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{{trope}}
{{quote|'''Spike:''' Look, if cavemen and astronauts got into a fight, who would win?
'''Wes:''' Oh. You've been yelling at each other for forty minutes about this. ''[[Beat
'''Angel & Spike:''' NO!
|''[[Angel]]'', "A Hole in the World"}}
When a [[Seinfeldian Conversation]] becomes [[Serious Business]].
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But not this time. No, ''this'' time the argument becomes truly heated. Voices are raised. Curses are spit out. Friends are insulted. Furniture is thrown across the room in fury. No one involved is willing to back down until they convince the others that they are right ''right'' ''RIGHT'', ''DAMMIT!!''
... all over something as mundane and inconsequential as whether or not peanut butter technically counts as a sauce.<ref>
Needless to say, [[Truth in Television]] - just see [[Unpleasable Fanbase]], [[Broken Base]], and [[Base Breaker]] for a number of media-centric examples. Frequently overlaps with [[Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny]].
Not to be confused with the 1960s Astronauts in Caveman Days comedy ''[[It's
{{examples}}▼
▲{{examples}}
== [[Comic Books]] ==
* Many, many arguments in ''[[Knights of the Dinner Table]]''.
* [[DC Comics]] had to [[Why Fandom Can't Have Nice Things|shut down comments on their blog]] due to a flame war over whether [[Superman]] or [[The Flash]] was faster.
* Many issues of [[Marvel Comics]]' "Marvel Team-Up" comics line cashed in on these kinds of arguments. Want to know if [[Hulk]] or [[Thor]] is stronger? There's an issue where they fight each other.
== [[Film]] ==▼
▲== Film ==
* In ''[[Crimson Tide]]'', a fight ensues when one character said that the [[Jack Kirby|Kirby]] [[Silver Surfer]] was the only true Silver Surfer, and that the Moebius Silver Surfer was shit.
* The "pirates vs. ninjas" debate in ''[[Sydney White]]''.
== [[Literature]] ==▼
▲== Literature ==
* One ''[[Animorphs]]'' book informs us that, when they were younger, Jake and Marco would spend entire afternoons arguing about whether or not cheese tastes yellow (Marco thought it tasted sorta green). Now that they're older, they have more serious, adult debates, like Who Would Win: [[Spider-Man (Comic Book)|Spider-Man]] or [[Batman]]?
* In Jonathan Swift's ''[[Gulliver's Travels]]'', there is a war waging between people who break their hard-boiled egg at the fat end (the "big-endians"), and those who break it at the narrow end.
** This has spilled over into an analogous war within [[Real Life]] computer science. Some CPUs, such as the Intel x86-compatibles, store multi-byte values with the low-order byte first; other CPUs, such as the Motorola 68000 series, store multi-byte values with the high-order byte first. When multi-byte data from one computer is sent to another, e.g. over a network, the two computers had better agree on which way to encode the data or it could end up mangled. To this day, these two strategies are officially called "little-endian" and "big-endian", respectively, and result in just as much animosity as their Gulliverian namesakes.
* In Cassandra Clare's
* Similar to the ''Gulliver's Travels'' example above, ''The Butter Battle Book'' by [[Dr. Seuss]] features an allegory for the [[Cold War]] being waged over which side of the bread to butter.
* The ''[[Guinness Book Of World Records]]'' was created specifically to end pub debates about the biggest/strongest/fastest whatever.
▲== Live Action TV ==
* The ''[[Angel]]'' episode "A Hole in the World" is the [[Trope Namer]]. Wesley walks in on Spike and Angel after they've spent 40 minutes shouting at each other about who would win in a fight between cavemen and astronauts. Pretty soon every one in the show is getting in on the act; {{spoiler|"cavemen win" is even one character's last words}}.
* On ''[[How I Met Your Mother]]'', Ted brings a picture that could either be a rabbit or a duck to make a point about how a date might seem right for someone but turn out to be wrong, and vice-versa. Then the gang disagrees over which represented the bad choice, the duck or the rabbit. According to Older Ted, it was the longest, most intense argument they've ever had.
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** And again when it comes out that Jeff is the only member of the study group that dislikes the Barenaked Ladies. Hilariously, they're having this argument at the exact same time they're arguing over something actually important, and treating it with more gravity.
* A running joke in Ricky Gervais' ''[[Extras]]''. The main character and his best friend would ask each other questions like, "what would you rather be? A penguin, where you are a bird but you can't fly, or a flying fish where you can fly but you're still a fish." Once or twice an episode.
* ''[[
** ''[[
* ''[[Supernatural (TV series)|Supernatural]]'': Sam and Dean Winchester have their own version of this as shown in the episode "Death's Door" with Chuck Norris vs. Jet Li.
* ''[[Have I Got News for You]]'': Quite often Paul Merton would indulge in this; once having a (seemingly) aggressive shouting match with Arthur Smith over whether or not you should put tomato sauce on baked beans.
