Bold Inflation: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

Characters prone to this sort of '''[[Dialogue|speech]]''' may as well '''[[Training from Hell|practice]]''' their speech before a '''[[Mirror Monologue]]''' each morning. They may '''[[Contemplate Our Navels|ruminate]]''' on a regular basis on '''[[Truth and Lies]]''', '''[[Love Freak|justice]]''', and '''[[Pet the Dog|puppies]]''', in general conversation. They may treat every '''[[Let's Get Dangerous|dangerous]]''' situation as their '''[[Last Stand]]'''. Or, they may simply be a '''[[Insufferable Genius|pretentious]]''' '''[[Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness|thesaurus-wielding]]''' '''[[Too Clever by Half|maniac]]'''.

It should be '''[[Useful Notes|noted]]''' that this is not always the '''[[Writer on Board|writer's]]''' fault when this happens. Oftentimes, especially in comic books, the '''[[Protection From Editors|editor]]''' will indicate to the '''[[Xtreme Kool Letterz|letterer]]''' that he wants certain '''[[Executive Meddling|random]]''' words '''[[Lampshade Hanging|bolded]]''', on the '''[[Did Not Do the Research|assumption]]''' that a '''[[Viewers are Morons|reader]]''' will become '''[[Good Is Boring|bored]]''' by plain '''[[Dark Is Not Evil|black]]''' text without any change to '''[[Author's Saving Throw|spice]]''' it up. Fortunately, this practice is becoming a '''[[Discredited Trope]]'''.

 

 

See '''[[Rainbow Speak]]''' where the intent is merely to inform the player of a '''[[MacGuffin|key item]]''' or topic for further '''[[Dialogue Tree|discussion]]'''.

 

See '''also''' [[Emphasize Everything]].

{{examples}}

 

== Anime and Manga ==

* This is done in both the original and [[scanlation]]s of ''[[JoJo's Bizarre Adventure]]: Steel Ball Run.'' This is done because those words actually have something to do with the plot.

* The page on [[This Very Wiki]], the manga, and the anime for ''[[Tegami Bachi]]'' all emphasize '''Heart''', because '''[[Heart Is an Awesome Power]]'''.

 

== Comic Books ==

* In comments in [https://web.archive.org/web/20100726055536/http://webcomicsreview.com/examiner/issue050912/ryannorth.html this interview], [[Dinosaur Comics|Ryan North]] places the blame for this partly on comics' insistence on putting all dialog and text in ALL CAPS.

* Intentionally avoided in ''[[Strangers in Paradise]]'', since Terry Moore felt it was [[Word of God|unnecessary]] when writing for an adult audience.

* One ''[[Alienversus Predator]]'' graphic novel began with a scene where some scientists were examining the body of a dead ''Alien'':

{{quote|Scientist #1: "This creatures has an '''armoured exoskeleton''' and '''acidic blood'''.

* The ''[[Dirty Pair]]'' comics by Adam Warren and (occasionally) Toren Smith are drawn in a [[Animesque|manga-influenced]] style, but the text has more American-style bold inflation than is usual for English translations of manga.

 

* Commonly used in [[Fanfic]] by beginning writers, to unnecessarily stress words as part of directly transcribing their thoughts into text. Professionally published fiction rarely uses bold and italics for stress.

* ''[[Those Lacking Spines]]'', a parody of ''[[Kingdom Hearts]]'' fanfic:

{{quote|He was so badass [[Painting the Medium|his font was bolded.]]

"'''And now you shall learn, and you shall fear, and you shall learn to fear the wrath... of Jeffiroth!'''" he cackled maniacally.' }}

 

== Literature ==

* The book series ''[[Fearless (novel)|Fearless]]'' puts what the writer (or other member of [[The Powers That Be]]) thinks is the most [[Badass]] sentence on each page larger and in a different typeface than the rest, instantly transforming it into [[Narm]].

* [[Dorothy L. Sayers]] uses this (with italics) in several of her books to show the annoying speech patterns of certain characters.

* [[John Hodgman]] is fond of using ALL CAPS for emphasis. [[Complete World Knowledge|WERE YOU AWARE OF IT?]]

 

 

* '''Captain''' [[Star Trek|James]]...'''[[Star Trek: The Original Series|T]].'''...[[William Shatner|Kirk]]!

* ''[[Top Gear]]'' Jeremy '''Clarkson''''s speech is the '''best''' example of this...

* Putting unusual emphasis on random words? Could there '''be''' a better description of Chandler's signature mode of speech '''on''' ''[[Friends]]''?

* ''[[How I Met Your Mother]]'''s Barney '''[[How I Met Your Mother|Stinson]]'''. His use of this is '''Legen''' waitforit '''''DARY'''''. '''LEGENDARY'''.

 

== Newspaper Comics ==

* ''[[Mark Trail]]'' features Bold Inflation almost like a full character, alongside its beautifully drawn animal pictures! Also there's something about humans punching humans in there somewhere. I dunno the details.

* ''[[Pearls Before Swine]]'' once accused [[Soap Opera]]s of an oral version of this, imitated in-comic by bolding every third word. "'''We''' can do '''that'''!

