Literal Genie: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

 

You have to [[Be Careful What You Wish For]], because you are ''dang'' sure going to get it.

 

Not to be confused with [[Exact Words]]. A more mundane version is [[Literal-Minded]]. A highly specific, villainous version is [[Unhand Them, Villain!]]. Compare [[Zeroth Law Rebellion]] and [[Blunt Metaphors Trauma]]. [[Super-Trope]] to [[Gone Horribly Right]]. If a genie goes out of their way to fulfill the spirit and intention of a person's wishes without any careful wording required, they're a [[Benevolent Genie]]. See also [[Reality Warping Is Not a Toy]]. Compare [[Jackass Genie]]. Generally involves some form of [[Double Meaning]].

 

== Advertising ==

* An old animated ad for Burger King featured a BK wizard (replete with pointy hat and magic wand) who granted the kids' requests:

* In a shoe commercial(I forget the brand), a man has a lamp with a miniature genie, saying he'll grant one wish because he's still in training. His friend states that "[he] always wanted to speak Japanese." Before an offical wish could be made, the geine grants this, and makes it so the first guy could ''only'' speak in Japanese.

 

* The '60s anime ''[[Hakushon Daimao]]'' has the title character's daughter named Akubi-chan, who grants people's wishes (who yawned) by mixing up the wishes, usually granting them literally.

* In an episode of ''[[Yu Yu Hakusho]]'', Kurama is trapped by a psychic who can force adherence to any stricture he sets down on paper. Having forbidden acts of violence, he assumes himself safe until Kurama demonstrates that ''very gently'' lifting someone to the ceiling and then releasing them isn't really an act of violence.

** In another Zero example, Schniezel winds up obeying Zero in the end because Lelouch geassed him to "obey Zero" rather than "obey me"

* {{spoiler|''[[Inverted Trope]]''}} in the Suruga Monkey arc of ''[[Bakemonogatari]]''. {{spoiler|The rainy devil [[Deal with the Devil|grants its host three wishes in exchange for the host's soul]]. However, it follows the ''spirit'' of the wishes, ''not'' the letter. Suruga's true desires just happened to be ''much'' darker than the way she worded them.}}

** Yuuko, early on, grants a wish for a woman to stop using her computer, so she cuts it in half {{spoiler|''with a red baseball bat''}}. It was even stated that she's free to buy another.

** In one episode, there's a woman who buys a monkey's paw from Yuuko. Even when warned of its danger and reminded that the original story ("[[The Monkey's Paw|The Monkeys Paw]]") ended badly, she carries it around and uses it to her convenience. On wish number two, she wishes for an antique mirror that the owner wouldn't sell to her. It's granted by {{spoiler|giving her the mirror, but without anything to cover for the fact that she effectively stole it.}} On wish number three (of five), she wishes for help writing her thesis, and it gives her {{spoiler|someone else's research, which ruins her chances of getting published once the plagiarism is discovered}}. On wish four, she finds herself late for an important day of work and casually thinks about how her lateness would be excused if {{spoiler|the train system had an accident}}. Naturally, the paw interprets it as a wish and causes {{spoiler|a passerby to be thrown in front of a train}}. On wish five, shaken up from the last two, she basically wishes for {{spoiler|her ordeal to end by "erasing everything"}}, so {{spoiler|the paw kills her}}.

* In the first episode of ''[[Sora no Otoshimono]]'', Tomoki wishes in jest that he was ruler of the world. Ikaros grants it by making every other person in the world vanish. She does explain that making him a traditional ruler would be impossible because no one would take a doofus like him seriously. Ikaros normally cannot undo her wishes, but fortunately Tomoki wishes that it was [[All Just a Dream]].

 

* [[Defied Trope]] in ''[[Knights of the Dinner Table]]'', where [[Rules Lawyer]] Brian pulls out a HUGE pre-prepared document that he had written up in case he ever got granted a wish. In a later issue, an article recommended the [[Game Master]] limit wishes to 20 words or less to prevent players from pulling this.

