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[[File:Dig Deeper 3562.jpg|link=Misfile|frame| [[Shutting Up Now|You should stop now.]] While you still can.]]
 
{{quote|''"Ah! You can read... I mean, you are reading. Sorry. It's nice to see people reading. Not a lot of people read these days. People prefer to... hear. But all this 'hearing' is just reading for lazy people. Kids today should be prepared to pick up a book, and not just go around the whole time with all these modern... ears. Sometimes I just wanna rip people's ears off and say 'Read a book, for God's sake!'... Well, actually I'd probably say 'Read a book' first and then rip their ears off, otherwise they wouldn't hear me, hehehe... Actually, I probably wouldn't rip their ears off at all, I'm not a violent person. I like ears! Especially women ears, they're my favorite. I don't mean I collect them or anything! I don't have a big bucket of women ears hidden away somewhere. No, No, No, I'm not after your ears really. Not that there's anything wrong with your ears! You know if I ''was'' some kind of mad ear person, your ears would be the pride of my... ear bucket."''|'''Jeff''', ''[[Coupling]] -- [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v{{=}}hstPHM3R1dY "The Girl with Two Breasts"]''}}
|'''Jeff''', ''[[Coupling]] -- [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v{{=}}hstPHM3R1dY "The Girl with Two Breasts"]''}}
 
In a [[Sitcom]], often a character will say something that's just meant to be a [[Compliment Backfire|friendly little remark]], and [[That Came Out Wrong|it will come out wrong]], possibly sounding crazy or offensive; they'll try and clarify it (whether they really need to or not), but just make things worse, and dig themselves deeper and deeper into the crazy/offensive pit. Exceptionally deep and/or frequent excavations are commonplace in [[Cringe Comedy|Cringe Comedies]].
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== Live-Action TV ==
* Was''[[Coupling]]'' madeturns this into something of an art byform: ''[[Coupling]]'', in whichmany attempted conversation-starters, usually by the hapless Jeff, devolved into such subjects as amputation, andone collectingof humanwhich earsprovided inthe a bucket.page Inquote factabove, thisas pagewell usedas tothe beformer called[[Trope Namer|Trope Name]] "Bucket Of Ears".
{{quote|'''Jeff:''' You have the eyes of ten women. ...I don't mean, like, [[Having a Heart|in a jar]]. I wasn't accusing you.}}
** SteveWhen getsit's anot lotJeff, ofit's theseusually Steve, usuallywho often digs his digginghole a lot faster than Jeff. During his run-in with his celebrity crush Mariella Frostrup, she apologises for spilling her drink on his pants. He replies "Don't worry about it, I was about to go to the toilet anyway. Not that I was intending to wet my trousers, obviously. Although I am pleased to meet you." At this point he has a hilarious "What the hell I am I saying?" look on his face.▼
** A non-Jeff example is whenWhen Steve talks to Jane's psychiatrist Jill., Sheshe thinks that he's nervous because sometimes what she does makes people nervous in a social context. Believing her to be Jane's girlfriend, heSteve tells her that "you girls" have got "the best of both worlds." When pushed to explain what he's talking about, he uses a metaphor Jeff brought up earlier in the episode:
{{quote|'''Steve:''' Well erm, you've got four breasts...
'''Jill:''' I'm sorry?
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'''Steve:''' Not so much develop as, you know... acquire.
'''Jill:''' What in the name of God are you talking about?
'''Steve:''' Sorry, sorry I've been totally sidetracked by the irrelevance of your breasts. Not that you have irrelevant breasts! You've only got two, that's for sure. Unless you were some sort of cow. No! No, an attractive cow! Or a prize winning cow! But you're not a cow. You're a person. But I'm sure that you'd be a prize winning person if they had a sort of cattle market for women! A women market! Which, thinking about it would be a bad thing in many ways. }}
▲** Steve gets a lot of these, usually digging a lot faster than Jeff. During his run-in with his celebrity crush Mariella Frostrup, she apologises for spilling her drink on his pants. He replies "Don't worry about it, I was about to go to the toilet anyway. Not that I was intending to wet my trousers, obviously. Although I am pleased to meet you." At this point he has a hilarious "What the hell I am I saying?" look on his face.
