Misused: Pokemon Speak

EDIT: I had not noticed that One-Word Vocabulary was only created recently. This still needs a cleanup though.

The description for Pokémon Speak seems unclear on what exactly the trope means, and the examples also include several different things.

The openeing line of the description claims that this occurs when "Verbal Tic sufferer is pushed well past Smurfing all the way to its logical conclusion and practically becomes The Unintelligible". It also says "a symptom" is repeating your own name or part of it. But then it says "Often its the only thing a monster ever says" which implies that its not always the only thing they say.

According to the description of One-Word Vocabulary, Pokémon Speak is a subtrope of One-Word Vocabulary, when the only wowrd they say is their own name. That is alsso how the Laconic defines it.

In the examples section I'm seeing mostly zero context examples, but Theres also a lot of exampkles which clearly dont fit or are borderline. such as:

• In an amusing Civil War (Marvel Comics) parody, Wolverine speaks only in "Snikt" and "Bub". Almost everyone is able to understand him, anyway.
  • (thats just One-Word Vocabulary)

• * Rover, the heroic Sentinel in the X-Men storyline "Here Comes Tomorrow" only says the word "Destroy!"
  • (also One-Word Vocabulary)

• I am Groot! In Marvel Comics' Guardians of the Galaxy, the tree-alien Groot is only capable of saying the phrase "I am Groot!"
  • (I'm not sure if this counts- he's technically saying more than his own name but it does include his name)

• In the original French version of Asterix and the Great Crossing, Obelix calls the turkeys "glubglubs". In English, he calls them "gobblers". Or "kluckkluckar" (cluck-clucks) in the Swedish translation.
  • I'm not sure what this counts as but its not Pokémon Speak, its an animal being named after the sound it makes

[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/discussion.php?id=8np00171v0hh6ihgu8y9n8t7 This YKTTW] for Extremely Limited Vocabulary aims to cover cases like "I am Groot" (i think) so I thought id point it out in case its relevant

I suggest that the examples be cleaned out and the definition be cleared up. I think the definiton should be "character only says their own name" as the Laconic defines it. I can't do most of the examples because most of them are ZCE's.

edited 17th Apr '16 6:09:49 AM by PistolsAtDawn

thanks for openeing this! :)

The trope is and always has been about a character whose only vocabulary is their own (species') name. Should be an easy cleanup.

I would agree, I'd say the introduction is too vague, and makes it prone to users adding examples that don't fit. Tightening up the description would help, as well as removing all the examples that don't fit within the narrower definition of "Only ever says their own name".

I'd suggest changing the introduction as follows:

When the Verbal Tic sufferer is pushed well past Smurfing all the way to its logical conclusion and practically becomes The Unintelligible, this is the result. A speech disorder suffered by some types of monsters.

The symptom is repeating its The Verbal Tic of repeating ones own name or a part thereof over and over. It's especially strange when one considers that dogs don't go around saying "Dog! Dog!" et cetera.^note Amusingly, the English word "dog" comes from the Old English "docga," an onomatopoeia of the sound of a dog's deep bark. That said, dogs don't go around saying "Canis! Canis!" Sometimes it's part of an attack or an affirmative of master's commands. Often Either way, it's the only thing the monster ever says, which may require Repeating So the Audience Can Hear.

Hmm. Honestly, given that One-Word Vocabulary exists as a super trope, I wonder how valid Pokémon speak is alone. Is it any more meaningful when your single word vocabulary is your own name?

Just as a thought experiment, would this be considered a trope if the Trope Namer Pokémon didn't exist? I don't really think so.

A couple of years ago, I would have said that outside of Pokemon, this might not have the legs to stand on its own as a trope depending on how strict the requirement is that the "one word" be their name. (The only other example I can think of offhand is Gleep the Dragon in Robert Asprin's ''Myth series., and he's named that because "Gleep" is the only sound he makes, so he's named for his one word, not the other way around.) But since then there's also Groot and GoT's Hodor.

Clock expired a long time ago with little follow-up; closing.