Misused: Politeness Judo

Politeness Judo seems to be being mistaken for Passive-Aggressive Kombat. Honestly, I'm pretty sure it's the name.

Politeness Judo: Supposed to be about when you get your way by taking advantage of automatic social responses.

What people seem to be using it for (for some reason MOSTLY on other Trope Articles) is...

Passive-Aggressive Kombat: When characters have banter and insult each other through dialogue that on the surface appears polite.

Got a wick check to back that up?

• Cerberus Daily News Citadel Dwellers: Mentions debating, so appears to be misuse.
• Charm Person: Hard to say, listed as a comparison. I think it just shouldn't be on the page, I don't see the relation.
• "Could Have Avoided This!" Plot: Looks correct.
• Delegation Relay: Looks correct.
• Duck Season, Rabbit Season: Correct.
• Intentionally Awkward Title: Misuse, for something like, "Dancing around saying something vulgar", I think.
• Is This What Anger Feels Like?: Misuse for arguing.
• Overly Polite Pals: Misuse.
• Pretty Cure Mirai ~ Spark!: Unsure, don't know the characters.
• Silk Hiding Steel: appears correct.
• Spirited Young Lady: Correct.
• Death Note: Not sure, not misuse for PAK, but might not fall under the trope.
• Duel to the Death: Misuse.
• Characters/Freezing: Knowing the character, I think it's misuse.
• Jane Austen Heroines: Doesn't really explain so I can't tell.
• Invader Zim: Correct.
• Near-Rape Experience: Correct I think.
• Threshold Guardians: Correct.
• Little Dorrit: Unsure, no explanation.
• The House Of Night: I think it's misuse.

I just did 20. 8 correct, 5 unsure, 7 misused.

For 20 wicks, I kinda think the result is inconclusive, but it does hint at something being wrong.

I'd have guessed a correct use on the Characters.Freezing example. She can use both this and the silent and smiling kind of intimidation I think some of the misuse stand for.

By the way, do we have a trope for that?

I think whoever picked this name misunderstood the Judo metaphor.

• Verbal Judo is about stopping an attack just using words.
• Door Judo is about a turning someone's attack against them just by opening a door.
• Rage Judo is about intercepting an attack and deflecting it away from you.

They're all metaphors for Judo, or at least the pop-culture interpretation of Judo - a weak fighter being able to defeat stronger fighters by deflecting his attacks and using their own strength against them. This sounds more like a Politeness Sneak Attack or something.

Eh, as a metaphor, I think it works. Using politeness to get your opponent to where you want him to be, by his own force.

I think the main issue is that it's sort of vague. When you hear "Politeness Judo", you think being able to spare by being polite, which could really incorporate a number of things, including what Passive-Aggressive Kombat is. It's just not quite specific enough, in my opinion.

Also there was another misuse on Gentleman Wizard before I fixed it, which lead me to seeing there might be an issue here, after noticing it a few other places as well and I realized it wasn't an isolated incident.

edited 19th Aug '12 10:53:37 PM by NoirGrimoir

Clocking.

Clock is up.