Literal-Minded: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
[[File:catsandogs 9863 6832.png|link=Amelia Bedelia|frame|Be careful. Don't step in a [[
A literal minded person just [[Blunt Metaphors Trauma|doesn't get figurative speech]], instead interpreting instructions, idioms, [[Understatement]], [[Does Not Understand Sarcasm|sarcasm]], and so forth completely literally.
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{{examples}}
▲== Anime & Manga ==
* Nia from ''[[Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann]]''.
* Sumomo/Plum from ''[[Chobits]]'' can only take questions literally, according to Shinbo, due to her lack of processing power as a "laptop" Persocom.
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==
* Various Characters in ''[[Chick Tracts]]'' are literal minded, but we're supposed to agree with them on every single issue in [[The Bible]]. But then again, [[Jack Chick]] is a [[The Fundamentalist|Fundamentalist]] IRL.
* Zero in ''[[Beetle Bailey]]'' lives this trope. Honorable mention:▼
{{quote|'''Sarge:''' Zero, take this report to the General's office, and step on it!}}▼
* Bart Allen (Impulse/Kid Flash) is pretty literal minded, though it could be justified in his case: not only is he from the future, but he grew up in virtual reality.
{{quote|'''Superman:''' The Pope was very understanding - especially when you wondered if he was Catholic.
'''Bart:''' A lot of people I know keep asking! }}
* In one ''[[Snuffy Smith]]'' comic, Snuffy landed a [[Precision F-Strike]] when asked to swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, then lampshades this trope after being reprimanded:▼
{{quote|'''Snuffy:''' Consarn it, Judge, you're the one who told me to swear!}}▼
* ''[[Werner]]'' has lots and lots of examples of this, even whole stories based on being Literal-Minded. However, most of them are impossible to translate to English for demonstration purposes.
{{quote|'''Hörni:''' Say something!
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'''Kalli:''' Something! }}
* One ''[[Archie Comics]]'' story was about a new foreign transfer student attending Riverdale High. The concept was that every time a character used a figure of speech, she would confuse it for what it would mean in a literal sense.
* The ''[[Viz]]'' character Mr. Logic takes ''everything'' said literally. For example, when he is asked to boil the kettle he points out that the kettle is made out of stainless steel and he
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*** It's equally possible [[Alternative Character Interpretation|Vimes purposely gave him orders]] that Carrot would likely misunderstand.
** Similarly, never tell Cohen the Barbarian that you would "rather die than betray my emperor". He will be all too happy to oblige. Ankh-Morpork citizens are known for a certain amount of this, if not so much as the dwarfish race in general is.
*** ''[[
** And Golems tend to follow all instructions literally. In some cases, it's because they don't think the way living people do. In other cases, it might be because they're rebelling against their owners.
** Death and the Auditors are frequently prone to this trope, having only a limited grasp of human quirks and psychology.
** Stanley Howler from ''[[
** The ''[[GURPS]] Discworld'' RPG book explains this from the
* Bubba in ''[[The Sookie Stackhouse Mysteries]]''.
* In [[John C. Wright]]'s ''[[The Golden Oecumene|The Golden Transcedence]]'', a character coming to with amnesia is told he consented to forgot what, exactly, he had consented to. He asks how he can know this is true, and the computer answers that in fact, he doesn't know it.
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== Music ==
* [[Amanda Palmer]] in [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJhDV0MMPAs "Vegemite (The Black Death)"]:
{{quote|''As though it wasn't bad enough, you also eat this shit for lunch, which means we can't spend any time together.
''What kind of relationship is that?
''The choice is yours. My heart is in your hands.
''Please wash your hands, you just had vegemite for lunch. }}
* Similarly, [[Tom Lehrer]] in "The Masochism Tango":
{{quote|''At your command
''Before you here I stand,
''My heart is in my hand.
''Ewww. }}
* [["Weird Al" Yankovic]]'s 'Albuquerque':
{{quote|''So I see this guy Marty trying to carry this big ol' sofa up the stairs all by himself, and I say "Hey, y'want me t'help you with that?"
''And Marty, he just [[Sarcasm Mode|rolls his eyes]] and goes [[Be Careful What You Wish For|"Noooo, I want you to cut off my arms and legs with a chainsaw!"]]
''So I did. }}
* [[The Lonely Island]]'s ''[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAYL5H46QnQ Threw it on the Ground]'' has this gem:
{{quote|''I was at the farmer's market with my so-called "girlfriend."
''She hands me her cell phone, says it's my dad.
''Maaaan, this ain't my dad. This is a cell phone!
