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Person as Verb (view source)

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{{trope}}
{{quote|''"You've been wrong so many times that I'm not even going to say something is wrong anymore. I'm going to say that it's 'Dorian.'"''|'''Dr. Cox''', to John Dorian, ''[[Scrubs (TV)|Scrubs]]''}}
 
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.
 
[[Person Asas Verb]] is the practice of describing an action using a cultural reference -- typically by naming a character known for doing the same thing. The name of the show/book/whatever, or the writer/actor/whatever, may also be used. Often the exact usage will be "They just pulled a...(character-name)" or "They did a... (character-name)."
 
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?"
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* The English translation of one of the later volumes of ''[[Love Hina]]'' has Naru screaming at Keitaro "Don't go all [[Neon Genesis Evangelion|Shinji]] on me!", when our hero is being [[Emo|mopier than usual]].
* 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 (Manga)|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.
* [http://www.onemanga.com/Katekyo_Hitman_Reborn/50/07/ This page] of [[Katekyo Hitman Reborn]] has Tsuna's mother "pulling a Yamamoto". (Which is to cheerily come up with a mundane explanation for the obviously dangerous situation at hand.)
 
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== Film ==
 
* ''[[The Fugitive (Filmfilm)|The Fugitive]]'' with [[Tommy Lee Jones]]: "He did a [[Peter Pan]] right off this dam here." Earlier, of a train driver: "Bet he did a Casey Jones."
* In ''[[The Matrix]]'', Neo was "doing his [[Superman]] thang."
* In ''[[Twelve12 Monkeys]]'', [[Bruce Willis (Creator)]]' character is referred to as having "pulled a Houdini." (He was a time traveler, and got pulled back out of impossible-to-escape restraints.)
* The two protagonists of ''[[Gerry (Film)|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 ''[[ItsIt's a Wonderful Life]]'' there's a reference to Clarence having "pulled a Brody" -- period slang for jumping off a bridge, after New York bridge-jumper Steve Brody.
* In ''[[The Sorcerer's Apprentice (Film)|The Sorcerers 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."
* In ''[[The Gamers]]'':Dorkness Rising, when Flynn is [[Back From the Dead|resurrected]], Lodge (the ''[[Game Master]]'') notes that "Flynn pulls a [[The Bible|Lazarus]]."
 
