Re-purpose so it's not just a stock phrase.: Screw The Pooch

Right now this is just about the phrase. And that seems to get it a risk mark for the cut list. So I'd like to make sure it's not just about that phrase.

Well what is the phrase about? Well it's basically a colorful way to call something a total screw up, whether it's someone calling something else a screw up, or characters admitting what they did was a screw up. So it's a dialog trope about wanting to emphasize how much something went wrong, by using terms of things that are really wrong (like what the current name is describing).

So we could expand it to several forms of this beyond the phrase (like SF Debris pointing out that the US Constitution preamble was stating the document was a do-over after screwing up with the Articles of Confederation, but using the term "crap sandwich").

Also, we can discuss renaming this to make it clear it's not just about that phrase anymore.

edited 14th Oct '11 2:57:07 PM by DragonQuestZ

You're right it is (and always was) about the phrase. Isn't the underlying concept more or less an Epic Fail But Lampshaded?

This would be a Sub-Trope, where people find even the term "epic fail" just doesn't make it seem enough like a failure. So it's like "what you did was as bad as bestiality with a small dog".

^ Sick and Wrong? Wrong On So Many Levels?

Those aren't specifically about someone screwing up. And the latter also needs to be repurposed to not be a stock phrase.

edited 14th Oct '11 4:47:49 PM by DragonQuestZ

While I've become a general supporter of super-tropes, I think that "People Messing Up" is a little too generic even for super-trope reasons, and that is all that Screw The Pooch really means. That or bestiality. I can't think that this has a use as a trope title.

Also, so far we've been grandfathering existing Stock Phrase pages. I think the status quo works.

Edit: I mistakenly said that this was a Permanent Redlink Club member. I was wrong.

edited 15th Oct '11 3:36:10 PM by Auxdarastrix

Did you read what I wrote in the OP. This is calling out a screw up, NOT a screw up on its own.

Sorry. I missed the last line about renaming. Nevermind me.

Okay, then. I admittedly sometimes do that in discussions as well.

This is still just a stock phrase. Under current policy, it should just be cut. The OP seems to be proposing making a completely different trope under a completely different name out of whole cloth, but that doesn't really seem like a reason not to cut this.

Yeah, I kind of agree. We might end up cutting this, if not making it a redirect for a proper trope.

Seems like the tropiest thing about this is calling someone (even yourself) out about screwing up. So the trope would be... Calling Out? Also a Missing Supertrope of Calling the Old Man Out.

Also What the Hell, Hero? (when it's used correctly) and possibly "The Reason You Suck" Speech and Hannibal Lecture.

That just makes it sound like Epic Fail But More So.

No, that would be "epic fail to a greater or lesser degree". This is "lampshading a failure in a colorful way".

Then we've got ... Epic Fail But Played With?

It's not always epic either. It's using colorful language when calling something a failure.

Well should we make a page action crowner? Option would include stuff like, Cut, Cut and make a new trope on ykttw, and Redefine.

Okay, I made one.

And the reason I say there should be an option to just rename and redefine, in case anyone brings that up, is that such a thing has been done here before. The main difference is that we just hammer out a new definition here instead of in ykttw. The fix is still done.

Crowner hooked.

Bumping for more votes.

The crowner seems to have stabilized, but it's also a bit too close to call.

Bump

Okay, it was for cutting some days ago, so we can call this. I'll clear out the wicks, and then put this on the cut list.

Done. There were fortunately few wicks, although there were 3 cases of major misuse.