History HypocriticalHumor / Literature

* ''Literature/TheGreatGatsby'': Tom talking about being a superior "Nordic" despite his last name being ''Buchanan'' is an examply, at least if you could prove that he subscribes to a racialist theory that does not include Scots among the "Nordic race". However, a great many such theories not only include Scots, but also Irishmen and other Celts among the "Nordics".

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*** At one point, while dancing with Mr Darcy Elizabeth makes multiple attempts to initiate conversation with Darcy after finally telling him that they are both very much alike; they don't like talking. Darcy simply replies that this does not seem to apply to her.

* [[Literature/TheDresdenFiles Dresden]] has complained about TheFairFolk's seeming inability to give him a straight answer, but has stated that being mysterious and illusive is "like crack for wizards." His allies will generally call him on it if he complains about the former to them.

* ''Literature/TheGreatGatsby'': Tom talking about being a superior "Nordic" despite his last name being ''Buchanan''.

* In StephenKing's novel ''Literature/DoloresClaiborne'', Vera is pretty insistent on not putting the hot baking on the windowsill to cool like 'shanty Irish' would do. Guess which country Vera '''Donovan's''' surname comes from?

** Sergeant Jackrum from ''Discworld/MonstrousRegiment'' is in the habit of saying [[CatchPhrase "Upon my oath, I am not a (adjective) man!"]] and immediately proving it untrue - e.g., "Upon my oath, I am not a violent man!" followed by him punching someone. [[spoiler: As it turns out, it's not actually hypocrisy, only [[ExactWords misdirection]] -- Sergeant Jackrum is indeed not a violent ''[[SweetPollyOliver man]]''.]]
*** It's almost not hypocritical anyway -- the way he uses the line implies, "...but now you've forced me to do this."

* In ''Literature/PaperTowns'', at one point Q notes, "I wanted to berate Ben for using chat-speak IRL."

* [[Literature/TheDresdenFiles Dresden]] has complained about TheFairFolk's seeming inability to give him a straight answer, but has stated that being mysterious and illusive is "like crack for wizards." His allies will generally call him on it if he complains about the former to them.

* One of the {{Running Gag}}s of JamesHerriot's [[UnreliableNarrator semi-autobiographical]] series of memoirs was his boss Siegfried Farnon's habit of advising James (and others) to take a certain course of action -- only to turn around and advise them against it a short time later, or do the exact opposite himself. Sometimes ''in the same scene''. At one point he notes that James has been dillydallying about courting Helen, and bullies James into proposing; after Helen accepts, Farnon promptly berates James for rushing into marriage. The kicker is that when confronted, Siegfried feigns complete amnesia re: the previous conversations, then gently, maddeningly, chides the other for getting so upset. On more than one occasion Herriot describes wanting to hit him when this "saintly look" comes over his face.

-->''It's a terrible thing to treat a decent Native American like a <string of racial epithets>.''

-->''"How long has he been smoking? That's what I want to know!"''
-->...
--> ''"A few months maybe. But only a couple a day."''
--> ''"If he says a couple, he means at least five or six," Mum snorts.''
--> ''"No, I don't!" I shout. "I mean a couple!"''
--> ''"Don't raise your voice to me!" Mum roars back.''

--> ''"I suppose the latest thing is to sit back and let [[NouveauRiche Mr. Nobody from Nowhere]] make love to your wife. Well, if that's the idea you can count me out... Nowadays people begin by sneering at family life and family institutions and next [[UpToEleven they'll throw everything overboard and have intermarriage between black and white."]]''
--> ''Flushed with his impassioned gibberish he saw himself standing alone on the last barrier of civilization.''

* In ''Literature/TheMonsterAtTheEndOfThisBook'', Grover spends the entire book being afraid of the monster. At the end, after learning that [[spoiler:he himself is the monster]], he turns around and berates the reader for having been so terrified when there was nothing to be afraid of.

--> ''"I suppose the latest thing is to sit back and let [[NouveauRiche Mr. Nobody from Nowhere]] make love to your wife. Well, if that's the idea you can count me out... Nowadays people begin by sneering at family life and family institutions and next [[UpToEleven they'll throw everything overboard and]] [[UnfortunateImplications have intermarriage between black and white."]]''

* Paarfi, the LemonyNarrator of the ''[[{{Dragaera}} Khaavren Romances]]'', will sometimes note that he wants to be brief and/or doesn't want to waste the reader's time... right in the middle of paragraphs long digressions on things that have nothing to do with the story.

* In the Literature/SherlockHolmes story ''The Man with the Twisted Lip'', we learn that Holmes holds people smoking opium in quite a low esteem. Him being a cocaine addict doesn't change this. This was, however, a typical stance back then -- cocaine and heroin were OK for upper class if not overdone, while opium was a low man's drug.

** At the back of the Disccworld Emporium's ''Unseen University Student Notebook'' is a guide to wizardly behaviour, including an injunction to avoid coarse and ungentlemanly language that concludes "SET A SODDING EXAMPLE!"

** Lampshaded in the second book: when Ron is rescuing Harry by a magic car, he chastises Harry for (allegedly[[note]]it was actually Dobby[[/note]]) using magic outside school. Harry wryly replies, "bit rich coming from you."

* Sergeant Jackrum from ''Discworld/MonstrousRegiment'' is in the habit of saying [[CatchPhrase "Upon my oath, I am not a (adjective) man!"]] and immediately proving it untrue - e.g., "Upon my oath, I am not a violent man!" followed by him punching someone. [[spoiler: As it turns out, it's not actually hypocrisy, only [[ExactWords misdirection]] -- Sergeant Jackrum is indeed not a violent ''[[SweetPollyOliver man]]''.]]
** It's almost not hypocritical anyway -- the way he uses the line implies, "...but now you've forced me to do this."

*** And he repeats the above line in, again, ''Discworld/{{Jingo}}'', after Vimes has a word with him about calling Goriff a "raghead", and he tells Nobby ''he's'' never minded what people call him.

* ''Creator/DaveBarry Slept Here'':

* See the entry of BrevityIsWit for the full version of the verse by Shakespeare, which is ''anything'' but brief about talking about brevity (then again, when has Shakespeare done anything that wasn't in the form of SesquipedalianLoquaciousness?). Polonius was supposed to be a dottering windbag, so it's intentional.

* In StephenKing's novel ''Literature/DoloresClaiborne'', Vera is pretty insistent on not putting the hot baking on the windowsill to cool like 'shanty Irish' would do. Guess which country Vera '''Donovan's''' surname comes from?

--->If she likes me only for my muscles, the heft of my cock, then she's a shallow bitch. ''But'' a physically superior, near-perfect-looking shallow bitch, and ''that'' can override anything, except maybe bad breath or yellow teeth, either of which is a real deal-breaker.

--->If she likes me only for my muscles, the heft of my cock, then she's a shallow bitch. But a physically superior, near-perfect-looking shallow bitch, and that can override anything, except maybe bad breath or yellow teeth, either of which is a real deal-breaker.

* In ''Literature/AmericanPsycho'', Patrick Bateman and some other guys are appalled that the only thing their dates can seem to talk about is clothes (furs, specifically), when they talk about much more important things... like business suits.

* In JohnCWright's ''[[Literature/CountToTheEschaton The Hermetic Millennia]]'', Lady Ivinia talks of how, as a Chimera woman, it is her place to be silent and obey, and how she is meek and gentle, in the same long speech where she effectively orders the men to deal with the enemy they face, and commit suicide if they fail.