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** [[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.
** This one's become so well-travelled that it even [http://www.mangafox.com/manga/kare_kano/v09/c041/4.html appears] in the ''[[Kare Kano]]'' manga as a visual-only metaphor for someone snapping under the strain of having perfectionist, controlling parents.
** Oddly enough, to "Carrie someone" usually refers to the act of inflicting such humiliation on the person rather than the act of retaliation. For example, in an episode of [[30 Rock (TV)|Thirty Rock]], Liz's former high school friends attempt to dump chocolate on her head and refer to it as "Carrie-ing her".
* 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 (Literature)|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."
* ''[[Harry Potter and The Order of The Phoenix]]'': "One more lesson like that and I just might [[Accidental Innuendo|do a Weasley."]] (After {{spoiler|Fred and George drop out in spectacular fashion.}})
* Done rather cruelly in ''[[Flowers for Algernon (Literature)|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]]''.
* From one of the [[Dinotopia]] books, any instance of [[Aint No Rule]] or [[Loophole Abuse]] is referred to as "Pulling an Andrew", after said Andrew wins an obstacle course race against a ''far'' more athletic dinosaur by simple virtue of ignoring the obstacles and running down the straightaway between the courses.
* [[The Dresden Files|Jim Butcher]] says on [http://www.cipher-wotr.com/forum/showthread.php?t=348 this page] about writing the middle of a novel: "It lurks between the beginning of your book and the exciting conclusion, and its mission in life is to [[The Neverending Story (Filmfilm)|Atreyu you right down into the yucky, mucky mire]] in order to prevent you from ever actually finishing."
** 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."
*** Not to mention the fact that "To Dresden" means accidentally causing severe property damage, in-universe.
* Towards the end of Rob Grant's ''Colony'', the main character comes up with a plan to save the ship that everyone comes to know as "The Morton Maneuvre." He however believes that if the plan fails, then the term "Morton Maneuvre" will forever be associated with spectacular failures such as the Charge Of The Light Brigade and the Hindenburg (which he reckons should have been called the Mortonburg).
* In ''The View from Saturday'', the character Luke is such a genius that people believe his name will eventually become a verb, "[[Stuck Onon Band-Aid Brand|like Xerox]]", meaning to do something or other that's really brilliant.
* In ''[[Crysis (Video Gameseries)|Crysis]]: Legion'' Colonel Barclay notes that the Ceph are [[Dangerously Genre Savvy]] enough to remove both macrofauna (read: humans and animals) and microbes, obviously having got their tentacles on ''[[War of the Worlds]]'' sometime. Hilariously, Dr Gould the scientist doesn't get it at first.
* ''[[Little Green Men (Literaturenovel)|Little Green Men]]'' has a footnote explaining what the neologism "Bobbitting" means.
* In the ''[[Discworld]]'' novels, Ankh-Morpork slang for "mad" is "completely [[Talkative Loon|Bursar]]".
* In [[Edgar Allan Poe]]'s short story "Metzengerstein," it is said that the eponymous baron's behavior "out-Heroded Herod," a phrase which, as mentioned above, originated in [[Shakespeare|Shakespeare's]] ''[[Hamlet]].''
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* ''[[Smallville]]'' does this all the time. Clark was beaten up badly after losing his powers and Chloe remarked, "You said it was bad but not ''[[Raging Bull]]'' bad."
** This show, and Chloe's character in particular, do this a lot. Lois picked up the habit when she began trying to be a journalist. When the two talk it's crazy.
* On ''[[Community (TV)|Community]]'', when Britta got the group's personality tests back with weird results:
{{quote| '''Jeff''': You probably just Britta'd the results somehow.<br />
'''Britta''': No, I double-checked them... wait, are people using my name to mean "make a small mistake"?<br />
'''Jeff''': (Shifty-eyed) ...[[Sure, Let's Go Withwith That|yes]]. }}
** Later in [[Community (TV)/Recap/S3 E05 Horror Fiction in Seven Spooky Steps|the same episode]]:
{{quote| '''Britta''': We learned an important lesson tonight. We should never make the "Britta" of "Britta-ing" each other's feelings.<br />
'''Pierce''': You're using it wrong!<br />
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** In "New Moon Rising", the normally [[Book Dumb]] Buffy threatens to "pull a [[William Telling|William Burroughs]]" on somebody. Nobody gets it.
{{quote| '''Buffy:''' Was I the only one awake in English class that day? I'll. Kill. Him.}}
* In ''[[The X -Files]]'', Mulder snaps at Deep Throat to "just cut the [[The Obi-Wan|Obi Wan Kenobi]]" crap.
* Sawyer and Hurley on ''[[Lost]]'' regularly supply such references. In "Eggtown," Kate tricks Hurley into a [[You Just Told Me]] revelation, to which Hurley replies, "You just [[Scooby Doo]]'ed me, didn't you?"
* In the ''[[Supernatural]]'' episode "Simon Said," a character uses a mind control on Dean Winchester to take his [[Cool Car|beloved 1967 Chevy Impala]] for a spin. Dean then calls Sam and says, "He full-on [[Jedi Mind Trick|Obi-Wan-ed]] Me!"
** 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 (Filmfilm)|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.
{{quote| '''Booth''': "Sure, I'm [[The X -Files|Mulder and you're Scully.]]"<br />
'''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.
** Also used on [[Veronica Mars]] in reference to the previous season's killer leaping off the roof of the hotel Logan lives at.
* ''[[Farscape (TV)|Farscape]]''. John Crichton does this all the time. Seeing as he's a long way from Earth, naturally no-one understands a word he's talking about, though the crew of Moya seem to get the general gist after a while.
