Basic Trope: A strange syntax utilizing vaguely descriptive terms for words.
- Straight: Bob calls a hologram projector a "glowy ghost thingy" in a moment when he can't recall the specific term (maybe after getting beaned on the head a bit too hard).
- Exaggerated:
- Bob can't even say even say "good morning" right. Instead he says something like "nice glowy-day-start-thingy".
- This way of speaking is a full-blown Newspeak Future Slang lexicon.
- The only words Bob is able to say, when he tries to speak, are "that thing", but still can understand words said by others.
- Downplayed: Bob gets most of the word right, referring to it as a "hologram projecting thing."
- Justified:
- Bob doesn't know the name of the gadget he's describing.
- At least, not in English.
- Bob forgot the actual name of the gadget, and is using vaguely descriptive terms instead.
- Bob has trouble reading or pronouncing certain words.
- Calling it a "hologram projector" instead of "glowy ghost maker" would leave Bob with No Time to Explain what it actually does to Charles.
- Inverted: Alice's actions paint her as a Dumb Blonde, but when she speaks she uses Little Professor Dialog.
- Subverted:
- Bob remembers the word midway through, calling it a "glowy ghost...uh, hologram projector!"
- Alternatively, he was referring to a nameless projector in development, and that's what they decide to name it.
- Double Subverted:
- He calls it the "glowy ghost hologram projector...thingy."
- He remembers the name for the hologram projector, but then refers to the ghosts as "creepy undead things."
- Parodied: Bob says nonsensical words by trying to describe the specific thing.
- Enforced:
- The authors get encouraged to write their dialogue this way to emphasise the characters' Fish out of Water status, and/or increase the realism of the work's dialogue.
- The authors are fans of Joss Whedon.
- Zig Zagged:
- Bob remembers the word midway through, but then states that the first term is more appropriate, even tries to quote the dictionary, but when he tries to refer it for another time, he forgets that word and tries to come up with another word that he did not use.
- Bob's way of speaking is portrayed as Sophisticated as Hell; sometimes he speaks in scientific terms, but sometimes he uses vague descriptions.
- Averted: Bob remembers the name for the hologram projector.
- Lampshaded: "I know what I want to say, but it's always at the tip of my tongue! So frustrating..."
- Invoked: Alice speaks this way to mask her intelligence.
- Exploited: Evulz exploits the additional three seconds it takes for Alice to make herself understood to perform an ambush.
- Defied:
- Alice looks up the definition of a word on her phone so she can use the correct word instead of awkwardly describing it.
- The executives of the In-Universe production that has writers using this kind of dialect for their characters order the dialogue to be changed to one that sounds more understandable by general audiences.
- Discussed: "It takes longer to make sense of what she's saying, but Alice is smarter than she looks."
- Conversed:
- "God, I hate this dumb trope where they speak in such bizarre syntax. Who does he think he is, a Joss Whedon character?!"
- "When that character called something a "glowy ghost thingy", he's talking about a hologram projector, right?"
- Implied: Bob always caries a dictionary, and search for words in it every time he talks with someone. Light suddenly goes off, while Bob is holding a lecture at night.
- Deconstructed:
- Alice is deemed stupid because of her lexicon and gets bullied.
- Alice's refusal to talk about things by their proper terms make people lose respect of her, mainly because she doesn't seems to be taking things seriously.
- Reconstructed: Alice demonstrates that she can talk fine, she just prefers to save it for truly serious moments.
- Played For Laughs: Alice is the Plucky Comic Relief and this way of talking is her major Running Gag.
- Played For Drama: This way of talking is revealed to be the result of aphasia that Bob developed after a serious head injury.
- Played For Horror: Bob is a Psychopathic Manchild and this way of talking is part of his lack of mental stability.
Back to... uh, the main trope thingy?
