Other guy: It definitely has a lot of qualities. A real conversation starter! [...] By sharing this with me, you are truly making a statement.
Chad: You seem to be saying things that sound positive, but when taken literally are just statements of fact.
Chad: You seem to be saying things that sound positive, but when taken literally are just statements of fact.
Of all the Comedy Tropes out there, this... is one of them.
A character is called upon to say something positive about a subject or a person, but they can't think of anything nice to say that wouldn't be blatantly untrue. Rather than lying, they give some neutral statement (or in some cases insult) that would make Captain Obvious proud, and dress it up like a compliment. Alternatively, the resident smartass may deliberately quip this way in order to damn with faint praise.
Commonly used in the service of Self-Deprecation. Compare Shaped Like Itself, Half-Baked Niceness and Overly Narrow Superlative. See I Believe That You Believe It. When someone gives this answer in response to a serious question, it's a Mathematician's Answer.
The following examples are truly... examples:
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Anime & Manga
- In The Familiar of Zero, the principal of the magic academy lays down some praise for Louise, Kirche, and Tabitha after they capture Fouquet. He praises Kirche and Tabitha on their magic abilities. Louise receives praise for coming from a noble family that has created very capable mages. Combine that with the fact that every mage at the academy comes from a noble family of mages, it's kind of obvious that she does.
- In Honey and Clover, Yamada's fanclub instantly jumps at the opportunity to eat a meal she prepared. Little do they know, she's a Lethal Chef, forcing them to describe the meal with words that could be used to describe something either truly magnificent or utterly catastrophic.
Audio Drama
- The Big Finish Doctor Who drama Omega opens on a tacky tourist spaceship heading to the Theme Park Version of Omega's discovery of time travel. The tour guide tells the passengers that if they look out the window they will see stars very similar to the ones Omega probably saw himself.
Comic Strips
Films — Animation
- In Aladdin, Princess Jasmine flirts with Jafar to distract him while Aladdin tries to steal back the Genie's lamp. Since Jafar isn't exactly handsome, she resorts to describing his most obvious physical features in vaguely romantic ways, like remarking on how "twisted" his beard is.
Films — Live-Action
- Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie had the Tag Line: "Every year Hollywood releases hundreds of movies. This is one of them!"
- The pull quote on Brian Orndorf's review
of Dragonball Evolution: "I'm not sure what I just watched, but I just watched it".
- In The Pink Panther series, Chief Inspector Dreyfus (Herbert Lom) is called on to make a speech praising Inspector Clouseau (Peter Sellers). With everything neutral (there was no one else like him) he says, he bursts out laughing, while others believe he has lost control of his emotions and is crying. Once at the funeral of the supposedly dead Clouseau, and once when programming the computer which will find the missing Clouseau.
- In Dinner for Schmucks, Paul Rudd's character comments on an artist's paintings with "Really tremendous work. They're so big, and you're in all of them."
- From Roger Ebert: "Magoo drives a red Studebaker convertible in Mr. Magoo, a fact I report because I love Studebakers and his was the only thing I liked in the film. It has a prescription windshield."
Literature
- Dear Dumb Diary: Let's Pretend This Never Happened: An illustration of Jamie looking "irresistible" struggles to describe her hair nicely, eventually settling for "some hair".
- In Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency, the narration describes WayForward Technologies (which is not the real life WayForward Technologies) as being the only British software company that can be mentioned in the same sentence as American companies like Microsoft or Lotus. It then goes on to note that the sentence would probably start something like "WayForward Technologies, unlike such major U.S. companies as Microsoft or Lotus..."
- One edition of the book advertised itself on the cover as being "Shorter than War and Peace!"
- One of the blurbs for Atlanta Nights:
Maybe once in a lifetime, there comes a book with such extraordinary characters, thrilling plot twists, and uncanny insight, that it comes to embody its time. ATLANTA NIGHTS is a book.
- In Komarr, Miles goes to inspect a crop of terraforming lichen. Miles is not a biologist. Upon viewing them, he comes to the highly technical and informed conclusion that they sure are lots and lots of squishy green plants. Lots. Squishy. Green. Then he wrestles with the temptation to compose a report exclusively in that style.
