Not Tropeworthy: Leap Day

Note: This thread was proposed by ~amathieu13, who gave permission to use their OP.

The page is written like a Useful Notes page and the Wick Check reflects that: 59% of all examples are just stating someone has a birthday on the day with no other meaning placed on it. So my first suggestion is to just convert the page into a Useful Note about the day (also fine with just cutting the page entirely, no Useful Note page creation).

Looking at the rest of the examples, there are a few patterns that pop up that may be tropeworthy and I suggest yarding these, or someone can bring them to the TLP to work on them.

• a gag or plot point that's about a character being technically younger than they are because their birthday only really happens every four years. there are 6 examples of this kind
• a Leap Year bday being used to characterize or justify why someone is Older Than They Look. there are 3 examples like this
• being born on leap year marking someone as unlucky or strange. there are 3 examples like this.
• An idea that is vaguely alluded to in some of the examples but isn't fully represented in any of them: angst related specifically to having a birthday that is unfortunately placed, i.e. on a date that technically only exists once every four years, a birthday that's overshadowed by a holiday, tragedy, or other important in-universe event, etc.

As for the page itself, I'm not quite sure what to do with it other than cut if/when the useful notes page is made. The only trope that I can see being even somewhat linked to as part of a disambiguation is Significant Birth Date, but even for that trope, most of the examples of meaning wouldn't fall under it. Other than that, nothing really comes to mind.

Anyway, making a Useful Notes page on Leap Day sounds good. I'll look through the trope proposals more closely later.

Move to Useful Notes for now, Yard/TLP Leap Day Birthday Angst, Leap Day Birthday Trouble or something like that.

Edited by Amonimus on May 3rd 2022 at 6:31:45 PM

Another vote for Useful Notes.

If we can gather enough examples, we can yard the birthday angst concept.

I mean the page already has plenty of examples, we just need to re-sort them to see if there are more than 10 that would fit the idea and consider the description.

Edited by Amonimus on May 3rd 2022 at 5:09:47 PM

The wick check went through every wick both on page and in wicks. There weren't that many.

What you see in the wick check is what there is and there are maybe 2 that can be converted as is to fit the birthday angst trope idea. Maybe. There are more examples for the age gag than the birthday angst one

Edited by amathieu13 on May 3rd 2022 at 11:33:27 AM

Useful Notes for the day, and something like Unique Leap Day Birthday as a trope sounds fine if there's enough examples (the "angst/trouble" thing sounds too limiting as sometimes it's merely just to make a character more unique).

Are there some examples that could be folded into Birthday Hater? Since there aren't that many that would warrant a new trope.

Yard whatever possible trope idea that comes from the examples and turn this into a Useful Notes page.

Leap Day should move to Useful Notes and a new trope can be yarded out of it.

Edited by Nen_desharu on May 3rd 2022 at 10:23:49 AM

I previously mentioned saving looking over the trope proposals for later, and I think all four are worth Yarding. The top three obviously have more to do with Leap Day, but the fourth still sounds like it's worth Yarding (it just wouldn't be specific to a single date).

I don't think that the Older Than They Look variant is different from the age gag, but it does separate from unlucky and Holiday Birthday Blues. I'm tempted to take the age gag stuff to TLP myself.

They are actually quite different, but I didn't know how to succinctly summarize the age gag thing.

In the age gag examples, it's basically about technical age vs real age, i.e. since the bday only occurs every 4 years, you can technically say a person who is 24 is actually 6. The character's physical appearance isn't relevant. This example from Theatre.The Pirates Of Penzance is a good example:

A major plot point for Frederic. The Pirate King attempts to get him back into the fold by pointing out that his apprenticeship expires on his 21st birthday, not in his 21st year, which wouldn't matter much except that he was born on the 29th of February and so his 21st birthday won't arrive until he's in his eighties.

Whereas for the Older Than They Look examples, it's someone using the idea to justify why a character is youthful either in appearance or in demeanor. This would be more of a characterization trope than the age gag one which is more of a plot or gag trope

Edited by amathieu13 on May 4th 2022 at 12:45:52 PM

I'm familiar with both Penzance and Host Club, which are both on the wick check. In one, a trick is pulled where the contract specifies the number of birthdays instead of how old they are. In the other, a Voodoo Shark explanation is given to say why the oldest member looks less than half the age of the youngest. It doesn't change anything about who they are or what they do, it's just a joke.

It would be like explaining Amazing Technicolor Population with "your mother really liked blueberries".

they're def related but to me they're still distinct trope types because the intention / narrative purpose is different. we can agree to disagree though. im not all that invested as I don't plan on TLP-ing or personally yarding these ideas

Chiming in with a Useful Notes vote.

Posting this comment to make public that I voted in favor of the proposition.

ignore this, I'm bad with days

Edited by amathieu13 on May 7th 2022 at 3:48:29 PM

Here it is: Sandbox.Leap Day 2. Is it good to swap?

I don't see any problems, but I'll wait for more input.

Edit: Starred the thread.

Edited by GastonRabbit on May 8th 2022 at 10:01:09 AM

looks good to me

I moved it to UsefulNotes.Leap Day.

Just 68 wicks to clean, so it shouldn't take long.