On that note, the title is pretty bad, too. (Unless it's a pre-existing term.) Did anyone look at the words "The Coconut Effect" and think: "Oh, this must be about research errors that are so commonly ingrained in popular culture that you'd think it was a mistake if they changed them?"
edited 25th Nov '10 1:47:23 AM by DoktorvonEurotrash
I'm assuming it's a pre existing term. Let's check the wiks though.
This title has brought 3,094 people to the wiki from non-search engine links since 20th FEB '09.
I'd suggest Reality Breaks Disbelief for a redirect.
edited 25th Nov '10 2:11:33 AM by Deboss
Fight smart, not fair.What is it with the rename reflex around here?
At anyrate, although I haven't gone over the trope finely, most of what I see seems to firmly fall in the "The audience expects the Reality Is Unrealistic effect, so it's provided" format. Can you point out a few examples from the 'lots of them'?
The Qwerty/Dvorak bit can go. The banana reference can be a bit more clear in the 'we expect bananas to be hanging down' department.
I'm holding off for now until I have a bit more clarity in what I should be looking for.
edited 25th Nov '10 3:11:51 AM by Daremo
Creed of the Happy Pessimist:Always expect the worst. Then, when it happens, it was only what you expected. All else is a happy surprise.The rename reflex is a mixture of the fact that trying to come up with a punny way of describing a trope is fairly easy compared to most of the other actions. It also has become a kneejerk reaction to names that don't fit the good naming guide.
Fight smart, not fair.Picking at random:
- Characters blocking attacks with weapons. Sure it's inaccurate, but it's hardly something that people would notice if it wasn't there.
- Using weapons with automatic fire when others are available. Most audience members wouldn't notice this.
- Water droplets hitting the camera. Again, not something audiences expect.
- Pirates making people walk the plank. It's noticeable when it happens, but if it doesn't, audiences won't go "how come he didn't make anyone walk the plank?"
Most of those seem pretty iffy as being wrong. The pirate thing in particular given the lampshade hung on it.
Automatic weapons should probably be moved to videogames, where that's not very questionable.
Sword blocking, meh, could go either way. Most people know they know nothing about fencing, so they don't question much of anything, provided it looks sufficiently cool.
Water droplets in video games and CG, probably not so much The Coconut Effect... Do we have a trope for adding 'Realism' to the blatantly unreal?
Creed of the Happy Pessimist:Always expect the worst. Then, when it happens, it was only what you expected. All else is a happy surprise.Note, though that there's a difference between something being common and it being expected to the point that its absence is notable. The former is Hollywood Science or Did Not Do The Research; the latter is The Coconut Effect.
Basically, it has to be something where the audience would go "why didn't he do X?" For example, if the audience was watching a swordfight and someone blocked a blow with his shield instead of his blade, I highly doubt anyone would go "why didn't he block it with his blade?".
edited 25th Nov '10 1:50:23 PM by Cidolfas
Actually, I could see that easily, with say, a parry the sends an opponent's sword into a bystander. "Aelith would still be alive if he had blocked the sword instead of parrying!"
Creed of the Happy Pessimist:Always expect the worst. Then, when it happens, it was only what you expected. All else is a happy surprise.I take it literally because if I take it un-literally, that broadens the trope so far it becomes useless.
Would people really rate "blocks attacks with a blade" as more realistic than "blocks attacks with a shield"? I doubt it. Most tropes are conventions - that's why they're tropes. But not all tropes have reached the point where they are expected.
edited 26th Nov '10 6:57:08 AM by Cidolfas
X Effect is not a good snowclone. Dunno, maybe merge it with Common Knowledge?
@cid: The problem with your super-literal interpretation is that it also makes the trope useless. Even the trope namer, coconuts for hoofbeats, doesn't pass your muster. We expect horse hooves to sound like coconuts, but nobody actually notices or cares when we see a horse and don't hear coconuts.
edited 13th Apr '11 1:30:15 PM by jaytee

Another one... this one has been Flanderized and needs serious work. It's supposed to be unrealistic tropes that are so iconic that not including them would make people confused. The examples start well, but devolve into mainly Hollywood Science, Did Not Do The Research or even Acceptable Breaks from Reality. Lots of them need to go. Wish I had time to help but I have to go, maybe someone can pick up the ball here.