History Main / TooManyHalves

* [[HalfHumanHybrid Irwin]] from ''WesternAnimation/TheGrimAdventuresOfBillyAndMandy'' is described as half-human, half-[[OurVampiresAreDifferent vampire]], and half-{{mummy}} in the "Underfist" special. Truth be told, he's quarter-human, quarter-vampire, and half-mummy, but that doesn't really affect [[spoiler:his supernatural vampire-mummy powers]] anyway.

-->--'''Yogi Berra'''

* ''[[Film/HomeAlone Home Alone: The Holiday Heist]]'': When Sinclair's accomplices believe the house they're breaking in is haunted, they demand a bigger share than the initially agreed 25% for each of them. Hughes suggests 50% for him, 50% for Jessica, ''and'' 25% for Sinclair. They eventually settle for one third each.

* The "[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ninety-ninety_rule ninety-ninety rule]]" of computer programming, which is due to Tom Cargill of Bell Labs:

* When Creator/EricFlint expanded ''Literature/SixteenThirtyTwo'' from a one-off novel to a SharedUniverse, he set out to avert this trope, by laying down rules for what characters other writers could create. Otherwise, as explained in "[[http://1632.org/authors_manual/many_halves.html The Many Halves of Grantville]]":

* In a ''Franchise/StarTrekExpandedUniverse [[Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine Deep Space Nine]]'' novel, Quark bamboozles a trader into agreeing to a "sixty sixty" split, confident that any Ferengi arbiter would agree that, since 60% to both parties is impossible, 60% to Quark and 40% to his partner is a perfectly reasonable interpretation.

* One episode of ''Series/AllThat'' revealed that Music/BritneySpears is "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOXp35sDaTc half girl, half robot, half ravioli]]."

* ''Webcomic/LeftoverSoup'''s Ellen has a propensity towards this, as demonstrated both by [[http://leftoversoup.com/archive.php?num=8 her D&D 3.5 character]] (see Tabletop Games, above) and [[http://leftoversoup.com/archive.php?num=57 her description of the Filthy Hippie]].

* [[HalfHumanHybrid Irwin]] from ''WesternAnimation/TheGrimAdventuresOfBillyAndMandy'' is described as half-human, half-[[OurVampiresAreDifferent vampire]], and half-{{mummy}} in the "Underfist" special. Truth be told, he's quarter-human, quarter-vampire, and half-mummy, but that doesn't really affect [[spoiler: his supernatural vampire-mummy powers]] anyway.

* ''ComicStrip/Garfield'': The November 3, 2022 strip has Garfield state that he is half hungry, half sleepy and half bored. After a BeatPanel, he then adds that [[LampshadeHanging he is apparently bad at math]].

* In ''Marius'' (and the play it was based on), the bartender César tries to explain how to make a cocktail to his son Marius. Said cocktail contains one third of Curaçao liquor, one third of lemon juice, one third of Picon, and one third of water. When told by his son that it makes four thirds, he answers : "It depends on how big the thirds are !"

* Technically a subversion, but listing percentages over 100 isn't always a mathematical impossibility. While it's true you can't have, say, an object that's more than 100 percent pure gold, you can increase the amount of something by, say, 150 percent, equal to 2.5 times as much.
** Further, due to rounding, something that should add up to 100% can wind up adding up to 99 or 101 percent, or more/less, because the numbers presented are inexact.

* This can happen in ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragonsThirdEdition'' due to abuse of the various "half-x" templates. Some [[AllThereInTheManual supplementary materials]] try to Handwave this by say that species that can produce half-X templates [[ArtisticLicenseBiology have such strong genes]] that the template still applies even if the child is a quarter or eighth of that species, but that still doesn't account for the fact that certain half-x templates have full blooded counterparts as templates and that the baseline races that these templates can be applied to include various {{Heinz Hybrid}}s, some of which are stated to be distant descendants of said templates. This means that you could have a [[DepartmentofRedundancyDepartment Fiendish Half-Fiend]] Tiefling who was [[UpToEleven 153% Fiend and 97% Human.]] The solution? [[CuttingTheKnot Be the game master and veto the character.]]

->''"Some have challenged my mathematics that Phil Reeves is 1000% local. I stand by my statement 10000% :-)"''
-->-- '''[[UsefulNotes/AustralianPolitics Kevin Rudd]]''', via Twitter

* In ''Webcomic/ChainmailBikini'', Josh's character is half-human, half-ogre, and half-dark elf (due to the DM not vetoing his stupidly {{minmax|ing}}ed character, which includes three half-monster templates).

