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** Alice asks for the date or weekday, and maybe even the month, knowing or assuming they can't be too far in the past and that question draws less suspicion.

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** Alice asks for the date or weekday, and maybe even the month, knowing or assuming they can't be too far in the past and that that question draws less suspicion.



** Alice also has to confirm that people still speak English in the future.

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** Along with knowing the year, Alice also has to confirm that people still speak English in the future.future so they can communicate.



* '''Averted''': The trope doesn't happen at all, as there aren't enough factors that allow it to happen.

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* '''Averted''': The trope doesn't happen at all, as there aren't enough factors that allow it to happen.'''Averted'''
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Created What Year Is This (I think I got most of it right, correct whatever if I'm wrong)

Added DiffLines:

'''Basic Trope''': [[Laconic/WhatYearIsThis A time-traveler asks a passerby what year it is after traveling.]]

* '''Straight''': Alice and Bob are sent back in time and ask a local, Robert, what year it is.
* '''Exaggerated''': Alice and Bob travel somewhen, ask a passerby what year it, leave, and do it again until they're in the year they're aiming for.
* '''Logical Extreme''': Alice demands Robert tell her the current month, day, and year in the Gregorian calendar system; the time in both Coordinated Universal Time and the local time zone down to the second; and the position of the moon, as of the exact point when she is done talking.
* '''Downplayed'''
** Alice asks for the date or weekday, and maybe even the month, knowing or assuming they can't be too far in the past and that question draws less suspicion.
** Alice goads Robert into a conversation until he discloses information on current events that indicate what time they've traveled to.
* '''Justified'''
** TimePolice Officers Alice and Bob have to follow protocols to make sure that they are in the right time period.
** Alice also has to confirm that people still speak English in the future.
** Alice is a {{Robot}} and needs to recalibrate her internal clock after the time shift.
* '''Subverted'''
** Robert gives them same date they left; so it turns out Alice built a [[{{Teleportation}} Teleporter]] instead of a TimeMachine and they're just two states over.
** After catching Robert's attention, Bob compliments him and asks where he got his hat.
* '''Double Subverted'''
** The teleporter took Alice and Bob to AnotherDimension where the Gregorian calendar was never invented and they're actually a few centuries off from when they think they are.
** Bob deduces what year they are in because the store Robert names is closed in the future.
* '''Inverted''': Robert has seen a lot of time travelers in his time and asks Alice and Bob what year they've come from.
* '''Parodied'''
** Alice and Bob appear to have gone back to DarkAgeEurope, but "Sir Robert" reveals its a RenaissanceFair twenty years in the future.
** Alyx and Beep traveled back to the same year from a more distant future and ask Alice and Bob what year it is.
** Alice and Bob traveled back to TheBigRottenApple and Robert is a {{Jerkass}} who just tells them to piss off.
* '''Averted''': The trope doesn't happen at all, as there aren't enough factors that allow it to happen.
** Alice's mom gives {{Exposition}} of what her plans were that day before Alice can ask where or when she is.
** Alice and Bob don't come across anyone in the time they travel to.
* '''Defied''':
** Alice and Bob knew what time they were going to before they got there.
** Alice has a universal clock that tells her when she has gone to and doesn't bother to ask Robert.
* '''Zig-Zagged''': ???
* '''Enforced''': Alice and Bob are characters in a historical EdutainmentShow and [[ViewersAreMorons need to make sure the kids know what time period they're learning about]].
* '''Lampshaded'''
** Robert tells Alice and Bob what year it is but comments on how odd their question is.
** Bob explains to Alice that time travelers ask the locals what year they're in all the time.
* '''Discussed''': "Bob, we can't just ask them what year it is. Who does that? We can't draw suspicion on us."
* '''Conversed''': "You built a clock into that thing, right Alice? Because I don't want to go around asking old-timey strangers what day it is."
* '''Invoked''': Alice didn't tell Bob what year they're going to just so she can do a StockPhrase.
--> '''Bob:''' You still haven't told me; where did we go to?
--> '''Alice:''' You mean "''When'' did we go to?"
--> '''Bob:''' ''({{beat}})'' You didn't not tell me just so you could do that one bit, did you?
* '''Exploited'''
** Alice and Bob travel to a time period where time-travel is [[CasualTimeTravel publicly available]] and this would be a reasonable question.
** Robert is an undercover TimePolice officer and arrests Alice and Bob in a sting.
* '''Played for Laughs''': Alice's faulty time machine gave Bob a little HarmlessElectrocution and he asks her what year he's in when he regains consciousness five minutes later.
* '''Played for Drama'''
** Robert's answer confirms that the time machine brought Alice back to [[TimeTravelEscape the day her father died]].
** Bob asks Robert for the year, only to recognize Robert as [[OneDegreeOfSeparation his estranged grandfather]] [[DisappearedDad who left his mother as a child]].
** The villain pushes Alice through a time machine while trying to [[SavingTheWorld Save the World]], and future Bob's innocent response confirms to her that there are hours left until TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt
* '''Played for Horror''': Alice and Bob ask Robert what year it is, but Robert...
** ...[[ItsQuietTooQuiet doesn't talk back]] and [[CheshireCatGrin just smiles]].
** ...[[DeadGuyOnDisplay isn't alive]].
** ...[[SkinWalker isn't human]].
* '''Implied''': ???
* '''Unparodied''': Alice and Bob have already gotten the year from Robert and relay it to Alyx and Beep when they ask them.
* '''Untwisted''': ???
* '''Deconstructed''': Robert gets confused on how anyone could not know what the year is and walks away uncomfortable.
* '''Reconstructed''': It was New Year's Day, so Robert gives Alice and Bob the benefit of the doubt that they lost track of time and tells them the new year.
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