Nothing Personal: Difference between revisions

 

The second is to use it as another way of saying "no offense." Nothing personal, but this comment might offend you. This is more a figure of speech than a stock phrase, and as such we probably shouldn't catalog examples.

 

Often punctuated with "[[Just Following Orders]]". Contrast [[It's Personal|times when it ''is'' personal]]. See also [[Being Personal Isn't Professional]] and [[Consummate Professional]].

 

{{examples}}

 

* Used in ''[[Afro Samurai]]'', when a random mook who led an attack for the Number Two Headband asks Afro "Why you gotta kill all my men? Why you gotta kill me?", Afro replies "Nothing personal. It's just revenge."

* ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima]]'' has Fate starting off like this. He actually says he doesn't have anything against Negi, but beats the crap out of him because he was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Eventually after Negi [[Minor Injury Overreaction|lands a punch on him]], he switches to [[It's Personal]], which escalates to [[The Only One Allowed to Defeat You]] levels.

* In ''[[Digimon Tamers]]'', when Beelzebumon comes after the Tamers to fulfill his [[Deal with the Devil]], he claims that it's just business and following through with the deal (odds are, given how conflicted he was to attack people he kinda liked, he's probably more telling ''himself'' that than he is them). Then he {{spoiler|kills Leomon}} and it promptly [[Blood Knight|goes to]] [[It Got Worse|his head]], subverting the trope.

 

* Morlun, thousand years old immortal that predates over beings with animal-like powers gave us a funny dialogue based on it, when he encountered [[Spider-Man]]:

{{quote|'''Morlun:''' "This is how it's going to be. You will run. I will hunt you.(...) But finally you will fall from power. And then you will die. But you have my word. It's nothing personal. "

* Deathstroke spears Phantom Lady through her torso. When she asks him why, he responds "Sorry, darlin'. Just business."

 

* One of the most famous examples has to come from ''[[The Godfather]]''.

{{quote|'''Tom Hagen:''' "Your father wouldn't want to hear this, Sonny. This is business, not personal."

* Jamie Reagan, the least likely of the [[Blue Bloods]] characters, says this to Mafia prince Noble Santino when he asks why Jamie befriended him for the sake of an undercover op. Interestingly Jamie felt enough remorse to at least try to keep the mob from assassinating him when they [[You Have Failed Me...|discovered Noble's error]].

 

* Used in episode two of ''[[Dollhouse]]''

* Lampshaded in ''[[Smallville]]''

* In the ''[[Star Trek: Voyager]]'' episode "Inside Man," a dabo girl named Leosa helps some Ferengi to steal a hologram made by Reg Barclay, whom she was sleeping with. When she gets caught, she tells him "If it makes any difference, it wasn't personal. It was just business."

 

* Played with in ''[[Discworld]]'''s recurring phrase "Personal isn't the same as Important".

* In the [[Andrew Vachss]] Burke book ''Strega'', one of the child sex offenders tries to call his child pornography "just business". This is contrasted with an earlier self-proclaimed pedophile that Burke is forced to speak civilly with, who speaks disdainfully of those who are "commercial" with child pornography and waxes lyrical about emotional bonds and being personal.

* Mentioned in [[Jon Stewart]]'s ''[[Earth (The Book)]]'' (written to aliens) that humans often believed that trade was, for some strange reason, exempt from normal moral codes of conduct.

 

* "You Bet We've Got Something Personal Against You!" by [[Black Flag]].

 

== [[Video Games]] ==

* This turns up a lot in ''[[Armored Core]]''. You're a mercenary, and generally any enemy pilots you fight are mercenaries from the same group you work for. Business is business, and just because you were allies earlier is no reason to hold back now. Outside of the storyline, only a small minority of pilots are actually interested in fighting specifically you.

* ''[[Eternal Sonata]]'' has {{spoiler|Rondo use this on Claves when she kills her. "Sorry, but I was ordered to kill you if your identity was revealed. Nothing personal."}}

 

== [[Web Comics]] ==

{{quote|I could have said it's not personal, but just looking at your stupid-looking face made it personal.}}

** In case you were wondering, yeah, [[Jerkass|Rik's a jerk]].

* In ''[[Marilith]]'', the bodyguard Stark says it's nothing personal, just business when he betrays his boss to the [[Big Bad]].

* In ''[[Sinfest]]'', [https://web.archive.org/web/20140209171706/http://sinfest.net/archive_page.php?comicID=3223 Death tries this on the mob.]

 

== [[Western Animation]] ==

* ''[[Uncyclopedia]]'': [http://uncyclopedia.c/wiki/UnaBooks:Only_Business Only Business]

* From [[The Onion]]: [https://web.archive.org/web/20100219081135/http://www.theonion.com/content/radio_news/local_man_glad_to_find_there Local Man Glad To Find There Was Nothing Personal Behind Murder Of Family]

 

== [[Real Life]] ==