* In ''[[Iznogoud]]'' (written by [[Rene Goscinny]], the writer of much better-known ''[[Asterix]])'', there is an episode with a genie which is summoned by rubbing a pair of slippers. He literally fulfills not only every wish, but every ''statement'' that the summoning character would pronounce. [[Hilarity Ensues]], especially if the statement is a curse of surprise.

* [[DC Comics]]' Johnny Thunder would on occasion have this problem with his Thunderbolt—although it probably was more due to Johnny's overall dimwit nature than any defect in the Bahdnesian spirit that did his bidding (who was compelled to be a Literal Genie whether it wanted to be or not, rather than doing so through misunderstanding, mischief, or malevolence). It occasionally even worked in his favor; once, when threatened with certain death by the Black Dragon Society, his wish that "the other Justice Society members were here to see me in this fix!" was taken quite literally by the T-Bolt—resulting in a room full of Golden Age superheroes opening up a huge can of whup-ass on the Dragons.

* Deadshot, also of DC Comics, had orders from [[Suicide Squad|Amanda Waller]] to stop Rick Flag from killing Senator Cray. Deadshot tracked down Flag and the senator, and then killed the senator himself! [[Exact Words|After all, Waller had only told him to stop]] ''[[Exact Words|Rick Flag]]'' [[Exact Words|from killing Cray]]. When Waller confronted him about this, Deadshot quips, "I don't read minds.

* ''[[Fables]]'' has a particularly nasty version of this that ends with the wisher dying in what is explained to be literally the most horrible way he can imagine. It takes several days. It's also a bit of a subversion as {{spoiler|his words were changed by a witch as he said them specifically in order to cause this.}}

* ''[[XXXenophile]]''

'''Sorcerer:''' A-heh! I wasn't planning on staying...

'''Demon:''' Ah, then perhaps thou should have asked to be returned to Earth. A pity thee only gets one wish, no? }}

** Also in the short "Wish Fulfillment", a rare positive example of this trope. The protagonist has used her three wishes, is usurped by [[Evil Chancellor|the general of her forces]] and becomes the general's slave. The general declares that "henceforward you shall be my captive flower", and the genie chooses to see that as a legal name change, giving the protagonist [[Nice Job Fixing It, Villain|access to three new wishes]]. This does [[Dropped a Bridge on Him|not turn out well]] for the general. After that... [[Hilarity Ensues|sex happens]].

:Ironically, she asks about [[Freeing the Genie]], but due to restrictions, it's not that easy... the only way to free this particular genie is to make a wish that he '''truly''' wants to fulfill, but cannot. She asks if "Making a rock so big you can't lift it" would work, and he says, "I have no wish to give myself a hernia." She solves this by {{spoiler|having wild sex with him until he's exhausted and then wishing for him to do it all again, IMMEDIATELY. He'd like to, but can't due to exhaustion; [[Wishplosion|thus, she's set him free]]. "Can you wait five minutes?"}}

* Subverted in a Disney's ''[[Aladdin (Disney film)|Aladdin]]'' comic that predated the "Return of Jafar" movie by several years, but had essentially the same story. In it, a little old lady gets control of Jafar's lamp and manages to get an insane amount of things from him by very carefully wording her wishes.

 

 

* ''[[The Princess and the Frog]]'': Doctor Facilier actually has some things in common with a Literal Genie, although verging on [[Jackass Genie]]. For example, he got Prince Naveen to agree to the deal by saying things like "You want to be free, ''hop'' from place to place." and "When I look into your future it's ''green'' that I've seen." Naveen, naturally, agrees to this, and... [[Baleful Polymorph|becomes a frog]]. Literally speaking, Facilier didn't lie to him....

** It doesn't really matter if he did or didn't, as Facilier was actively trying to screw Naveen over. Facilier is only bound by one rule in the film: {{spoiler|He had better hold up his end of the deal to his "Friends".}} He really doesn't care if he lies, cheats, or steals to get what he wants.

