For a list of bad laconics, see Sandbox.Pages Needing Better Laconics.
For generally accepted guidelines for laconics, see Sandbox.Laconic Wiki Template.
Today I found out an interesting fact from troper Ironeye:
Don't ever make the mistake of using the Laconic version as the canonical trope meaning—the laconics are often written by people who don't actually understand the drop. In this case, the laconic only corresponds to one possible cause of Darkness-Induced Audience Apathy.
The Laconic Description for DIAA states as follows:
The thing is, these descriptions are supposed to make it easier to understand what the page is about. If they can't be accurate as well as short and sweet, then there's a problem.
So for starters, what would be a better description for DIAA?
Edited by MacronNotes on Jan 29th 2023 at 6:23:45 AM
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
x5 That might be to long for a laconic.
How about this for Bishōnen Line? (A little shorter.)
"The line where an evil creature evolves a more human form instead of getting increasingly monstrous."
edited 16th Mar '13 11:26:50 AM by m8e
With grammar cleanup, that would work.
"The point at which an evil creature evolves into a more human form instead of getting increasingly monstrous." How does that look?
That looks pretty good.
Zzzzzzzzzz
Both of those work. I like the one for Crystal Spires and Togas better than what I just changed it to. I made the change not because I thought mine was particularly good, but because the old one was textbook-perfect BAD.
edited 16th Mar '13 3:37:43 PM by Madrugada
...if you don’t love you’re dead, and if you do, they’ll kill you for it.
Okay, I've made the changes.
No suggestions for my issue? :P
Sorry. Was busy but then forgot. Also, that's a little more difficult...
Hm... Face Death with Dignity's laconic is pretty good already, so I don't really want to tinker with it. For Obi-Wan Moment, how about "A veteran character is peaceful and composed in their moment of death."?
In uffish thought
Laconic.Fan Fiction Dot Net is completely false — the site is not like a wiki. I'm out of ideas for what to replace it with, though.
That was the amazing part. Things just keep going.
I personally lean towards cutlisting it. This sort of false laconics is exactly why they tend to attract misuse.
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
No, the other one.
The page quotation is the same. Cut that too?
Why not just something like, "The biggest fanfiction site there is," or something like that?
Check out my fanfiction!
Yes, cut the quote too.
That laconic would be a semi-duplicate of the first line of the description.
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
No, the other one.
"A website with more fanfiction than you can shake a pen at." ?
Check out my fanfiction!
Zzzzzzzzzz
^^ So? If it's an accurate laconic description, it's an accurate laconic description. There's no need to cut the Laconic page just because the main page has a good succinct definition.
...if you don’t love you’re dead, and if you do, they’ll kill you for it.
Personally, I think yes. Especially since as-is the laconic is just wrong.
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
In uffish thought
That's good.
edited 8th Apr '13 4:45:05 AM by Telcontar
That was the amazing part. Things just keep going.
No, the other one.
Personally I think a trope description should start with what's more or less a laconic (introduce the concept before going into details, history, and other cruft), and if the laconic is the same, that's not a problem.
Check out my fanfiction!
The current laconic for Magical Girl Warrior is "Badass Magical Girl." I'd like to swap in the first line of the description, "The intersection of Magical Girl with Super Hero(ine)." Anyone else behind that?
I'm fine with that.
No, the other one.
Sure.
Check out my fanfiction!
"The intersection of..." etc. isn't all that laconic.
Maybe "Magical Girl meets Super Heroine
edited 11th Apr '13 5:38:22 AM by Catbert
Zzzzzzzzzz
"X Meets Y" isn't any clearer, and there's nothing not-laconic about "the intersection of...". "Laconic" means "concisely stated" not "The absolute minimum number of words you can use."
How about "A Magical Girl who is also a Super-Heroine." Although I hate that the only concise way to describe this trope is as "a combination of two others".
edited 11th Apr '13 6:15:59 AM by Madrugada
...if you don’t love you’re dead, and if you do, they’ll kill you for it.
Defintions of Laconic:
From Laconic Wiki: Omitting needless words
From Merriam Webster Dictionary: Using or involving the use of a minimum of words : concise to the point of seeming rude or mysterious
"concise, abrupt," 1580s, from Gk. Lakonikos, from Lakon "person from Lakonia," the district around Sparta in southern Greece in ancient times, whose inhabitants were famously proud of their brevity of speech. When Philip of Macedon threatened them with, "If I enter Laconia, I will raze Sparta to the ground," the Spartans' reply was, "If."
The Laconic ideal would have one word, but it is hard enough coming up with a one word title. Whether you are saying "Intersection of" or "is also" both concepts could be summed up with "meets".
No, the other one.
Dictionary definitions does not help you win arguments.
Check out my fanfiction!
Neither does arbitrarily declaring dictionaries off limits when discussing the meaning of a word.
At any rate, I see this as a simple discussion, not an argument to be won. No one is handing out "Laconic Description Improvement Thread" prizes.
edited 11th Apr '13 6:41:06 PM by Catbert
I got confused about which trope we were talking about rewriting the laconic for. XD The proposed one was for Laconic.Bishonen Line.
For Crystal Spires and Togas, how about: "A very highly advanced civilization will resemble an elegant ancient civilization (with technology added)."
edited 16th Mar '13 10:26:05 AM by Nocturna