Before jumping on the name as the sole problem, is this really that common of a trope, though? Offhand, I can't think of any examples although with the type of media I consume, that may be my own problem.

The YKTTW linked in the OP has 22 examples, 23 if you count the real life one. That's pretty respectable for a YKTTW draft.

I was just mocking the name. I mean...radio mouth? who would search for that?

Looking through the inbounds, part of Radio Mouth's problem is it only gets wicks from 5 tropes and 7 works (4 of those being character pages). Radio Mouth's example list has at least 15 examples it's not getting wicks from.

After comparing the YKTTW, the trope and inbounds I think that merged we could get a trope with 46 wicks. (15 unused wicks in Radio Mouth + 19 non-duplicate new wicks from the ykttw + the 12 existing wicks).

Crownered up.

Well, the merge and rename option is currently at 9. Here's the alternate names from the YKTTW: Speaks In Shout Outs, Speaks In Soundbites.

"Speaks In Soundbites" sounds like a good name to me. Aside from the alliteration, it's not too long or awkward.

"Speaks in Soundbites" is fine by me.

Re: Animeg, the word you want is "echolalia". I have a friend who has a mild case of this, and it's incredibly disconcerting when he starts mumbling words right after you say them. Weird too, because there's clearly no thought going into it; he'll start repeating before you even finish the word...

Re: Wulf: "is this really that common of a trope, though?" I've seen it enough to be worth troping. Offhand I can think of two Transformers examples (the Junkions from the animated movie and Bumblebee from the Michael Bay films), one of the characters from A Wrinkle in Time, and the Chanters from Dragon Age. And that's without looking at the page. I know I've seen others.

Thanks, I tend to mispsell things. and to repeat phrases. I also like the name Speaks In Shoutouts because it shows that they only use shoutouts in speech.

It's been three days and we've got a positive consensus to merge and rename under a new name. Speaks In Soundbites has preference, but not a lot of people have weighed in, should we make a name crowner?

edited 27th Aug '12 10:07:10 AM by Earnest

Calling crowner: merge and broaden under a new name.

Speaks In Soundbites isn't necessarily this trope. Plenty of politicians speak in soundbites, btu they are orginalish soundbites intended for other people to quote, not quotes from TV shows and such.

I don't think Shoutouts is a good word to use here, since a Shout Out is a trope with a competely different meaning. Even if you take it to mean "quoting well-known preexisting material", it doesn't work, because normally this sort of character is just pulling random generic phrases out, not quoting a source the audience ought to know.

....in other words, Bumblebee doesn't use phrases that we recognize, like lines from Star Wars and Gone with the Wind. He pulls random words and phrases off the radio that happens to be playing at that moment, like a kidnapper writing a letter out of snipped magazines.

I don't think it's problematic or likely to cause confusion, and people often do use the term soundbites to refer to little snippets of sound like a weird laugh or a catch phrase. ('I was FROZEN today!', 'OF COURSE!', and so on)

edited 28th Aug '12 11:21:14 AM by Escher

There's an idea, maybe Speaks In Snippets?

Speaks In Sound Clips, possibly?

edited 5th Sep '12 1:38:34 PM by Willbyr

If the new page is still in YKTTW, can the discussion be moved there instead of having it here? If Radio Mouth were brought today to the Special Efforts thread for YKTTW crashes, it would most likely be sent back to YKTTW anyway for being a premature launch (it went with only 1 hat).

Okay, the merge includes changing the name of Radio Mouth. What are our options for new names?

(Radio Mouth sounds like an alttitle for TV Head Robot.)

The two names floating in YKTTW right now are Pop Cultural Echoes and Speaks In Shoutouts, the latter with more support.

Edit: (I know you're reading the YKTTW, this is just for conversational benefit. )

edited 27th Dec '12 5:03:19 PM by Earnest

Is there any reason why this thread needs to stay open instead of continuing the discussion in the YKTTW? TRS thread slots are limited.

YKTTW's aren't routinely used for mergers.

I'd like to put this to bed. Is it okay if I launch under Speaks In Shoutouts and merge both tropes?

There should probably be a crowner for the best name before that's done.