* Averted at first with Genie from ''[[Aladdin (Disney film)|Aladdin]]'', who couldn't even keep the main character from conning him into giving a free wish to get them out of the Cave of Wonders. Later, however, Jafar wishes that Genie make him into a genie himself, and Genie grants him his wish, lamp and all. Although this particular genie may just be a tad on the slow side. After all, it was Aladdin who tricked Jafar into wishing to be a genie. As Genie granted the wish, he didn't seem to recognize the negative consequences that would apply to Jafar. Note that the way Aladdin pulled that off is true to the source material.

* In the sequel ''Return of Jafar'', Jafar does this with [[Harmless Villain|Abis Mal]] to cow him into wishing exactly how Jafar wants him to. Abis Mal wanted treasure, so Jafar takes them to a sunken treasure ship in the middle of the ocean. Of course, Jafar being Jafar, he's also a [[Jackass Genie]].

{{quote|'''Orville:''' ''(to the sky)'' Set the table, Aunt Lucy, there'll be two more for dinner... Boy, I sure wish I had a drink.

''(a drink appears in Orville's hand)''

* King Brian, any chance he gets in ''[[Darby O'Gill and the Little People|Darby O Gill and The Little People]]''.

* The short film ''[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4MjTb5A68VA Pencil Face]'' is either this or [[Jerkass Genie]]. Girl finds a magic pencil which makes real anything she draws. When she tries to draw a lollipop, she draws it in such a way that the pencil interprets it as {{spoiler|a blck hole that swallows the girl.}} Ouch.

 

== Jokes ==

 

 

* The control implants in ''[[Duumvirate|Billy and Howard]]'' work this way. Anyone who can't avoid the obvious pitfalls is considered [[Too Dumb to Live]].

* In ''[[Ella Enchanted]]'', Ella has to follow any direct order she's given since birth. She quickly learns to be a literal genie. For example, she will hold the bowl for her nurse when she's cooking, but the nurse didn't order her to ''stand still''.

* Defied in the [[Larry Niven]] short story, "The Wishing Game": Clubfoot and Mirandee (of ''[[The Magic Goes Away (novel)|The Magic Goes Away]]'') go to great pains to make sure to give Kreezerast the Frightener very precise instructions, and continually frustrate him when his attempts to twist the wishes turn out to be what they actually wanted (though in the end, he takes some consolation in knowing that they will probably run into trouble later because of the wishes he granted).

* ''[[Discworld]]''

** The Auditors have similar trouble. For example when asked, "Can I offer you a drink?" they say yes, because they judge the person perfectly capable of offering them one.

** Tiffany Aching has to deal with this from two sources. The first is the Nac Mac Feegle, who just want to be helpful. While they can't actually do magic, they are determined, numerous, and immensely strong. She reflects that while never actually likely to say "I wish I could marry a handsome prince", the fact that if she did she would probably quickly find a tied up prince and clergyman at her door makes one wary of voicing ones desires out loud. There's also the Hiver, a creature which possesses people's bodies, then tries to make all their wishes come true. Even the ones they don't say, don't ''really'' want except for a fleeting urge, or wouldn't work towards because things like conscience or sanity hold them back.

* In ''The Wish'', a girl is granted a wish by an old lady she meets on a bus. The old lady offers to give her a permanent place in the in-crowd, but the girl insists on wishing to be the most popular person at her school... not realizing that the wish will then expire when she graduates a few weeks later.

* [[Penn & Teller]] wrote a story involving a genie where their first wish was for the correct phrasing to get infinite wishes that wouldn't backfire.

* In the [[Mercedes Lackey]] book ''One Good Knight'', a dragon is summoned to ravage the land until presented with routine virgin sacrifices. {{spoiler|Of course the [[Our Dragons Are Different|dragon is a]] [[Lawful Good|noble/knightly]] sort, and while he cannot fight the spell he is able to limit the ravaging to destruction of property and decimation of livestock... and finds the spell does not require him to devour or even harm the maidens he carries off. Imagine the surprise of the Dragon Slayer and the princess more or less rescued by same when they track it down and find the "victims" arrayed in defence of the "monster".}}

* Douglas Hofstadter's book ''[[Godel Escher Bach]]'' features such a genie incident when Achilles wishes that his wish not have been granted. [[Divide by Zero|Oops]].

