Suggestion: Double Take

A simple one from Girl Genius.

Hmmmm...it's a little tall for my liking, but given that you almost need to have an animated pic for this to work properly, it gets the point across. I'd like to see some other suggestions but it's a decent start.

Where's the double-take in that? Unless we're using "double-take" to mean something completely different than the rest of the world uses it for...

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Ok, no, we're not. "The Double Take is when the actor glances at something or someone without much emotion and turns away, then, in a moment of realization, snaps the head around with a big expression." There's no double-take in that one. There's no snapping the head back around in a moment of realization. Gil's doing an Aside Glance to the crowd behind him. The soldier isn't doing a double-take either. He never looks away — there's no "double".

edited 26th May '14 9:39:18 AM by Madrugada

Ugh, I don't see it either.

This is a metaphorical double take. Like a rewind. Or backtracking. The actor reacts to something (instead of looking at it) and goes on, but then returns to the previous thing to readdress something he missed (instead of looking again). Everything is the same, except instead of looking at something, he's reacting to someone.

It's still a double take, but just not the kind that's most prevalent. And apparently, it's not addressed on the page. I

edited 26th May '14 10:44:44 AM by Lakija

Is the "look away, then look back" part really so essential? My film class taught that it was the pause and realization that was important. Admittedly my film teacher was insane (all the best ones are), but my point is it just seems surprisingly narrow.

That.

edited 26th May '14 10:43:49 AM by Discar

I don't think it's particularly clear, and the verticality of it hurts the clarity even more.

It's also got a very short description, so the height is even worse aesthetically.

edited 26th May '14 11:08:05 AM by AnotherDuck

Oh, I get it. In that case, my only problem is with how tall it is. Can we get this to be 4 wide and legible?

Here's the original. I'm horrible at re-sizing things legibly, but it might be doable.

A "take" is a physical reaction to something. A "double-take" is a delayed physical reaction something. The soldier is not doing a take, he's reacting to new information. Gil is not doing a take either, he's doing an aside, or playing to the audience. Yes, it really is that narrow of a trope, it's not just any reaction.

And the "Look Away, look back" part is really essential. That's what makes it a double-take, not just a take. Removing the "look back" part is like saying you can have a Spit Take without the person doing it including the spitting/almost spitting. It's what defines the type of take.

Merriam Webster: "a delayed reaction to a surprising or significant situation after an initial failure to notice anything unusual —usually used in the phrase do a double take"

World English Dictionary: "(esp in comedy) a delayed reaction by a person to a remark, situation, etc "

Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions: "a surprised second look at something, as, Fred did a double take, then recognized Britney. "

American Heritage: "A delayed reaction to an unusual remark or circumstance, often used as a comic device."

McGraw-Hill: "to react with surprise; to have to look twice to make sure that one really saw correctly."

Cambridge Idiom Dictionary: "to look at something or someone twice because you are so surprised at what you have seen"

Cobuild Collins Dictionary for translation/ESL: "If you do a double-take when you see or hear something strange or surprising, you hesitate for a moment before reacting to it because you wonder if you really saw or heard it. "

edited 26th May '14 11:49:23 AM by Madrugada

What I'm getting from those definitions is that the key components of the trope are:

1. Initial reaction.

2. Realization.

3. Surprised reaction, usually with second, closer examination.

Spit Take is a specifically physical trope because "spit" is a physical action, but I don't see how "double" results in the same restriction here. Verbal versions (like the one the guard does in the image, or like the one in the current page quote) should still be valid, as long as those three components are present.

edited 26th May '14 3:10:38 PM by MrL1193

Here's my stab at it:

edited 26th May '14 3:14:54 PM by nitrokitty

^ It's still not a good page image. There's no double take there.

It's a cute image but it isn't a double take.

I'm betting there is something appropriate in the Calvin And Hobbes playbook. Bill Watterson is a master of that kind of imagery.

Clock is set.

None of the suggestions so far looks good to me.

Yeah, this isn't a Double Take at all...

Agreed it doesn't fir. The one example for Sequential Art would be a bit better (although it's more of the Super-Trope Delayed Reaction).

Clock's up; locking for inactivity/lack of consensus. No action is to be taken based on this thread.