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Ambiguous Name: Not Good With People

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To-do list:

  • Not Good With People was renamed to Better with Non-Human Company. Keep examples that refer to the proper definition (people who are better with non-human beings/organisms than they are with other people), move examples that belong under No Social Skills accordingly, and remove examples that don't fit elsewhere.
    • Clean up on-page examples.
    • Clean up wicks.

    Original post 
I had long suspected this trope suffered from misuse because of the name since I've misused it myself a few times and had to correct it after double checking the page.

What the trope is: A person who is so socially awkward / anti-social that they get along better with plants and animals than with people.

What the trope isn't: Just a socially awkward / anti-social / standoffish person.

Wick check confirms the misuse. Out of 51 examples, only 27% were correct and 49% were misused to describe just a socially awkward/anti-social person. the rest of the examples were ZCE (14%) or too ambiguous to call either way (10%).

Suggestion: Rename to make it clearer what the trope is about.

Wick check:

Definition: A socially awkward person shows more of an affinity with plants and animals than with people

Wicks Checked: 51

  • Correct - 14 (27%)
  • Just socially awkward/anti-social - 25 (49%)
  • Unclear - 5 (10%)
  • ZCE - 7 (14%)

Note: potholes will have the trope name in parentheses and the text it potholed highlighted in green.


     Correct 
  • Comic Book/Marsupilami - Friend to All Living Things: Noé, the clown/animal tamer. While he is Not Good With People, he gets along famously with any and all animals.
  • Except It Abide in the Vine: Barnes is pretty asocial, for Winter Soldier trauma-related reasons, but he is devoted to his dog.
  • Heart To Heart: With Pokemon, Zoe is confident and sweet and caring. But put a new person in front of her, and Zoe is immediately flustered, tripping over her own tongue and blushing and just an absolute mess. Law finds it both adorable and frustrating.
  • Xandri Corelel: Xandri is great at reading aliens' body language and establishing a connection with previously uncontacted races, but she finds her own species to be by far the most confusing. She's reluctant to work with the Anmerilli partly because they look too human for her to be comfortable with them.
  • Aggretsuko – Carrier Man Trading Company - Resasuke: He is impressively talented when it come to taking care of plants, but his social skills are somewhat lacking to say the least. He doesn't just misread situations, he outright misses them, as seen on his date with Retsuko.
  • Hates Being Alone - Description: ...expect them to cling to any of their friends (including (Not Good With People) pets/plants/inanimate objects) like a lifeline in order to escape their feelings of desolation.
  • Why Not Janice? - Crazy Cat Lady: A sympathetic, sometimes reasonable example. Part of her Not Good With People character traits. Generally expressed in a "I love cats more than people !"
  • Crocodile Hunter: An extremely mild example. Steve had no trouble making friends everywhere he went, but he always tended to be most comfortable in the bush with animals, and he had an uncommon intuition with wildlife and the wilderness that was showcased in his documentary work. Steve and Me shows that he was on the shy side whenever he wasn't out in the wilderness or working with animals, but he began to show the "grumpy" side of this trope near the end of his life after several bouts of negative media attention.
    "Crocodiles are easy. They try to kill and eat you. People are harder. Sometimes they pretend to be your friend first."
  • The Simpsons S 31 E 22 Way Of The Dog: The dog psychiatrist, Elaine Wolff, treats dogs with kindness and understanding, but is nothing but rude to their owners. She also keeps spurning a suitor's attempts to propose to her because she's too busy with her canine clients.
  • Friend to All Living Things - Deconstructed: Because Alice has got such a good bond with animals, (Not Good With People) she has trouble making human friends.
  • Three Leaves, Three Colors: Teru is basically a misanthrope who is a Friend to All Living Things.
  • The Try Guys - Eugene: Eugene is generally grouchy and averse to affection. However, around animals, he's an absolute sweetheart and is very affectionate. He's said that the reason he prefers animals to people is because animals don't judge him because of his race.
  • The Lorax (2012) - The Once-ler: He ironically seems to be more comfortable around the animals than other people.
  • The End Times: Vermintide - Victor: Very Downplayed - Lohner's Pricking Thumbs journal has him apparently having gotten a cat, though Lohner notes he still seems as uncomfortable with petting it and therefore showing affection as one would expect Victor would be. It's also the only cat that can apparently stand him smiling too, so calling Saltzpyre good with animals would remain a stretch. He's also healing up a rat that his cat hurt.