* This can happen in ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragonsThirdEdition'' and its derivative ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}'' due to abuse of the various "half-x" templates. Some [[AllThereInTheManual supplementary materials]] try to Handwave this by say that species that can produce half-X templates [[ArtisticLicenseBiology have such strong genes]] that the template still applies even if the child is a quarter or eighth of that species, but that still doesn't account for the fact that certain half-x templates have full blooded counterparts as templates and that the baseline races that these templates can be applied to include various {{Heinz Hybrid}}s, some of which are stated to be distant descendants of said templates. This means that you could have a [[DepartmentofRedundancyDepartment Fiendish Half-Fiend]] Tiefling who was [[UpToEleven 153% Fiend and 97% Human.]] The solution? [[CuttingTheKnot Be the game master and veto the character.]]

* This can happen in ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' 3rd edition due to abuse of the various "half-x" templates. Some [[AllThereInTheManual supplementary materials]] try to Handwave this by say that species that can produce half-X templates [[ArtisticLicenseBiology have such strong genes]] that the template still applies even if the child is a quarter or eighth of that species, but that still doesn't account for the fact that certain half-x templates have full blooded counterparts as templates and that the baseline races that these templates can be applied to include various {{Heinz Hybrid}}s, some of which are stated to be distant descendants of said templates. This means that you could have a [[DepartmentofRedundancyDepartment Fiendish Half-Fiend]] Tiefling who was [[UpToEleven 153% Fiend and 97% Human.]]

-->'''Prompto''': That thing's like, half-bird, half-storm, half-airship!\\

'''Kim:''' ''(annoyed)'' 120%, Bonnie.\\

* In ''Film/AngerManagement'', Chuck claims to be "half Jewish, half Italian, half Mexican." Which is actually possible, because Judaism (even culturally Jewish ''ancestry'' specifically) and Mexican/Italian heritage are not mutually exclusive--one of his parents could easily be a Jewish Mexican or Italian.[[note]]Since Jewish heritage follows the mother's bloodline, a person is either culturally Jewish or goy depending on the mother; the "half Jewish" bit could have been thrown in simply because YouHaveToHaveJews and RuleOfFunny.[[/note]]

'''Chuck:''' [[http://shawntionary.com/chainmailbikini/?p=39 That's not what I'm talking about!]]

* ''Series/StargateSG1'', when the team needed to use the power source of a bomb in order to power up the gate and dial out, Vala estimated a 70% chance they'd dial out and a 50% chance the bomb would explode. When Mitchell pointed out that this totaled 120%, Vala states that there's a 20% overlap where both happen, subverting this trope.

* This is always the case for betting odds, as it allows the bookies to make money. To see why this is so imagine a person who bets once on every possibility available. They have effectively bet on an event with actual probability 1, but since more likely events pay out less and the bookies odds add to more than 1, the person loses money to the bookie whichever result happens.

-->'''Luna''': Half of them are calling upon me to step down from my position, half are complaints about my competency, half are blatant attempts to curry favor through base flattery, and the rest are none-too-subtle hints of how our lines should be joined in matrimony at the first opportunity.
-->'''Celestia''': By my count, that is at least three 'halfs', sister.
-->'''Luna''': Yes. There may be some overlap.

[[folder:Film -- Live Action]]

-->'''Max''': Leo, how much percentage of a play can there be all together?\\
'''Leo''': Max, you can only sell one hundred percent of anything.\\
'''Max''': And how much of "Springtime for Hitler" have we sold?\\
'''Leo''': Twenty-five thousand percent.

* The Literature/{{Discworld}}

* An epigram by Creator/AlexanderPushkin describes one of his contemporaries as a "half-milord, half-merchant, half-sage, half-ignoramus, half-scoundrel, but there's a hope he'll finally be full".

* In the ''[[{{Gamebooks}} Give Yourself]] Literature/{{Goosebumps}}'' book ''The Deadly Experiments of Doctor Eeek'', one of the Bad Endings has you being turned into a half human, half-dog half-basketball, the latter taking the place of your head.

-->'''Mitchell''': Jackson, you get all that?
-->'''Jackson''': Yep. 100% chance we should have brought someone who knows what they're doing!

-->'''Harper''': It's half mystical mumbo-jumbo, half putrid poetry, and half bad math.
-->'''Rommie''': That's three halves.
-->'''Harper''': Like I said, bad math.

[[folder:Professional Wrestling]]
* Wrestling/{{WWE}}: Wrestling/MontelVontaviousPorter: "I am half-man, half-amazing, half-tag-team-champion... I'm so great, I'm the only man on Earth with three halves!"

* This can happen in ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' 3rd edition due to abuse of the various "half-x" templates. Some [[AllThereInTheManual supplementary materials]] try to Handwave this by say that species that can produce half-X templates [[ArtisticLicenseBiology have such strong genes]] that the template still applies even if the child is a quarter or eighth of that species, but that still doesn't account for the fact that certain half-x templates have full blooded counterparts as templates and that the baseline races that these templates can be applied to include various {{Heinz Hybrid}}s, some of which are stated to be distant descendents of said templates. This means that you could have a [[DepartmentofRedundancyDepartment Fiendish Half-Fiend]] Tiefling who was [[UpToEleven 153% Fiend and 97% Human.]]

