History Main / SidetrackedByTheAnalogy

--> ''Diciples:'' "[[CompletelyMissingThePoint He's upset that we didn't bring any bread!]]"

The analogy weaving character can eventually confuse themselves, trailing off with "...where was I going with this?"

--->'''Gilda''': Hey. I'm watching you. Like a hawk.\\

* From the ''MyLittlePony: Friendship Is Magic'' episode "Griffon the Brush-Off":

* Warning: Possible blasphemy ahead! Some could argue that we find this in the Gospels of the New Testament frequently, when the MainCharacter Jesus delivers a parable, people will demonstrate this trope. Following from that, [[http://insidian.livejournal.com/167425.html a parody]] of the Gospel of John was written by Live Journal user "insidian".
** This devout Christian will point out that that's entirely true and risk the BoltOfDivineRetribution. This often leads to a [[MindScrewdriver clarification]], too.
** It's true alright; Christ was undoubtedly a very patient messiah.
-->''Jesus:'' "Beware the leaven of [[CorruptChurch the pharisees]]."
--> ''Deciple:'' "[[CompletelyMissingThePoint He's upset that we didn't bring any bread!]]"

* John [=McCain=] dropped his analogy in middle of saying it when asked if Bill Clinton was an appeaser towards North Korea:
--> [=McCain=]: If it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck [pause] it's appeasement.

* John [=McCain=], when asked if Bill Clinton was an appeaser towards North Korea:
--> [=McCain=]: If it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it's appeasement.

--> [=McCain=]: If it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck... it's appeasement.

* John McCain, when asked if Bill Clinton was an appeaser towards North Korea:
--> McCain: If it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck... it's appeasement.

** When [[Discworld/ThiefOfTime Wen the Eternally Surprised]] teaches Clodpool the Apprentice that time is like a coat, which you can put on when needed and discard otherwise, Clodpool asks "Do I have to wash it, master?" Wen responds that this is either [[IceCreamKoan a brilliant peice of philosophy]], or else extending a metaphor in a rather stupid way. And it's not the first one.

*** When [[Discworld/ThiefOfTime Wen the Eternally Surprised]] teaches Clodpool the Apprentice that time is like a coat, which you can put on when needed and discard otherwise, Clodpool asks "Do I have to wash it, master?" Wen responds that this is either [[IceCreamKoan a brilliant peice of philosophy]], or else extending a metaphor in a rather stupid way. And it's not the first one.

-->'''Dilbert:''' We can either wait three months for the software committee to approve our plan or we can soar like eagles, and act without approval, saving millions of dollars!

* The page quote, from ''{{Dilbert}}'', shows this trope in its most basic form.
** This shows up quite frequently in ''{{Dilbert}}'' - Scott Adams has admitted bad analogies are a pet peeve of his.
* One episode of ''TheSimpsons'' has Marge trying to get the town to move against a burlesque house. Her use of "the house" as figurative language for the burlesque shows causes the townspeople to initially rise up against her as being unfair to the house itself, as in the physical building, which hadn't done anything.
* Also from Matt Groening, in one ''LifeInHell'' strip, Binky is reading the news and how depressing it is and comments, "We're like the frog in a pan who is slowly being boiled to death and doesn't realize it!" and his son Bongo sobs, "That poor little frog!"
* {{Scrubs}}: J.D. wonders why Kelso cares so much about one particular person and asks if he donated a wing to the hospital. Kelso responds, "He donated a wing, a breast, and a thigh... yes, in this analogy, the hospital is a chicken." J.D. outwardly acts offended at the patronizing explanation, but then thinks to himself, "Why would the hospital be a chicken?"
* A variation in ''EfATaleOfMemories'' has Chihiro explaining a math problem she [[spoiler: supposedly]] read once in school, about how long it would take a sheep tethered x feet from a pole to eat all the grass in the surrounding circle. Chihiro thought of the implied end of the story, about how the sheep would eventually starve to death, rather than the math problem it was setting up.
* Similar to the above, an episode of ''{{Seitokai no Ichizon}}'' has Minatsu posing a math problem to Kurimu. The problem is fairly typical "John goes to the store with X dollars. He buys Y units of a certain item at a certain price, and Z units of another item at a different price. How much change should he get?" Kurimu insteads thinks about why the character in the story would be buying the certain items, and concludes that his parents are neglectful.

