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Misused: Alliterative Name

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Deadlock Clock: Feb 10th 2017 at 11:59:00 PM
Memers Since: Aug, 2013
#26: May 30th 2016 at 7:39:10 PM

We do not require Word of God for any other naming trope like Meaningful Name, Alternate Character Reading or Theme Naming and such. Writers do it, it's obvious and they don't need to go to a mic and say 'I did it' for us to notice it.

edited 30th May '16 7:42:16 PM by Memers

NoUsername she's only programmed to be very nice Since: May, 2012
she's only programmed to be very nice
#27: May 30th 2016 at 7:54:57 PM

The thing is that tropes like Theme Naming and Meaningful Name have context for what they're about, generally speaking, through aspects like personality and story. To write up an example you need to provide a bit of background to explain why it's meaningful or part of a theme, so there aren't many ZCEs.

Alliterative Name doesn't have that sense of purpose. They're easy to remember and pronounce, yes, but that's usually not relevant to the story... Since this is a common trope, it just ends up becoming a list of names. People Sit On Chairs, I guess. DiamondWeapon mentioned this earlier; the trope really just needs something to define it besides just being alliterative. My suggestion was having the alliterative name mean something in-story, but I honestly think anything could work, as long as it provides context.

edited 30th May '16 7:58:20 PM by NoUsername

eroock Since: Sep, 2012
#28: May 31st 2016 at 2:48:33 AM

[up] [tup] I think requiring an in-universe acknowledgement of the trope would get rid of the ZCE.

OP's suggestion to limit examples to works with a tendency for this trope will not have the same clean-up effect. [tdown]

shimaspawn from Here and Now Since: May, 2010 Relationship Status: In your bunk
#29: May 31st 2016 at 4:34:27 AM

Since forcing examples to be acknowledged In-Universe would give this trope 0 wicks, it would cut down on some of the abuse.

Reality is that, which when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away. -Philip K. Dick
Prfnoff Since: Jan, 2001
#30: May 31st 2016 at 6:39:23 AM

I think in-universe acknowledgement is the wrong idea for character name tropes. It's not unknown for Alliterative Name, as proved by this example on the quotes page: "Salladhor Saan is a good name for songs." But what kind of a statement is that? Most of the time, there doesn't seem to be any meaning to alliteration, in or out of the story, other than that it sounds neat.

AnotherDuck No, the other one. from Stockholm Since: Jul, 2012 Relationship Status: Mu
No, the other one.
#31: May 31st 2016 at 6:29:28 PM

It's not People Sit On Chairs because there's no context. People Sit On Chairs is when there's no meaning to it. If it has a purpose to make people remember it more easily, it has a meaning. Not a meaning for the story, but to the audience, so they can more easily remember what the characters they're reading about are named. It's basically Notice This for names.

I think it's enough if any kind of attention is brought to it, in or out of universe, or if it's a pattern within a work or by a creator (which would show it's probably not a coincidence).

edited 31st May '16 6:30:36 PM by AnotherDuck

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NoUsername she's only programmed to be very nice Since: May, 2012
she's only programmed to be very nice
#32: May 31st 2016 at 9:40:50 PM

Yeah, you're right about Chairs; it's not exactly what I was talking about. What I'm trying to get at, I guess, is that there's something "missing" from this trope. The only requirement here is that both names start with the same letter or sound, resulting in nothing but lists. If we add some kind of other rule, it'd help give it a bit more of a backbone: for example, having an in-universe or out-of-universe acknowledgement, or having alliterative names in a group to help distinguish each member. That's something I know most people here agree on.

Memers Since: Aug, 2013
#33: May 31st 2016 at 11:32:01 PM

Tossing it into trivia might work.

AnotherDuck No, the other one. from Stockholm Since: Jul, 2012 Relationship Status: Mu
No, the other one.
#34: Jun 1st 2016 at 4:50:41 AM

It's a trope, not trivia.

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shimaspawn from Here and Now Since: May, 2010 Relationship Status: In your bunk
#35: Jun 1st 2016 at 5:51:54 AM

Shoving it in trivia because you can't make it functional is not an answer. Right now this is trending to being 0% useful though. It's about as functional as a "trope" pointing out red chairs. There is no context in any example and just a scramble to shove some grasping at meaning in the description.

If we don't want to make it about a naming theme for a whole work and thus giving it some chance at context, we should probably just axe it.

edited 1st Jun '16 5:53:57 AM by shimaspawn

Reality is that, which when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away. -Philip K. Dick
Morgenthaler Since: Feb, 2016
#36: Jun 1st 2016 at 6:16:32 AM

[tdown] to the Trivia idea. This is not something that is "external to the work".