- In Dave Barry Slept Here, the highlights of Millard Fillmore's presidency are, in full:
1. The Earth did not crash into the Sun.
- In Johnny and the Dead, the old Blackbury Boot company had the slogan "If it's a Blackbury, it's a boot". When a modern company is introduced with the slogan "Forward Towards the Future", Johnny remarks that the boot line was better.
- The back cover of a Daniele Luttazzi book boast that "compared to this book, The Iliad is an epic poem".
Live-Action TV
- For a time, Attack of the Show! ran promos of this sort, with generic blurbs from industry publications. "TV Guide raves: 'It's a [...] show.' See the show that Entertainment Weekly called 'on at 7 (6 central)'!"
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer
- A slightly darker usage in which the gang are investigating a girl who's been turned invisible by the Hellmouth after being treated as invisible. They read her yearbook which is filled with the phrase: "have a good summer", the thing you write when you have absolutely nothing to write. Buffy points out that even Willow contributed.
Willow: Have a great summer. See, I cared.- While Xander gets hit with a traditional style version in an episode centering entirely on his own irrelevance.
Cordelia: Boy, of all the humiliations you've had I've witnessed, that was the latest.
- El Chapulín Colorado's introduction states he is more agile than a tortoise, stronger than a mouse, and kinder than a lettuce.
- On Cheers, Sam's friend, sportscaster Dave Richards, stops by the bar, and Norm excitedly asks him to repeat his closing remark from his report the night before. Dave says, "Oh, I said, uh, 'Good night, and remember: the world is full of winners and losers. Here's hoping you're one of them.'" Norm, a little deflated, says, "Well, I guess I did hear it right."
- In an episode of Complete Savages, Nick reassures his sons: he has always wanted his five kids, smart, cute, cool, athletic and, er... and Kyle!
- In the Firefly episode "Jaynestown", Jayne starts giving a speech praising the mudders, but isn't sure where to go with it:
Jayne: The way I figure it, you mudders got the shortest end of the stick ever offered to man. But you took that stick and... well, you took it, and that's something.
- In one episode of Frasier, the eponymous character is writing a foreword for a book that he didn't like, and desperately reaching for something positive to say. Eventually, he writes that the book can "stand on the shelf next to" many great books of psychiatry.
- In Good Luck Charlie, Bob says that grandpa has great qualities. When he is asked to name one, he just says that he expels Carbon Dioxide, plants need it.
- The Good Place: In Season 3 where the humans have rebooted again, only this time on Earth so they can properly earn their way to the Good Place, Trevor (who's infiltrated the group and plans to wreak havoc) suggests having him, Eleanor, Tahani and Jason live together as housemates. Eleanor, who's clearly uncomfortable with both Trevor and the idea, says, "That is technically an idea."
- The IT Crowd: The reviews for Gay!: A Gay Musical:
"The audience applauded. More than tolerable. Not as long as some musicals."
- Jane the Virgin: During Petra's baby shower, Jane can't find anything nice to say when she's called for a toast (since Petra hates insincere speeches), so she instead just says "She's...having two babies!"
- Kim's Convenience: Janet and Gerald have just moved to their new place. As part of their house-warming gifts, Mr. Kim gives his daughter a photo of him and Mrs. Kim... and gives Gerald (whom he's slightly suspicious of, as he is a boy and will be Janet's only housemate) a photo of just him glaring at the camera. Gerald attempts to compliment it and says, "Cool. This is something I have now."
- Played with in one episode of M*A*S*H:
Winchester: Hunnicutt, I've known many people in my life. You are not among them.
- Mr. Show: The commercial for Coupon: The Movie includes a vox pop review, "It was a movie!"
- In Mystery Science Theater 3000's presentation of Horrors of Spider Island, one host segment reveals Crow as to having a newspaper column that reports on such things as "Shoelaces are handy, even necessary, for many of today's shoe styles" and "television shows aired last night".
- Night Court:
- In one episode, the cast believe sleazy prosecutor Dan Fielding is dead, and Harry is called upon to deliver the eulogy. The best he can come up with is "Dan was a mammal."
- In another episode, Harry tells a highly sophisticated AI to find reasons to save the life of its suicidal inventor (it makes as much sense in context as Night Court ever does), and it proposes "You are an efficient converter of oxygen to carbon dioxide."
- Lampshaded on Parks and Recreation when Leslie's mother Marlene won an award and Ron had to make a speech.
