History Main / SidetrackedByTheAnalogy

'''Dilbert:''' (''thinking'') Please don't be sidetracked by the analogy.\\

* In the ''Literature/LockwoodAndCo'' book ''The Creeping Shadow'', George compares weak places in the barrier between life and death to holes worn in the seat of his jeans. Lockwood is then distracted from their ghost problem by his disgust for George's holey jeans and exposed underwear.

-->'''Dot''': I'm a royal ant, and I can't even fly yet! I'm too little.\\
'''Flik''': Oh, being little isn't such a bad thing.\\
'''Dot''': Yes, it is!\\
'''Flik''': No, it's not.\\
'''Dot''': Is too!\\
'''Flik''': Is not!\\
'''Dot''': Is too! Is too! Is too!\\
'''Flik''': Is not! Is not! Is not! ''(sighs)'' Seed. I need a seed. ''(Flik tries to get a seed from his harvester, but he can't reach it and ends up going around in circles. He finally gives up and picks up a rock instead and hands it to Dot.)'' Here, pretend that that's a seed.\\

* Jimmy from ''Comicbook/EmpireState''. At one point, he manages to distract ''himself'' while writing a letter: he's confessing his romantic feelings for a close friend, and he catches himself going off on tangents like describing [[RealDreamsAreWeirder the sort of things he normally dreams about]], or criticizing the movie ''Film/KateAndLeopold'' for [[TimeParadox not resolving the Grandfather Paradox]].

* And in ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy,'' Rocket explains that Drax's species is very LiteralMinded, so any metaphors will go over his head.

'''Sheldon:''' (''confused'') I'm just talking about bees. They're on the Creator/DiscoveryChannel. ...What are ''you'' talking about?\\

-->'''Tenebrae''':Allow me to explain. We Centurions, numbering eight in total... are the faithful servants of Lord Ratatosk, the lord of all monsters. We each belong to a particular element, and with the aid of the monsters under our control, we monitor the levels of mana in the world. You might call us the guardians of the world's mana.\\

* In ''Film/TheOtherGuys'', after Allen Gamble [[AnalogyBackfire backfires his partner Terry's analogy]] about how lions eat tuna by going on a long diatribe about how tuna would kick the lion's ass by ganging up on him and exploiting the fact that the African coast is dangerous, he then continues on to ramble how the tuna would evolve the capacity to develop PoweredArmor and they would march on land to kick more lion ass. By that point Terry is equal parts surprised, impressed and probably disturbed, and [[TalkToTheFist smacks Gamble with hiw own wooden gun in response]].
* In ''Film/{{Gunless}}'', Sean claims that a pistol is just a tool, not a weapon. While this sparks a arguement with Jane and Jack, the rest of the room gets quickly distracted on how you can kill people with different tools, whether a rock is a tool, and how you can kill someone with a rope.

* ''Machinima/RedVsBlue'':

* ''Series/DoctorWho'': In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS38E5FugitiveOfTheJudoon "Fugitive of the Judoon"]], when the Doctor encounters the Judoon squad attempting to destroy the Claytons' flat, she is understandably frustrated... but she seems more frustrated about trying to find something to rhyme with "Judoon". When she finally settles on "lagoon", it looks like it was a PainfulRhyme.

* ''WebOriginal/TwentyThousandTwenty'': In chapter 9, it's revealed that Juice is under the impression that the movie ''Film/AnalyzeThat'' is actually a book. As he's explaining UAB's strategy, he offhandedly makes the analogy: "it was like watching someone sitting on a park bench on a nice day, leisurely reading analyze that cover to cover". A couple paragraphs from him later, [[DelayedReaction Ten cuts in]], having processed what he was implying, and they spend a good while getting sidetracked by that and unearthing Juice's [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} bizarre train of thought]].

* ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'': In [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0516.html "Turning Azurite, I Think I'm Turning Azurite, I Really Think So"]], Tsukiko says that Thanh will understand the undead better once he's walked a mile in their shoes. To her annoyance, her wight starts worrying about the fact it doesn't wear shoes, and asks if this means it's going to get Thanh's shoes. (In subsequent strips, [[FunnyBackgroundEvent the wight is, in fact, wearing Thanh's shoes.]])

** Pinkie interprets everything [[LiteralMinded literally]], so she is sidetracked by ''all'' analogies, including her own. From "Fall Weather Friends", as she and Spike are co-announcing a race:

* [[http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=369 This]] ''Webcomic/QuestionableContent'' strip, where Faye compares niche music to unusual ice cream flavors, and Raven comments that Faye might want to [[YouAreFat cut back on the ice cream]].

* [[http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=369 This]] ''Webcomic/QuestionableContent'' strip.

** By ''Literature/UnseenAcademicals'', Ponder's realized that Ridcully does this on ''[[ObfuscatingStupidity purpose]]''. If the other person doesn't have the patience to walk Ridcully through the issue, it probably wasn't urgent or important enough to require his attention in the first place.

** In [[https://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots1207.html "Afraid So"]], negotations between Redcloak and [[spoiler:Durkon]] hit a snag when the latter mentions that the gods could [[spoiler:destroy the world]] without even blinking, causing the former to start questioning if deities even need to blink. Also subverted, as he quickly admits to understanding full well what [[spoiler:Durkon]] is trying to say, he's just not convinced by the arguement that the gods would be willing to do such a thing in the first place. Later, once Redcloak comes to the conclusion that the gods are terrified of his plan, [[spoiler:Durkon]] nervously asks if they can circle back to the blinking thing.

* ''ComicStrip/{{Dilbert}}'':
** The page quote demonstrates this trope in its most basic form. This shows up quite frequently -- Scott Adams has admitted bad analogies are a pet peeve of his.

* ''ComicStrip/FoxTrot'' had a strip where Paige had a math problem in the vein of "Lisa has X dollars and the store is selling a red sweater for Y dollars, a blue sweater for Z dollars, etc. How many different combinations of sweaters can she buy?" She calls the the problem "absurd" because it doesn't give enough information -- "It doesn't say what color her ''hair'' is, it doesn't say what color her ''eyes'' are...!" Jason, standing nearby, responds "[[StealthInsult This]] '''[[StealthInsult is]]''' [[StealthInsult absurd]]."

--->'''Kirito:''' What gives you pink hair and freckles anyway? Did like, your Irish dad get his dick stuck in a cotton candy machine? [[CargoShip Truly, theirs was a love that could never be.]] I'd see that movie. Sorry, what was I talking about?

* ''Series/{{Justified}}: When Raylan tells Wynn Duffy that he's going after Duffy's boss, Quarles:

* [[http://www.goblinscomic.com/06232006/ This]] ''Webcomic/{{Goblins}}'' strip begins:

* [[http://www.pvponline.com/2010/11/18/hatters-gotta-hat/ This]] strip of ''Webcomic/{{PVP}}'', where the characters get sidetracked by the fact that Cole says, "I'm here to apologize, hat in hand," yet doesn't actually have a hat.

* Similar to the above, an episode of ''LightNovel/SeitokaiNoIchizon'' 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 instead thinks about why the character in the story would be buying the certain items, and concludes that his parents are neglectful.