Unclear Description: Cloudcuckoolander

The description is very confusing. The first sentence says "A character with their head in the clouds.", which are equivalent to absent-minded. Then the whole paragraph, including the fourth, just look like if they're too dumb to know/understand such thing, or if they don't really care. The third paragraph is no better, since suddenly it says Cloudcuckoolander are actually very intelligent but no understandable by normal person, which is again, twisting the reader's mind. Laconic version says that they're bizarre weirdo living in their own world, which looks like if they've got mental illness. Playing with page says "A character has a non-standard perspective on life." which looks like Blue-and-Orange Morality. Cloudcuckooland, which supposed to be related to it, says "Odd place with odd people." which means they're just odd.

To conclude, what is Cloudcuckoolander anyway? I think the description needs some rewrite to make it understandable, or at least, less Mind Screw.

Does that make this trope a Self-Demonstrating Article?

If that intends to be a Self-Demonstrating Article, we should at least add a version which a normal person can understand below the whole thing precisely. Or rewrite the laconic version, which is also very Mind Screw in my view.

If the description is not understandable in any way, then that's a bad one.

edited 2nd Jun '12 5:14:51 PM by tryourbreast

I personally don't see how the article is not understandable. It seems pretty clear to me. A Cloudcuckoolander is someone with their head in the clouds, a weirdo living in their own world, so to speak. People SUSPECT that the Cloudcuckoolander CAN be intelligent at times, but it never says that they're always like that. Heck, the article itself covers your Laconic complaint (which, by the way, seems unclear to begin with) in the 5th paragraph. When someone has a different perspective on life, it is much different from having a different morality on life; perspective does not equal morality. Also, on that Playing With subject, isn't that entire section based on giving examples of different types of a given trope? I'd personally say a good example of a Cloudcuckoolander is someone that has a different perspective on life.

I don't really think the article is unclear at all, personally.

I fail to see the problem here. It makes sense to me.

I think the laconic is clear enough by itself: A bizarre weirdo living in their own little world.

If you think the description is too long, we could discuss that I guess. Or if you think things could be phrased better, then go ahead and fix it.

If the laconic is right, then it's the first paragraph which needs some rewrite, in my view. Those examples, with the last sentence, are somehow... inconsistent, which should be the reason causing my confusion.

Being odd and living in his/her own world is different, isn't it?

The latter is a euphemism for the former. It is not literal, at least in this case.

Is it? I always thought it meant being absent-minded.

"in your own world" usually does mean vague or absent-minded. And Cloudcuckoolanders often are, but that's not really the main part of the trope, which is about having an idiosyncratic way of looking at the world.

But I agree with the OP; this article goes to great lengths describing different qualities that such a character may have without saying clearly what it IS.

It should start off with something like, "A cloudcuckoolander is a character who has a strange or idiosyncratic way of looking at the world."

edited 6th Jul '12 12:40:37 PM by Escher

> It should start off with something like, "A cloudcuckoolander is a character who has a strange or idiosyncratic way of looking at the world."

That's an euphemism for those weird people using their eyes instead of wikipaedia, right?

I like the current description. Seems perfectly clear to me.