* A short story had a man making a [[Deal with the Devil]] to be with his old crush. Realising that the woman might no longer be the beauty she was in college, he insists that the Devil make her "exactly the same" as she is in a particular photo. The Devil complies and the woman is exactly as she is in the photo, including being two inches tall.

** And as flat as paper as well?!

* The title character of Charlotte Dacre's ''Zofloya, or the Moor'' hangs a [[Lampshade]] on what usually happens when he fulfills the [[Villain Protagonist]]'s wishes:

{{quote|Victoria...remember, that I have been thy willing instrument, and that literally I have performed to thee the promises I made.}}

 

 

== Live-Action TV ==

* ''[[Rentaghost]]'': The Perkins are given a magical amulet that grants all their wishes. They do not realise this, however, and persist in expressing odd wishes, which the amulet then proceeds to grant, usually in a fairly literal manner.

* In ''[[The Collector (TV series)|The Collector]]'', which is all about making [[Deal with the Devil|Deals with the Devil]], the Devil always finds some way for a poorly phrased deal to backfire. For example, the main character's lover dies of [[The Plague]] after his 10-year deal is up because he asked for "more time with her," not that she be fully cured and live.

 

== Music ==

* Andrew Pants, who runs a website where people can recommend things for him to write songs about, sometimes responds to these like a Literal Genie. A person asks for a song about hot girls, he gets one involving flame-throwers and microwaves. Someone else asks for a song in which every word has an "o" in it, and he gets a song that's completely instrumental, except for the end, when he says "potato".

** Another song of his asks him to have the lyrics in alphabetical order, and for bonus, after reaching Z, heading backwards. The lyrics ended up being "A zebra, aah!".

* [[Savatage]]'s album ''[[Dead Winter Dead]]'' treats ''God'' this way in the song "This Isn't What We Meant". The people of Bosnia had prayed for a change from Yugoslavia's cruel regime and to their distress, God's response is a brutal civil war destroying the newborn nation.

 

 

* [[Older Than Feudalism]] example: Eos, the Greek goddess of the dawn, fell in love with a mortal, Tithonus, so she asked Zeus to grant him "immortality". He did. The catch was she forgot to ask for "eternal youth". Yeah. [[Age Without Youth|Not a happy ending]]. {{spoiler|He keeps on aging until he literally shrivels up into a grasshopper. His fate after that remains uncertain.}}

** Note: Zeus ''has'' granted mortals eternal life before. Either these cases knew how to ask, or Zeus was just being a dick, which would not be [[King of All Cosmos|out of character]].

** This also happens in ''[[Older Than They Think|The Sorcerer's Apprentice]]'' and the Disney adaptation of it.

 

* ''[[Sesame Street]]'', 1987:

{{quote|'''Amazing Mumford:''' [[Nightmare Fuel|She said she wanted me to make her a root beer float, so I did! Now, she's a root beer float... Imagine wanting to be a root beer float. Do you think she's happy?]]}}

** This is based on an even older joke about the same subject. More mature versions involve the person being a drunk who is turned into a mixed drink at a bar.

 

* About 50% of all game masters when giving a player a wish. For the other 50%, see [[Jackass Genie]].

** As lead-off for an article on the use of "Wish" in the ''[[Dungeons & Dragons]]'' game, ''[[Dragon (magazine)|Dragon]]'' once ran this quote:

{{quote|'''Genie:''' Let me get this straight. You want me to ''raze'' all your ability scores?}}

{{quote|"So, I get three questions, right?"

''Yes.''

"Are you kidding?!"

''No.'' }}

* This is one of the fundamental tenets of ''[[Changeling: The Lost]]''; though Pledges are more about intent, the Contracts (spells) and the reality-warping powers of the [[Eldritch Abomination|True Fae]] are based on extremely literal interpretations of fairly general ideas. Nonsensical catches in the contracts can allow you to call upon its power without cost- for example, smearing a mirror with a saliva-wettened tongue, being at a formal party of eight or more people, or using the contract purely to prove you can, depending on the contract.