     misuse - Just socially awkward/anti-social 
  • Mana Khemia: Alchemists of Al-Revis - Vayne: His bio states his dislikes as "People in general". Unfortunately for him, Flay and the others don't really give him a choice about hanging out with them and...well, see Extreme Doormat above.
  • Pact: Jacob's Bell Powers - Rose: She doesn't really have much practice making or keeping friends, even though she's not bad with the concept of dealing with people (she did get training in being a Manipulative Bitch). She's not horrible at friendship, either; just very unsure about the whole process and constantly on eggshells, for all she finds it a remarkable experience once she actually does get some. There turns out to be a very good reason for all that: Blake got all the experience and memories of ever having had any friends. Including within the family. Rose was robbed of this section of their life: all that envy was probably realising this on some level.]
  • RWBY: Ruby Rose: By her own admission, she prefers to let her weapons speak for her. Yang does try her best to help Ruby grow out of it by forcing her to make friends, but it only starts happening when she's made team leader. She grows out of it by Volume 4.
  • Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains - Russel: To Danielle, a fellow former finalist, on the jury:
    Russell: "I'm not going to sit here and tell you what you want to hear; I'm going to tell you the truth."
  • Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist: Zoey's very much an introvert who prefers code to people. This becomes exceptionally uncomfortable when her ability forces her to engage with people on a deep emotional level. In fact, one episode lampshades that she often can't tell what other people are feeling unless they're putting on a literal song and dance about it in front of her, and has her working to overcome that and pay more attention outside of heart songs.
  • According to Greta: Only makes one friend over the whole period being in New Jersey. She lampshades it with saying she always says the wrong thing.
  • Justice League (2017) - Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Being Not Good With People, Batman is not the best person to get everyone working together. Cyborg and Aquaman have their own issues and concerns. Lucky for him Wonder Woman is already on his side and Flash Jumped at the Call.
  • The Happening - Cloud Cuckoolander: Mrs. Jones is (supposed to be) a non-comedic example. She has obviously lived in isolation for many years, and displays misanthropic behavior and (Not Good With People) truly terrible social skills (she even accuses Elliot of planning to murder her in her sleep for no reason at all). She even flips out at Elliot trying to examine the doll on her bed (which presumably represents her younger self, given she alleges it's her face, and she was apparently hiding nearby to see if Elliot approached it) and orders him to leave at once. Clearly she has some serious mental problems.
  • The Overstory - Determined Defeatist: Everyone, but especially Patricia, who becomes convinced that humanity won't be able to save the trees. but devotes herself to trying anyways. Despite her Not Good With People tendencies, she deeply admires humanity because of this trope.
  • Goodnight Punpun: Every major character in the story has some issues with people or dealing with others. Punpun and Aiko, in particular, are the greatest examples of this.
  • Otaku no Musume-san: Kimiko is a rather extreme case, to the point where she abandoned her own daughter, Taeko. She does, however, have an excuse for this.
  • Live-Action TV - Sherlock: The main character himself. Although handsome, intelligent and insufferable about it and the world's greatest detective, he's (Not Good With People) no good at dealing with other people, even his friends, at times. However, he awkwardly (and genuinely) acknowledges his friend's bravery after the whole bomb vest thing.
  • Miraculous Ladybug S02E13 "Zombizou" - Never My Fault: Chloé spends the entire episode refusing to admit ever doing anything wrong (even when nearly the whole class gangs up on her for her actions), lashing out at the people around her over every foible and embarrassment. She eventually does apologize to Miss Bustier at the end of the episode (Not Good With People) when she thinks all of her classmates are not there to see (since she did not know that Marinette and Adrien were watching), admitting she was feeling guilty for forgetting Miss Bustier's birthday and not getting her a gift.
  • Anima Solus - Samuel: Since he only lives with his sister, she's honestly the only person he interacts with outside of school, due to his general distrust of people that don't have the same liberal access to monetary support that he does. Kind of stupid when it comes to people or more practical things, Samuel is really just lonely.
  • Angry Birds - Mighty Eagle: He's a grumpy old hermit who lives alone on a mountain.
  • Transformers: EarthSpark: Bumblebee isn't really a people person and tends to come off as an arrogant Know-It-All. It's so bad that he has to get advice from four separate Cybertronians and humans on how to deal with the Terrans in "Moo-ving In".
  • Tripping Over You - Nice Jewish Boy: Averted with Liam. Sure, at the core he is a decent kid, but around that core are layers and layers of cynical snark, (Not Good With People) social ineptitude, and quite some temper.
  • Protectors of the Plot Continuum: Some agents aren't very good with people. Agent Tasmin is a good example of this.
  • The Confines of the Crown: Prince Nazagi, mainly due to the fact that his sight is so bad without glasses that he can't read visual cues, like emotions or body language. He usually gets his valet to do the talking for him.
  • Always Remember Me - Dr. Jerk: Eddy seems like this at first, but turns out to just be Not Good With People.
  • Anime & Manga - Case Closed: The flighty and boy-crazy Sonoko Suzuki ultimately swears by the trope as her long-distance boyfriend is the dorky Gentle Giant Makoto Kyougoku, who is Not Good With People but is pretty much his White Knight to her White Lady.
  • Station Eleven: Clark is actually good at manipulating people, but he's had to develop this skill because he has no natural charisma. In fact, he has an irrational belief that no matter what he does, people instinctively hate him. This is contrast to his friend Arthur, whom everyone loves the moment they meet him.
  • The Falcon and the Winter Soldier: Upon meeting Karli for the first time, Bucky, who has mistaken her for a hostage, greets her kindly and asks her in a concerned tone if she's alright. He even returns her (slightly creepy) smile. Granted, the situation didn't turn out very well, but hey—points to (Not Good With People) Bucky for at least trying to help what he initially thought was a young girl in trouble.
  • The ColSec Trilogy: Samella calls Cord out for being socially naïve in Exiles.
  • Totor Verse - Jerkass: He doesn't act very nicely with the people around him. Not because of a malicious intent though, he just runs on Brutal Honesty and Not Good With People. His lack of expressinevess doesn't really help matters.

