History Main / RhetoricalRequestBlunder

** The idea comes from the book [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hitler%27s_War ''Hitler's War'']], which not only had its own counter-book, but after a libel suit in court, said counter-book was proven true ''in a court of law''.

* In ''Oh God! You Devil'', failed musician Bobby Sheldon, at the end of his rope following yet another boring, low-paying, dead-end gig, says aloud to himself, "I'd sell my soul to make it in this business". Unfortunately for him, the Devil has a habit of noticing when people say things like that.

* Near the beginning of ''{{Monster}}'', Dr. Tenma says in front of the [[ConverseWithTheUnconscious apparently unconscious]] Johan that his corrupt superiors at the hospital "would be better off dead!" So Johan kills them.

** The idea comes from the book [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hitler's_War ''Hitler's War'']], which not only had its own counter-book, but after a libel suit in court, said counter-book was proven true ''in a court of law''.

* [[TheHouseOfPlantagenet Henry II]] was frustrated with Archbishop Thomas Becket, his former friend, and said, "Will no one rid me of this troublesome priest?" A couple of Mooks decided to take care of it themselves, by killing Becket. Henry II took it badly, as did many in England. The reason for Henry's frustration, namely Becket defying the wishes of the king who had nominated him [[hottip:*:Henry II had been laying the foundations of the English legal system and which a few centuries later became the modern legal system of half the world. The Church objected to being expected, distinctly against the custom of the time, to obey national laws, in one of the pivotal clashes between church and state]], had alienated many who already regarded Henry as an outsider (neither an Englishman or even a Norman, but an ''Angevin'') who was subverting local custom and concentrating too much power in the central government. Becket's personal popularity and the fact that he was discovered to be wearing a hairshirt under his clothing (a rather serious act of asceticism, as hairshirts are about as comfortable as a shirt made of sandpaper) only added to the outrage that a high clergyman had been openly murdered in a church; Henry had to perform public penance over the issue and Becket rapidly became St. Thomas.

* [[TheHouseOfPlantagenet Henry II]] was frustrated with Archbishop Thomas Becket, his former friend, and said, "Will no one rid me of this troublesome priest?" A couple of Mooks decided to take care of it themselves, by killing Becket. Henry II took it badly, as did many in England. The reason for Henry's frustration, namely Becket defying the wishes of the king who had nominated him [[hottip:*:Henry II had been laying the foundations of the English, and hence US, legal system. The Church objected to being expected, distinctly against the custom of the time, to obey national laws, in one of the pivotal clashes between church and state]], had alienated many who already regarded Henry as an outsider (neither an Englishman or even a Norman, but an ''Angevin'') who was subverting local custom and concentrating too much power in the central government. Becket's personal popularity and the fact that he was discovered to be wearing a hairshirt under his clothing (a rather serious act of asceticism, as hairshirts are about as comfortable as a shirt made of sandpaper) only added to the outrage that a high clergyman had been openly murdered in a church; Henry had to perform public penance over the issue and Becket rapidly became St. Thomas.

The more well-known story (albeit also totally apocryphal) groes like this : some zealous soldier heard a flu-ridden Napoleon saying "Ma sacrée toux !" (My bloody cough !) and interpretated it as the homophone "Massacrez tout !" (Slaughter everything !). Curiously enough, if this urban legend is quite common in anglo-saxon countries, it is totally unheard of in France. That's mostly because Napoleon is more villainized in anglo-saxon countries then in France.
* [[TheHouseOfPlantagenet Henry II]] was frustrated with Archbishop Thomas Becket, his former friend, and said, "Will no one [[TropeNamer rid me of this troublesome priest]]?" A couple of Mooks decided to take care of it themselves, by killing Becket. Henry II took it badly, as did many in England. The reason for Henry's frustration, namely Becket defying the wishes of the king who had nominated him [[hottip:*:Henry II had been laying the foundations of the English, and hence US, legal system. The Church objected to being expected, distinctly against the custom of the time, to obey national laws, in one of the pivotal clashes between church and state]], had alienated many who already regarded Henry as an outsider (neither an Englishman or even a Norman, but an ''Angevin'') who was subverting local custom and concentrating too much power in the central government. Becket's personal popularity and the fact that he was discovered to be wearing a hairshirt under his clothing (a rather serious act of asceticism, as hairshirts are about as comfortable as a shirt made of sandpaper) only added to the outrage that a high clergyman had been openly murdered in a church; Henry had to perform public penance over the issue and Becket rapidly became St. Thomas.

