Person as Verb: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

Pop culture can be an interesting thing. Slang is in a constant state of flux, always changing. But for some things that stand the test of time, it will be adapted into our descriptive terminology.

 

 

This is best used when it comes to the more universally understood terms. For example, instead of saying "Bob fell down the chimney", someone will say "Bob pulled a Santa Claus". In other times, just to play with this trope, writers will put in the most [[Viewers Are Geniuses|obscure reference]] to throw people off. A closely related use of this trope is to acknowledge the actual reference instead of just using it as a substitute, e.g. "So... is Santa Claus your hero?"

 

Related to [[Buffy-Speak]]. Compare [[Popcultural Osmosis]], [[Sein Language]], [[Malaproper]], [[Memetic Mutation]] and [[Weird Al Effect]]. Also check out the various [[Self-Referential Humor]] tropes.

 

== Anime and Manga ==

 

* The ''[[Lupin III]]'' English translation would occasionally give [[Woolseyism|some gems]] in the dialogue. After performing a daring but unnecessary car stunt, Lupin and Goemon looked at Jigen and asked what he was doing. With a sly grin he replied, "I was inspired by the spirit of Steve McQueen."

* In ''[[Azumanga Daioh]]'', Yukari, tired of teaching language (and unable to teach Math), drags everybody out into the cold for some P.E.. The first game? Soccer. When Tomo asks Yukari if she even knows the rules, she says "I'm [[wikipedia:Pele|Pelé]]" (manga, ADV translation), "I'm [[wikipedia:Mia Hamm|Mia Hamm]]" (anime, ADV translation), or "I'm [[wikipedia:Hidetoshi Nakata|Nakata]]" (anime, original). In any case, Tomo doesn't know what Yukari is talking about.

 

== Comic Books ==

 

* In one issue of her comic book, [[Flare]] says of a script titled ''The Romance of Venus'': "I wouldn't want it to be like [[Wheel of Fortune|Vanna]] in [http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0095230/ that TV movie], though."

* In ''[[Booster Gold]] #1'', second series, the title character mentions he ''"pulled a Pete Ross"'' when he had to lose a football game on purpose.

* [[Batman]] is known for [[Stealth Hi Bye|vanishing abruptly while in the middle of a conversation]]. So when Nightwing, his first protege, does it to him, he smiles and mutters "Kid pulled a me".

* ''The Adventures of Johnny Bunko'' involves the titular character's surname becoming a verb at his workplace for "to mess up". {{spoiler|A little career advice from a helpful fairy later turns it into something positive.}}

 

== Film ==

* The two protagonists of ''[[Gerry]]'' are both named Gerry. It becomes clear that in the personal argot of their friendship, a "Gerry" has come to mean an incident of getting turned around and hopelessly lost somewhere, and that the film's title actually refers to this term.

* In ''Man of the House'', a pair of the cheerleaders are being dragged back to the house after starting to get in a barfight, and complains about being 'rescued' by saying "I was about to go all [[Buffy the Vampire Slayer|Buffy]] on his ass."

* In ''[[The Sorcerer's Apprentice]]'', Dave spills water on his pants after witnessing the confrontation between Baltazaar and Horvath and everyone believes that he wet himself. Even ten years later, kids in grade school still call having a nervous breakdown "pulling a Dave Stutler."

 

== Literature ==

* At the end of [[Stephen King]]'s ''[[Carrie]]'', it's said that "to rip off a Carrie" passed into teen slang, meaning "to commit arson".

** [[Truth in Television|Life Imitates Art]], but twisted: "Pulling a Carrie," or "going Carrie on [something]," actually did become synonymous with someone acting crazy after being humiliated.

* In the [[Meg Cabot]] novel ''How to Be Popular,'' the phrase "Don't pull a Steph Landry" is the basis for the entire plot.

* Played with in ''[[Dave Barry]] Slept Here: A Sort of History of the United States'', describing the occasion of the signing of the Declaration of Independence on the first July Fourth ([[Running Gag|October 8]], 1776): "The members took turns lighting sparklers and signing their John Hancocks to the Declaration, with one prankster even going so far as to actually write '[[wikipedia:John Hancock|John Hancock]].'"

