Basic Trope: A character tries to spread information by getting someone to "eavesdrop."
- Straight: Bob talks to Charlie about how he hopes to take Alice out Friday and he hopes she has no plans while walking by a tree he knows Alice likes to lie against.
- Exaggerated: ???
- Downplayed: Bob talks to Charlie about how he hopes to take Alice out Friday and he hopes she has no plans while walking by a tree he's seen Alice lying against in the past.
- Justified: A mole is much easier to feed when the 'information' doesn't appear to be aimed at him/her.
- Inverted: ???
- Subverted: Bob talks to Charlie about how he hopes to take Alice out Friday if she has no plans, while walking by a tree Alice likes to lie against...but Alice went home with a migraine; she won't be there.
- Double Subverted: ...However, Alice's best friend Eva also frequents that spot, and Bob hopes that Eva will "overhear" him and pass the news on to Alice so she'll be free later in the week.
- Parodied: ???
- Zig Zagged: ???
- Averted: Bob tells Alice straight out what he wants her to know.
- Enforced: ???
- Lampshaded:Bob: The old "forced eavesdrop" trick. Works...enough of the time.
- Invoked: Charlie knows Bob is painfully shy around girls and talks him into airing his feelings about Alice indirectly before asking her out so that if she doesn't respond positively to the "overheard conversation", he can go his way without the embarrassment of being rejected after asking her on a date.
- Exploited: ???
- Defied:Charlie: There's always the old "forced eavesdrop".Bob: No. I'm going to ask Alice directly if she's doing anything Friday.
- Discussed: ???
- Conversed: "Ah, the classic "forced eavesdrop", what an old trope."
Well, you know about that link back to Staging the Eavesdrop? It's classified. Watch out; it would be awful if some troper were hiding in the hedges and heard us talking about it!
