Inflationary Dialogue: Difference between revisions

'''Lyle''': That doesn't matter. The point of the story is I was outnumbered.<br />

'''African man''': ''(in Swahili)'' It's easy to be outnumbered when you're a zero. }}

{{quote| '''Maxwell Smart''': I think it only fair to warn you that this building has been surrounded by 130 highly trained Black Ops snipers.<br />

'''Siegfreid''': I don't believe you.<br />

'''Siegfreid''': No.<br />

'''Maxwell Smart''': How about Chuck Norris with a BB gun? }}

{{quote| '''Cmdr. Drury''': Smart, you appear to be in pretty good shape, do you work out? <br />

'''Maxwell Smart''': I jog one hundred miles every day! Would you believe it? One hundred miles!<br />

'''Nicholas Dimente''': I don't think so. <br />

'''Maxwell Smart''': How about a Boy Scout with rabies? }}

{{quote| '''Porthos''': God's blood!! Look at that...! Ruined by you and your, your street-corner ruffians! By God, you'll pay for it! ''[Rifles the purse of a fallen Guardsman]'' Ten pistoles it cost me! ''[Reconsiders on seeing the contents of the purse]'' No -- twenty! Twenty pistoles! And twenty more, as a fine to teach you manners! Hah!}}

 

* In the scene in ''[[The Hobbit]]'' where the dwarves are introduced to Beorn, Gandalf doesn't want to introduce all of them at once, for fear that Beorn won't be willing to provide them with hospitality if he sees all of them right away. As a result, his account of their prior adventures works this way.

* [[Discworld]] examples:

* Justified in ''[[Snow Crash]]'', thanks to some quality [[Cold Sniper|sniping]].

{{quote| '''Vic:''' It's one of them drug dealer boats... five guys on it, heading our way. Correction, four guys on it. Correction, they're not heading our way anymore. Correction, no boat. }}

*** "...and nice red uniforms--oh, bugger."

** The Kamikaze Scotsmen sketch does the deflationary version with the number of Scotsmen in the regiment, as they keep committing suicide until there's only one left.

{{quote| '''Smart''': At the moment, seven Coast Guard cutters are converging on us. Would you believe it?<br />

'''[[Mister Big|Mr. Big]]''': I find that hard to believe.<br />

* In ''[[Only Fools and Horses]]'' episode "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Uncle", Uncle Albert arrives at the flat with a black eye and no money. He says he's been mugged by a gang of youths, but the number increases every time he tells the story. It turns out he lost the money playing dominoes, and then got in a punch-up with his opponent Knock-Knock over Marlene's mother.

* Done over several seasons in ''[[Coupling]]''. Jane says in the third episode that she and Steve dated for four and a half years. The following episode she tells her psychiatrist it was five years. By episode 16 it's six years, at which point Susan corrects her, saying it was only four years. In the series final, she tells Oliver how she met Steve and that they've "been together ever since," possibly suggesting that she continued counting after they had broken up.

{{quote| '''The Doctor:''' ''(to Agatha Christie)'' You fool me every time! Well... almost every time. Well... once or twice... Well... once. But it was a good once!}}

** This is practically a [[Verbal Tic]] with Ten.

{{quote| '''The Doctor:''' She's not much to look at, but she's good with a cup of tea. Well... I say good, I mean not bad. Well... I say not bad...<br />

'''The Doctor:''' Yeah, listen, listen, got to dash... things happening. Well... four things. Well... four things and a lizard. }}

{{quote| Uh... twenty or thirty. I mean, depends on the page. About... two hundred. About a thousand, more or less. I mean, on a single page, you mean. Yes, mmm... about ten thousand. I mean, that would be one of the bigger pages.}}

{{quote| '''Sheppard''': It's nothing, really. I only killed eleven... twelve Wraith.}}

{{quote| '''Dick''': Oh hello, Mary. I was just thinking about how long I've known you -- ten long years.<br />

'''Mary''': It's more like three years.<br />

 

== [[Western Animation]] ==

* Whopper from ''[[Pound Puppies]]'' does this at least [[Once an Episode]].