* The basic ''[[GURPS]]'' book is quite open about it, noting for instance that a summoned demon will fulfill your wish literally and that it '''will''' pervert the literal meaning if it can, or that an animated object will only follow your literal commands, and as an example states that "Drop me off here" is not a good thing to say to an animated helicopter.

* In one ''Grimm'' module, the ancient witch, [[Baba Yaga]], would answer one question for the PCs, but just one. The module says that if the questioner is trying to be polite, and formulate the question as "Can you tell me..." or "Do you know..." the answer would be "Yes, I can / Yes, I know".

 

* Subverted in ''[[Neverwinter Nights 2]]: Mask of the Betrayer'': A devil has given a man a series of favors in exchange for performing evil deeds and also gaining the man's soul when he dies. Unfortunately for the devil, interpreting the man's wish, "I wish he was gone" means killing him (and fulfilling the last condition) and this blows up in his face because the contract's laws require that each condition cannot be coerced, and the literal genie interpretation of the wish counts as such.

* Joka's ending in ''[[Klonoa]]: Beach Volleyball'' features him casting a spell to make the prize money he won 10 times greater. He ends up making the individual bills 10 times ''larger''. When he tries to spend the money, the shopkeeper assumes it's counterfeit and calls the police.

* Clavicus Vile, the [[Our Demons Are Different|Deadra]] Prince of Power and [[Deal with the Devil|Bargains]] in ''[[The Elder Scrolls]]'' series, is sometimes portrayed this way, especially in ''[[The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim|Skyrim]]''. When a wizard asked Clavicus for the means to cure his daughter of lycanthropy, Clavicus gave the wizard [[Mercy Kill|an axe]].

 

* ''[[The Order of the Stick]]''

** Subverted/inverted in [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0331.html this episode]: an oracle answers one question. Because he tried to screw him over before, Roy phrases his question in an extremely convoluted way with many backup clauses to avoid this — but without realizing it, ends up phrasing his question in such a way that the oracle (who ''wants'' to give him a useful answer this time) ''can't'', because the actual outcome is a possibility Roy hadn't considered.

{{quote|'''Vaarsuvius' Familiar:''' I'm continually amazed at how often we get screwed by you not being pedantic ''enough''.}}

* ''[[Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal]]'' [http://smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=807 strip 807]. Because this is not entirely clear: in the first panel a boy gets a chemistry question wrong by saying hydrogen has two valence electrons instead of one. His wish of the genie is that he'd gotten that question right. Giving hydrogen two electrons has dire effects on the world as a whole....

* ''[[Subnormality]]'''s take: [http://www.viruscomix.com/page428.html I would like everything I could ever need].

{{quote|'''Schmuck:''' Oh, you're one of '''[[Jackass Genie|Those]]''' [[Jackass Genie|Genies]].

* Someone tried to avert this in [http://www.kiwisbybeat.com/minus91.html this] [[Minus (Webcomic)|Minus]] strip and provided pages upon pages of definitions. The titular [[Reality Warper]] doesn't have the patience to read through it though and [[Attention Deficit Ooh Shiny|abandons the wishing issue and instead plays with the papers]]

* The bad guy controlling Lenny in ''[[Accidental Centaurs]]'' ordered him to immobilize Alex when Alex tried to attack him. He neglected {{spoiler|to mention ''how long'' Alex should be immobilized}}.

 

* In ''[[Tales of MU]]'', while [[Golem|Two]] isn't evil herself, one has to carefully word any order meant to give her a little more freedom without getting her in trouble. Protagonist Mackenzie had to think for a whole minute in order to allow her to ''eat'' relatively freely. And it takes more than one try.

** In chapter 345 of the first year, one of Mack's professors gives the class a project that essentially amounts to wording a wish so that it can't be screwed with by a Literal Genie and then having them trade to twist the [[Exact Words]] of their victim.