* In the ''[[Star Trek: theThe Next Generation]]'' episode "Darmok", the entire language of the alien race works this way, making communication impossible with those who don't know the references. The example they give is [[Romeo and Juliet|"Juliet on the balcony"]] representing a declaration of love; unless you know the name and the scene, it means nothing.
** Temba, his arms wide! Darmok and Jalad at Tenagra. Which becomes Dathon and Picard at El Adril.
*** 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.
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** From "Poker? I barely know her!":
{{quote| '''Shawn:''' That's very Cameron Frye of you.}}
* In ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]'', after Claire beats up someone trying to attack her, the attacker says "don't go all [[Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV)|Buffy]] on us!"
* ''[[Fringe]]'' has the following, during a discussion about a man who apparently disappeared into thin air:
{{quote| '''Olivia:''' The man was clever enough to ''[[Star Trek (Franchise)|Star Trek]]'' himself out of a maximum security German prison.}}
* ''[[Everybody Loves Raymond]]'' episode where Ray tapes over his wedding video; everyone jokes that this monumental blunder is going to be known as "pulling a Ray Barone".
* For an episode of ''[[How I Met Your Mother]]'', people started using "Ted out" (to overthink) and "Ted up" (to overthink with disastrous consequences).
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* On ''[[Cheers]]'', Frasier was [[Runaway Bride|jilted at the altar]] during a lavish ceremony in Italy. When he returns, he claims that Italian slang now calls kicking an own-goal (in soccer) "doing a Frasier", but knocking yourself out on the goalpost while doing so is "doing a Frasier Crane".
** At least once the gang used "Clavin" to mean something bad, as in "Last one there's a Clavin!" {{[[[Captain Obvious]] cf Rotten Egg.}}] Rather than being upset with this Cliff Clavin participated, assuring the others "I'm not going to be the Clavin this time!" (quotes paraphrased)
** "Pulling a Clavin" is also a reference to the episode where Cliff appeared on ''[[Jeopardy (TV)|Jeopardy!]]'' and, despite having an insurmountable lead, lost terribly after wagering everything on a Final Jeopardy! response of "Who are three people that have never been in my kitchen?" ''Jeopardy!'' has made countless references to Clavin and that episode over time, making it somewhat of an [[Ascended Meme]].
* During one particular episode of ''[[Arrested Development (TV series)|Arrested Development]]'', the term "Michael" becomes used to refer to chickening out (generally regarding something wildly illegal):
{{quote| '''George Sr.''': "Hey don't go all Michael on me here."<br />
'''GOB''': "Hey, nobody's going all Michael on anyone." }}
* From ''[[Black AdderBlackadder|Blackadder II]]'':
{{quote| '''Edmund Blackadder:''' I'm not very popular, am I, Baldrick?<br />
'''Baldrick:''' Well, when someone sets their foot in something a dog leaves on the street, they do tend to say "Whoops, I've trod in an Edmund." }}
* ''[[Married... Withwith Children]]''. One episode has Al Bundy attempt to put back a way overdue library book without officially returning it so he won't have to pay a late fee. He ends up being exposed in a very public and humiliating way. At the very end of the episode, a kid catches his friend doing the same thing and remarks "Hey, don't Bundy that book!"
* An in-universe example is found in ''[[The Office]]'' when Andy tries convincing Michael that the employees describe anyone who screws something up horribly as having "Schruted" it.
* ''[[30 Rock (TV)|30 Rock]]'':
{{quote| Jack: I've Lemoned the situation with Nancy!<br />
Liz: That's not a thing people are saying now, is it? Lemoned. Doing it awesome. }}
** ''[[30 Rock (TV)|30 Rock]]'' also had a episode centered around Jack "Reaganing" or going twenty four hours without making a mistake. Named, of course, after Ronald Reagan.
** There is also an episode centered around both Jack's and Liz' reactions to extreme hilarity or excitement. Jack "jacks" which refers to getting so excited that you vomit. Liz "lizzes" which is a also a portmanteau of laugh and whiz.
** Another episode featured a classical example where Jack bases his relationship strategy on Fabius Maximus and at the end of the episode this strategy is countered by one based on Hannibal. Jack says she "Hannibaled" his "Fabius."
** And yet another episode had a plot to humiliate Liz at her high-school reunion being called an attempt to "[[Carrie]]" her.
* The pilot episode of ''[[Stargate SG -1]]'', also an [[Actor Allusion]] as Carter is talking to O'Neill at the time:
{{quote| '''Carter:''' It took us fifteen years and three supercomputers to [[MacGyver]] a system for the gate on Earth.}}
** Also referenced in a ''[[Stargate Atlantis]]'' episode, in which [[Insufferable Genius|McKay]], after one request for an impossible super-sciencey solution too many, protests that he is not [[MacGyver]].
* In ''[[ItsIt's Always Sunny in Philadelphia]]'', Charlie does this to his own inventions. A "Charlie One-Two" involves someone throwing himself in front of a car and then blackmailing the driver. A "Grilled Charlie" is a questionable grilled sandwich containing butter, peanut butter, chocolate and cheese.
* ''[[Friends]]'' had Monica's mother's use of the phrase "Pulling a Monica" to describe awkward mistakes (such as in the episode mentioned, Monica loses one of her false nails in one of the mini-quiches she made for her mother's party, not knowing which one it is). During the episode Phoebe tries to change the meaning to "completing the job you were hired to do" instead.
* Instead of the aforementioned "pulling a Louganis", ''[[Castle]]'s'' medical examiner Lainie said the [[Body of the Week]] "did a [[Superman]] off that roof".
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== Music ==
* [[Simon and Garfunkel (Music)|Simon and Garfunkel]]'s "A Simple Desultory Philippic ([[Either or Title|or]] How I Was Robert McNamara'd Into Submission)".
* Yes, we've got [[Weird Al]] in here again. When he released ''Dare to Be Stupid'', plenty of people said he "out-Devoed [[Devo]]". Including Mark Mothersbaugh.
 
