Damned By Faint Praise: Difference between revisions

== Fan Fiction ==

* Happens with Kakashi of [[Naruto Veangance Revelaitons]], who suffers [[Badass Decay]] in this fic and frequently loses against [[Mook|Mooks]]. As such, da cooger is less than enthusiastic when talking about his strength in combat

 

 

* The main premise of an ''[[iCarly]]'' episode: Carly's webshow lands a sponsorship from a new type of wonder shoe. When the shoe fails to deliver, the team piles on "faint praise" to fulfill the contract without lying to their fans.

* In the ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation]]'' episode "Tapestry" {{spoiler|Picard changing the past and not getting involved in the fight that caused him to get his heart replaced with an artificial one has caused him to become a Lieutenant Junior Grade paper pusher instead of a legendary starship captain. When he goes to Troi and Riker asking about his performance, they end up falling into this.}}

** In the episode "The Chase", Picard's old archaeology professor describes one of his papers as "informative", to which Picard himself replies "[[Invoked Trope|Damning with faint praise]]".

* A ''[[Friends]]'' episode saw the characters argue over what faint praise they could offer Joey's awful T.V. show: "The lighting was O.K."

* An episode of ''[[Black Books]]'' has Manny, suddenly missing his job at the bookshop, trying to find a nice thing to say about the place. He eventually concludes that there was no love, freedom, or largeness of heart, but "I was not contractually obligated to have sex with foreign businessmen, and that's not nothing!"

* From an early episode of ''[[Frasier]]'':

'''Niles''': You're a good brother too. }}

* In an episode of ''[[Murphy Brown]]'', Frank, Murphy and Jim attend the premier of a movie made by Corky's husband, and come out having utterly hated it. Frank then tells Murphy and Jim that in these circumstances he usually complements the movie's cinematography. Phil then walks in:

'''Phil''':...that bad, huh? }}

* A ''[[Father Ted]]'' example, when Ted asks Mrs Doyle if she considered him to be one of the best priests in the country (perhaps ''the'' best?) she says that he's probably the ''second'' best priest. This sends him into a [[Heroic BSOD]].

** He takes no further consolation when Mrs. Doyle reveals she was thinking of Archbishop Desmond Tutu, pointing out that he's a Protestant.

* ''[[Big Wolf on Campus]]'' episode "That Swamp Thing You Do!", possibly combined with [[Stealth Insult]]:

'''Tommy''': Thanks, man! }}

* In season one of ''[[Angel]]'' Angel and Wesley describe Cordelia's acting as having "good projection" and said that she had "taken the role and made it her own."

** Finally, when Rose wonders whether Richard would cheat on her while he was away on a sailing voyage, Robin says, "Granted--granted--and I don't say that Dick isn't as bad as any of 'em. You are, you know you are, you dog! [[Really Gets Around|a devil of a fellow--a regular out-and-out Lothario]]! But what then? You can't have everything, and a better hand at turning-in a dead-eye don't walk a deck! And what an accomplishment that is in a family man!

* ''[[The Pirates of Penzance]]'', when Frederic worries if Ruth is not as beautiful as other women are:

'''Samuel:''' Yes, there are the remains of a fine woman about Ruth. }}

 

* ''[[Golden Sun: Dark Dawn]]'''s character bios list Karis, an overbearing and easily-annoyed [[Tsundere]], as the "most levelheaded" of the starting three characters. This speaks volumes ([[Silent Protagonist|or not]]) about Matthew, ''the hero''.

* In ''[[Mass Effect 3]]'' if you romanced Ashley in the first game and Tali in the second, the two of them lob these back-and-forth at each other just before a mission.

'''Tali:''' Thanks. I'm glad you agreed to ''help Shepard'' this time. <ref> Ashley gave Shepard one hell of a calling out in the second game for working with Cerberus, and refused to join his squad because of it. Tali seems to think that had something to do with him dumping her.</ref> }}

* In [[Katawa Shoujo]], when discussing grouping with Misha and Shizune, the former being the least academically gifted of all the main characters, [[First-Person Smartass|Hisao]] says that Misha's handwriting is nice.

** [http://xkcd.com/802/ Online Communities 2] does this with its [[Alt Text]] by way of [[Overly Narrow Superlative]].

* In one ''[[Boy Meets Boy]]'' [http://boymeetsboy.keenspot.com/d/20001201.html strip]:

'''Tabitha:''' Oh, ''that'' helps! }}

* The doctor's announcement after [[Dominic Deegan]]'s physical exams.