 

== Tabletop Games ==

* ''Kevin Siembieda'', creator of ''[[Rifts]]'', has a ''deep and abiding'' love for ''unnecessary'' amounts of ''italics'' in any [[Sourcebook]] that he ''writes''.

** Similarly '''''[[GURPS]]''''' (that's right: bold, italic ''and'' all caps). It frequently ends up looking silly given that the system has an enormous volume of [[splat]]books and the writers load them with references to one another.

 

== Video Games ==

 

== Web Original ==

** [[A Mech by Any Other Name]]

** [[Fun with Acronyms]]

*** [[Ciaphas Cain]], '''[[Fake Ultimate Hero|HERO OF]] [[Warhammer 40,000|THE]] [[All the Tropes Wiki Drinking Game|IMPERIUM!]]''' is similarly treated by many of his adoring fans.

** Wait, and what about... ''Italic Bending''? I guess you just '''didn't''' expect this!

* More websites than you can possibly imagine. The tendency of people to do this was parodied, along with many other things, at the [http://www.realultimatepower.net/ Real Ultimate Power] page.

* [https://web.archive.org/web/20100308043611/http://www.theonion.com/content/columnists/view/harvey Jackie Harvey], fake columnist for ''[[The Onion]]'', parodies this trope as it applies to gossip rags.

* As the EM part of PBEM stands for "e-mail", the action in the campaigns in the [[Global Guardians PBEM Universe]] was always produced in text. This trope thus occurred on a more-than-regular basis.

 

* ''[[Dominic Deegan]]'' falls into this all too often. The words in bold tend to be the usual [[Incredibly Lame Pun]]s, and while their emphasis would be weird in normal conversation, it serves to highlight those puns to the more moronic listeners (and the [[Viewers are Morons|more moronic readers]]).

** Though most of the time, the bolded words are completely random, and may just be due to Mookie writing the text by hand, causing people to be emphasizing words in their speech for no reason.

* T Campbell of ''[[Penny and Aggie]]'' has a nasty '''habit''' of bolding '''all''' the '''time''', and often in '''the''' least intuitive '''places'''.

** Another weird textual habit of T's (and he has many—note that there's no period after his first "name") is that he'll ''of''ten i''tal''icize only the par''ti''cular syllable being stressed. This shows up most often in ''[[Fans]]''.

* Taking after video game inspirations, in ''[[MS Paint Adventures]]'', during the [http://www.mspaintadventures.com/?s=6&p=001904 INTRODUCTION] [http://www.mspaintadventures.com/?s=6&p=002212 OF A] [http://www.mspaintadventures.com/?s=6&p=003894 NEW CHARACTER] a number of IMPORTANT KEYWORDS, including their NAME, will be ENTIRELY CAPITALIZED. This does not happen during normal narration, save for certain game jargon such as the [[Weapon of Choice|STRIFE SPECIBUS]]. On rare occasion simply used for emphasis of a phrase.

** On a related note, ''[[Sweet Bro and Hella Jeff]]'' also does this. Of course, considering [[Stylistic Suck|the nature of the comic in question]], more often than not the inflated words aren't the ones which would be sensible to emphasise, and even the physical form of the emphasis is inconsistent - sometimes it's boldface, sometimes it's enlarged text, sometimes it's text enlarged even further, and sometimes it's colored.

 

== Western Animation ==

* ''[[Squirrel Boy]]'': Rodney says his cousin is "Good at '''pretending''' to be something [he's] '''not'''". When his cousin notices the bold inflation, Rodney says he doesn't '''have''' any control '''over''' it.

* In the ''[[Weird Al Show]]'' ''Fatman'' segments, the narrator does an audio version of this trope with various words being shouted.

 

== Real Life ==

* '''[[Jack Chick|Chick Tracts]]''' do this '''a lot''', too.

* The explanatory signs in the [http://www.chestertourist.com/romangarden.htm Roman Gardens at Chester] increase the size of the text for '''words''' that might be considered '''important'''. When this happens on every '''line''' it tends to '''distract from''' the flow of the '''text'''.

* Despite what software licence writers might think, writing an entire paragraph in ALL CAPS makes it harder to read and more likely just to be skimmed over, defeating the entire point of putting it in ALL CAPS in the first place. This makes sense for those written under the assumption that they won't actually be read, but there's no excuse otherwise.

** What makes you think they WANT it to be easy to read?

* A quirky [http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1037781&o=all&op=1&view=all&subj=140630625957216&aid=-1&id=768224630&oid=140630625957216 reply form] sent to [[Brian Blessed]] used this in the negative responses.

{{quote|I am (pleased/sorry/too busy) to tell you that your request (has been accepted/has been declined/is utterly ridiculous, '''NOW BEGONE''').}}

* A common SEO (Search Engine Optimization) tactic is to highlight every single use of certain keywords so that your site is bumped up in searches for said keywords. When overused, it can give the feel of this trope.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Text Tropes]]

[[Category:Dialogue]]

[[Category:Painting the Medium]]

[[Category:Self-Demonstrating Article]]