Cloudcuckoolander: Difference between revisions

When they are given a specific disorder, it is often [[Attention Deficit Ooh Shiny]], despite the fact that a couple of lesser-known disorders actually fit better: [[wikipedia:Schizotypal personality disorder|Schizotypal personality disorder]], which is essentially schizophrenia-lite characterized in part by acting really weird,<ref> The rest of it consists of mild versions of the delusions, paranoia, and hallucinations found in paranoid schizophrenia, as well as the [[The Stoic|affect]] [[Mood Swinger|disturbances]] that appear across types, hence "schizophrenia-lite"</ref>, and [[wikipedia:Thought disorder|thought disorder]], which is when normal speech is disrupted and presumed to reflect a similar disruption in thoughts.

Frequently clips entire stacks of [[Weirdness Coupon|Weirdness Coupons]]s from the paper. Certainly, many of them get away with a good deal no one else would be allowed. And has a weakness for falling into a [[Wiki Walk]].

This character is a mainstay of [[Surreal Humor]], [[Dada Comics]], [[Widget Series]], and [[Word Salad Humor]]. Even in a series with a little more structure overall, the [['''Cloudcuckoolander]]''''s wacky and bizarre antics will often be used for an easy gag, particularly when paired with a [[Straight Man|straight foil]] to drive insane. This is probably why there are so many [[Web Comics]] examples. Often this character will also be a [[Granola Girl]] or [[New Age Retro Hippie]].

On rare occasion, a Cloudcuckoolander may become [[Bored Withwith Insanity]] and become more normal. If this happens, sometimes it sticks, and sometimes a [[We Want Our Jerk Back|"we want our Cloudcuckoolander back" movement]], subsequently getting bored with ''sanity'' too, or some other means of inducing insanity will make him or her a Cloudcuckoolander again (since, after all, [[Status Quo Is God]]).

The name of the trope comes from the city built on air above the Greek plain in [[Aristophanes]]' play ''The Birds'', 414 B.C., whose ruler had quite a large mental gap between the [[Wide -Eyed Idealist|dreamy, wide-eyed, idealistic]] [[Utopia]] that he imagined his city to be and the brutal totalitarian regime that he had actually imposed on it. He also came up with brilliant ideas like keeping people out of his city -- acity—a city you could only reach through flight -- byflight—by building a really, really tall wall around it. ([[Fridge Logic|We'll give you a minute to figure out why that wouldn't have worked so well]].)