** The joke is big enough to have competition in this field: see [https://twitter.com/fjamie013 James Fridman] (some of the best is collected [http://cheezburger.com/1574661/the-photoshop-troll-master-is-back-with-some-more-hilarious-photoshop-requests here]) - [https://twitter.com/fjamie013/status/830467962033278976 some] are more subtle than the [https://twitter.com/fjamie013/status/812409514997796865 others].

 

* ''[[The Fairly OddParents]]''

** Not only does this apply to Cosmo and Wanda (to quote Timmy, "You guys take things way too literally"), but on the first Norm the Genie episode, Timmy wished for an omelet, it appeared in his hands, but it was too hot, so he dropped it on the ground... because he didn't wish for an omelet ''on a plate''. Beyond that, Norm proved to be a [[Jerkass Genie]].

* Desiree of ''[[Danny Phantom]]'', the [[Our Ghosts Are Different|ghost genie]]. The more wishes one makes, the stronger she gets. Eventually defeated by "I WISH YOU WOULD GET IN THE GHOST TRAP." Thus prompting the hero to regret himself being [[Book Dumb]], since it took him the whole episode to come up with that!

* ''[[Family Guy]]'', "Viewer Mail #1". Peter is threatened by a man riding on a bus after Peter is granted his own theme music by a genie. The man asks him to stop the music. Peter tells him he can't, and the man threatens to break every bone in Peter's body. So Peter says "I wish I had no bones" out of fear. The genie, who is driving the bus, hears him and says, "Done," turning Peter into a boneless blob. Bizarrely, Peter is initially happy about this turn of events and laughs at the man.

* A butcher in a ''[[Felix the Cat]]'' animation wishes Felix's bumbling Guardian Angel to "make him the biggest, greasiest sausage ever made". No points for guessing what becomes of him.

* The ''[[South Park]]'' episode "Crippled Summer" had Nathan trying to get Mimzy to get Jimmy killed, but he misinterprets every command. For example, Nathan tells Mimzy to kill Jimmy by going underwater where he is and blowing a shark whistle to attract sharks. Mimzy then goes underwater, goes back on land, and ''then'' blows the shark whistle.

* ''[[Lilo & Stitch: The Series]]''. In the episode "Wishy-Washy", an activated experiment is activated, designed to be a wish giver that grants any wish he hears, but the wishes are granted literally and don't turn out as expected for the wisher. For example, when Jumba wished to be the greatest ruler in the world, he was turned into a literal ruling stick. And when Pleakly wished for "all the powers" of his current idol, a superhero. Jumba then explains he didn't get any powers, because said hero wasn't real.

* ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]]''. Homer Simpson attempts to avert this in one of the early "Treehouse of Horror" episodes; after the family's first wishes on a Monkey's Paw have unforeseen consequences (thus playing the trope straight), Homer decides to "make a wish that can't backfire. I wish for a turkey sandwich, on rye bread, with lettuce and mustard, and, ''and'' I don't want any zombie turkeys, I don't want to turn into a turkey myself, and I don't want any other weird surprises." Surprisingly, this mostly works, except that [[Rant-Inducing Slight|the turkey's a little dry.]]

{{quote|'''Homer:''' Hmm. Not bad. Nice, hot mustard. Good bread. Turkey's a little dry. ''The turkey's a little dry!'' '''Oh foul and cursed thing!!!''' What demon from the depths of Hell created thee?!}}

* This showed up in the ''[[Shazzan]]'' episode "The Maze of Mercurad". Due to the laws of magic governing the Fifth Mountain, Shazzan couldn't just curbstomp Mercurad like he could with every other enemy of the week; the kids have to pay a toll to Mercurad. Instead, he defeats him by acting like a Literal Genie. When Mercurad asks for a fortune in silver, Shazzan fills the entire valley with silver coins; a fortune so huge that Mercurad can't guard it all from thieves. When Mercurad then asks that the fortune be made more secure, Shazzan turns it into a mountain sized block of pure silver that would be too difficult to actually spend. Giving up on money, Mercurad asks for the key to ultimate knowledge. Shazzan shows him a bizarre equation that encompasses all knowledge, but without the required background to ''understand'' the equation it's completely useless to Mercurad. Mercurad then asks for the power of a genie. Shazzan complies, but then mentions that all genies have masters. Mercurad's master will be his own monstrous gatekeeper. Mercurad immediately rescinds his desire to be a genie at this point. Finally, Mercurad decides that a simple payment will be enough: a loaf of bread, a piece of cheese, and some fresh water. Shazzan grants this wish with no problems at all.

