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.

 

 

Unfortunately, this trope is very much [[Truth in Television]].

 

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* 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. "

* [[Ultimate Marvel|Ultimate Hulk vs Wolverine]] had a variation; after ripping Wolverine in half, Hulk is about to eat one of Wolverine's legs, letting him choose which one. Wolverine gets understandably pissed off, which prompts Hulk to say "You're taking this way too personal...", commenting that if he doesn't eat one leg, Wolverine will just reattach them and chase after him. When Logan says he'll do that anyway, Hulk comments that he's just giving him motivation to eat both legs.

* 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."

* Used by Jelly when he's about to murder Billy Crystal, in ''[[Analyze This]].'' Crystal responds, "Don't kid yourself, Jelly. It doesn't get more personal."

* ''[[Star Wars]] Episode I: [[The Phantom Menace]]'': When apprehended, the bounty hunter who attempted to assassinate Padme states, "It's just a job."

 

* 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.

* In [[Percy Jackson and The Olympians]], Ares does this, telling Percy that "you just might get those hardheaded idiots to listen to you. So I have to kill you. Nothing personal." It seems to be being used humorously, though.

* In ''[[X Wing Series|Starfighters of Adumar]]'', Wedge's Red Flight is attacked by several Adumari ships before ever reaching the planet. After touching down Wedge speaks to the diplomatic liaison for an explanation.

"''You'' do. I take it very personally. We just had to [[Stuff Blowing Up|vape]] four pilots in what is theoretically a friendly zone." }}

* In the novel that inspired the movie, [[The Godfather|Michael Corleone]] himself takes the trope apart, making this a shining example of an [[Unbuilt Trope]]:

* 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]].

 

== [[Western Animation]] ==

* [[The Question]] uses this in ''[[Justice League Unlimited]]'' {{spoiler|as he is about to kill [[Lex Luthor]] in cold blood}}, even as he describes his distaste for other person as "[[Gulliver's Travels|brobdingnagian]]". Slightly subverted in that Q proceeded to {{spoiler|get his ass handed to him by Lex Luthor, then sent to a prison in which he would be tortured with one of his team-mates as his main warden. Seems it wasn't personal to [[Captain Atom]] either.}}

* ''[[Transformers Animated]]'': Dirt Boss turns Bulkhead into a [[People Puppets|People Puppet]] and plans on using him to create an explosion at an oil refinery...while his fellow Constructicon Mixmaster is attached to him. Dirt Boss himself doesn't even respond to Mix's protests, while Scrapper tells Mix it's nothing personal.

 

== [[Web Original]] ==

 

== [[Real Life]] ==

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[[Category:Stock Phrases]]