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Imagined Innuendo and Is That What They're Calling It Now?

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kundoo from the land of Mordor where the shadows lie Since: Sep, 2010 Relationship Status: What is this thing you call love?
#1: Aug 20th 2022 at 8:01:37 PM

Is there a significant difference between Imagined Innuendo and Is That What Theyre Calling It Now? I'd assume the former is accidental and the latter is intentional, but judging by the descriptions both seem to include both.

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MorganWick (Elder Troper)
#2: Aug 21st 2022 at 1:02:37 AM

Judging by the original YKTTW, the intended distinction (if there is one - note the person near the end who thinks we already had this one) might be whether the person imagining it considers themselves the target? But that seems to have gotten lost, considering the page quote. I thought maybe Is That What Theyre Calling It Now, as a Stock Phrase, might be limited to the circumstances where the phrase or a similar one appears, but a) I might just be making that up b) that might not be a real distinction and c) that might be belied by that page's quote.

kundoo from the land of Mordor where the shadows lie Since: Sep, 2010 Relationship Status: What is this thing you call love?
#3: Sep 5th 2022 at 9:43:19 AM

Ok, first of all, I realize now that there's a tread for asking about difference between tropes, so there was no need to make this one. But anyway, it's done, so I'll post here [lol] I did wick check for both tropes. Here's one for Imagined Innuendo. And this is for Is That What Theyre Calling It Now.

Imagined Innuendo seems ok for me. I did some hair splitting, but most of examples look like a valid interpretation of the trope's description. Some are about the mistaken character seeing themselves as a target of the Double Entendre, as Morgan Wick said, some are not. Almost all of them are about a genuine in-universe mistake.

Is That What Theyre Calling It Now, however, seems to have a problem. 64% examples are just tropers potholing to this trope whenever a euphemism is used (and not necessarily in-universe). Another 12% are the usage of the stock phrase. 10% are in-universe misanderstanding, i.e. Imagined Innuendo. Only 6% are about intentional misinterpretation (which means my initial assumption was wrong. However the examples that use the stock phrase might be added here, since it's usually said as a joke. I think.) So, do you, guys, think this should be brought to TRS, or am I overreacting?

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Noaqiyeum Trans Siberian Anarchestra (it/they) from the gentle and welcoming dark (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: Arm chopping is not a love language!
Trans Siberian Anarchestra (it/they)
#4: Sep 5th 2022 at 9:54:46 AM

No, that's a good case for TRS. Even counting the stock phrase use as a deliberate misunderstanding, almost two-thirds of its use is as a Pothole Magnet.

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kundoo from the land of Mordor where the shadows lie Since: Sep, 2010 Relationship Status: What is this thing you call love?
#5: Sep 5th 2022 at 11:13:04 PM

Ok, great, thanks!

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