    unclear  
  • Katsugeki/Touken Ranbu: The entirety of the brief socially awkward exchange between Honebami and (Not Good With People) Yamanbagiri in the next episode preview in which Yamanbagiri acts vaguely Tsundere while praising Honebami. Doubles as Heartwarming Moments. — since this distinguishes b/w No Social Skills and Not Good With People, indicates that Honebami may actually fit the trope, but can't tell from the example as written.
  • Princess Tutu - Beast in the Building: Subverted. Ahiru attempts to deliver a letter to Mytho in her duck form by breaking into the boys' locker room, hiding so as not to get caught and thrown out. The (Not Good With People) normally gruff Fakir finds her there, causing her to flush with embarrassment and expect the worst. However, he is surprisingly gentle with her (thinking she's just a dumb duck), bringing her back outside before feeding her breadcrumbs, only lightly scolding her for being silly enough to think she would find food in there. This is the first hint that he is actually a Jerk with a Heart of Gold.
  • The Beastmaster: The How to Train Your Dragon 2, set after a five year Time Skip, presents two others of note. (Not Good With People) One hermit independently worked out techniques similar to Hiccup's when the latter was a baby and guards a hidden dragon sanctuary, while a vicious warlord managed to brutalize a hatchling into submission decades ago and now uses a Kaiju with mind-control powers as a linchpin in his horde of warbeasts.
  • Plants vs. Zombies: Crazy Dave demonstrates this in "I, Zombie", in which he agrees to let zombies practice attacking your house, as long as no plants are harmed. Thanks, neighbor. — this doesn't say whether or not Dave is awkward. just that he values plants more than people.
  • Yandere Simulator - Main Characters - Senpai: Downplayed. He prefers nature, classical music, and a good book to spending time with other people. That said, while he's introverted, he's a Nice Guy who happens to become a Chick Magnet over the course of the game.

    ZCE 

Edited by GastonRabbit on Apr 19th 2023 at 11:12:29 AM

amathieu13 Since: Aug, 2013
#1: Apr 7th 2023 at 9:32:10 PM

To-do list:

  • Not Good With People was renamed to Better with Non-Human Company. Keep examples that refer to the proper definition (people who are better with non-human beings/organisms than they are with other people), move examples that belong under No Social Skills accordingly, and remove examples that don't fit elsewhere.
    • Clean up on-page examples.
    • Clean up wicks.