(Confession Cam shot)
Ron: I refuse to lather Marlene up, kiss her ring like everybody else. Instead, I'll be delivering a speech of facts.
(cut to Ron behind the podium)
Ron: Marlene is a woman. She has worked in the government for three decades. Thirty years. Properly applied, that's how long a good varnish should last. So Marlene... it is true that you have won this award. - The back cover of the Police Squad! DVD proclaims: "There are 8 million stories in the Naked City. Here are six."
- Rimmer's emotional farewell speech in the Red Dwarf episode "Holoship" ends: "I just want to say that over the years, I have come to regard you as people I... met."
- His "I Am Great!" Song in Blue soon runs out of rhymes for Rimmer and settles for "He's never been mistaken for Yul Brynner", which would be difficult to do.
- On one episode of Robot Wars: Extreme Warriors, host Mick Foley took a gentle dig at the Dragbot team after they were beaten by Brawler: "Guys, I've seen a lot of matches here at Robot Wars but yours was the most recent."
- In Schitt's Creek, Brainless Beauty Alexis says she recorded a song for her "critically reviewed" reality show.
- In Seinfeld, after Elaine's boss J. Peterman of the J. Peterman Company returns from a long absence and resumes the role he had temporarily given to Elaine, he congratulates Elaine "on a job done."
- This sketch from That Mitchell and Webb Look uses such statements for comic effect.
"Then on Sunday, live! The battle for the northwest, as Shrewsbury meet Macclesfield in a match already being described as 'on this Sunday'!"
- 3rd Rock from the Sun. Dick has to write an eulogy for a very unpleasant man he barely knew. After a few tries that used Gallows Humor, he eventually went with describing matter turning to energy at light speed as a poetic metaphor for the moment of death. Most of the humans, including his girlfriend Mary, loved it; his alien family laughed over how trite it was (apparently it's an overused cliché by galactic standards).
Dick:How can we honor the memory of a man like Leonard Hanlin? Like all men, he was governed by the laws of physics. It is a scientific fact that hearts and clocks slow down as they approach the speed of light. Dr. Hanlin's heart reached that speed at 7:35 pm last night, according to the coroner, transforming his matter into energy, into pure white light. Though he is no longer with us, he is all around us.
- 30 Rock:
- In an episode, Liz walks into the writers' room and ecstatically declares, "Hey, did you see our shout-out in Variety? They called us a comedy show!"
- After Liz gets a book published, she takes a copy to Jack and he proudly reads the blurb he wrote for it: "Lemon numbers among my employees."
- Jack described TGS as a show TV Guide once called "still on".
Liz: I framed that article.
- It's a Running Gag in Veronica Mars that when anyone asks a Neptune resident if they know a good lawyer, the response is always, "I know a lawyer."
- Whose Line Is It Anyway?: The fictional albums in the "Greatest Hits" game are often advertised by Colin and Ryan with the line "Every song a hit, every hit a song!".
Music
- Calibretto 13's (unreleased) third album: Making the World a Place.
- This press release: "Critics unilaterally concur: Delicate Steve is a band who creates music."
- While most of the horoscopes in "Your Horoscope For Today" on "Weird Al" Yankovic's Running with Scissors go in the strangely specific direction, part of the listing for Tauruses parodies the tendency of actual horoscopes to be very vague and generalized:
The stars predict tomorrow you'll wake up, do a bunch of stuff, and then go back to sleep.
- "Landlord Fill The Flowing Bowl" is a drinking song, and appropriately has less-than-profound lyrics about how teetotalers will die early, whereas "he who drinks just what he likes" will "live until he dies" — which would make him unique from no human being whatsoever.
Print Media
- MAD did a feature called "Exciting but Meaningless Movie Studio Blurbs◊" (in issue #292), which contained such examples: "You'll laugh until you stop!" and "The Film that Received Many Reviews FROM TODAY'S TOP CRITICS!" Also from MAD: "Every once in a while a magazine comes along. This is such a magazine!"
- Game Informer reviewers Jeremy and Reiner about House of the Dead
Jeremy: Well I have seen a lot of movies in my day, and this is certainly one of them.
Reiner: I really appreciated how the film... managed to fill my entire TV screen. It worked in my DVD player.