* In an episode of ''[[Phineas and Ferb]]'', the eponymous pair build a super computer that can answer any question with 100% accuracy. Candace asks it how she can get Mom to see what her brothers have done and it gives her the solution. It works, but not in the way she wanted. Linda does see what they did, but doesn't know they were the ones who did it.

** Another level to this: Candace meant "what her brothers did" as the Supercomputer that they had built, but the computer interprets it as the nice thing they did for Mom (fixing her bad hair day by exploiting the show's use of [[Contrived Coincidence]]) that they had built the computer to get the idea for.

* In an episode of ''[[Jackie Chan Adventures]]'', in an attempt to defeat the bad guys, Jade orders the Monkey Talisman, "Turn this log into a death-ray!" The talisman turns the log into a manta, also known as a death-ray. (It turns out the Talisman's power is only to turn people/things into animals.)

 

* Computer programmers or linguistic geeks with an especially dry sense of humor often respond very literally, although they know perfectly well what you mean. (Especially if the word "or" is involved: "Would you like coffee or tea?" "[[Mathematician's Answer|Yes]]."<ref>A savvier server would have used the exclusive or.</ref><ref>Although the answer could still have been "yes".</ref>)

* [[Word of God|According to Joe Murray]], creator of ''[[Rocko's Modern Life]]'', he was asked by executives to create [[Affirmative Action Girl|a strong female character]] for the show, "a professional woman, someone with a good hook". Murray [https://web.archive.org/web/20130703183148/http://www.squidoo.com/rockos_modern_life#module150196406 took them at their word] by creating the one-handed Dr. Hutchinson.

* [[Literal-Minded|Remember, a computer will do exactly what you told it to do]]. And in virtually all cases, it will be not what you wanted it to do.

** In one of Asimov's novels, this fact explains why the First Law is so important—not because robots are conspiring against humans, but because orders can and will be interpreted in many unpleasant ways.

** Another line: ''Programming is the art of describing what you want so precisely that even a computer can do it.''

* Some scams operate on this principle. For example, the scammer could place an ad offering to "help cut your bills in half" for a $50 fee, and in return for the victim's money, sends him a pair of scissors.

* It's a common practice in Chemistry classes to teach the class the importance of specificity in directions by having students write directions for some mundane task, and for the teacher to attempt to do it while following the directions specifically and with absolutely no additions. For example, if the task is making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, simply saying "put jelly on bread" will make the teacher place the jar of jelly on top of the bag of bread.

* Lawyers. They are the reason why laws are so complicated—because otherwise, the lawyers interpreting them would not hesitate to twist them however possible to suit their case. (That is their job, after all!) Averted, however, with judges—they do generally try to determine what is reasonable and what the law-makers were intending with the law, not just what it says. If a lawyer does find a way of suiting their case that is [[Loophole Abuse|technically legal but clearly against the spirit of the law]], the judge will usually decide against them regardless.

* [[John Kricfalusi]], creator of ''[[The Ren and Stimpy Show]]'', was asked by fans to make an episode of the then-newly launched series ''Ren and Stimpy Adult Party Cartoon'' full of nothing but gross-out jokes. It resulted in the episode "Onwards and Upwards"—however, many viewers considered it to have gone way overboard.

* [[Wikipedia|The Other Wiki]] defines this trope as [[wikipedia:Malicious compliance|malicious compliance]].

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Speculative Fiction Tropes]]

[[Category:Undead Horse Trope]]

[[Category:Older Than Feudalism]]