    Original post 
I had long suspected this trope suffered from misuse because of the name since I've misused it myself a few times and had to correct it after double checking the page.

What the trope is: A person who is so socially awkward / anti-social that they get along better with plants and animals than with people.

What the trope isn't: Just a socially awkward / anti-social / standoffish person.

Wick check confirms the misuse. Out of 51 examples, only 27% were correct and 49% were misused to describe just a socially awkward/anti-social person. the rest of the examples were ZCE (14%) or too ambiguous to call either way (10%).

Suggestion: Rename to make it clearer what the trope is about.

Wick check:

Definition: A socially awkward person shows more of an affinity with plants and animals than with people

Wicks Checked: 51

  • Correct - 14 (27%)
  • Just socially awkward/anti-social - 25 (49%)
  • Unclear - 5 (10%)
  • ZCE - 7 (14%)

Note: potholes will have the trope name in parentheses and the text it potholed highlighted in green.


     Correct 
  • Comic Book/Marsupilami - Friend to All Living Things: Noé, the clown/animal tamer. While he is Not Good With People, he gets along famously with any and all animals.
  • Except It Abide in the Vine: Barnes is pretty asocial, for Winter Soldier trauma-related reasons, but he is devoted to his dog.
  • Heart To Heart: With Pokemon, Zoe is confident and sweet and caring. But put a new person in front of her, and Zoe is immediately flustered, tripping over her own tongue and blushing and just an absolute mess. Law finds it both adorable and frustrating.
  • Xandri Corelel: Xandri is great at reading aliens' body language and establishing a connection with previously uncontacted races, but she finds her own species to be by far the most confusing. She's reluctant to work with the Anmerilli partly because they look too human for her to be comfortable with them.
  • Aggretsuko – Carrier Man Trading Company - Resasuke: He is impressively talented when it come to taking care of plants, but his social skills are somewhat lacking to say the least. He doesn't just misread situations, he outright misses them, as seen on his date with Retsuko.
  • Hates Being Alone - Description: ...expect them to cling to any of their friends (including (Not Good With People) pets/plants/inanimate objects) like a lifeline in order to escape their feelings of desolation.
  • Why Not Janice? - Crazy Cat Lady: A sympathetic, sometimes reasonable example. Part of her Not Good With People character traits. Generally expressed in a "I love cats more than people !"
  • Crocodile Hunter: An extremely mild example. Steve had no trouble making friends everywhere he went, but he always tended to be most comfortable in the bush with animals, and he had an uncommon intuition with wildlife and the wilderness that was showcased in his documentary work. Steve and Me shows that he was on the shy side whenever he wasn't out in the wilderness or working with animals, but he began to show the "grumpy" side of this trope near the end of his life after several bouts of negative media attention.
    "Crocodiles are easy. They try to kill and eat you. People are harder. Sometimes they pretend to be your friend first."
  • The Simpsons S 31 E 22 Way Of The Dog: The dog psychiatrist, Elaine Wolff, treats dogs with kindness and understanding, but is nothing but rude to their owners. She also keeps spurning a suitor's attempts to propose to her because she's too busy with her canine clients.
  • Friend to All Living Things - Deconstructed: Because Alice has got such a good bond with animals, (Not Good With People) she has trouble making human friends.
  • Three Leaves, Three Colors: Teru is basically a misanthrope who is a Friend to All Living Things.
  • The Try Guys - Eugene: Eugene is generally grouchy and averse to affection. However, around animals, he's an absolute sweetheart and is very affectionate. He's said that the reason he prefers animals to people is because animals don't judge him because of his race.
  • The Lorax (2012) - The Once-ler: He ironically seems to be more comfortable around the animals than other people.
  • The End Times: Vermintide - Victor: Very Downplayed - Lohner's Pricking Thumbs journal has him apparently having gotten a cat, though Lohner notes he still seems as uncomfortable with petting it and therefore showing affection as one would expect Victor would be. It's also the only cat that can apparently stand him smiling too, so calling Saltzpyre good with animals would remain a stretch. He's also healing up a rat that his cat hurt.