''[[Hair-Trigger Temper|I threw it on the GROOOOOOOOOOOUND!!!]] }}
* [[Knorkator]]'s ''Wie weit ist es bis zum Horizont'' (how far is it to the horizon): Turns out the solution to this problem is the Pythagorean theorem, which results in an average distance of 4650m for a person whose eye level is 1,70m above the ground.
* [[They Might Be Giants (band)|They Might Be Giants]], "Hey Mr. DJ, I Thought You Said We Had a Deal":
{{quote|''I could never sleep my way to the top
''{{'}}Cause my alarm clock always wakes me right up }}
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== Newspaper Comics ==
* In a ''[[FoxTrot]]'' strip, [[Bumbling Dad|
▲* Zero in ''[[Beetle Bailey]]'' lives this trope. Honorable mention:
▲{{quote|'''Sarge:''' Zero, take this report to the General's office, and step on it!}}
▲* In one ''[[Snuffy Smith]]'' comic, Snuffy landed a [[Precision F-Strike]] when asked to swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, then lampshades this trope after being reprimanded:
▲{{quote|'''Snuffy:''' Consarn it, Judge, you're the one who told me to swear!}}
== Puppet Shows ==
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* Butch from ''[[Chopping Block]]'' evidently [http://choppingblock.keenspot.com/d/20010711.html got] this rare condition... [http://choppingblock.keenspot.com/d/20010814.html from childhood].
* ''[[Frankie and Stein]]'' starts with Stein's mother telling him to make a friend... [[Frankenstein's Monster|so he did]].
* ''[[Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal]]'' occasionally have such moments. Like with [
* Happens occasionally in ''[[Irregular Webcomic!]]'' [http://www.irregularwebcomic.net/4027.html This strip] is the tip of the iceberg - except you don't build a pyramid out of ice, especially in the desert.
* [https://xkcd.com/2404/ This] late-2020 ''[[xkcd]]'' strip. "The ''first'' thing I'm going to do after I get the vaccine?"
== Web Original ==
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== Western Animation ==
* ''[[The Grim Adventures of Billy
* ''[[Rugrats]]'', since they're babies and haven't yet learned how to use metaphors and similes.
* The William Clone in Season 4 of ''[[Code Lyoko]]''.
* Ron Stoppable of ''[[Kim Possible]]'' suffered from this occasionally
{{quote|'''Electronique:''' I twist the power of Team Go to bring Go City to its knees.
'''Hego:''' But... um, cities don't have knees. }}
{{quote|'''Drakken:''' Warmonga! Show her the door !
'''Warmonga:''' If you guide your vision to the left of our after-reactor corner, you can see our primary entrance.
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''(Warmonga catches Shego and throws her, blowing [[There Was a Door|a hole in the door]])''
'''Drakken:''' Yes, well... I didn't mean literally through the actual door, but... }}
* Happens more often than not
* ''[[Bobby's World]]''. Granted, he's like 3 years old.
* The title character of ''[[KaBlam!|Life with Loopy]]''. When told to go make a new friend, she "makes" a [[Robot Buddy]] out of old electronics.
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'''Penfold:''' (''rapid-fire, gesturing'') ''Tobeornotbethatisthequestionwhether'tisnoblertosuffertheslingsandarrowsof
outrageousfortune...'' }}
* In an episode of [[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987 series)|the 1987 ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle'']], April is hiding from the bad guys with Rex-1, an android police officer, and tells him to "Just hold your tongue!" meaning to be quiet. Rex can't understand figures of speech very well, so he shrugs, sticks his tongue out, and holds it.
== Real Life ==
* If speaking on a very general level,
** Schizophrenics have been noted in making errors with the meanings of metaphors and irony - typically that they do tend to take things literally.
** But deadpan humour and [[Understatement]] are quite natural to most of them. Though, it is usually not considered to be humour to them, but rather a statement of fact.
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* This can happen to confused foreigners with limited understanding of a language, thus lacking knowledge of proverbs, slang and such. For example, one may respond to "tell me about it" by literally explaining the subject at hand.
* For fun, go ask [[Troy Baker]] for a [[Shout-Out]] next time you see him at a convention.
* Certain jokes in the
* She's a cowgirl. [http://www.cbc.ca/radio/asithappens/as-it-happens-wednesday-edition-1.3920983/she-didn-t-have-a-horse-so-this-new-zealand-teen-rides-her-cow-instead-1.3920989 She rides a cow.]
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Stock Characters]]
[[Category:Character Flaw Index]]
▲[[Category:Literal Minded]]
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