Jeremy: Yes, it worked in mine, too. I really liked that about the movie. I also liked that it didn't steal my lunch money or abduct my cat.
Puppet Shows
- On Muppets Tonight, the host would always open with a self-deprecating comment about the show. In one episode, he said, "Muppets Tonight: the show critics everywhere are calling... Muppets Tonight."
Radio
- In Saturday Night Fry, Stephen Fry says (of the theme song) "You know, the more I get to hear that tune, the better I get to know it." (This trope is clearly a favourite of his - he once wrote in chess magazine Kingpin "If more people read this magazine, it would have a higher circulation").
- Steve Leveille, the former overnight host on WBZ-AM in Boston, describes himself as "One Of America's Broadcasters" on his personal website. (His entire sense of humor tends to lean in roughly this direction.)
- "This is WJZ, New York. No other station can make that statement." The call letters having been reassigned to a Baltimore station, no station can now make that statement.
- Says You is fond of closing with "More radios are tuned to this program than any other...appliance." Less applicable now that you can listen to it streaming on your computer, though.
- Jim Phillips, host of the afternoon drive-time talk show "The Phillips File" in Orlando, often sums up mediocre days with the phrase "Of all the days of my life, this has certainly been one of them."
- "Hello and welcome to I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue. You join us this week in the city of Leeds, and when it comes to describing the town, it's no exaggeration to call it Leeds."
Sports
- John Madden is the king of trivially obvious statements, such as "If the other team doesn't score points, I don't see how they can win."
- Brazilian announcer Galvão Bueno had a tendency for this too. "After the defeat, the worst result is the tie."
- UK publication Private Eye has a regular feature called Colemanballs which chronicle notable gaffes from sports commentators, some of which fall under this trope (due to their low brain-to-mouth reaction time). A few examples:
"Both sides have scored a couple of goals, and both sides have conceded a couple of goals."
"It's now 1-1, an exact reversal of the score on Saturday."
"He's one of those footballers whose brains are in his head."note
Theater
- In the play of Beauty and the Beast, Lumiere prompts the Beast to "say something" about Belle's new dress. The Beast addresses Belle quite gracefully and informs that the dress is pink. Cue the Beast being dragged aside for the clarification of something complimentary.
- Lano and Woodley used this in their stage show The Island, saying that "Of all the cities we've toured, [Insert City Here] is definitely one of them."
- Wicked: when Galinda tries to give Elphaba her unwanted hat in "Dancing Through Life", the best compliment she can give is "it's really, uh, sharp". For reference, it's the pointy black hat that later becomes a key component of Elphaba's outfit as the Wicked Witch of the West, so that's probably the best thing Galinda could say about it.
Theme Parks
- One popular closing joke on the Jungle Cruise is: "Of all the crews I have ever had while working the Jungle Cruise, you have been, by far, the most... recent." Similarly, "Of all the crews I have ever had while working the Jungle Cruise, you are definitely one of them."
Video Games
- In Professor Layton and the Curious Village, a minigame revolves around distributing decorative items between Layton and Luke depending on who prefers which. Each character provides a quote for each item which provides an indication of how much they would appreciate it, some of which come under this.
Luke: Yep. That's a globe, all right. No two ways about it.
- In Splatoon 2, when Pearl asked Marina to tell the viewers about Inkblot Art Academy, all Marina could come up with is "It's a place that exists."
- In The World Ends with You, when you give the characters food, they react differently to each dish based on their personal tastes. When Neku eats something he finds So Okay, It's Average his reaction is "It's edible."
- In King's Quest II: Romancing the Stones, King Graham is not too impressed with the "foreign" salesman's merchandise:
King Graham: You seem to have quite a selection of... well... quite a selection!
Web Animation
- Homestar Runner:
- The Strong Bad Email "stunt double" has a variation. The stunts in question are most certainly not done by him.
Strong Bad: Wow, watching that gives me goosebumps every time, man. I mean, the stunts I do are so... done by me.
- And the title Dangeresque 2: This time it's not Dangeresque 1. Critics agree, it "sure was a movie."
- The Strong Bad Email "stunt double
- If the Emperor Had a Text-to-Speech Device: The Custodes, after hearing the Emperor assumes the Sisters of Battle must be "sensible and rational" warriors.
