Basic Trope: A character says they need the bathroom in an abrupt manner.
- Straight: Alice says "I have to pee."
- Exaggerated: Alice says "I'm going to wet my pants if I don't get to a bathroom!"
- Downplayed:
- Alice says "I need to use the bathroom."
- Alice doesn't actually have to use the bathroom. She's using this as an excuse to leave somewhere she doesn't want to be in.
- Justified:
- Alice is a small child, a Kiddie Kid, an impolite person, or is having such a severe Potty Emergency that she doesn't care about politeness.
- The people Alice is with are so thoughtless and slow-witted that euphemisms are ineffective and they'd never understand that she needs to use the bathroom unless she explicitly said so.
- Inverted: Alice uses an Unusual Euphemism and says "I need to lower the water level".
- Subverted: Alice says "I have to—" but Bob shushes her.
- Double Subverted: But afterwards, she says "...Pee".
- Parodied:
- Alice says "I need to urinate".
- Alice tries to use subtle euphemisms to inform the others she needs to relieve herself. When they fail to understand what she means, she irately resorts to screaming "I got to take a piss, you idiots!"
- Zig Zagged: Alice fires out a Hurricane of Euphemisms but her friends don't get her, so in the end she says "I have to pee!".
- Averted: Everybody is polite in this setting or Nobody Poops.
- Enforced:
- The writers want to throw in some Toilet Humor as it is a Gross-Out Show.
- Mary, Alice's actor, didn't realize that the set was already live yet when she had to take an emergency break and the director decided to Throw It In!.
- Lampshaded:
- "Did you really just say you had to pee?"
- "Yes, I bluntly said I have to pee, but if you were in my shoes, you wouldn't have the patience to be polite about it, either!"
- Invoked: Alice has no access to a bathroom for a certain amount of time, she is a childish character, and Bob has offered her a Gigantic Gulp.
- Exploited: Alice's friends know that she has a habit of telling everyone she needs to pee, and they laugh at her as always when she does so.
- Defied: Alice is very strict about etiquette, even if she is in danger, let alone needing the bathroom.
- Discussed: "Alice really needs to learn some manners, when she needed to relieve herself, do you know what she said?" "She said 'I have to pee'".
- Conversed: "Why are these characters so straightforward about going to the bathroom?"
- Deconstructed: Alice is at a formal dinner with her boss and says "I have to pee", causing her to get demoted.
- Reconstructed:
- Alice's boss likes Toilet Humor.
- Alice's boss isn't one to punish employees for insignificant missteps, dismisses her straightforwardness and understands her need to answer nature's call was urgent enough that she didn't have time to be polite about expressing her need.
- Played for Laughs: Alice says "I have to pee" while a nun is nearby. Hilarity Ensues.
- Played for Drama: Alice says "I have to pee" in a serious situation which means she could lose her job or something similar if she seems too rude.
Back to Calling Your Bathroom Breaks
