Basic Trope: A character tries to pass a mistake off as a planned move.
- Straight: Alice falls over, knocks over a Priceless Ming Vase, and lands in a pile of wool. She says, "I meant to do that."
- Exaggerated: Alice claims she meant to flunk a test she had previously hoped to get straight A's on.
- Downplayed:
- Alice claims a half-intentional stunt was all-intentional.
- Alice claims a accidental stunt was half-intentional.
- Justified: Alice is not above lying and is easily embarrassed.
- Inverted: Alice claims something she meant to do was an accident.
- Subverted:
- When Bob says "Pull the other one," Alice says, "No, I really did mean to do it."
- "I meant to do that — thing I did before this, with the lollipop."
- Double Subverted:
- But she's lying.
- "But I meant to do what I did before, too."
- Parodied: Alice claims she meant to do something she obviously didn't, or Alice really DID mean to do "that".
- Averted:
- Nobody is clumsy.
- Nobody lies.
- Nobody lies about being clumsy.
- Enforced: This is Alice's first scene on the show, and the writers want to show she is klutzy, easily embarrassed, and not above lying.
- Lampshaded: "I don't think you did mean to do that."
- Invoked: Alice is easily embarrassed and not above lying and Bob trips her up.
- Exploited: Alice is not allowed to make mistakes, and she has made one, so she lies, and gets away with it as her friends are holding the Idiot Ball.
- Defied: Alice has sworn to never tell a lie.
- Discussed: "Why does Alice always lie and say she meant to do that? She isn't fooling anybody!"
- Conversed: "Why do these characters claim they meant to do something they obviously didn't?!"
- Deconstructed: There are only so many times this excuse works. Once Alice has used up her allotment thereof, she becomes a laughingstock, or worse, a pariah.
- Reconstructed: Alice becomes good enough at improvising that it doesn't really matter whether she meant to do something or not. Intended or not, things work out in her favor either way.
- Played for Laughs: Alice and/or other people incur Amusing Injuries.
I meant to take you back to I Meant to Do That.