The Custodes: Ye-heheheah!... euh... Sensible and rational, yes, those are... (beat) Words.
Webcomics
- Gunnerkrigg Court, Author's note: "Of all the pages I've drawn so far, this is one of them."
- Sparkling Generation Valkyrie Yuuki has Christmas specials that traditionally end in "Truly, this was a holiday occurrence."
- White Mage in 8-Bit Theater, paraphrasing:
White Mage: It was certainly... [She thinks of several adjectives, including "bearable"] ...an experience to meet you guys...
- In Homestuck, Jade is chatting online with Tavros, who claims that if he believes in something hard enough that makes it partially more true. Jade replies:
GG [Jade]: that
GG: sure is a philosophy you have there! - Fruit Incest has the Tag Line: The web comic that critics say is a web comic.
- The Order of the Stick:
Malack: Should you defeat him, save his skull. I will pay handsomely for it to adorn my study.
Elan: That is, uh, certainly a thing that... someone could do.- This one.
Tarquin: Sabine! It's been too long. You're looking lovely.
Sabine: That's a meaningless compliment to a shapechanger, Tarquin.
Tarquin: Yes, I know.
- This one.
- During Shortpacked!'s Pull the Drama Tag arc, the overly serious story is countered by absurd narration boxes, including:
Tomorrow: Thursday!
- Penny Arcade: Gabe had this to say about the reveal of the Xbox One:
Gabe: The hall was full- and I mean full- of breathable air. Everyone was breathing like crazy.
- Wondermark #972. An unnamed man is shown an old children's toy and snarks that "it has a lot of qualities. [...] Playing with this is such a unique experience!" The other guy hangs a lampshade on this trope, and the snarker answers, "If you don't think I like this, Chad, I just don't know how to convince you!"
- This xkcd explains that "contains a clinically-studied ingredient" is a trivially obvious statement on par with "this movie was watched by Roger Ebert".
Web Original
- The page picture was featured on Cake Wrecks.
- In a Jimquisition episode lampooning the concept of "objective reviews", Jim Sterling proceeds to review Final Fantasy XIII in this manner.
- From Ken Begg's review of The Swarm (1978).
"And now, amazingly, someone went back to the vaults and reinserted forty minutes of deleted footage. The result is an "expanded video edition" of The Swarm that clocks (aside from the audience) an impressive, and horrifying, two and a half hours (!). To be fair, though, the added running time does make the movie more, uhm, longer."
- From Cracked:
- Regarding The Godfather movies:
Part I was an artistic achievement like few others, Part II proved that sometimes sequels can surpass the original and there is a Part III.
- While discussing enforcement of petty laws, there's an aside about Facebook:
Facebook is a wonderful and useful thing. OK, well, maybe it's just a wonderful thing. Well, it's certainly a thing; you have to give us that.
- Regarding
- In Dragon Ball Z Abridged, Freeza thinks this is as he's being struck by the Spirit Ball, "If I had any single regret for the countless horrific events that have transpired in my wake, it's that I'm dying."
- In The Nostalgia Chick:
- In the review of Showgirls, she has the NC-17 scenes acted out fully-clothed by her "crack team of... humans."
- From her and Oancitizen's crossover review of Freddy Got Fingered:
Chick: Uh... is there anything we can say about this Love Interest?
Oancitizen: She exi—
Chick: Other than the fact that she exists?
Oancitizen: (Beat) She has a nice place.
- Dr. Winston O'Boogie (formerly known as Albert) of The Agony Booth seems to like this trope.
- During a recap of Santa and the Ice Cream Bunny, the scene where Thumbelina encounters some insect-like creatures gives us this comment:
Dr. Winston O'Boogie: Well, of all the scenes in this movie, I can definitely say that was one of them.
- His description of the pilot for the 2009 remake of V: "Of all the new shows that debuted last fall, ABC's V was, without a doubt, one of them."
- During a recap of Santa and the Ice Cream Bunny, the scene where Thumbelina encounters some insect-like creatures gives us this comment:
- Seanbaby's Superfriends page featured this, regarding Lex Luthor's dramatic introductions of the Legion of Doom. As most of the Legion of Doom are pretty unimpressive, Seanbaby theorizes that, after running through the three Legion members with actual powers, he'd swiftly fall into this.