== [[Oral Tradition]], [[Folklore]], Myths and Legends ==
* [[wikipedia:Eshu|Eshu's hat.]]
* ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]'' has Torg and Riff debating [http://sluggy.com/comics/archives/daily/20081021 what's the axiom of flavor]: Garlic Butter or Breaded & Deep Fat Fried. [http://sluggy.com/comics/archives/daily/20081022 Zoe acts as referee], and the debate reaches the point of physical violence when the Minion Master [http://sluggy.com/comics/archives/daily/20081027 throws in Salt as a contender].
== [[Web Original]] ==
* ''[[
==
▲* ''[[Space Battles]]'' has an entire discussion forum dedicated to precisely this issue.
* ''[[The Venture Brothers]]'': [[Who Would Win]] in a fight, Lizzie Borden or Anne Frank?
** Henchmen #21 and #24 seem to have these debates a lot. Another episode showed them arguing over whether or not [[The Smurfs|Smurfs]] lay eggs.
** Not only 21 and 24, but the creative minds behind the show themselves have these kind of debates all the time. In one [[Word of God|commentary track]] Doc references a heated argument they had about what woman was hotter: [[Fiona Apple]] or [[Jewel]]. Another time on a convention panel, a fan wanted to know their opinions on the Lizzie Borden v. Anne Frank debate but accidently asked their opinions on a ''Helen Keller'' v. Anne Frank debate. [https://web.archive.org/web/20120508122014/http://video.adultswim.com/the-venture-bros/the-venture-bros-dragon-con-panel-2009.html The results can be seen here at 6:49].
* ''[[My Little Pony:
** The answer is clearly {{spoiler|Pinkie Pie.}}
* In ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]]'' episode 'Homer at the Bat,' Wade Boggs is knocked out cold by Barney after the two argue over who's the best British Prime Minister of all time.
{{quote|'''Barney:''' And I say England's greatest Prime Minister was Lord Palmerston!
'''Wade Boggs:''' Pitt the Elder!
'''Barney:''' LORD PALMERSTON!
'''Boggs: ''[[Punctuated!
'''Barney:''' Okay, you asked for it, Boggs!
''[punches out Boggs]''
'''Moe:''' Yeah, that's showin' 'im, Barn! ''[mockingly]'' "Pitt the Elder"...
'''Barney: [[Does Not Understand Sarcasm|LORD PALMERSTON!]]'''
''{{[[[Crowning Moment of Funny]] punches out Moe}}]'' }}
** Another episode has Ned Flanders say that his denomination of Christianity (The Northwest Branch of American Reform Presbylutheranism) split off from the Catholic Church several centuries ago over the right of worshippers to come to church with wet hair. He then sheepishly admits that his denomination has since abolished that right.
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* In an episode of ''[[G.I. Joe]]'', the Dreadnoks can be seen in the background having come to blows over whether breath mints or candy mints are better. (Or if one product was a breath mint or a candy mint.)
== [[Real Life]] ==
▲== Real Life ==
* If an airplane were on a conveyor belt, could it... uh, never mind.
** As noted above, this was tested by the [[
** Debatable, since it was moving
*** No, you're just conceding defeat. The argument is that the treadmill would keep the plane from moving forward.
** Randall Munroe of ''[[
* Pirates vs Ninjas. That is all.
** [[Rooster Teeth]] parodied the pirates vs ninjas debate by starting Cake vs Pie.
*** Insert [[Obligatory Joke]] [[The Cake Is a Lie|here]].
** Also, [[Zombies vs. Unicorns]].
* Coca-Cola vs Pepsi.
* ''[[Star Trek]]'' vs ''[[Star Wars]]''
** ''[[Star Trek: The Original Series|Original Series]]'' vs ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation|Next Generation]]'' (or even just Kirk vs Picard)
** Whole [[
* The [[Console Wars]]
* Does .999...[repeating] = 1?<ref>[[wikipedia:0.999|Yes]], but [[Cassandra Truth|nobody will believe you.]]</ref>
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**** Not to mention the [[True Blood|Team Bill vs Team Eric]] argument.
*** In fact, let's just say [[Shipping]] in general.
* In an interview with [[
** Heck, ''any'' random, small, and otherwise irrelevant, difference in political, philosophical or religious views could turn into this. We could give examples of this, [[Rule of Cautious Editing Judgment|but we're not going to.]]
* Even
* [[The Other Wiki]] [[wikipedia:Wikipedia:Lamest edit wars|has these in spades]]. For example: is that city in northern Poland called "Danzig" or "Gdańsk" in English? There's even been wars about ''punctuation''!
** Though to be fair to punctuation, incorrect punctuation can dramatically change the meaning of a statement. "Let's eat, Grandpa." means something different than "Let's eat Grandpa" just as "Let's help your Uncle Jack off a horse." is something different than "Let's help your Uncle jack off a horse."
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{{reflist}}
[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]
[[Category:Comedy Tropes]]
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