Beige Prose: Difference between revisions

Line 13:

== Advertising ==

== [[Advertising]] ==

* [[Head On]]. Apply directly to the forehead. [[Head On]]. Apply directly to the forehead. [[Head On]]. Apply directly to the forehead.

* [[Burma-Shave]]:

{{quote|A Miss

{{quote|''A Miss

A Curve

''A Curve

He Kissed the Miss

''He Kissed the Miss

And Missed the Curve

''And Missed the Curve''

|''Burma Shave''}}

|Burma Shave}}

== ~~Comics~~ ==

== [[Comic Books]] ==

⚫

* ''[[Dilbert]]''

* ''[[Watchmen (comics)|Watchmen]]'' Rorschach speaks in short sentences and sentence fragments. His journal doesn't. Must remember to investigate further.

* ''[[Sin City]]''.

⚫

== [[Fan Works]] ==

⚫

== Fan Works ==

* An entire subgenre called "[[Script Fic|script format]]", by people who have no idea what a script is.

* ''[[My Immortal]]'', [[Costume Porn|usually.]] Except when discussing <s>Enoby</s> <s>Ebory</s> <s>Ebola</s> Ebony's appearance. Then it turns [[Purple Prose|purple]].

Line 52:

Line 50:

* ''[[Calvin at Camp]]''{{context}}

== Literature ==

== [[Literature]] ==

* [[How Not to Write A Novel]].

* [[Ernest Hemingway]] is known for his simple writing style that lacks flowery language and keeps descriptions to a minimum. He called it "the theory of omission" or "[http://www.lostgeneration.com/hemfaq.htm#iceberg The Iceberg Principle]." While some authors criticized him for it, his style is widely considered to be very effective. Hemingway himself attributed his terse style to his training as a foreign correspondent for the ''Toronto Star''. Because he had to communicate from Europe to North America by the expensive medium of cable, it was naturally expected that he should compose his reports to be as succinct as possible while including all the story's salient information.

Line 84:

Line 82:

** This is, of course, done on purpose as the narrator, Stephen, is autistic and so writes his account in a very logical manner avoiding metaphors and such which he considers to be 'lying'.

* Luis Sepúlveda, faithful follower of Hemingway.

* Ronald Syme wrote The Roman Revolution like this: a book on the Republic's fall and the Empire's rise.<ref>Roman, not [[Star Wars|another]]</ref> Syme was writing like Tacitus.

* Ronald Syme wrote ''The Roman Revolution'' like this: a book on the Republic's fall and the Empire's rise.<ref>Roman, not [[Star Wars|another]]</ref> Syme was writing like Tacitus.

** In the words of my Roman History Professor: "Syme wrote in an abrupt, punchy style, writing sentences without verbs, or nouns, or sometimes even words."

⚫

* [[Haiku Haiku, the poetic form, is essentially this.

⚫

* William Carlos Williams.

⚫

{{quote|

⚫

'''The Red Wheelbarrow'''

⚫

''[[Serious Business|so much depends]] / upon / a red wheel / barrow

⚫

''glazed with rain / water / beside the white / chickens.

⚫

'''This Is Just To Say'''

⚫

''I have eaten / the plums / that were in / the icebox

⚫

''and which / you were probably / saving / for breakfast

⚫

''Forgive me / they were delicious / so sweet / and so cold }}

⚫

* This poem from Ogden Nash:

{{quote|'''Fleas'''

''Adam

''Had 'em }}

** Also:

{{quote|''I...

''Why? }}

* Some poetry by [[Yoko Ono]] :

⚫

{{quote|''Water

⚫

|''Grapefruit'', 1964 }}

⚫

* Epigrams, the Greek ones however could be a lot longer and almost indistinguishable from elegies. Modern ones are only a couple of lines long. The most famous one was written by a Roman named [[Catullus]].

== Live-Action TV ==

== [[Live-Action TV]] ==

* ''[[Beetleborgs]]'' villain's description of [[Never Recycle Your Schemes|last time they tried this plan]]: "Been there. Done that. Got beat."

* ''[[Screenwipe]]'' once did an hour special on writers. One of them was famed for writing realistic dialogue on [[Eastenders]], his method was to write the sentence and then cut down any unnecessary words. So "See you later, we must do this again some time" would after a series of cuts simply become "Later".