Lex Luthor: The... um... Jesus... the... The sitting down... Black Manta...
- The joke website Ted Cruz For Human President combines this with Suspiciously Specific Denial (as the primary joke of the site is treating Ted Cruz as if he's a secret Humanoid Abomination).
Guy Manderson: Ted Cruz is definitely one being and not several.
Firstname Lastname: I have seen many people and Ted Cruz is one of them. - Writer Chris Sims did this while discussing the Superman antagonist Doomsday, contrasting him with fellow 90s villain Bane. After giving an analysis for how Bane contrasts Batman as an Evil Counterpart and his storyline served to turn one of Batman's traditional strengths into a Fatal Flaw, he describes Doomsday's storyline thusly: "Doomsday wears green bike shorts and punches Superman until they both die."
- Neopets: If you don't have an account at the National Neopian Bank (which is the only bank in the game), the bank manager will say, "I see you don't currently have an account with us. I can offer you some of the only interest rates in town today!"
- Schaffrillas Productions often describes any movie he considers is of average or decent quality as "a movie that exists".
- Screen Rant Pitch Meetings
- A Running Gag is Producer brings up how a returning character "was in the previous movie" when he doesn't have anything more positive to say about the character.
- During the pitch for Mortal Kombat: Annihilation (an Immediate Sequel to Mortal Kombat: The Movie), the Producer tells the Screenwriter that they had a "great response" to the first movie.
Producer: You know, of all the movies that came out in 1995, everybody agreed that that was one of them!
Screenwriter: Well, fantastic, 'cause this one's gonna pick up right after the end of the last movie, and it's also, you know, a movie, technically, kind of.
- The Cutting Room Floor's page for Final Fantasy VII opens with this paragraph concerning the game's legacy over 20 years later:
Final Fantasy VII may be the single most divisive game in RPG history. There are those who think of it as the best RPG ever, still having no equal, while others consider it the most overrated piece of trash ever. Either way, both sides agree: it is definitely one of the games of all time.
- This parody edit by Jack Grimes depicting the back of a cyberpunk novel includes a quote from someone named Gibsonnote declaring:
"I've read this[…]book[…]this year."
- It's become a bit of a joke surrounding followers of Hideo Kojima's Twitter account whenever he discusses having seen a recent film that he will either post several sentences of effusive praise detailing every single thing he liked about it, or simply some variant of "Saw [movie name]."
Western Animation
- Futurama:
- Bender telling Fry "Of all the friends I've had, you're the first."note
- "From the makers of Futurama◊".
- Aqua Teen Hunger Force: When Carl is trying to convince Meatwad to take him to the Super Bowl. From Meatwad's reaction this might be the nicest thing anyone has ever said to him.
Look, Meatball. Ever since my son was... never conceived because I've never had consensual sex without money involved, I've always kind of looked at you as a... thing, that I could live next to... in accordance with state law.
- On Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist, Ben lists some possible career paths for himself. When he mentions bartending, his father says, "Out of all the ones you've mentioned so far, that was the third."
- Similar to Seanbaby's Superfriends observations, in "Whiners Can Be Losers" Luthor noted "Cheetah, you have razor-sharp claws! Brainiac, your mind games are deadly! Scarecrow, you're...YOU'RE MADE OF STRAW!!"
- In the Strawberry Shortcake's Berry Bitty Adventures episode "The Berry Best You Can Bee," Lemon Meringue calls on Strawberry to help her fix a client's (unknowingly) botched hairstyle. To keep the other girl unaware that her style isn't going as planned, Strawberry simply comments, "That's a hairstyle, all right," as she surveys the damage.
- My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic:
- In "Suited for Success," after Rarity shows the others the dresses she designed for them:
Twilight: Wow, they're...
Rainbow Dash: Yeah, they're...
Applejack: They sure are, uh, something.
Twilight Sparkle: Yes! Something!
Pinkie Pie: I love something! Something is my favorite! - From the same episode, Rainbow says "I love fun things!".
- In "Read it and Weep", Rarity says the hospital gowns... "match the curtains"
- In "Hearts and Hooves Day", the best compliment that Cheerilee can come up with for the Cutie Mark Crusaders' card is "it's so... big!"
- In "Maud Pie", Pinkie's sister Maud flatly states that Applejack's mulled apple cider "tastes like apples".