You've got roaming bands of armed, aggressive, tyrannical plumbers coming to your door, saying "Use our service, or else!"
Karxrida from Eureka, the Forbidden Land Since: May, 2012 Relationship Status: I LOVE THIS DOCTOR!
#37: Jun 1st 2016 at 11:24:29 AM

I'm with Shima. Axing it is probably the best course of action.

NoUsername she's only programmed to be very nice Since: May, 2012
she's only programmed to be very nice
#38: Jun 1st 2016 at 6:35:20 PM

That would probably be the only other option. Toss a vote into that pile.

eroock Since: Sep, 2012
#39: Jun 4th 2016 at 7:43:18 AM

Two First Names is another trope page facing the same issue.

edited 5th Jun '16 5:26:08 AM by eroock

war877 Grr... <3 from Untamed Wilds Since: Dec, 2015 Relationship Status: Having tea with Cthulhu
Grr... <3
#40: Jun 8th 2016 at 4:45:43 AM

Why don't we just add an example restriction? Please only list examples of works with multiple alliterative names, alliterative code names, or unusual examples.

AnotherDuck No, the other one. from Stockholm Since: Jul, 2012 Relationship Status: Mu
No, the other one.
#41: Jun 8th 2016 at 1:12:47 PM

I would include anything that's in any way referenced.

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war877 Grr... <3 from Untamed Wilds Since: Dec, 2015 Relationship Status: Having tea with Cthulhu
Grr... <3
#42: Jun 8th 2016 at 1:29:49 PM

When I said unusual examples, I was thinking playing with the trope. Referenced, in universe, word of god, played for laughs.

You know, basically anything where you won't be at a loss for some context to fill in.

edited 8th Jun '16 1:30:45 PM by war877

AnotherDuck No, the other one. from Stockholm Since: Jul, 2012 Relationship Status: Mu
No, the other one.
#43: Jun 8th 2016 at 4:36:31 PM

I figured. "Unusual" is kind of vague, though, and not something to define a trope after. It also means it's something that breaks a pattern, which is moving away from what a trope is.

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shimaspawn from Here and Now Since: May, 2010 Relationship Status: In your bunk
#44: Jun 8th 2016 at 9:35:44 PM

Also, remember that the problem is primarily on character pages. Examples that are added often without ever glancing at the main page. Any disclaimer there will do nothing.

Reality is that, which when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away. -Philip K. Dick
Prfnoff Since: Jan, 2001
#45: Jun 12th 2016 at 10:02:39 AM

I've seen the "unusual examples only" restriction on other tropes. It's often based on mistaken assumptions about the trope's commonality or uninterestingness, and even when it isn't, the restriction is hard to enforce.

war877 Grr... <3 from Untamed Wilds Since: Dec, 2015 Relationship Status: Having tea with Cthulhu
Grr... <3
#46: Jun 12th 2016 at 10:41:21 AM

The main reason I am against redefining this trope is that alliterative naming is a thing that authors actually do. Usually in the form of theme naming or code names, but something they sometimes do with select characters as well, just to up their aesthetics or improve memorability.

For this reason, I'd actually prefer an example sectionomy over a rename. I would like to preserve the documentation of this author's activity.

edited 14th Jun '16 9:08:18 AM by war877

shimaspawn from Here and Now Since: May, 2010 Relationship Status: In your bunk
#47: Jun 12th 2016 at 12:20:53 PM

Even if we cut examples, keeping them from being spammed on Character pages is impossible without a cut or rename. It's become a troper spam.

Reality is that, which when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away. -Philip K. Dick
Spinosegnosaurus77 Ramen Fairy from Ontario, Canada Since: May, 2011 Relationship Status: All I Want for Christmas is a Girlfriend
shimaspawn MOD from Here and Now Since: May, 2010 Relationship Status: In your bunk
#49: Jun 23rd 2016 at 6:40:40 PM

Calling crowner for rename and redefine.

Reality is that, which when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away. -Philip K. Dick
DAN004 Chair Man from The 0th Dimension Since: Aug, 2010
Chair Man
#50: Aug 24th 2016 at 5:01:11 AM

Then again, many title tropes talk about the structure of the title itself rather than what's behind the naming. Sure reasoning may exist but they're ultimately only implicit to what the trope focuses on.

Btw, making this into part of Theme Naming seems too limiting without a good reason.

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PageAction: AlliterativeName
4th Jun '16 10:27:38 AM

Crown Description:

Massive ZCE issues. Almost no wicks have any context at all.

Total posts: 77
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