** The idea comes from the book [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hitler's_War ''Hitler's War'']], which not only had it's own counter book, but after a libel suit in court said counter book was proven true '''in a court of law'''.

* In ''ASongOfIceAndFire'' [[spoiler: It is eventually revealed that the assassination attempt on Bran is this. King Robert mentioned how it would be better if Bran were simply put out of his misery after his injury. Prince Joffrey having heard this steals one of his father's knives and commissions a killer to do the deed.]]

---> She had learned to be careful not to wish for anything that might be achievable by some small, determined, strong, fearless, and fast men who were also not above giving someone a good kicking if they felt like it.

-> She had learned to be careful not to wish for anything that might be achievable by some small, determined, strong, fearless, and fast men who were also not above giving someone a good kicking if they felt like it.

-->—-'''King Henry II''', of Archbishop Thomas Becket. [[hottip:* :Sadly for Becket, the people who overheard it weren't familiar with rhetorical questions]]

-->—'''King Henry II''', of Archbishop Thomas Becket. [[hottip:* :Sadly for Becket, the people who overheard it weren't familiar with rhetorical questions]]

-->—'''King Henry II''', of Archbishop Thomas Becket. [[hottip:* :Sadly for Becket, the people who overheard it weren't familiar with rhetorical questions]]

* In ''{{Lost}}'', Juliet is being recruited by DHARMA, but says she couldn't possibly join unless her ex-husband "gets hit by a bus". She meant it rhetorically. They, on the other hand, hit him with a bus.

People routinely say things they do not mean. Swearing to kill someone or wishing some horrible fate would befall them is usually a harmless way of venting spleen.

[[quoteright:300:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/TroublesomePriest_3048.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:300:[-For they have whetted their tongues like a sword...-] ]]

-->''"Will no one rid me of this TurbulentPriest?"''
--->—'''King Henry II''', of Archbishop Thomas Becket. [[hottip:* :Sadly for Becket, the people who overheard it weren't familiar with rhetorical questions]]

Subtrope of BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor and PoorCommunicationKills. Remember that asking for things you do not want to happen is TemptingFate. See LiteralGenie and JackassGenie for deliberately misinterpreted requests. Particularly moral characters may say [[ItsAllMyFault It's All My Fault]] after the deed is done. Compare IWishedYouWereDead. May be carried out by a PoisonousFriend. BluntMetaphorsTrauma or DoesNotUnderstandSarcasm might lead to this.

* In ''SoraNoOtoshimono'', the protagonist ends a bout of gratuitious wish fulfillment with the statement "Now all that's left is to take over the world!" in front of the LiteralGenie Ikaros. The next morning, she has concluded that since no one would recognize him as sovereign, the most efficient way of granting his wish is to make everyone disappear. As in, every human in the world. And so she does. This is the first episode. (They get better.)
** In the second episode, Tomoki starts shenanigans that leads to Sohara being unable to wear underwear. She beats him silly for it. When Ikaros shows up, Tomoki manages to croak "Panties..." She concludes that he wants panties, and makes every pair in the rear area fly off their owners and converge on Tomoki. This does not help at all.

* In ''TheFiftyFirstState'', an unfortunate miscommunication occurs when DeSousa asks one of his assistants to "take care" of a nervous chemist. The assistant then goes into henchman mode, [[HilarityEnsues kills the chemist and stuffs him into the car boot]], instead of following the intended meaning which was "[[DontExplainTheJoke look after him]]".