* The first modern novel, ''[[Don Quixote]]'', inspired the adjective "quixotic", which means, to be an ordinary person with grandiose or impossible dreams. However, at least one dictionary uses "quixote" as a lower-case noun with the same connotation. "He's such a quixote."

* Done rather cruelly in ''[[Flowers for Algernon]]'': Pulling a "Charlie Gordon" is messing up.

* As usual, Shakespeare invented this one - "He out-Herods Herod."

** This one's an allusion to one of the old cycles of Biblical Miracle Plays which were the roots of English theatre; the raging tyrant Herod was one of the most melodramatic, over-the-top roles. Hamlet's warning against overacting.

** Another Shakespeare example: "She Phebes me", from ''[[As You Like It]]''.

** For the unfamiliar, the mire was a swamp in the middle of the film that would suck in and trap anyone like a tar pit unless they had a certain frame of mind.

** Never minding the number of times that Harry Dresden himself does this in the novels. Like the time he tosses a stake to Inari and tells her to "make like Buffy."

** And in the second season premiere, Dean is stuck in an out-of-body experience where he can't touch or affect anything around him. So he watches Sam and their father get into an argument, and Dean gets really angry at them for it, so he knocks a glass of water onto the floor. His father and brother stop and stare, and Dean says, with a look of shock on his face, "I full-on [[Ghost (film)|Swayze-ed]] that mother."

* Frequently [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshaded]] on ''[[Bones]]''. When someone makes a witty line, pop-culture challenged Brennan says [[Catch Phrase|"I don't know what that means."]] It's pretty much a [[Running Gag]] both saying it regularly, by Brennan herself and the other characters at one time or another, and the few times she does know what it means.

'''Brennan''': "I don't know what that means." }}

* Police procedurals in general seem to like to use "pulled a Louganis" as a euphemism for someone taking a suicidal leap; both ''[[CSI]]'' and ''[[NCIS]]'' have used it, and possibly others as well.

*** Dathon at Tanagra. Picard at Tanagra. Rai and Jiri at Lunga. Kadir beneath Mometah. Darmok and Jalad at Tenagra. Dathon and Picard at El Adrel. The Beast of El Adrel. Kailash when it rises. Uzani, his army; Shaka when the walls fell. Kiazi's children, their faces wet. Picard at El Adrel. Sokath, his eyes uncovered. Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra. Darmok and Jalad on the ocean.

*** After figuring out enough context to cooperate and survive to be rescued, Picard tells Dathon the oldest human written story, the Epic of Gilgamesh.

** From "Poker? I barely know her!":

{{quote|'''Shawn:''' That's very Cameron Frye of you.}}

* Hank Green of the [[Vlog Brothers]] made 'Warner Chilcot' a curse word after the company of that name [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPf8vwnoEtU raised the price of his medication by 1200%.]

* Parodied to the point of [[Refuge in Audacity]] in the [[Riff Trax]] of ''[[Avatar (film)|Avatar]]'', as Neytiri fends off the jackal-like animals attacking Jake's Avatar.

''[[Crosses the Line Twice|I heard Michael Vick pulled a]] [[A Date with Rosie Palms|PeeWee Herman]] [[Crosses the Line Twice|in the theater during this scene.]]'' }}

 

 

* [[Bionicle]]:

'''Tahu''': Yes, that's right, a Pohatu. "When in doubt, smash everything, and then hope you're somewhere else when it all goes 'boom'". }}

 

* ''[[Order of the Stick]]'': "Who'd have thought you break Roy's sword and he'd go all [[The Incredible Hulk|Lou Ferrigno]]?"

* ''[[Zebra Girl]]'': Harold's comment on Jack's ascension: "You've pulled a Gandalf! Congratulations, my boy!"

* ''[[Lackadaisy Cats]]'':

{{quote|'''Ivy''': Well, where is he, then?

 

== Web Original ==