* When Grace, Nanase and Ellen return from fighting Damian in ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'', Mr Verres's reaction is "half-overjoyed that nobody he cared about was seriously injured, half-enraged over their recklessness, half-exhausted after a long night, and half-relieved that the Damian threat was over".

-->'''Hynpotist''': You are all very good players...\\
'''Team''': ''[entranced]'' We are all very good players...\\
'''Hypnotist''': You will beat Shelbyville...\\
'''Team''': ''[entranced]'' We will beat Shelbyville...\\
'''Hypnotist''': You will give one hundred and ten percent...\\
'''Team''': ''[entranced]'' That's impossible. No one can give more than one hundred percent. By definition that is the most anyone can give...
* In the ''{{WesternAnimation/Arthur}}'' episode "Tales from the Crib", when the mischievous Tibble twins invent a monster to frighten DW from moving out of her crib.
-->'''Tibbles''': ''Aracnar, Lord of the Spider People.'' He's half-man, half-spider, and he eats children. He can't get his tentacles through the bars of the crib, but kids in beds are ''easy'' picking! He climbs up the side, and crawls under the sheet!\\
'''DW''': Wait a second! If he's half-man, half-spider, why does he have tentacles?\\
'''Tibbles''': ...uh, he's half-octopus too! And half UsefulNotes/TyrannosaurusRex!

[[folder:Other]]

* One standard email forward of student errors contains:
-->Handel was half German, half Italian and half English. He was very large.
* The "[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ninety-ninety_rule ninety-ninety rule]]" of computer programming, which is due to Tom Cargill of Bell Labs:
-->"The first 90 percent of the code accounts for the first 90 percent of the development time. The remaining 10 percent of the code accounts for [[ScheduleSlip the other 90 percent of the development time]]."
* This quote from [[UsefulNotes/{{Baseball}} Yogi Berra]]:
-->Baseball is ninety percent mental. The other half is physical.
* Creator/MiltonJones has a variation on this trope: he makes a joke about his granddad, and then about his other granddad, and then about his ''other'' granddad, continuing through about eight different granddads. He then later [[CallBack calls back]] to this by complaining about family reunions. "Too many granddads." The granddad jokes usually end with "My grand''mother''... was confused."
* A non-comedic example; an old post on ''Fundies Say the Darndest Things'' had a poster who claimed UsefulNotes/BarackObama was 50% white, 44% Muslim, and 12% black.

* ''USA Today'' published a ''Franchise/BackToTheFuture''-themed "Hill Valley Edition" on October 22, 2015, which ''Film/BackToTheFuturePartII'' noted as the day on which Doc Brown purchased a ''USA Today'' reporting on the arrest of Marty [=McFly=] Jr. The last story on the front page bears the headline, "Public more gullible than ever", and uses LiesDamnedLiesAndStatistics to detail an experiment from the [[FunWithAcronyms Sam Houston Institute of Technology]] apparently revealing how easily readers might mistake the paper's stories for actual events. The percentages add up to 110%, a gag that the story lampshades...by invoking this trope again.
-->Interestingly, 87% of the readers of this very article were unaware that the total percentages involved added up to more than 100%, demonstrating that basic math skills are continuing to decline. The remaining 22% didn't care.
* James Veitch of the ''WebVideo/{{Scamalot}}'' series from Mashable proposed the following split to a scammer named Mary Gary: Mary 40%, James 70%, Charity 20%, Charlie 1/5, James 20%, and Gary 35%. Mary Gary's only objection to this? "You put yourself twice."
* WebVideo/{{Vinesauce}}'s Vinny, in his stream of ''VideoGame/{{GoldenEye|1997}}: Source'' 5.0, said of his language skills, "I say big words from time to time. I make my own words the other half of the time. And then I say words wrong... like... the other... all the time." (beat) "[[LampshadeHanging I'm also very good with percentages.]]"

* In ''Film/WillyWonkaAndTheChocolateFactory'', Willy says "Invention, my dear friends, is [[{{Technobabble}} 93% perspiration, 6% electricity, 4% evaporation]], and [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking 2% butterscotch ripple]]." [[LampshadeHanging Mrs. Teevee points out that that adds up to 105%.]]

* An epigram by Creator/AlexanderPushkin describes one of his contemporaries as a "half-milord, half-merchant, half-fool, half-ignoramus, half-scoundrel, but there's a hope he'll finally be full".

'''Tibbles''': ...uh, he's half-octopus too! And half TyrannosaurusRex!

** In ''Literature/MenAtArms'' CMOT Dibbler's Genuine Authentic Soggy Mountain Dew claims to be 150 per cent proof. Of course, nothing [[HonestJohn Dibbler]] writes on a label can be considered any kind of [[{{pun}} proof]].