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/TroublesomePriest_3048.jpg
[[caption-width:300:[[AsTheGoodBookSays For they have whetted their tongues like a sword...]]]]

People routinely say things they don't mean. Swearing to kill someone or wishing some horrible fate would befall them is a comparatively harmless way of venting spleen. That is...usually.

Sometimes a character may think he is speaking to an empty room, an inanimate object or someone beyond hearing; but unbeknownst to him, ''someone'' is listening, and ready to act on his wishes. Alternatively, a character may speak in hyperbole, or wish for something that he thinks no sane person would actually carry out. [[LiteralMinded Of course, he would be wrong...]] Or there might be someone insane around.

Subtrope of BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor and PoorCommunicationKills. Remember that asking for things you don't want to happen is another way of TemptingFate. See LiteralGenie and JackassGenie for when the request is ''deliberately'' misinterpreted. Particularly moral characters may say [[ItsAllMyFault It's All My Fault]] after the deed is done. Compare IWishedYouWereDead. May be carried out by a PoisonousFriend. BluntMetaphorsTrauma or DoesNotUnderstandSarcasm might lead to this.

* During the "Velocity 9" arc of TheFlash, Vandal Savage explains the addictive effect of the Velocity 9 drug telling that he just has to suggest one of the addicts to kill another and he would do. Then, an addict kills another and Savage coldly explains that he was being rhetorical.

* In chapter 15 of Make a Wish, a Harry Potter fanfiction, Harry asks for either something to kill his hangover headache or something to kill himself, he doesn't care which. A few minutes later, when the professor brings a drink that 'would kill a herd of elephants': "You do know I was being sarcastic about the whole killing myself thing right?" Harry asked. "Yes," the Professor nodded nervously. "Of course I did, I'll be right back with the potion. I just need to . . . take it out of the room for a few minutes before I give it to you."

* In ThrowMommaFromTheTrain, Owen overhears Larry saying he wished his wife were dead. Guess what happens.
* In TheFiftyFirstState, an unfortunate miscommunication occurs when DeSousa asks one of his assistants to "take care" of a nervous chemist. The assistant then goes into henchman mode, [[HilarityEnsues kills the chemist and stuffs him into the car boot]], instead of following the intended meaning which was "[[DontExplainTheJoke look after him]]".

* MerryGentry is more GenreSavvy, and subverts this by always phrasing herself carefully around the [[LiteralGenie Fey]]. Unfortunately, the Sithen appears to read and obey her ''thoughts''.

* In ASongOfIceAndFire [[spoiler: It is eventually revealed that the assassination attempt on Bran is this. King Robert mentioned how it would be better if Bran were simply put out of his misery after his injury. Prince Joffrey having heard this steals one of his father's knives and commissions a killer to do the deed.]]

* The apocryphal story of {{Napoleon Bonaparte}} sneezing as he was reviewing some prisoners and saying "tuez les tous" (kill them all) which is somewhat close to the sound one actually makes when sneezing (atchoo) and was possibly interrupted mid sentence giving something like "tu es...atchoo!" (you are atchoo!).
** The more well-known story (albeit also totally apocryphal) groes like this : some zealous soldier heard a flu-ridden Napoleon saying "Ma sacrée toux !" (My bloody cough !) and interpretated it as the homophone "Massacrez tout !" (Slaughter everything !). Curiously enough, if this urban legend is quite common in anglo-saxon countries, it is totally unheard of in France.
*** That's mostly because Napoleon is more villainized in anglo-saxon countries then in France.

Subtrope of BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor and PoorCommunicationKills. Remember that asking for things you don't want to happen is another way of TemptingFate. See LiteralGenie and JackassGenie for when the request is ''deliberately'' misinterpreted. Particularly moral characters may say [[ItsAllMyFault It's All My Fault]] after the deed is done. Compare IWishedYouWereDead. May be carried out by a PoisonousFriend. RhetoricalQuestionBlunder, BluntMetaphorsTrauma, or DoesNotUnderstandSarcasm might lead to this.