     misuse - Just socially awkward/anti-social 
  • Mana Khemia: Alchemists of Al-Revis - Vayne: His bio states his dislikes as "People in general". Unfortunately for him, Flay and the others don't really give him a choice about hanging out with them and...well, see Extreme Doormat above.
  • Pact: Jacob's Bell Powers - Rose: She doesn't really have much practice making or keeping friends, even though she's not bad with the concept of dealing with people (she did get training in being a Manipulative Bitch). She's not horrible at friendship, either; just very unsure about the whole process and constantly on eggshells, for all she finds it a remarkable experience once she actually does get some. There turns out to be a very good reason for all that: Blake got all the experience and memories of ever having had any friends. Including within the family. Rose was robbed of this section of their life: all that envy was probably realising this on some level.]
  • RWBY: Ruby Rose: By her own admission, she prefers to let her weapons speak for her. Yang does try her best to help Ruby grow out of it by forcing her to make friends, but it only starts happening when she's made team leader. She grows out of it by Volume 4.
  • Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains - Russel: To Danielle, a fellow former finalist, on the jury:
    Russell: "I'm not going to sit here and tell you what you want to hear; I'm going to tell you the truth."
  • Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist: Zoey's very much an introvert who prefers code to people. This becomes exceptionally uncomfortable when her ability forces her to engage with people on a deep emotional level. In fact, one episode lampshades that she often can't tell what other people are feeling unless they're putting on a literal song and dance about it in front of her, and has her working to overcome that and pay more attention outside of heart songs.
  • According to Greta: Only makes one friend over the whole period being in New Jersey. She lampshades it with saying she always says the wrong thing.
  • Justice League (2017) - Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Being Not Good With People, Batman is not the best person to get everyone working together. Cyborg and Aquaman have their own issues and concerns. Lucky for him Wonder Woman is already on his side and Flash Jumped at the Call.
  • The Happening - Cloud Cuckoolander: Mrs. Jones is (supposed to be) a non-comedic example. She has obviously lived in isolation for many years, and displays misanthropic behavior and (Not Good With People) truly terrible social skills (she even accuses Elliot of planning to murder her in her sleep for no reason at all). She even flips out at Elliot trying to examine the doll on her bed (which presumably represents her younger self, given she alleges it's her face, and she was apparently hiding nearby to see if Elliot approached it) and orders him to leave at once. Clearly she has some serious mental problems.
  • The Overstory - Determined Defeatist: Everyone, but especially Patricia, who becomes convinced that humanity won't be able to save the trees. but devotes herself to trying anyways. Despite her Not Good With People tendencies, she deeply admires humanity because of this trope.
  • Goodnight Punpun: Every major character in the story has some issues with people or dealing with others. Punpun and Aiko, in particular, are the greatest examples of this.
  • Otaku no Musume-san: Kimiko is a rather extreme case, to the point where she abandoned her own daughter, Taeko. She does, however, have an excuse for this.
  • Live-Action TV - Sherlock: The main character himself. Although handsome, intelligent and insufferable about it and the world's greatest detective, he's (Not Good With People) no good at dealing with other people, even his friends, at times. However, he awkwardly (and genuinely) acknowledges his friend's bravery after the whole bomb vest thing.
  • Miraculous Ladybug S02E13 "Zombizou" - Never My Fault: Chloé spends the entire episode refusing to admit ever doing anything wrong (even when nearly the whole class gangs up on her for her actions), lashing out at the people around her over every foible and embarrassment. She eventually does apologize to Miss Bustier at the end of the episode (Not Good With People) when she thinks all of her classmates are not there to see (since she did not know that Marinette and Adrien were watching), admitting she was feeling guilty for forgetting Miss Bustier's birthday and not getting her a gift.
  • Anima Solus - Samuel: Since he only lives with his sister, she's honestly the only person he interacts with outside of school, due to his general distrust of people that don't have the same liberal access to monetary support that he does. Kind of stupid when it comes to people or more practical things, Samuel is really just lonely.
  • Angry Birds - Mighty Eagle: He's a grumpy old hermit who lives alone on a mountain.
  • Transformers: EarthSpark: Bumblebee isn't really a people person and tends to come off as an arrogant Know-It-All. It's so bad that he has to get advice from four separate Cybertronians and humans on how to deal with the Terrans in "Moo-ving In".
  • Tripping Over You - Nice Jewish Boy: Averted with Liam. Sure, at the core he is a decent kid, but around that core are layers and layers of cynical snark, (Not Good With People) social ineptitude, and quite some temper.
  • Protectors of the Plot Continuum: Some agents aren't very good with people. Agent Tasmin is a good example of this.
  • The Confines of the Crown: Prince Nazagi, mainly due to the fact that his sight is so bad without glasses that he can't read visual cues, like emotions or body language. He usually gets his valet to do the talking for him.
  • Always Remember Me - Dr. Jerk: Eddy seems like this at first, but turns out to just be Not Good With People.
  • Anime & Manga - Case Closed: The flighty and boy-crazy Sonoko Suzuki ultimately swears by the trope as her long-distance boyfriend is the dorky Gentle Giant Makoto Kyougoku, who is Not Good With People but is pretty much his White Knight to her White Lady.
  • Station Eleven: Clark is actually good at manipulating people, but he's had to develop this skill because he has no natural charisma. In fact, he has an irrational belief that no matter what he does, people instinctively hate him. This is contrast to his friend Arthur, whom everyone loves the moment they meet him.
  • The Falcon and the Winter Soldier: Upon meeting Karli for the first time, Bucky, who has mistaken her for a hostage, greets her kindly and asks her in a concerned tone if she's alright. He even returns her (slightly creepy) smile. Granted, the situation didn't turn out very well, but hey—points to (Not Good With People) Bucky for at least trying to help what he initially thought was a young girl in trouble.
  • The ColSec Trilogy: Samella calls Cord out for being socially naïve in Exiles.
  • Totor Verse - Jerkass: He doesn't act very nicely with the people around him. Not because of a malicious intent though, he just runs on Brutal Honesty and Not Good With People. His lack of expressinevess doesn't really help matters.

