History Main / BlackmailIsSuchAnUglyWord

[[folder:Films -- Animation]]
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Ratatouille}}'': Django insists to Rémy that their scavenging garbage for food is acceptable practice, since "It's not stealing if nobody wants it."
[[/folder]]

->''"'Blackmail' is an ugly word. I prefer 'extortion'."''
-->-- '''Creed Bratton''', ''Series/TheOfficeUS''

** Creed Bratton uses the trope name directly in the webisodes, as seen above.

* In ''Machinima/FinalFantasyVIIMachinabridged'', after the residents of Junon learn that Cloud's party is Shinra's most wanted fugitives:

* From the 2003 Version of ''Anime/FullmetalAlchemist'', in Episode 9, "Be Thou For the People":
-->'''Ed:''' ''(having just received a small pouch of gold from Lieutenant Yoki)'' This supposed to be some kind of a bribe, Yoki?\\

* ''LiteratureTheDoorIntoSummer'':

** In ''VideoGame/Persona3'', when SEES confronts [[spoiler:Ikutsuki]] and learns of their intentions, this happens twice in the same conversation:
--->'''Yukari:''' In the video from my father... He said to defeat the Shadows... Was that a lie too?\\

A subtrope of DistinctionWithoutADifference and InsistentTerminology. Compare IsThatAThreat and UnusualEuphemism.

* When the AI declares war on you in ''VideoGame/{{Civilization}} V'', one of the quote they may use is "Backstab is such an ugly word. Shall we instead say I am just "reinterpreting" our supposed friendship?".

* In ''Literature/ArtemisFowl,'' Artemis discovers that Mulch has been lurking around Fowl Manor to steal things.
-->'''Mulch:''' ''Lurking'' is not a nice word. Makes me sound like a sea serpent. I like to think I was hiding in the shadows. Cool, like a cat burglar.\\
'''Artemis:''' You eat cats, Mulch.

* On an episode of ''Series/{{Life}}'', Charlie Crews abducts the BigBad by waylaying his chauffeur and picking him up in his own car. When the victim points out that "this is a kidnapping," Charlie parks the car and begins to explain why he doesn't like that word and doesn't feel it applies in this case. The villain then says, "No, detective, you misunderstand me. This isn't a kidnapping. ''This'' is a kidnapping." Cue a tire iron smashing through Charlie's window.

[[folder: Stand-Up Comedy]]

* Subverted in ''WesternAnimation/DanVs''

* In the first ''Literature/KingdomKeepers'' book, [[EccentricMentor Wayne]] says that Finn would only "borrow" Creator/WaltDisney's pen, as opposed to stealing it. Possibly inspired by the exchange in ''WesternAnimation/RobinHood'', above.

* ''WesternAnimation/RobinHood'':

-->'''Idris'''(the TARDIS in a human form): Then you stole me. And I stole you.\\

-->'''Dr Clarkson''': So you want me to lie to them and say there was no chance at all?
-->'''Countess Dowager''': Lie is such an unmusical word.

-->'''Sir Humphrey''' Suppression is the instrument of totalitarian dictatorships, we don't talk of that sort of thing in a free country! We simply take a democratic decision not to publish it.

-->'''Hacker:''' You mean he's indiscreet?\\

* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'': In the third season finale, when Buffy informed Wesley that she was through taking orders from the Watchers Council...
-->'''Wesley:''' This is mutiny!\\

** Also from ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'':
-->'''Buffy:''' So...am I crazy?\\

* ''Podcast/QuestInShow'': When Suzy expresses discomfort at stealing Queen Manon’s things, Prose advises her not to think of it as stealing. When Suzy asks what should she think of it as, Prose replies, [[ShapedLikeItself “Not stealing!”]]