Mundane Utility: Difference between revisions

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'''Nanny''': When ... you know ... people ain't showing respect, like.
'''Mrs Googol''': When the house needs paintin'.}}
*:* Meanwhile, Wizards will occasionally use magic for mundane purposes – in ''[[Sourcery]],'' for example, Spelter turns water into sherry.
*:* In ''[[Equal Rites]]'', Esk disguises her wizard staff as a broom, occasionally using it to sweep up. When Mustrum Ridcully was summoned to UU to become its Archchancellor, he had to retrieve his own staff from the garden, where it was serving as the support-pole of a scarecrow.
* The [[Animorphs]] frequently use their powers for mundane things, despite the risk that it would blow their cover and lead to the enslavement of the entire planet. For example, doing a science project and watching concerts for free (twice!). They technically have a rule against this, which [[Team Dad]] Jake is miserable at enforcing — especially since he wanted to go to both concerts. [[Lampshaded]] in the final book, when Marco morphs a lobster to get his car keys off the pool floor, and Jake makes fun of him because, you know, people who can't morph are just screwed then. Marco then asks Jake if he's thirsty, and Jake snarks back, "Why? Going to morph cow and squeeze me out a glass of two percent?"
* [[Keith Laumer]] has written a series of stories about "[[Bolo]]" tanks, super sized military tanks. In one of the stories, it is mentioned that after a war an attempt was made to use them for peaceful purposes, including attaching a blade for demolition work to one and calling it a "tractor". The half-megaton/second firepower still available on it tended to belay the "peaceful" status.
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** Ekaterin's own point of view regarding this scene:
{{quote|''Yes, she realized enviously, he could just wave all ordinary problems out of his path. Leaving only the extraordinary ones... her envy ebbed.''}}
**:* Miles also gets one in ''Memory''. He and Simon Illyan aren't having much luck fishing, so Miles messes with his [[Sonic Stunner]]'s cartridge so that when he discards it into the water, it creates an explosion of fish.
* In ''[[Harry Potter]]'' magic is used for nearly everything imaginable. From making animated Chocolate Frogs, to the various practical joke items, transport, Quidditch, enchanted items that do household chores for you, self stirring cauldrons, semi-sentient owls, radio (no muggle radio for them, which works out fine since wizards apparently get better radios), the list goes on. It's stated that high levels of magic such as at Hogwarts cause Muggle technology more advanced than a wristwatch to fail to work.
** [[Justified Trope]] in that, if Arthur Weasley is any example, the magical population of the world hasn't a clue how Muggle technology ''works''. If the wizarding world ever gets hit with an [[Anti-Magic]] Field or something, they'd die of starvation surrounded by filth.