Like a Weasel: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

'''Polonius''': Very like a whale.|''[[Hamlet]]'', III.ii}}

 

 

A [[Yes-Man]] is an assistant (in a business or political capacity) whose ''job'' is to be '''Like a Weasel'''. [[Favouritism Flip Flop]] is a subtrope where Bob openly says he hates something until Alice says she likes it.

{{examples}}

== Comic Books ==

* The wife of Orthopedix in ''Asterix and Caesar's Gift''. (She wants him to be elected new chief of the village, and caters to everyone's whims like a politician would do it.)

{{quote|Orthopedix' wife (to Unhygienix the fishmonger): "Orthopedix says that there should be days when you can eat only fish."

 

== Film ==

{{quote|'''Garth:''' Did you ever find Bugs Bunny attractive when he put on a dress and played a girl bunny?

'''Wayne:''' No. ''[laughs hysterically]'' No.

'''Austin Powers:''' Finally those capitalist pigs will pay for their crimes, eh? Eh comrades? Eh?

'''Basil Exposition:''' Austin... we won.

'''Austin Powers:''' Oh, smashing, groovy, yay capitalism! }}

 

* Comes up in ''[[Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs]]'', when Flint describes the FLDSMDFR to Sam, whom he has a crush on. She starts listing possible foods it could make, ending with:

{{quote|'''Sam''': How about Jell-O?

'''Flint''': Do you like Jell-O?

'''Flint''': Eh, me, too. }}

** It comes up again much later in the movie: {{spoiler|while in the meateroid, Sam and Flint come across a pit lined with [[Spikes of Doom|shards of peanut brittle]]. Sam comments that "If either one of us touches it, we'll go into anaphylactic shock." }}.

 

== Literature ==

{{quote|'''Tiffany''': I live on the Chalk.

'''Petulia''': Oh, where they have all those sheep? I don't much like sheep.

** ''[[Arthur, King of Time and Space]]'' follows White's characterisation in [http://www.arthurkingoftimeandspace.com/0672.htm this] strip.

 

* There was an episode of ''[[Blossom]]'' in which Joey's girlfriend idolized him so much that she agreed with everything he said, and had no will of her own other than to please him.

* This was practically Andy Bernard's job during Season 3 of ''[[The Office]]'' (US).

 

== Music ==

* Musical example: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u18bdI6zW4A Brad Paisley's "Me neither"]. A man approaches a woman in a bar, asks if she believes in love at first sight, then thoroughly agrees when she shoots him down. The theme continues throughout the song - [[Crowning Moment of Funny|words don't do it justice.]]

* A comedic musical example is from [[The Smothers Brothers]], in one of their renditions of "I Talk to the Trees" from the Broadway musical ''[[Paint Your Wagon]]''. Tommy interrupts the song, calling it and the musical stupid, saying that anybody who loves a song from a show like that has gotta be a 'stupid dumb weirdo freak.' Dickie agrees with him, then adds that the song is about a young man very much like Tommy, to which Tommy says sheepishly "Maybe I spoke a little hastily there."

 

* Polonius does this all the time in ''[[Hamlet]]'', especially while attempting to humor the prince, who is pretending to be insane, with the following being a standard example. Hamlet shamelessly encourages/[[Trolling|trolls]] him.

'''Polonius''': Very like a whale. }}

* ''[[The Taming of the Shrew]]'': As part of the "taming", Petruchio forces Kate to be like this with him. This can appear to be dark and disturbing... [[Alternate Character Interpretation|or hilarious]].

 

== Web Comics ==

* ''[[Xkcd]]'' describes this as "[http://xkcd.com/185/ WikiFriends]".

* In ''[[Mac Hall]]'', Ian's line:

'''JM''': No.

'''Ian''': Yeah, me neither. Boy, that sure would be weird. }}

{{quote|'''Gabe''': Have you ever pooped and then smelled the smell of your own poop and thought it kinda smelled good? Like sort of wild and exotic."

'''*[[Beat Panel]]*'''

 

== Web Original ==

{{quote|'''Billy''': All those months, doing a stunningly boring chore.

'''Penny''': I'm a fan of laundry.

'''Billy''': ''So'' good. }}

* ''[[The Salvation War]]'''s first book, ''Armageddon?'', gives us this bit of dialogue between [[George W. Bush]] and [[Tricolours With Rusting Rockets|Vladimir Putin]], after one of the demonic generals surrenders and requests asylum:

{{quote|'''Bush''': ''“Vladimir, this is Dubya. I have urgent news. General Abigor has just surrendered and defected.”''

 

== Western Animation ==

* ''[[Family Guy]]'' has several examples.

** There's this expert parody:

 

== Real Life ==

* Despotic rulers have a long, long history of imprisoning, exiling, torturing, or outright killing people who don't agree with them.

* [[Older Than Feudalism]]: The second emperor of the Qín Dynasty (299-207 BCE) had something of a [[Treacherous Advisor]], Zhao Gao, who wanted to amass power for himself. So he had a deer brought before the emperor and claimed it a horse. Any courtier who dared tell the truth was soon vacated from his post. From then on ''zhǐ lù wéi mǎ'' ("Pointing at a Deer and Calling it a Horse") became the Chinese equivalent of [[Blatant Lies]]. (Ancient China, troping for over two thousand years.)

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Characterization Tropes]]

[[Category:Older Than Feudalism]]