Duplicate Trope: The Bore

So I launched The Bore last year and recently discovered the older trope Old Windbag, which is basically The Bore (and shares multiple examples) except it was never in the Boredom Index. I wouldn't have put The Bore up in YKTTW if I'd known that Old Windbag existed already and they should probably be merged; the question is just under which trope.

Thank you for bringing this up. I've opened the thread for discussion. But not for the reason you bring up.

Ok, with the mod hat off, I disagree that The Bore and the Old Windbag are duplicates. I believe that The Bore is a Formerly Missing Supertrope.

There are other ways to be a bore than to be tediously verbose on a subject no-one else is interested in. For instance, someone doesn't have to be long-winded if the only subjects they're interested in are of no interest to the other people around them. Or they simply don't let anyone else get a word in, even on a topic they are interested in. Or they only every tell the same stories — those stories don't have to be long to elicit eye-rolls and "not again!"s from folks who are hearing for the thousandth time. And so on.

Flesh The Bore Out with those, and it's the supertrope.

edited 15th Sep '14 5:14:21 PM by Madrugada

This is true! Characters can be a bore without talking at all, even—a day of Incredibly Lame Fun can do it too.

How does this sound?

"When you see this person at a party, you dive behind a potted plant. When you find yourself having to talk to them at work, you pray that there's still a full pot of coffee. This person is a source of dread to everyone in the main cast, and they will do almost anything to avoid them.

Why?

They are so unutterably, interminably dull. Usually, they are completely oblivious to the agony they cause, and often they're too nice for anyone in the cast to want to hurt their feelings, although this isn't always so. Some of them are aware of how uninteresting everyone else finds them and simply don't care, or they'll exploit the rules of common etiquette or a position of authority to "enlighten" their victims with their droning.

The Bore doesn't necessarily have to be talkative—maybe they just have the charisma of a wooden plank, saying nothing and doing nothing of interest. They're probably an enthusiast for Incredibly Lame Fun and take a keen interest in, say, the history of toothpaste caps. Perhaps they do have interesting stories, but tell them so often or in such a way as to suck all interest out of them.

Super-Trope to Old Windbag, a specific type of Bore who is (usually) old and known for telling really long, uninteresting stories."

Much better description. Super tropes are important things. Good job on spotting this one.

I would flip around a few sentences so that the first sentence indicates the trope on its own, otherwise I am fine with that.

Yeah, make the first sentence of the last paragraph the first sentence and it's perfect.

There are even enough examples that don't fit the sub trope on the page to make it clear there are more ways to do it. It really just needs that definition tweak.

edited 16th Sep '14 10:16:21 AM by shimaspawn

Excellent work, eowynjedi.

edited 16th Sep '14 10:40:07 AM by Madrugada

Yup, that's a good summary.

Okay, I updated the summary (and added a couple more examples while I was at it). Looks like someone went and added a page quote, too!

Is this done, then?

I'd say so. Locking up.