Basic Trope: A character eats or drinks something they would have rather not consumed.
- Straight: Entering the kitchen, Jim sees a glass of liquid and gulps it down — only for Deanna to tell him it's vinegar.
- Exaggerated:
- Jim sees a glass of vile, bubbling green liquid and gulps it down.
- Jim sees some cake topped with gasoline, poison ivies, gunpowder, cyanide, and salt. He eats it without noticing the toppings. Not a few seconds later, he realizes he ate deadly food; but he then dies before getting treatment.
- Downplayed:
- "I almost ate WHAT?!"
- Jim drinks a vile-looking liquid, then learns some minutes later that it's just fruit punch with lots of misapplied food coloring.
- Jim lets out a quiet "Oh." before shrugging and walking away.
- Jim stops, and says nothing for a sec, before nonchalantly spitting the vinegar out into the sink.
- Justified:
- Jim is an Extreme Omnivore.
- Jim is extremely thirsty and will drink the first thing that looks like water.
- Jim has little to no sense of smell, and couldn't smell that the liquid was vinegar.
- Inverted:
- Jim shoves something in his mouth to hide it, not discovering until a moment later that it was actually food.
- Deanna makes Jim drink some mysterious liquid. Then she tells him it was just water.
- Subverted:
- Jim gulps down the glass, then pauses when Deanna tells him it's vinegar. A moment later, she admits it's just water.
- Jim actually likes the taste of vinegar.
- Double Subverted:
- Jim gulps down the glass, then pauses when Deanna tells him it's vinegar. When she admits it's just water, then he spits it out.
- ...Except, that wasn't vinegar, but a cleaning product kept in a recycled vinegar bottle.
- ...Except that was cleaning vinegar (too acidic for consumption), not cooking vinegar.
- Parodied:
- Jim chugs down a tin clearly labeled "Paint Thinner".
- Jim drinks something, thinking it's orange juice. Then Deanna tells him it was actually grapefruit juice. Jim is horrified.
- Jim not only downs an entire jerry can of gas, but then lights a cigarette.
- Zig-Zagged: Jim drinks the vinegar, but it's revealed that he's an alien, and his species can drink vinegar with no ill effect. Only...this particular bottle of vinegar had gone bad, so Jim gets sick anyway. But he gets better, by drinking rubbing alcohol.
- Averted: Jim smells the vinegar and doesn't drink it.
- Enforced: Jim's Spit Take after he drinks the undrinkable is a Running Gag for the Sit Comic.
- Lampshaded: "When Jim gets thirsty, he'll grab anything in a glass and chug it down."
- Invoked: Deanna deliberately leaves a glass full of ice cubes and vinegar on the kitchen counter just before Jim enters.
- Exploited: Jim the Mook is standing in front of Emperor Evulz's Master Console, enjoying a beverage. Deanna (tied up): "You realize that's vinegar, right?" Cue Spit Take and Explosive Instrumentation.
- Defied: Jim is careful enough not to drink any unknown substance.
- Discussed: "Appearances can be deceiving, kids. Check the label very well! If in doubt, don't drink this at all!"
- Conversed: "Watching people just drink the first thing they get their hands on is guaranteed comedy gold."
- Deconstructed: Jim's tendency to drink random liquids without hesitation wreaks havoc with his digestive system.
- Reconstructed: Jim's drinking of random liquids is noted to have caused him issues earlier, but he kept at it anyway and now he is immune to any digested poison.
- Played for Laughs: Jim accidentally drinks Klatchian Coffee and becomes hyperactive. Hijinks ensue.
- Played for Drama: Jim drinks poison by mistake and Deanna needs to Find the Cure!
Back to I Ate WHAT?!