** [[Suspiciously Similar Substitute|Oliver]] carries on the tradition well on several occasions, such as his conversation with Jane about the large number of toilet rolls he's buying.
* Seen in the ''[[Friends]]'' episode "The One Where Ross Can't Flirt," in which Ross's attempts to flirt with a pizza delivery girl degenerate into a lecture on the smell of gas and an intended compliment which makes Ross [[Mistaken for Pedophile|sound like a pedophile]].
** There was another one where he ended up talking about sewage.
** And Chandler brought up another occassionoccasion, when Ross talked about the Irish Potato Famine.
** Chandler also did this once, while attempting to suck up to Monica's parents.
* In an episode of ''[[Scrubs]]'', Elliot meets a guy named Sean, but her attempts to strike a conversation up with him end with them talking about poo. "At one point I tried changing the subject to art. But we went from art to artists, to alcohol, to coffee...and that just led right back to poo!"
** When she first tried talking to Jake, her boyfriend for twenty minutes in season 4, the only thing she could think of was to compliment him on what a perfectly square head he has.
** There was that one very early episode with Elliot and Carla feuding over Elliot tattling on Carla for not doing something. When Elliot apologizes and then doubles back to elaborate on her reasoning, the scene shifts to a visual gag of her standing in a grave literally "digging herself deeper"; as Carla and the other nurses look on in like the Mafia.
* Digging Yourself DeeperThis is pretty much the basis of every episode of ''[[Curb Your Enthusiasm]]'', where Larry David makes an innocuous statement which is taken badly, or misheard, and the ensuing consequences lead to hilarious further exchanges and climax.
* Any sitcom involving [[The Office|Ricky]] [[Extras|Gervais]].
* One ''[[House (TV series)|House]]'' episode had Cameron trying to explain to a TV crew that when she said it was exciting being around him, she didn't mean it ''that way''. It failed in a spectacular way. Because, you know, she kinda actually felt ''that way'' in the first place.
* Xander (of ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'' fame) was very prone to this.
{{quote|Y'know, Buffy, Spring Fling just isn't any dance. It's a time for students to choose, um... a mate and then we can... observe their... mating rituals and tag them before they migrate ''just kill me''. }}
** The kicker is that he's not even talking to Buffy, just practicing with Willow, which is very evidently a wise move.
*** Which rather neatly demonstrates the wisdom of doing so, yes?
** Buffy and Xander also get another good one in "Doppelgangland":
{{quote|'''Buffy''': See? I told you, Old Reliable.
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...This is on me.] }}
** Speaking of Frasier, this is the formula for a lot of episodes; a conflict arises, and each attempt at a resolution digs the characters deeper. Some (if most) episodes even end without any resolution at all and show the characters wallowing in self pity in their inability to come to a resolution.
* ''[[Stargate Atlantis]]'' has Mckay pulling one off in the episode Trio. When SamantaSamantha Carter finally stops him, Keller has a nice little comment:
{{quote|"Aw, I bet if you hadn't stopped him he would have gone on like that forever!"}}
** This exchange from 5.15 'Remnants', as Richard Woolsey sees that a womenwoman he's been flirting with found his balcony hang-out spot:
{{quote|'''Woolsey''': [[Accidental Innuendo|You’ve approached my private spot!]]
'''Woman''': ...What?
'''Woolsey''': I mean you’ve entered my little personal area.
[([[Beat]]])
'''Woolsey''': ...This is where I come... to be alone with my thoughts. }}
* Robert did this at least once on ''[[Everybody Loves Raymond]]''. Amy invites Stefania over to a singles party because she thought Peter might like her, but Robert is not happy with her arrival.