 
== New Media ==
* [[The Nostalgia Critic (Web Video)|The Nostalgia Critic]] on an infamous drug-themed PSA: "What a twist! They [[M. Night Shyamalan]]'ed my ass!"
* 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 [[RifftraxRiff Trax]] of ''[[Avatar (Filmfilm)|Avatar]]'', as Neytiri fends off the jackal-like animals attacking Jake's Avatar.
{{quote| ''"There's the Flying [[Lord of the Rings|Legolas]]. Followed by the [[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles|Donatello]]. Unexpected [[Star Trek II: theThe Wrath of Khan (Film)|Shatner Khan yell.]] Ahh, the [[OJ Simpson|OJ.]]''<br />
''[[Crosses the Line Twice|I heard Michael Vick pulled a]] [[A Date Withwith Rosie Palms|PeeWee Herman]] [[Crosses the Line Twice|in the theater during this scene.]]'' }}
 
== Sports ==
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== Video Games ==
 
* The strategy game ''[[Age of Empires III (Video Game)|Age of Empires III]]'' has a cheat called [[Teen Girl Squad (Web Animation)|"Soo good"]], where every unit kill would be accompanied by a bugle blast and an on-screen message along the lines of "'''''KILLER UNIT'D!!!'''''". So, if one was killed by a rifleman, he would get a message called "'''''MUSKETEER'D!!!'''''" or when the killer was a cavalryman there would be a message like "'''''HUSSAR'D!!!'''''". There are even circumstances where cannons or experienced units are named, with their whole titles; "'''''IMPERIAL HOWITZER'D!!!'''''". [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|It is also awesome]].
* From ''[[Kingdom of Loathing]]'', you "pull a Tonya Harding" when you attack people with a club.
** Technically, you pull a Tonya Harding when you have a club equipped in your main hand by hiring someone to beat up your enemy.
* At one point, [[Max Payne (Video Gameseries)|Max Payne]] says that he "Made like Chow Yun-Fat"
** The game's film noir-esqe storytelling guarantees plenty of references of this kind. Max "plays it [[Humphrey Bogart|Bogart]]," and has to deal with "a regular [[The Usual Suspects|Keyser Soze]]."
* By the time of ''[[Knights of the Old Republic]] II'', "pulling a Bindo" has come to refer to a Jedi breaking the Jedi Code by marrying, referring to the first game's Jolee Bindo, who did just that. Bad joke, bald guy, long story.
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* In ''[[The Weekenders]]'' episode "To Tish", Tish's name becomes a verb meaning to do something egghead-y.
* In-universe in ''[[The Magic School Bus]]'', Tim likes commenting that the class "got [[Inexplicably Awesome|Frizzled]]".
* ''[[Jackie Chan Adventures (Animation)|Jackie Chan Adventures]]'' features both "pulling a Viper" and "pulling a Jade."
* In an episode of Dilbert, Wally's name used as an all-purpose pejorative.
{{quote| "Yeah, you know, as in: 'he's a total Wally,' or, 'I've got to take a Wally.'}}
* In the [[Terry Toons]] feature ''The Adventures Of Lariat Sam'' (a segment of the ''Captain Kangaroo'' show), whenever Sam and his horse Tippytoes fell victim to a plot from villain Badlands Meeny, Tippytoes would deadpan "We've been Meenyed again, Sam."
* On ''[[Xiaolin Showdown (Animation)|Xiaolin Showdown]]'', Jack Spicer learns that, much to his chagrin, the supervillain community has been using his name in reference to immense failures.
 
== Web Original ==
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