Misused (single prop crowner 7 April 2021): Up To Eleven

Let's kick off the new year with something huge: Up To Eleven.

This is the most abused Pothole Magnet on the site; for future reference, there are 28,553 wicks at time of writing.

Up To Eleven is supposed to be "exceeding the previous maximum, to an exaggerated degree," which is basically a broader version of Serial Escalation. However, it is misused to describe anything that is exaggerated, usually Exaggerated Tropes. See Wick Check Up To Eleven.

• 3/170 = 1.8%: Gauge inflation (i.e. setting something as high or higer than possible, like in the page image). I don't think we have this trope yet, but we do have Readings Are Off the Scale and Off the Chart.
• 5/170 = 2.9%: Serial Escalation, including misuse.
• 93/170 = 54.7%: Exaggerated Trope, including misuse.
• 30/170 = 17.6%: Other exaggerations.
• 30/170 = 17.6%: Zero-Context Examples.
• 13/170 = 7.6%: Miscellaneous.

And yes, the total is 174 due to multiple wicks per page.

Edited by LaundryPizza03 on Jan 1st 2021 at 10:17:16 AM

I'm back!

Opening.

"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman

The wick count is currently at 28,860, so it gained 307 wicks in the month and a half it's been since this thread was posted. That's an average of 6.67 new wicks every day.

The obvious solution is to just do what we did with Hilarity Ensues and redirect Up To Eleven to Exaggerated Trope, or maybe disambiguate it between that and Serial Escalation, without touching the Impossible Task that would be moving the wicks.

Edited by Serac on Feb 16th 2021 at 9:40:58 AM

I'm usually very defensive of legendary tropes that hold nostalgic meaning to me.

I have never, in my nearly nine years of using this site, seen real value in Up To Eleven.

So I've been a little excited about this TRS.

It'll be a tall order but I agree we should cut it, or at least redirect it and then gradually dewick it. Though maybe there's a new trope in there about literally turning dials up to eleven, similar to Broke the Rating Scale.

I do some cleanup and then I enjoy shows you probably think are cringe.

I think the problem here is that this phrase has become a generic idiom. Something I wonder about, how does the misuse/use statistic change if we bin it between "pothole" and "not pothole"?

"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman

I contributed around 50 wicks to the wick check, and I think I only saw one or two instances of Up To Eleven being listed as an actual trope on a work page. The vast majority of the wicks that I posted were just in-line potholes of varying correctness.

Man, that is very bad only 3 proper uses, yeah my idea would be to redirect it to Exaggerated Trope.

Edited by Ordeaux26 on Feb 16th 2021 at 9:35:17 AM

CM Sandboxes, MB Sandboxes

to redirecting this.

Whew, we really are going through all the big-ticket items, huh?

Yeah, redirect it. I agree there may be a trope for overloading a scale but this ain't it.

Would there be any value in doing a disambiguation specifically to call out the difference between Exaggerated Trope and "Exaggerating something that is Not A Trope", in which case "Up to eleven!" is a perfectly valid stock phrase, as long as it's only used as a phrase?

Redirect it, and make a new trope to catch the original meaning.

Currently Working On: Incorruptible Pure Pureness

Redirect it.

back lol

Agree with redirecting. This is not a trope, it's a troper tic pothole magnet used to describe other entries.

With only 3 examples of gauge inflation in the wick check, there may not be enough examples for a new trope, but it could be salvage yarded.

Edited by Tabs on Feb 16th 2021 at 10:48:56 AM

Redirect.

Redirect.

Rock'n'roll never dies!

Redirect

TRS Queue | Works That Require Cleanup of Complaining | Troper Wall

Most of the on-page examples actually refer to gauge inflation, and there's a lot more than three of them. There actually is enough for a new trope about it while we make the old name a redirect.

If the Permanent Red Link Club is any indication, redirecting won't stop the potholes.

The only way to stop the potholes is to cut the page.

Personally, I don't care about the potholes as long as the redirect makes sense in context. The biggest issue I have with Up To Eleven is that it decayed to the point of having nothing to do with the original trope.

Currently Working On: Incorruptible Pure Pureness

^ Perhaps it's because our definition of Up to Eleven never caught on. The other wiki only refers to a thing "being exploited to its utmost limits" which is basically exaggerating it to an extreme level.

I think the problem with pothole magnets that become redirects is when they attract misuse even after the trope is renamed. That seems to be the issue with the above-mentioned items.

I do some cleanup and then I enjoy shows you probably think are cringe.

I'm fine with redirecting, but what about turning it into a Fan Speak page that describes the term in addition to disambiguating between pages like Exaggerated Trope and Serial Escalation?

Either way, I agree with TLPing a new page for the original definition, provided it isn't redundant with Serial Escalation.

Edited by GastonRabbit on Feb 16th 2021 at 10:41:59 AM

Patiently awaiting the release of Paper Luigi and the Marvelous Compass.

Well, in part, because doing so would force us to go through every wick.

Like I said, I'd much rather just cut our losses and redirect it. We can still search wicks for examples of the other trope, but if the Exaggerated Trope references make sense in context, they don't need to be removed.

Currently Working On: Incorruptible Pure Pureness

Serial Escalation is for when events continue to escalate - hence "serial." This trope would be for something goes above and beyond the numerical limitations, without considering if it continues to build off those exceeded limitations.

Edited by mightymewtron on Feb 16th 2021 at 12:03:22 PM

I do some cleanup and then I enjoy shows you probably think are cringe.

Right, in this case wick cleaning is a Sisyphean task and I'd rather the forum's efforts are focused elsewhere. I'd prefer a solution that doesn't involve touching the wicks, and redirecting and being done with it seems like that.