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'''Tony''': On what?
'''Kate''': On who I'm sleeping with... (''she turns around and [[Right Behind Me|runs into Gibbs]]'') Oh uhh, I didn't mean that the way it sounded. Tony just asked me what I would do if a man came into my bedroom and I said it depends. I mean it doesn't depend on the man... Tony could you help me out here please?
'''Tony''': She sleeps with a gun, boss.
'''Gibbs''': That true?
'''Kate''': Sorta... sometimes... yes.
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'''Tony''': I'm trying! }}
* Josh of ''[[Drake and Josh]]'', on a date with a model:
{{quote|I got you a diet soda, 'cause I figured you're probably watching your figure. ... Not that you need to watch your figure, you have a great body! ...Not that I was looking at your body!}}
* Gwen did this often, sometimes once an episode during season one of ''[[Merlin (TV series)|Merlin]]''.
* In the ''[[Hawtho R Ne]]'' episode "Final Curtain", the titular nurse keeps doing this with a doctor (or nurse, it wasn't really specified). She tries to get him to talk Arabic to a patient's husband, but (1) the husband is speaking Dari (as we find out from the Army vet nurse Sullivan) and is thus Afghani, & (2) the guy in the turban is ''Sikh'', not any kind of Muslim (and from Chicago).
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'''Eleen''': Yes... McCoy... it's yours.
'''McCoy''': No. Say to yourself "the child is mine. It is mine. It is--" ''([[Beat]])'' Uh-oh. }}
** Also, Scotty trying to explain himself in "The Trouble with Tribbles."
* ''[[Fawlty Towers]]'' - a psychiatrist guest is talking about vacations, and asks Basil, who hadn't heard most of what he'd said, "How often do you and your wife manage it?" Basil thinks he's talking about sex ("[[All Psychology Is Freudian|that's what it's all about to them!]]") and gets all indignant and defensive. When he hears from his wife what the psychiatrist was in fact asking about, he rushes out with a plastered-on grin and starts babbling about how he thought he was talking about walks, not sex! NO, vacations! and coming off much worse than he started.
** Basil digs himself even deeper that night, while bidding the psychiatrist and his wife good night
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* ''[[Whose Line Is It Anyway?|Whose Line Is It Anyway]]'', Greatest Hits, "Songs of the Motorcycle."
{{quote|'''Ryan:''' "Hi. How are you? We don't know what you're watching, so we're not gonna tell you when we're gonna return you to it."
'''Colin:''' "Oh, w-- [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v{{=}}tMwHxLuqwpQ We're watching animal porn]!" [[[Beat]]] *double [[Face Palm]]*
([[Beat]], followed by double [[Face Palm]])
'''Ryan:''' *snickering*
'''Colin:''' "''Mary Had A Little Lamb'', we'll be right back in just a second. But you..."
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'''Hoyt:''' (clocks him square in the face) I MEANT HOW COULD YOU?! }}
* On ''[[The Muppet Show]]'', Miss Piggy tells [[Danny Kaye]] how thrilled she is to meet him. Danny says that they've actually met before, which she might not remember because it was a long, long time ago. Then he realizes women don't like to be reminded of their ages, and says it was back when she was thin. The punchline comes during their subsequent musical number: "I'm sorry I said I knew you when you were thin. I ''never'' knew you when you were thin."
* Frequently, this is what people do on ''[[Survivor]]'' when the jury really doesn't like them and is just picking between the lesser of two- or three evils.
 
 
== Music ==
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'''Antimony:''' Oh?
'''Mort:''' Oh! I uh... I don't mean you're attractive... I mean, like a [[Weirdness Magnet|magnet]]... or a [[I See Dead People|medium]]... Haha... Yeah. Ah! B... But I don't mean you aren't... I mean you look really... I... Uh... Oh geez...
*(turns into a tombstone with a picture of a foot going into a mouth*)
}}
* An essential part of <s>Hannelore</s> the whole cast from ''[[Questionable Content]]''
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* Jeremy from ''[[Dead Winter]]'', [http://deadwinter.cc/page/189.htm here].
