History Main / RhetoricalRequestBlunder

* In ''BuffyTheVampireSlayer'', vengeance demons thrive around this sort of thing.

** The more well-known story (albeit also totally apocryphal) goes like this: some zealous soldier heard a flu-ridden Napoleon saying "Ma sacrée toux !" (My bloody cough!) and interpreted it as the homophone "Massacrez tout!" (Slaughter everything!).

* In ''Anime/CodeGeass'', Lelouch says that with his powers, he could tell Euphemia something like [[spoiler:"Kill all the Japanese."]] Bit of bad timing on that one, as Lelouch [[PowerIncontinence lost control over his mind control powers]] at ''[[DeusAngstMachina that exact moment]]''.

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

* In ''CodeGeass'', Lelouch says that with his powers, he could tell Euphemia something like [[spoiler:"Kill all the Japanese."]] Bit of bad timing on that one, as Lelouch [[PowerIncontinence lost control over his mind control powers]] at ''[[DeusAngstMachina that exact moment]]''.

* In ''TrueBlood'', when Tara tells [[spoiler:Maryanne]] to leave her and Eggs out of the shenanigans, she retorts that Tara was the one who summoned her. The exorcism that Tara thought was a fake turned out to be a real...maenad summoning spell? Something along those lines, anyway.
* In ''{{Lost}}'', Juliet is being recruited by the Others, 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.

* In {{Shakespeare}}'s ''KingJohn'' the title character tries to claim he's in this situation when the peers react badly to the (supposed) death of Arthur [[hottip:* :who ends up getting killed trying to escape from prison while the man charged with killing him is lying to John about his death]] on John's orders -- although when he ''gives'' those orders he is obviously worried his hints aren't blatant enough.

* One episode of ''TheFairlyOddParents'' had Gary and Betty almost being eaten by alligators. Upon escaping, Gary asked for a song (Gary and Betty like singing) about not being eaten by alligators. Betty started playing one at her guitar until he explained he was being sarcastic.
* On DannyPhantom, a wish-granting ghost often invokes this trope.

* [[TheHouseOfPlantagenet Henry II]] was frustrated with Archbishop Thomas Becket, his former friend, and said something like (according to popular tradition) "Will no one rid me of this troublesome [or turbulent] priest?" or (according to a contemporary biographer) "What miserable drones and traitors have I nourished and brought up in my household, who let their lord be treated with such shameful contempt by a low-born cleric?" 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 (which would, in its turn, become the foundation for the 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.

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 being SarcasmBlind might lead to this. See also IrrevocableOrder.

* Near the beginning of ''{{Anime/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.

* In ''[[NationalLampoonsChristmasVacation National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation]]'', Clark reacts to the news that he received a subscription to a Jelly-of-the-Month Club in lieu of a Christmas Bonus from his boss by ranting that he wished the boss was right there so he could chew him out. His cousin-in-law promptly jumps into his RV and kidnaps said boss.

* In the DiscWorld novel ''Discworld/AHatFullOfSky'', Tiffany says that the Nac Mac Feegle can be like this.

* A version of this happens in TheBible. David is cut off from his hometown by a rebellion and mentions to himself how he longs to drink the water from the well he grew up by. A few of his mightiest warriors overhear this and go sneak through enemy lines to bring back a bucket of said water.

* 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!).

* In ''Manga/AhMyGoddess'', there's a non-death related example in the beginning: Keiichi makes a wish that he didn't think would really be granted, to have a Goddess like Belldandy, whom he just met, stay with him forever.

* ''SuicideSquad'' had a shellshocked Rick Flag discover a Congressman was trying to blackmail the Squad into ensuring his re-election with the risk of exposure, so he set out to kill him. Amanda Waller gave Deadshot (who was not exactly stable at this point) the order to stop Flag from killing the Congressman by any means necessary. Deadshot did so -- by killing the Congressman himself.

* WeirdAlYankovic's song ''Albuquerque'':

--> 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.