    unclear  
  • Katsugeki/Touken Ranbu: The entirety of the brief socially awkward exchange between Honebami and (Not Good With People) Yamanbagiri in the next episode preview in which Yamanbagiri acts vaguely Tsundere while praising Honebami. Doubles as Heartwarming Moments. — since this distinguishes b/w No Social Skills and Not Good With People, indicates that Honebami may actually fit the trope, but can't tell from the example as written.
  • Princess Tutu - Beast in the Building: Subverted. Ahiru attempts to deliver a letter to Mytho in her duck form by breaking into the boys' locker room, hiding so as not to get caught and thrown out. The (Not Good With People) normally gruff Fakir finds her there, causing her to flush with embarrassment and expect the worst. However, he is surprisingly gentle with her (thinking she's just a dumb duck), bringing her back outside before feeding her breadcrumbs, only lightly scolding her for being silly enough to think she would find food in there. This is the first hint that he is actually a Jerk with a Heart of Gold.
  • The Beastmaster: The How to Train Your Dragon 2, set after a five year Time Skip, presents two others of note. (Not Good With People) One hermit independently worked out techniques similar to Hiccup's when the latter was a baby and guards a hidden dragon sanctuary, while a vicious warlord managed to brutalize a hatchling into submission decades ago and now uses a Kaiju with mind-control powers as a linchpin in his horde of warbeasts.
  • Plants vs. Zombies: Crazy Dave demonstrates this in "I, Zombie", in which he agrees to let zombies practice attacking your house, as long as no plants are harmed. Thanks, neighbor. — this doesn't say whether or not Dave is awkward. just that he values plants more than people.
  • Yandere Simulator - Main Characters - Senpai: Downplayed. He prefers nature, classical music, and a good book to spending time with other people. That said, while he's introverted, he's a Nice Guy who happens to become a Chick Magnet over the course of the game.

    ZCE 

Edited by GastonRabbit on Apr 19th 2023 at 11:12:29 AM

MacronNotes (she/her) (Captain) Relationship Status: Less than three
themayorofsimpleton Now a lurker. Thanks for everything. | he/him from Elsewhere (Experienced, Not Yet Jaded) Relationship Status: Abstaining
Now a lurker. Thanks for everything. | he/him
Adept (Holding A Herring) Relationship Status: Having tea with Cthulhu
#4: Apr 7th 2023 at 9:45:51 PM

Yeah, I've seen this trope used basically interchangeably with No Social Skills, and had to ask about this in the Duplicate Tropes thread to realize that Not Good With People has an added caveat of being Good With Animals in addition to their lack of social graces around others.