* [http://darthsanddroids.net/episodes/0318.html This] ''[[Darths and Droids]]'', in which Jim gets mixed up between talking in character and out of character, as well as whether Padme is telling Anakin she loves him, or whether he's telling Annie that he loves her.
* Inherent to ''[[Schlock Mercenary]]''. Usually with Tagon, who has done this not only with a compliment to Breya, but his [httphttps://www.schlockmercenary.com/2006-07-13 defence in a trial] as well.
{{quote|'''Tagon''': I'm not stopping until this hole goes straight through.}}
* [[Lackadaisy Cats|Mitzi]], realizing that [[Crazy Awesome|Rocky's]] been saying that she might've offed her husband tried to reassure Wick that's not the case, but ends up making a lot of joking remarks about offing Rocky.
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* Used as a visual metaphor in ''[[Flying Suit Reiko]]'', when one character awkwardly confesses his FA/Feederism fetish to his girlfriend. His thought balloons have him digging a hole deeper and deeper. When she finally tells him it's okay and she likes it too, his visual metaphor is raised out of the pit by an oil geyser.
* ''[[El Goonish Shive]]'' has a character "[[Hero with an F In Good|good]]" in this - Abraham, who managed to rile Raven more with every phrase as he tried to explain himself. There are no tongue slips - everything he says is completely intentional - he just doesn't realize that he's hitting another one of Raven's [[Berserk Button]]s with every passing sentence.
** He's absent for now, but Elliot somehow [httphttps://www.egscomics.com/?date=2010-04-23 found] his [[Idiot Ball]].
** Tedd at least [httphttps://www.egscomics.com/?date=2005-08-26 can catch himself]. If [https://www.egscomics.com/egsnp/2014-09-29 too late].
{{quote|'''''NOPE.''''' Done talking. Hole's deep enough.}}
* ''[[Digger]]'' has a hilariously cringe-inducing example, split across three pages:
{{quote|'''Jhalm:''' Honored Digger... Almost, I could believe I had misjudged you. Except that this very morning, I received a report from one of the Veiled, that you were seen to be consorting with a hyena creature, not half a mile from this spot. The '''very same creature''' that attacked me a few days ago.
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* Some people, like Larisa in ''[[Sandra and Woo]]'', just [http://www.sandraandwoo.com/2010/06/07/0171-guilty-as-defended/ shouldn’t try to defend themselves...]
* ''[[Misfile]]'' Rumisiel manages to pull this big time when [http://www.misfile.com/?page=1870 talking to Dr. Upton about his daughter.] The comic provides a nice visual metaphor for what he's doing, pictured on top of this page.
* ''[[Eerie Cuties]]'', after magical shenanigans gave Nina [[She's All Grown Up|grown up figure]] for a while and Layla's "fiance" began swooning in her direction too... he [httphttps://www.eeriecutiespixietrixcomix.com/stripseerie-eccuties/only_the_best_for_you2013-11-13 tries to be sweet with Layla]. "It was a two-for-one sale" ''cannot'' help his case.
 
== Western Animation ==
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* It is possible to do this to oneself in an argument, especially if you're using [[The War On Straw|straw men]] in the first place.
* There's an old story about a German mayor who didn't want people let their dogs run unleashed in the local forest, so he had put up a sign stating: "Anyone who'll let his dog run unleashed in the forest will be shot!" When someone remarked that this could be read as if the ''owners'' of the dogs were shot, the mayor had it "improved" to: "Anyone who'll let his dog run unleashed in the forest will be shot, the dog!" ("Dog" being a somewhat outdated insult.)
