Forgot I Couldn't Swim: Difference between revisions

{{quote|''Terry instinctively flicks his wrist, as if trying to produce a Batarang, then remembers he's not in costume--dope!''|[http://www.platypuscomix.net/onlyme/rotj.html Original script for] ''[[Batman Beyond]]: Return of the Joker''}}

 

 

There are many situations where applying the skill of swimming is very useful. Say, for the sake of winning a bet. Recovering lost or damaged property. Saving someone whose life you care about. But there is one situation where no person in their right mind should ''ever'' try swimming, for any reason.

 

A [[Sub-Trope]] of [[Remembered Too Late]].

 

== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==

** In a very similar joke, Ryouga once dives into the water to save a drowning Akane, completely forgetting that he'll turn into a small black pig in contact with the water. Ranma even lampshades this mid-dive.

** During the Pantyhose Taro arc, this antagonist kidnaps her and takes her to a remote temple in the mountains, then leaves to confront Happosai. Akane escapes, comes across a river, and leaps in... only to splash and sputter her way back to shore. She even says "Oh no! I forgot I can't swim!" afterwards.

* In ''[[Yoake Mae Yori Ruriiro na]]'', Feena jumps into the river to save a drowning puppy despite the fact that she herself can't swim. Luckily, Tatsuya is there to rescue her.

* In ''[[Azumanga Daioh]]'', in the first volume, Chiyo can "sort of do a doggy-paddle," but that doesn't stop her from jumping in and proceeding to sink. Of course, this happened during ''swim class'' and had many people monitoring her, so teaching her was kind of the point. (She improves as the series progresses; by the time they go to Okinawa, she's been SCUBA diving.)

* In the anime version of [[Asu no Yoichi]], the title character was raised in the mountains and never learned to swim, but when a side character falls into the water and is unable to swim because the bad guys are creating waves preventing him from doing so, Yoichi heroically jumps in to save the other. After several moments, he surfaces and splashes about. The original water-bound character is eventually saved by a third character who ''can'' swim (though no one knew that) while Yoichi gets a life preserver tossed to him so he can distract/fight off the opponents.

* In one episode of ''[[Sgt Frog]]'', Keroro falls into icy water and starts to drown. In a display of friendship, Fuyuki forfeits a match to jump in and save him. However, previous episodes have made it plain that Fuyuki can't swim, and when Keroro points this out, he starts to flounder, even shouting out the trope's name verbatim.

* In a [[Star Wars]] one-shot comic, Boba Fett is hired to track down the man who killed a crime lord's son and kill him. Turns out, Boba Fett was the one who killed the boss's son, and the job was a setup to allow his other son to get revenge. After fighting against hordes of scrapyard droids, Fett douses the guy in oil and lights him on fire. Naturally, he runs screaming into a nearby pool to put himself out—remembering immediately afterwards that ''he can't swim''. As he watches him drown, Fett aptly remarks "No smarter than your brother."

 

* Subverted in ''[[Time Bandits]]'', when, after declaring as he struggles in the Atlantic after the Titanic sinks that he can't swim, Fidgit the Bandit discovers to his sudden delight when transported to the Time Of Legends that, for no adequately-explained reason, "Hey! I can swim!"

* In ''[[The Gamers]]'':

'''Ambrose:''' ''(out of character)'' Oh, right. ''(in character)'' Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaah! }}

 

 

* In one ''[[Degrassi Junior High]]'' plot, one boy makes a bet with the girl swim team that the soccer team can beat them at swimming. He does this in spite of the fact that the ''rest'' of the soccer team clearly has a look on their faces that this is a very, very foolish idea.

 

* The song ''Swimming in the Pool'' by the Belgian group The Radios ends:

{{quote|''Cupid really made me stupid (Stupid so it must be him)''

''Someone should explain her maybe (Now the story is getting cruel)''

''Why I drowned in the pool'' }}

 

== [[Video Games]] ==

* In ''[[Ghost Trick]]'', the protagonist Sissel is told to break into prison and read a certain prisoner's work schedule. Easy task for a ghost. But when the time comes, Sissel remembers he can't read. {{spoiler|It turns out to be a non-issue; the work schedule in question turns out to be completely blank.}}

 

== [[Western Animation]] ==

* One of the many ridiculous plans to catch the pigeon in ''[[Dastardly and Muttley in Their Flying Machines]]'' was flying a ''diving board plane'' with Dick Dastardly on it, so when he was directly above the pigeon, he would dive, catch the pigeon and land on a plane carrying a huge tank of water. Before the squadron takes off, Dastardly remarks, "OK...but I still think we're forgetting something." Remarkably, Dastardly actually catches the pigeon, but suddenly says, "Uh oh! Now I remember! I CAN'T SWIM!", sinks beneath the water, lets go of the pigeon and once again begs for Muttley to rescue him.

** In an episode where Dick Dastardly went on vacation, he dove at a pool but, because of another attempt from his squad to catch the pigeon, we never got to learn if the trope would repeat or if he had already learned by then.

{{quote|'''Freakazoid:''' "That was important and I forgot it!"}}

* Happens a few times to Bullwinkle in ''[[Rocky and Bullwinkle]]''.

* In one [[Pepe Le Pew]] cartoon, Pepe sees Penelope on a cruise boat and runs after it. As he sinks he calmly tells the audience, "Silly me, I forgot I cannot swim."

* In one episode of ''[[Codename: Kids Next Door]]'', Numbuh 4 dove at an aspargus sea to chase what he believed to be a cheeseburger and then he remembered he couldn't swim.

 

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Contrived Stupidity Tropes]]

[[Category:Stupidity Tropes]]