Naming issues: Badass Bookworm

The issue about the name came up in the image pickin' thread; a lot of tropers seem to think that the trope is "Badass who reads a lot" (which is more of Genius Bruiser), when it's actually "a stereotypically nerdy character turns out to be a badass".

To this end, the names that have been suggested are Crouching Nerd Hidden Badass and Croching Geek Hidden Badass, as this trope is more closely related to Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass, the distinction being that in this trope the badassitude is masked by nerdiness rather than stupidity?

Thoughts?

Reaction Image Repository

Please don't change it from a "Badass" snowclone to a "Crouching/Hidden" snowclone. Those are no clearer.

edited 19th May '11 7:20:22 PM by Madrugada

...if you don’t love you’re dead, and if you do, they’ll kill you for it.

I was just posting the suggestions given in the image pickin' thread. They thought it got across the "nerdiness masks the badass" aspects of the trope about well. At the very least it makes it clear that the "badass" is hidden.

But yeah, there are probably better options out there.

Reaction Image Repository

It's more closely related at least.

Soft Geek With A Hardcore center?

Fight smart, not fair.

Surprisingly Badass Nerd?

EDIT: Wait, is that a snowclone of something?

edited 19th May '11 7:50:04 PM by Catalogue

The words above are to be read as if they are narrated by Morgan Freeman.

Not that I know of, and even if it is, it gets across the concept better then the current name seems to.

Is it actually being misused?

Yoshito Kikuchi, Will Smith's character in I Am Legend, bloody Nightwolf; I think so.

The words above are to be read as if they are narrated by Morgan Freeman.

I agree this needs changing. The current title has the alliteration going for it, but I made the same mistake of thinking it means "badass who reads a lot".

Most of the Badass X tropes are Badass who [arbitrary thing].

Fight smart, not fair.

Yeah, while we were trying to find an image we got a lot of submissions that were "badass person reading a book" which an overly narrow definition of the trope.

Surprisingly Badass Nerd is probably the most intuitive name of the bunch so far.

Reaction Image Repository

Badass Bookworm found in: 1781 articles, excluding discussions.

This title has brought 2,678 people to the wiki from non-search engine links since 20th FEB '09.

I think that will need a fairly high standard of misuse to be shown.

Creed of the Happy Pessimist:Always expect the worst. Then, when it happens, it was only what you expected. All else is a happy surprise.

More specifically, they are badass first and foremost, and the arbitrary thing is secondary. OP says that Badass Bookworm is the inverse — they're the "arbitrary thing" first, and a Badass second.

So a snowclone of Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass may not be the best of names, but at least it Makes Sense In Context.

An Ear Worm is like a Rickroll: It is never going to give you up.

That's not nearly as much of an issue with the custom title system; we don't have to go through and fix each individual wicks. Off the top of my head, a lot of people like to Badass Bookworm when they really want Genius Bruiser. I'd have to dig up specific examples though, and I don't have time at the moment.

Reaction Image Repository

Yes. Yes they do. The phrase "Badass Bookworm" does permit that interpretation, and Genius Bruiser isn't nearly as intuitive.

Hell, throughout the IP thread many (including myself) worked at least partially under that mistaken notion.

The words above are to be read as if they are narrated by Morgan Freeman.

We'd still have to do a manual rename.

Rhymes with "Protracted."

Custom titles are really just Call A Trope By A Different Name, not physical renaming.

And, one thing that bad custom titles do break is alphabetization in indexes (which is relatively simple to fix, but still).

edited 20th May '11 12:50:04 PM by Stratadrake

An Ear Worm is like a Rickroll: It is never going to give you up.

I just mean that it's not as bad as having to go and manually replace 2000+ wicks. We leave Badass Bookworm as a redirect, change it to the new name when we see it, and only use the new name for new wicks. After a while the problem should go away.

It would still be a hassle obviously, but it's not as much work as it would have been a few months ago.

edited 20th May '11 1:29:27 PM by JapaneseTeeth

Reaction Image Repository

Nerdy Skin Badass Within? Badass In Geek's Clothing? Or even Intel Outside?

I like the first the most, second the second.

Fight smart, not fair.

Those make it as though the nerdiness is a facade, and the character isn't really nerdy.

The words above are to be read as if they are narrated by Morgan Freeman.

Yeah, isn't it the other way around? I thought Badass Bookworm was for a nerd who was a badass, and Genius Bruiser was for a badass who was more intelligent than they looked.

I think of them more like this: Badass Bookworm is a nerd who is capable of badassitude feats. Genius Bruiser is a badass who indulges in nerdery. The former is nerd first, badass second. The latter, the other way about.

Something like "badass in the inside" suggests that the Badass Bookworm is badass at heart, which I don't think is quite accurate.

The words above are to be read as if they are narrated by Morgan Freeman.

Dude, you said it: Nerd First Badass Second.

...if you don’t love you’re dead, and if you do, they’ll kill you for it.

Hmmmmmmm... that actually sounds all right.

The words above are to be read as if they are narrated by Morgan Freeman.