- In "Suited for Success," after Rarity shows the others the dresses she designed for them:
- Beavis and Butt-Head: Van Driesen is holding a mock graduation to boost the student's self esteem. When Butt-head comes up to gets his, he tells him "Butt-head, you have many... qualities." With Beavis he just says "Here's your diploma."
- Daria:
- The title character shows her parents her school picture, which depicts her looking as dour and unsmiling as usual. Her father comments "Wow, that's... sharp focus!"
- In one of the tie-in books Mack and Kevin are supposed to write speeches praising the other, and Mack is clearly struggling.
The Olympian efforts of these two great athletes made Super Bowl XXX the most exciting game in decades. Kevin... saw the game.
- Family Guy:
- A commercial for the ball-in-a-cup toy is basically one long description of a ball-in-a-cup toy.
- In another episode, Peter is eating "Store-Brand, Imitation Frosted Flakes", and the mascot Terry the Tiger says the slogan "They'rrrrrrrrrre foooood!!"
- When Mort finds the corpse of his wife: "Oh, my God, Muriel! My sweet Muriel! She was so young— she was so beauti— she was so genero— uh, we were married."
- Gravity Falls combines this trope with Our Slogan Is Terrible; Greasy's Diner bears the slogan "We Have Food".
- On Total Drama, Beth has to come up with a haiku that highlights one of Heather's positive attributes. The first line is "Heather has ten toes."
- From The Cleveland Show: "Well, that was... food."
- In The Fairly OddParents!, one of the Crimson Chin action figure's recorded phrases is "Of all my muscles, my brain is one of them!"
- Wander over Yonder:
- "Sylvia, come on in, the water's wet!"
- When the Watchdogs find out that one of them has a birthday, they all shout words of encouragement ("You oughta celebrate you, Barry!") until one interjects, "Barry was born!"
- The Simpsons:
- In "Kiss Kiss, Bang Bangalore", when Comic Book Guy interviews Richard Dean Anderson, he says that, out of the four "Star" franchises (Wars, Trek, -gate, and Search), Stargate is his third favorite, which leads Anderson to say "I get that a lot.".
- "The Homer They Fall" reveals that Moe had a boxing career in which he was initially known as "Kid Gorgeous," then "Kid Presentable," then "Kid Gruesome," and finally "Kid Moe."
- The Patrick Star Show: "Backpay Payback" has this example of Granny Tentacles' tendency to make Bait and Switch Comments:
Granny Tentacles: Squidward, you're my favorite grandson... (grabs his nose tight) probably 'cause you're my only grandson!
Real Life
- Abraham Lincoln was once asked his opinion of a man's book. He didn't particularly enjoy it, but wanted to be nice, so he said "For people who like this sort of thing, this is the sort of thing that they would like."
- Nikolai Gogol is credited with a review similar to the above: "This book has come out, which means that somewhere in this world there is its reader."
- The story goes of a rabbi who was called upon to say something at a funeral for a man he didn't much like. He said, "What can I say about this man? He was like King David, he was like Moses our Rabbi, he was like the Holy One, Blessed be He!" Later on, he explained his praises: "David died when he was seventy, he died when he was seventy. Moses stuttered, he stuttered. 'God is not a man'—and frankly, neither was he."
- There's a story about a vicar who always made a good impression with mothers bringing their babies in for christening, though nobody ever remembered his precise words on seeing the baby, only that it was "something nice". Invariably, his actual opening remark was: "My, this is a baby, isn't it!".
- "Deepities" are phrases that sound profound at first, but when you think about it are true in a trivial sense but false or meaningless in the sense it's meant to be taken in (this often combines with the Four Terms Fallacy). Classic examples are "love is just a word", "age is just a number", and "there is no 'I' in 'team'".
- Another popular one: "Love/happiness is a bunch of chemicals in the brain". True, but so is every other emotion (such as bitterness).
- The midwestern US fast food chain Steak 'n' Shake use to advertise with the slogan "It's a meal!"
- Several colleges in Seattle formerly used the tagline "One of the Seattle Colleges".
- It's a popular meme on sites like Tumblr to do this, for example: one of the animals of all time/one of the most animals of all time. This meme has become much more widespread with "Morbius is one of the movies of all time."