I do think this is a valid trope that's distinct from No Social Skills and Friend to All Living Things, but the name is really unclear.

Agree to rename and move the misuse to No Social Skills.

Edited by Adept on Apr 8th 2023 at 11:28:14 PM

amathieu13 Since: Aug, 2013
#5: Apr 7th 2023 at 9:49:05 PM

Oh, I also wanted to note that the example list is currently soft-split between the two "types" and a third "could be both". While the split itself isn't the main point of this thread, since we're fixing the trope, it would be nice if we could also decide whether that split is necessary (I personally think not, especially considering that third section).

Adept (Holding A Herring) Relationship Status: Having tea with Cthulhu
#6: Apr 7th 2023 at 10:47:51 PM

IMO, soft-splits are almost never necessary, and I'm fine with just lumping all the examples together.

Edited by Adept on Apr 8th 2023 at 11:27:44 PM

RandomTroper123 She / Her from I'll let you guess... (Not-So-Newbie) Relationship Status: [TOP SECRET]
GastonRabbit Sounds good on paper (he/him) from Robinson, Illinois, USA (General of TV Troops) Relationship Status: I'm just a poor boy, nobody loves me
Sounds good on paper (he/him)
#8: Apr 8th 2023 at 6:11:38 AM

I agree with renaming and moving misuse elsewhere. We could probably disambiguate the current name if we rename.

Patiently awaiting the release of Paper Luigi and the Marvelous Compass.
Berrenta How sweet it is from Texas Since: Apr, 2015 Relationship Status: Can't buy me love
How sweet it is
#9: Apr 8th 2023 at 7:24:24 AM

How about a split? The general antisocial misuse can keep the current name and be a supertrope, and the correct examples can be under a new name.

she/her | TRS needs your help! | Contributor of Trope Report
amathieu13 Since: Aug, 2013
#10: Apr 8th 2023 at 7:56:29 AM

[up]Would the general super trope be meaningfully different from No Social Skills, though?

selkies Professional Wick Checker Since: Jan, 2021 Relationship Status: Star-crossed
Professional Wick Checker
#11: Apr 8th 2023 at 7:58:08 AM

Renaming + cleaning up misuse is better imo. The antisocial aspect/not wanting to interact with people is already covered by No Social Skills, Socially Awkward Hero, The Hermit, and The Aloner (partially).

Adept (Holding A Herring) Relationship Status: Having tea with Cthulhu
#12: Apr 8th 2023 at 9:27:07 AM

Disambiguating the current name is also a good idea, I think .

Edited by Adept on Apr 8th 2023 at 11:28:36 PM

Unicorndance Logic Girl from Thames, N.Z. Since: Jul, 2015 Relationship Status: Above such petty unnecessities
Logic Girl
#13: Apr 8th 2023 at 2:17:10 PM

@Adept Friend to All Living Things isn't "a character who loves animals"; that's Animal Lover. Friend to All Living Things is when the animals are attracted to the character.

For every low there is a high.
Amonimus the Retromancer from <<|Wiki Talk|>> (Sergeant) Relationship Status: In another castle
the Retromancer
#14: Apr 8th 2023 at 3:10:40 PM

Remember that we have Talking to Plants, and not in superpower way. Also Animal Lover overlaps to some degree.

Also unsure if this isn't redundant with No Social Skills unless a character is shown to be a misanthrope or melancholic to some degree.

Edited by Amonimus on Apr 8th 2023 at 1:11:14 PM

TroperWall / WikiMagic Cleanup
amathieu13 Since: Aug, 2013
#15: Apr 8th 2023 at 6:24:43 PM

[up]Talking to Plants and Animal Lover are things that people can be without the implication that they are awkward and socially inept.

  • From the examples, Talking to Plants is any time a character talks to plants. People with Green Thumb or just those who like to plant are mentioned. No need for them to be socially awkward.
  • Animal Lover is just a person who loves animals, with the description even pointing out that many are very friendly and sociable, with the trope being used as shorthand for so-and-so is a Nice Guy, not socially inept

And this trope is by definition a subtrope of No Social Skills, as there are plenty of examples of awkward people who aren't mentioned to be friendly with animals/plants (most examples of the Stereotypical Nerd and the related nerd tropes, Ice Queens and many of those subtropes, etc).

