History Main / Sabotutor

* The above-mentioned Wimp Lo from ''Film/KungPowEnterTheFist'' is a result of this. Most likely because he was an arrogant ChosenWannabe, the mentors purposefully trained him wrong as a joke.

The reasons for this vary. Perhaps Bob doesn't want Alice to pass her driving test; maybe he's afraid Alice will outshine him at work, so he tries to get her fired; perhaps Bob's [[ItAmusedMe having fun at her expense]]; or maybe Bob's just an [[JerkAss asshole]]. Whatever happens, you can be sure [[HilarityEnsues hilarity will ensue]].

* The above-mentioned Wimp Lo from ''Film/KungPowEnterTheFist'' is a result of this.

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

* A RunningGag on ''ComicStrip/FoxTrot'' whenever Jason does anything related to tutoring. One of the few times he ''didn't'' do this was when Paige decided to pay Jason in function of her grade.
* At least two times in ''Tank [=McNamara=]'', a veteran football player is instructing a novice who's expected to replace him ... and advises the youngster to make a racist remark. "All the black defensive linemen think it's a ''barrel'' of laffs."
* In one ''ComicStrip/{{Dilbert}}'' [[http://dilbert.com/strip/2003-04-19 strip]], the Pointy-Haired-Boss reviews a trainee's work performance and concludes that his trainer has been playing a six-month-long practical joke on him. [[SarcasmMode For some strange reason]], the trainee doesn't find it funny.
-->'''Trainer:''' Sometimes there's a fine line between criminally abusive behavior and fun.
* ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes'': Calvin's father sometimes teaches Calvin untrue things on purpose, like telling him colour came to the world around 1950 and before that the world was black and white. Creator/BillWatterson claims his own dad did the exact same thing.

* Guru of ''WebVideo/DragonBallZAbridged'' [[MotivationalLie encourages]] Nail to stand up to Freeza by telling him that he's a champion of the old ways. After he leaves, Guru comments that if he'd taught him in the ''new'' ways, he might have stood a chance.

* Twice in ''Film/MyBigFatGreekWedding''. Ian asks Toula's brother Nick how to say thank you in Greek and [[{{Troll}} Nick]] teaches him to say "Nice tits" instead. Later, Nick offers to teach Ian how to call everyone inside for dinner in Greek, but Ian has wised up slightly and asks for a second opinion. Unfortunately, the person he asks is Nick's cousin Angelo, who is in on the prank and confirms what Nick said, causing Ian to announce "I have three testicles!" to the entire Portokalos clan.

* A variation in ''Literature/RealmOfTheElderlings''. Chade instructs [=FitzChivalry=] to help Kettricken become a more savvy member of court. When it comes to a popular card game, he tells Fitz to teach her to ''cheat'', but present it as the [[NotCheatingUnlessYouGetCaught legitimate way to play]]. A subversion, as the idea was that she'd become such an accomplished cheat via sleight of hand and misdirection that it would be to her advantage.

* ''Literature/SkippysList'': 123: I should not teach other soldiers to say offensive and crude things in Albanian, under the guise of teaching them how to say potentially useful phrases.

* Darth Sidious in ''Film/StarWarsEpisodeIIIRevengeOfTheSith'', and by extension the Sith in general. The RuleOfTwo states that the Sith can only exist in pairs of two, a master and an apprentice to eventually supplant them. ''However'', while it sounds good on paper due to the ChronicBackstabbingDisorder encouraged by the Sith religion (as groups of inexperienced apprentices ganging up on their master would weaken them as a whole), very few Sith actually followed it the way it was intended. [[TheStarscream Apprentices would kill their masters before they actually surpassed them]] and the masters fearing this would intentionally sabotage their training by withholding some of what they know as a trump card. It's implied Sidious lied and never actually learned the powers he promised Anakin, and planned to do away with the Rule entirely to replace it with his self-styled Rule of One and live forever with [[TheDragon Vader as his cyborg slave]].

* ''Manga/DragonBall'': After hearing Goku got stronger by climbing Karin's Tower and drinking the sacred water, Taopaipai tries to do the same, but Karin can immediately tell he's a bad guy. He pretends to help by giving the water right away, but this actually defeats the purpose--[[MockGuffin it's just regular water]], while Goku's improvement was from climbing the tower (twice!) and getting fast enough to catch Karin. Karin even gives Taopaipai a [[FlyingOnACloud cloud to ride back to the ground on]] so he won't get anything from a climb down (and has it drop him just high enough off the ground to insult him).

** At Turk and Carla's wedding rehearsal, Carla's brother Marco gives [[AnythingThatMoves The Todd]] a pickup line to use on their Spanish-speaking relatives: "I have genital herpes... for you!"

* An indirect version of this occurs in the "Dirty Hungarian Phrasebook" sketch in ''Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus''. Someone deliberately publishes a book with wildly inappropriate English translations of Hungarian phrases to get the user in trouble. It's the trope namer for MyHovercraftIsFullOfEels.

* In ''LightNovel/ACertainMagicalIndex'', whenever the British character Laura Stuart tries speaking Japanese, someone will invariably tell her she's saying things wrong. Apparently, the reason is that Motoharu Tsuchimikado was the one who taught her the language, and he purposefully taught her incorrectly as a joke.
* When Amelia asks Lina to teach her the Dragon Slave in a season one episode of ''LightNovel/{{Slayers}}'', Lina deliberately puts her through a pointless TrainingFromHell that has absolutely nothing to do with magic in the hopes that Amelia will give up and go away.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheLoudHouse'': In “Driving Miss Hazy”, while Leni prepares to take her driving test, Lori, fearing losing her status as the only Loud child who can drive (and the ability to extort favors from her siblings because of it), gives her terrible advice that guarantees she’ll fail the test.

Compare FauxToGuide and AntiAdvice. See also TrollingTranslator. Compare and contrast AntiMentor, who really can't teach well in the first place.

* [[http://www.zug.com/scrawl/chinese-tattoo/index.html Most Popular Chinese Tattoo Symbols]]. [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial Totally]] not a [[http://www.zug.com/pranks/chinese-tattoo/ prank]].

** American [=POWs=] during the Cold War were often forced to teach enemy spies about how to pass as an American. For example, they might say to NVA agents that the Dead Man's Hand in poker is two pair, kings and jacks (it's aces and eights).

* Wimp-Lo from ''Film/KungPowEnterTheFist'' isn't actually [[AluminumChristmasTrees too far from the truth]]--some martial art schools really would "train" a student incorrectly if they felt they were unworthy of learning their actual techniques.