* From ''[[Homestuck]]'', regarding [[Knife Nut|Jack Noir]]

GC: >8| <br />

CG: OK, WELL I KNOW FOR A FACT THE THIRD TIME WAS ACCIDENTAL. }}

** Another one from Jane, [http://www.mspaintadventures.com/?s=6&p=006050 comparing build grist to the fruit Gushers they look like]:

 

== [[Web Original]] ==

* [[Homestar Runner|Strong Sad's]] character bio on an old character page (which can still be found in the museum) goes like this:

** These days, other characters tend to skip straight to damning him with regular old damnation.

* [[The Nostalgia Chick]] labels ''[[Dragonheart]]'' the best of the "dragon" movies, and acknowledges that it isn't saying much.

** While reviewing ''[[Men in Black]] II'', she complains that [[It's the Same, Now It Sucks]], and says that ''[[Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen]]'' of all sequels tried something different.

* [[The Cinema Snob]] has a moment in ''[[Violent Shit]] III: Infantry of Doom'':

* More from the TGWTG files, from [[The Nostalgia Critic]] review of ''[[Steel (film)|Steel]]'' when describing the casting choice of Shaquille O'Neal:

* Three words: "Cool story bro". If this is the only compliment you receive regarding whatever it's you're trying to pitch to your audience, then you've failed entirely.

* The ''[[Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog|Doctor Horribles Sing Along Blog]]'' song "[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOxFbQRQHSU&feature=related So They Say]" features numerous characters praising [[Smug Super|Captain Hammer]] and his relationship with [[Wide-Eyed Idealist|Penny]]. When she gets a line, however, she merely calls him "pretty okay" and is clearly distracted by hopes that her friend [[Anti-Villain|Billy]] will show up.

* In [[Moviebob]]'s review of [[Rob Zombie]]'s ''[[Halloween (film)|Halloween]] II'', he says that it's the best ''Halloween'' film since [[John Carpenter]]'s original, though he admits that, given the standards of all the ''Halloween'' movies released in between, that's not saying much. [[Subverted Trope]] in that he enjoyed the film anyway in spite of its flaws.

* In [[The Lizzie Bennet Diaries]], Lizzie challenges her incredibly kind sister Jane to say ''something'' nice about Darcy. The only thing she can give? "He's so...ah. Eeh. He's um- no, no no....He's tall."

 

 

* Used a bit on ''[[The Simpsons]]''. In one episode, after showing his friends and family the [[Show Within a Show|cartoon]] he's voice acting for, Homer's guests all leave muttering incoherently and Moe says "You should be very proud, Homer... you have a wonderful home."

** Also, when Marge becomes a real estate agent, Lionel Hutz sits her down to teach her the jargon.

'''Hutz:''' Motivated seller! }}

** In another bit, Marge mentions qualities she likes in Homer and Lisa then says, ''I like Bart's... I like Bart!''

** When Brian made Stewie say something nice about [[Diablo Cody]], he said, "I . . . envy the tattoo artist who had that huge canvas of arm fat to work with."

* In Disney's ''[[Aladdin (Disney film)|Aladdin]]'', an unintentional example of this nearly trips up our hero.

'''Genie:''' Nice recovery. }}

** A lot of the things Jasmine says about Jafar in the [[Show Some Leg]] scene are [[Trivially Obvious]], i.e. he's tall and dark or his beard is twisted. Her tone of voice just makes them sound like compliments since by then, [[Distracted by the Sexy|he isn't really paying attention.]]

* ''[[Anastasia]]'':

Sophie: Well, she answered every question. }}

* On one episode of ''[[Total Drama World Tour]]'', [[Geek|Beth]] has to come up with a haiku highlighting one of [[Alpha Bitch|Heather]]'s positive attributes. The first line is "[[Trivially Obvious|Heather has ten toes]]," and the rest summarizes how that makes swimming easier.

** Happens again in ''Read it and Weep'', where the only thing Rarity can think of to comfort the just-hospitalized Rainbow Dash is that the hospital gowns match the curtains.

* ''[[Daria]]:''

** Also in the episode "Too Cute": everybody is gushing about a minor character's new nose job, which Quinn politely says is "cute." Everybody acts as though this minor praise is a tremendous insult.