⚫

== [[Music]] ==

⚫

== Music ==

* [[Jon Lajoie]]'s "I Kill People" rap is written this way to lay bare common rap subjects. Sample lyrics:

{{quote|''I buy a lot of expensive things, because I have a lot of money

You can't afford expensive things 'cause you ''don't'' have a lot of money

''You can't afford expensive things 'cause you ''don't'' have a lot of money

Ha ha, you want these things, but you cannot afford them

''Ha ha, you want these things, but you cannot afford them

That means that you're not cool 'cause you're just a poor person'' }}

''That means that you're not cool 'cause you're just a poor person'' }}

* The Minutemen's "Take 5, D":

{{quote|''Tub has to be properly caulked prior to any showering

Walls are drenched

''Walls are drenched

Both roofer and plumber here

''Both roofer and plumber here

Had to pay for two service calls'' }}

''Had to pay for two service calls'' }}

** Lyrics taken straight from a landlady's note about a leaky bathtub. D. Boon thought Mike Watt's old lyrics for the song were [[Word Salad Lyrics|"too spacey"]]. He changed them to something mundane.

⚫

== [[New Media]] ==

⚫

* [[Twitter]] posts.

⚫

== New Media ==

* [[Twitter]] posts [http://twitter.com/search?q=%23tvtropes #tvtropes]

* Simple English Wikipedia. ''[[xkcd]]'' [http://xkcd.com/547/ demonstrates].

* [[Laconic]], especially Laconic entry on Beige Prose. [[Wiki Word]]s. Also, [[CamelCase]].

* SEO copy.

== ~~Poetry~~ ==

== [[Newspaper Comics]] ==

⚫

* ''[[Dilbert]]''{{context}}

⚫

* Haiku, the poetic form, is essentially this.

⚫

* William Carlos Williams.

⚫

{{quote|

⚫

''The Red Wheelbarrow''

⚫

[[Serious Business|so much depends]] / upon / a red wheel / barrow

⚫

glazed with rain / water / beside the white / chickens.

⚫

''This Is Just To Say''

⚫

I have eaten / the plums / that were in / the icebox

⚫

and which / you were probably / saving / for breakfast

⚫

Forgive me / they were delicious / so sweet / and so cold }}

⚫

* This poem from Ogden Nash:

{{quote|

''Fleas''

Adam

Had 'em }}

** Also:

{{quote|I...

Why? }}

* Some poetry by [[Yoko Ono]] :

⚫

{{quote|Water

⚫

(''Grapefruit'', 1964) }}

⚫

* Epigrams, the Greek ones however could be a lot longer and almost indistinguishable from elegies. Modern ones are only a couple of lines long. The most famous one was written by a Roman named [[Catullus]].

== Video Games ==

== [[Video Games]] ==

* ''[[Final Fantasy XIII]]''. Monster datalog. Inversion of ''[[Final Fantasy XII]]'''s [[Purple Prose]] bestiaries. Most monsters described as "Unremarkable".

* ''[[Sam and Max Freelance Police]]'': Agent Superball talks like this, Mr. President. Short sentences. No emotion.

* Mordin Solus in ''[[Mass Effect 2]]''. [[Motor Mouth|Rapid delivery]] tends to mask.

* Sten in ''[[Dragon Age]]'', to the point of annoying the player who wants more information.

* The summon spirit Shadow of the''[[Tales (series)|Tales ~~Series~~]]'' talks like this, with sentences rarely going over 3 words. The party in ''[[Tales of Phantasia]]'' have fun imitating his speech style during a skit, while [[Tales of Symphonia|Sheena]] [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshades]] it.

* The summon spirit Shadow of the [[Tales (series)|''Tales'' series]] talks like this, with sentences rarely going over 3 words. The party in ''[[Tales of Phantasia]]'' have fun imitating his speech style during a skit, while [[Tales of Symphonia|Sheena]] [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshades]] it.

⚫

== [[Web Original]] ==

⚫

== Web Original ==

* ''[[The Gungan Council]]'' for some writers. [[Purple Prose|For others]]...

* [[This Very Wiki]]: Everything in the [[Laconic]] section.

== Western Animation ==

== [[Western Animation]] ==

* This is the entire shtick of "Blac-U" Weather forecaster Ollie Williams, from ''[[Family Guy]]''. The man gets his weather forecasting across with this, and a combination of [[No Indoor Voice]].

{{quote|'''Tom Tucker:''' We now go to Ollie Williams, for the "Blac-U" weather report. Ollie?

Line 156:

Line 150:

'''Tom Tucker:''' Thanks Ollie. }}

⚫

== [[Real Life]] ==

⚫

== Real Life ==

* {{smallcaps|telegrams charge per word [[Telegraph Gag STOP|STOP]]}}

* {{smallcaps| &their grandchild txt msgs & [[Twitter]] w/chr lmts}}

Line 179:

Line 172:

* Police reports.

* Many military messages

⚫

* [[Twitter]] ~~makes this into art~~.

* [http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page Simple English Wikipedia].

* [[wikipedia:The Elements of Style|Omit needless words]].