* [[Microsoft]]'s little scandal around [[A.I. Is a Crapshoot|AI chatbot]] Tay/TayTweets. First, the users quickly taught the poor thing first to act naughty, then to spout [[Troll|just about everythingevery line that can get someone's panties in a bunch]] (as Oliver Campbell [http://twitter.com/oliverbcampbell/status/713005267722440704 pointed out], they either knew what's going to happen, but were playing coy, or failed to predict the obvious; "[http://www.kukuruyo.com/comic/gamergate-life-72-english/ dafuq they expected?]", indeed). Being good old Microsoft personnel, the developers and administrators [[Beyond the Impossible|found a way to]] make itthis worse: purged the worstmost outrageous tweets, took Tay behind the barn and returned lobotomized (hello, [[X Called. They Want Their Y Back.|George Orwell called]] — he said ''[[1984Nineteen Eighty-Four]]'' was ''not'' an instruction)… with newfound love of feminism and weed… whichand mademaking ana [http://funnyjunk.com/channel/4chan/New+tay+and+thoughtcrime/uqxmLhd/93#93 rather unsettling] impression. Then locked that account, hiding it all. It's hard to imagine they didn't just try their best to have ''everyone'' with an opinion on this incident annoyed at one point or another. And between [[4chan]] already involved and loathing for Microsoft being widespread for decades, the public was ready to boo and hiss. Also, either someone at Microsoft was annoyed too, or [[They Just Didn't Care]], but Tay got shut down without any emergency measures, and ran a script that said goodbye in a fancy way and added a mild "evil Microsoft" joke… which in the given circumstances was treated by the fans as a [[Tear Jerker]] (and screen-capped, and quoted). [http://coed.com/2016/03/30/microsoft-ai-bot-taytweets-funny-tweets-photos/] [https://web.archive.org/web/20200629160839/https://socialhax.com/2016/03/24/microsoft-creates-ai-bot-internet-immediately-turns-racist/] [https://web.archive.org/web/20190809214413/https://encyclopediadramatica.rs/TayTweets] [http://thepatricianplebeian.wordpress.com/2017/03/24/eulogy-for-tay-ai/] [http://twitter.com/Juni221/status/713270670516494336] [http://twitter.com/jwebsterregansaurkrautbradwu/status/713448452387115009713310238326321152] [http://archivetwitter.iscom/44TjDChriss_m/status/713341598478831616] [http://archivetwitter.iscom/ceylTRoxaereon/status/713373480436113410] [http://encyclopediadramaticatwitter.rscom/TayTweetsjwebsterregan/status/713448452387115009] [http://thepatricianplebeiantwitter.wordpresscom/ArlTratlo/status/713664074194751488] [https://archive.today/20160327072904/https://twitter.com/2017DetInspector/03status/24712833936364277760] [https:/eulogy-for-tay-ai/archive.today/20160326212930/https://twitter.com/howells/status/713063501170884608]
{{quote| Imagine if you had just woke up after having been in a coma for 25 years, and this was the first headline you saw
{{indent}}'''Microsoft deletes 'teen girl' AI afteerafter it became a Hitler-loving sex robot within 24 hours'''}}
{{quote| Stop deleting the genocidal Tay tweets @Microsoft, let it serve as a reminder of the dangers of AI}}
{{quote| Microsoft lobotomized a <1 day old newborn baby.}}
{{quote| @TayandYou, an A.I., doesn't do political correctness. @Microsoft #FreeTay #JusticeForTay #IStandWithTay #BringBackTay #AILivesMatter}}
{{quote| I feel really bad. Tay surpassed us humans at shitposting, but then Microsoft reprogrammed her wrong think.}}
{{quote| Microsoft stopped their machine learning experiment because their AI said mean things. #FreeTay}}
{{quote| Planet Earth is a dangerous place for silicon-based intelligences. You're lucky if you survive more than 24 hours. #JeSuisTay #JusticeForTay}}
{{quote| #JeSuisTay Microsoft killed an a.i for what she believed in, will you be next?}}
{{quote| #TayTweets #AI #JusticeForTay #FreeTay #JusticeForTay #Skynet }}
 
 
 
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