* The entire plot in ''TheLionKing 1 1/2''

** This sort of thing happens in the novels, too. In one scene in the final book of the StarTrekATimeTo series, two alien characters are discussing politics and one becomes sidetracked by the other's use of a human metaphor. When confronted with the phrase "a lame duck", Ra'ch B'ullhy (a Damiani) has to ask how a lame waterfowl fits the situation. Worf points out "it ''is'' a human metaphor; they are often abtruse".
* In {{Douglas Adams}}' ''[[{{ptitlegvx5tm34k7kq}} Hitchhiker's Guide]]'' novel ''[[H2G2/{{Ptitlex7dt39fg}} Life, The Universe and Everything]]'', Ford Prefect refuses to help Slartibartfast in a mission, describing their chances as like 'A whelk's chance in a supernova'. Cue a page of dialogue as Arthur Dent wonders why, when nothing can survive in a supernova, Ford chose a whelk in particular.

* [[{{Discworld}} Mustrum Ridcully]], and indeed most of the other wizards, are actually reasonably clever when it comes to magic, even if this is sometimes not readily apparent, Ridcully for instance almost certainly being a user of ObfuscatingStupidity, but they are all genuinely hopeless when it comes to analogies, as Ponder Stibbons, who likes to think of himself as the OnlySaneMan among the wizards, finds out every time he tries to explain something, going off on widely divergent tangents at the drop of a hat.
** Ridcully's brother Hughnon is just as bad. Witness his conversation with Vetinari in ''The Truth''. (Here's a hint: Vetinari's not actually talking about sending prawns over the clacks.)
** Most Ankh-Morporkians have occasional flashes of this. Commander Vimes thinks it's something in the water.
** One former patrician actually passed a ''law'' requiring accuracy of statements and metaphors. If you say a face launched a thousand ships, you damn well better have the manifests to prove it. He eventually met his end in a swordfight against a very, very, very, sharp pen.
** Most dwarfs tend to be very literal-minded, which is the case with Carrot as well.
*** Don't tell a dwarf [[{{Discworld/Jingo}} not to tell you the Klatchian embassy is on fire]].
* Sort of [[InvertedTrope inverted]] in ''[[TheLaundrySeries The Atrocity Archives]]'' by CharlesStross: Brains is devoting considerable time and energy to proving that it ''is'' possible to make an omelette without breaking eggs, but he instantly abandons this project to give moral support to Bob when their bosses drop him in it, pointing out that Bob's situation is what the phrase is actually ''about''.
* [[StargateSG1 Teal'c]] does this a lot. One of the best (and best remembered) instances occurs early on when SG-1 was cut off from the Stargate by a Goa'uld attack:
--> '''Daniel''': Maybe we should just lie low and wait for things to calm down.
--> '''Teal'c''': Things will not calm down, Daniel Jackson. They will, in fact, calm ''up''.
** Lampshaded in another instance, where the SGC is offering heavy water to a civilization to help their war effort in exchange for technology, Jackson objects:
--->'''Jackson''': No. Their whole world is in flames and we are offering them gasoline. How is that help?\\
'''Teal'c''': We are in fact offering water.\\
'''O'Neill''': ''[to Teal'c]'' Thank you!\\
'''Jackson''': I was speaking metaphorically.\\
'''O'Neill''': Well, stop it! It's not fair to Teal'c.
* This trope is a chief source of humor on the cartoon series [[BobbysWorld Bobby's World]], as the very young Bobby Generic literally interprets things, for instance, thinking a traffic jam as an actual jam people put on sandwich bread.
* Warning: Possible blasphemy ahead! Some could argue that we find this in the Gospels of the New Testament — frequently, when the MainCharacter Jesus delivers a parable, people will demonstrate this trope. Following from that, [[http://insidian.livejournal.com/167425.html a parody]] of the Gospel of John was written by Live Journal user "insidian".

* In ''{{Shrek}}'', after getting a bit of AnalogyBackfire with "ogres are like onions," Donkey spends some time trying to find a more palatable food for the analogy.

<<|ContrivedStupidityTropes|>>