* In ''[[RealmOfTheElderlings Mad Ship]]'', after being constantly mistreated by Kyle, his rather terrible father, for a book and a half, Wintrow cries out in anguish to the pirate Kennit that he wished someone would make his father just disappear. He's smart enough to make it clear that he specifically does ''not'' want his father dead, just gone. Still, he didn't actually ''want'' Kennit to drag Kyle out of bed in the middle of the night a few days later and grant his wish, imprisoning Kyle in a secret dungeon few people even know exists, nor is he pleased to discover his father missing.

* In a similar vein, dictators who were also charismatic and well-remembered by the people frequently get this treatment; this is particularly true of Third-World post-independence leaders regarded as "Father of the Nation." For instance, many [[ModernEgypt Egyptians]] believe that the well-documented torture of political prisoners in Gamal Abdel Nasser's regime must have been the result of a misinterpreted order or some such, rather than being led and organized by Abdel Nasser himself. Many other Egyptians point out that if that were true, he would still be to blame--not for being a cruel tyrant, but for being an idiot.

** Lt. Ventura later invoked this by suckering [[spoiler:Max Haluska]] into what can be interpreted as giving an AI the order to give her backdoor access -- which it did, because Max's hack left it too dumb to care about intent or anything else.

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 being SarcasmBlind might lead to this.

* In ''CodeGeass'', Lelouch says that with his powers, he could tell Euphemia something like [[spoiler:"Kill all the Japanese."]] Bit of bad timing on that one, as Lelouch [[PowerIncontinence lost control over his mind control powers]] at ''that exact moment''.

--->'''Frasier''': How was I supposed to know she would go so far?
--->'''Roz''': ''She's Bebe!'' If you had said you liked my eyes, they would have been on your desk tomorrow in a Tiffany box!

--> '''Para Ventura''': Sometimes the back door is "you're an idiot".

* 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) goes like this: some zealous soldier heard a flu-ridden Napoleon saying "Ma sacrée toux !" (My bloody cough!) and interpreted it as the homophone "Massacrez tout!" (Slaughter everything!).

* 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 ''AhMyGoddess'', there's a non-death related example in the beginning: Keiichi makes a wish that he didn't think would really be granted, to have a Goddess like Belldandy, whom he just met, stay with him forever.

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 ''TheEyesOfKidMidas'', the protagonist, Kevin Midas, snaps at a bully, telling him to "Go to Hell!" Unfortunately, Kevin forgets that he's wearing his RealityWarping sunglasses, and...[[DraggedOffToHell oops]].

* In an example that's borderline subversion, an issue of ''{{Deadpool}}'' features the titular nut-case kidnapped by the X-Men after he attempted to kill an anti-mutant crusader on national television. Domino hears Cyclops wishing that someone would take Deadpool "out of the picture". Fearing that Wolverine will kill him, she releases Deadpool from captivity. Cue Wolverine telling her that he was just going to take Deadpool with him on a secret mission to China till things cool down... but now that he's on the loose, he might now ''have'' to kill him.

* In ''Film/TheThiefOfBagdad'', Prince Ahmad sees the princess in an All-Seeing Eye and discovers that she is being courted by the villain. Understandably upset by this, he says "Oh, I wish I were in Bagdad right now!" His sidekick, the titular thief Abu, is annoyed by Ahmad's angsting over the princess by this point, so he says "I wish you were!" Unfortunately, a LiteralGenie is standing nearby, and whisks the prince away to Bagdad. Without Abu.

** Naturally, the priest they thought he wanted dead was none other than [[ButtMonkey the titular character.]]

* In ''RichardII'', Bolingbroke (aka HenryIV) says, "Have I no friend will rid me of this living fear?" and Exton interprets this as an order to kill the already defeated King Richard. Henry develops a serious GuiltComplex about this and tries to [[TheAtoner atone]] [[ValuesDissonance by launching a crusade]].

* [[TheHouseOfPlantagenet Henry II]] was frustrated with Archbishop Thomas Becket, his former friend, and said something like (according to popular tradition) "Will no one rid me of this troublesome [or turbulant] priest?" or (according to a contemporary biographer) "What miserable drones and traitors have I nourished and brought up in my household, who let their lord be treated with such shameful contempt by a low-born cleric?" 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 (which would, in its turn, become the foundation for the 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.