Basic Trope: Wish-granting entities always give you EXACTLY what you ask for, based on the direct wording of the wish.

  • Straight: Bob makes a wish and the Literal Genie grants the exact wish, generally with negative consequences.
  • Exaggerated: Every time someone wishes for something, they always do it with confusing phrasing, and it is granted strictly according to the wording. Everyone ends up dissatisfied.
  • Justified: The genie is bound by some kind of oath of literalism that grants them their powers.
    • Alternatively: The genie is autistic, and doesn't understand that the people don't mean it literally.
    • Alternatively: The genie speaks English as a second language and doesn't understand that some words might have multiple meanings. He is also ignorant of many idioms and figures of speech due to being imprisoned for hundreds of years.
    • He's a mild Jerkass Genie - He figures if he does his job poorly enough, people will stop asking him for wishes.
  • Inverted: "I know what you said, but I think this is what you really meant"
    • Alternatively: The genie is a bit of a Cloudcuckoolander, and interprets wishes in often bizarre and nonsensical ways. Sometimes they're better, sometimes they're worse, but they're almost never what you'd expect.
  • Subverted: Wish-granting entities gives Bob exactly what he asked for, even if different from what he wished. Later, it's revealed to be the best way anyway, and Bob is happy.
  • Double Subverted: Bob's wish is granted literally, making him look like an idiot or a jerk. He invokes the trope to prove that the spirit of the wish was really different, and everyone is fine with him. Only, he really just wanted the literal effect... but couldn't admit. For example, he asked for "a romance with a hot piece of ass", which leads to a disconcerting experience with a donkey steak. He protests the wrong use of terms, but actually it was what he really wanted the whole time.
  • Parodied: A Jackass Genie goes to great lengths to think of the single possible interpretation of the wish that is furthest from the intention. He goes through a dictionary looking for obscure meanings of every word uttered, so that "I wish for a huge pile of gold" gets you an enormous golden haemorrhoid.
  • Deconstructed: Genies, due to not regularly interacting with human society, suffer Blunt Metaphors Trauma and don't recognize figures of speech. Therefore, they follow the wish directly.
  • Reconstructed: Genies resent slavery and therefore are engaging in passive resistance as a way of frustrating their masters.
  • Zig Zagged: It first appears that the wish has been granted literally, but then it turns out that it was not granted at all... but wait, not being noticed was the intention of the original wisher.
  • Averted: The wish is granted, but it takes into account the intention behind the wish rather than just the exact wording.
  • Enforced: "There's not much of a plot if the main characters get all of their wishes granted!"
  • Lampshaded: "Wow, the genie was literal about your wish. Didn't See That Coming."
  • Invoked: The villain deliberately plants the magic lamp in a place where the heroes will find it, shouting "As soon as they wish for something unclear, my genie will screw them over and I will be unopposed!"
  • Defied: Bob very carefully and deliberately words his wish so that it can't be taken any way other than what he wants.
    • "First wish: I wish you to take into account the spirit, including any and all confusing idioms, metaphors or similies, in addition to the letter of each wish."
  • Discussed: "Any real person would be smart enough to not leave such obvious loopholes..."
  • Conversed: "Why is it that these movies always have the same plot?" "The genies must be jerks or something."

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