Basic Trope: When a character is very confused, annoyed, and/or shocked, they shout out "What?!"
- Straight: Alice and Bob are eating breakfast. Alice sips her tea and, as casually as if she were talking about the weather, she tells their daughter Claire that, "Oh, by the way, Bob and I will be adopting a baby within the next six months." Claire drops the knife she was using to put honey on her toast and shouts, "What?!"
- Exaggerated:
- Claire's "WHAT??!!!!!!" is so loud, people on the other side of the world can hear it.
- Whenever anyone is even remotely confused, annoyed or shocked they say "What?!" very loudly.
- When Alice and Bob go on to explain about the adoption, Claire replies "What?!" to everything they say.
- Downplayed:
- Claire raises her voice slightly to say "Wha-what?!"
- Defensive "What?"
- Justified: Adoption is a big deal and the idea that her mother would be breaking the news so casually is such a surprise and so confusing to Claire that she thinks she must have misheard.
- Inverted: Claire whispers "what?"
- Subverted: Claire loudly shouts "WHA-" but then is told "Shh, the neighbors are sleeping in", so she says "What?" in a normal voice.
- Double Subverted: But then when Alice adds in "Oh, and Bob won the lottery, too", Claire says "WHAT?!".
- Parodied: The reason Claire shouts is because the Big Bad just revealed a death machine... which is sound activated, triggering a devastating chain reaction.
- Zigzagged: Claire rants about how unusual Alice's remark was, throwing in several "What"s of various volume.
- Averted:
- Claire doesn't say "What?" or says it in a normal voice.
- Flat "What"
- Enforced: "Claire would be surprised by something like this, and we don't want to start Narrating the Obvious, so make her yell 'WHAT' instead."
- Invoked: Alice and Bob decide to be casual about their adoption in hopes Claire will say what like that.
- Exploited: Alice abuses Claire's tendency to shout so loudly in order to wake up a deep sleeper.
- Defied: Claire decides there is no point in shouting out "What?!"
- Discussed: "Why did you shout what like that, Claire?"
- Conversed: "Why do characters always shout what like that?"
- Played for Laughs: This is Claire's Catchphrase.
- Played for Drama: Someone says one of these when something very bad happens, complete with crying.
Back to Big "WHAT?!"