Edited by amathieu13 on Apr 8th 2023 at 9:27:33 AM

GastonRabbit MOD Sounds good on paper (he/him) from Robinson, Illinois, USA (General of TV Troops) Relationship Status: I'm just a poor boy, nobody loves me
Sounds good on paper (he/him)
#16: Apr 9th 2023 at 10:16:19 PM

Hooked a crowner for whether to rename. If the trope is renamed, the original name can become a disambiguation page.

Edited by GastonRabbit on Apr 9th 2023 at 12:18:04 PM

Patiently awaiting the release of Paper Luigi and the Marvelous Compass.
MacronNotes (she/her) (Captain) Relationship Status: Less than three
(she/her)
#17: Apr 12th 2023 at 5:33:05 PM

Calling crowner in favor of renaming Not Good With People. Name suggestions?

Macron's notes
badtothebaritone (Life not ruined yet) Relationship Status: Snooping as usual
amathieu13 Since: Aug, 2013
#19: Apr 12th 2023 at 6:06:06 PM

Thinking of a name is where I've been stuck, tbh.

  • I think something that includes both plants and animals would be good
  • I also think including something related to being socially awkward is necessary to avoid it being overly similar to Friend to All Living Things or All-Loving Hero (which are already easy to mix with each other)

But everything I can think of that fits both is long and kind of clunky: Awkward Flora And Fauna Friend, Socially Inept Plant And Animal Lover, etc.

MasterN Berserk Button: misusing Berserk Button from Florida- I mean Unova Since: Aug, 2016 Relationship Status: Shipping fictional characters
#20: Apr 12th 2023 at 6:33:16 PM

Hates People, Loves Nature?

One of these days, all of you will accept me as your supreme overlord.
badtothebaritone (Life not ruined yet) Relationship Status: Snooping as usual
GastonRabbit Sounds good on paper (he/him) from Robinson, Illinois, USA (General of TV Troops) Relationship Status: I'm just a poor boy, nobody loves me
Sounds good on paper (he/him)
#22: Apr 12th 2023 at 7:03:24 PM

[up]&[up][up]I think those two are the best so far, but I'm going to hold off on hooking a crowner for now since I'm with amathieu on thinking that thinking of a new name for this one is a bit trickier than a lot of other renames.

Edited by GastonRabbit on Apr 12th 2023 at 9:03:46 AM

Patiently awaiting the release of Paper Luigi and the Marvelous Compass.
Malady (Not-So-Newbie)
#23: Apr 12th 2023 at 10:37:56 PM

Was thinking some play on "people-person"

But Wild might encompass plants and animals well enough?

Wild-speaker... Probably not.

...

Edit: if they need outdoorsman skills, or something, then At Home In The Wild or something might work?

Edited by Malady on Apr 12th 2023 at 10:39:05 AM

Disambig Needed: Help with those issues! tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=13324299140A37493800&page=24#comment-576
Adept (Holding A Herring) Relationship Status: Having tea with Cthulhu
GastonRabbit Sounds good on paper (he/him) from Robinson, Illinois, USA (General of TV Troops) Relationship Status: I'm just a poor boy, nobody loves me
Sounds good on paper (he/him)
#25: Apr 12th 2023 at 11:10:49 PM

[up][up]I don't think At Home in the Wild would work. That name makes it sound like it's about people who prefer being in the wilderness over being in human settlements in general, regardless of what they think of other people; it doesn't indicate that it's directly about the character's attitude toward other people instead of merely being related to places where people live. Plus, I don't think outdoorsman skills are relevant to a trope about social skills.

Edit: What about taking the "not good with people" part of the current name and amending it with the part that people are overlooking? Maybe Bad With People Good With Nature or Good With Nature Bad With People would work.

Edited by GastonRabbit on Apr 12th 2023 at 1:14:08 PM

Patiently awaiting the release of Paper Luigi and the Marvelous Compass.

Trope Repair Shop: Not Good with People
14th Apr '23 6:34:48 PM

Crown Description:

Consensus was to rename Not Good With People due to misuse. What should its new name be?

Total posts: 66
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