Blah Blah Blah: Difference between revisions

'''Pegasus:''' Blah blah blah, attack mode blah.<br />

'''Yami:''' ''(in horrified disbelief)'' Blah blah blah?!<br />

 

This trope occurs when someone is listening to someone talk and all they can hear is "blah, blah, blah". Usually used for comedic effect, it indicates that the auditor finds the conversation irrelevant, incomprehensible or boring. Or all of the above.

 

== Anime and Manga ==

{{quote| '''Bidoof 1:''' Bidoof, bidoof bidoof bidoofbi bi bi doof!<br />

'''Bidoof 2:''' Bidoof bidoof bidoof doof doof bi!!!<br />

'''Bidoof 1:''' BIDOOF!!!<br />

'''Bidoof 2:''' Bidoof?! }}

** The same thing happens again later, though this time he's speechifying to the other two protagonists, Card and Joel, about how honest he is (despite the obvious corruption of the law in town). After he leaves, Card says "Now I understand why Douglas couldn't stand talking with him..."

* In the dub of ''[[Sgt Frog]]'', in the New Year's episode, Giroro mocks Keroro's goal for the new year: "Gundam, blah blah blah, Gundam Gundam."

* In ''[[Yandere Kanojo]]'', some characters can use the phrase, "Yada yada blah blah," as ''information-conveying dialogue''.

 

== Comicbooks ==

* When [[Incredible Hercules|Hercules]] is asked what his compatriot (and [[Teen Genius]]) Amadeus Cho would do when faced with a brain-teaser, Herc [[Imagine Spot|imagines]] Cho going "Blah blah numbers blah blah math blah blah blah science."

* In ''[[Babymouse]] Burns Rubber'', a [[Star Wars]]-esque narrative scroll relates the story thus far, eventually turning into "blah blah blah are you really still reading this?"

 

== Fan Fiction ==

{{quote| '''Haruhi:''' Blah blah blah, Skip the speeches - if I don't know the complete back story, it's all meaningless to me. }}

** Another instance is [[Justified Trope|justified]]:

{{quote| '''Andy:''' Dear Andy, thank you for purchasing my test, blah blah blah... That's what it says. "Thank you for purchasing my test, blah, blah, blah".}}

 

== Films -- Animated ==

* From ''[[The Incredibles]]'':

{{quote| '''Edna (to Helen):''' Yes, words are useless! Gobble gobble gobble gobble gobble. There's too much of it, darling, too much!}}

 

== Films -- Live-Action ==

* In ''[[Ernest Goes To School]]'', Ernest becomes much smarter after undergoing a magical intelligence upgrade, but his newfound intellectualism makes his simple classes so boring to him that the lectures all come across as "blah blah blah blah blah."

* In ''[[True Lies]]'', when Harry is translating the [[Big Bad]]'s [[Just Between You and Me|villain speech]] for Helen, he starts giving it as, "We shall triumph over the evil Americans, blah blah blah," as if to imply he's heard it all before. Turns out [[Bilingual Bonus|that's pretty much]] [http://blogs.msdn.com/b/oldnewthing/archive/2007/04/19/2182810.aspx a direct translation.]

* ''[[Mr. Deeds Goes to Town|Mr. Deeds]]'' features a woman responding to Winona Ryder's heartfelt apology with "All I heard was blah blah blah, I'm a dirty tramp!"

* ''[[Blazing Saddles]]'' has a pack of the Governor's underlings saying nothing but "harrumph, harrumph." It's immediately lampshaded when the Governor points at one and says, "Hey, I didn't get a harrumph out of that guy!"

{{quote| '''Hedly Lamarr:''' Give the Governor a harrumph!<br />

* [[Robert Sheckley]] once wrote a story about a space explorer whose specialty is linguistics; he happens to land on a planet of beings whose language constantly changes, until they end up saying "Mun" in a variety of tones, conveyed by punctuation and interspersed with comments in whatever language you happen to read it in. (Sorry, I can't be bothered to search a couple cubic meter of books just to find the title in French.)

* According to George and Harold's comic books in the ''[[Captain Underpants]]'' series, their principal, Mr. Krupp, is only capable of saying "Blah blah blah" and "Bwahahaha".

* In the ''[[Cryptonomicon]]'', Waterhouse tries (and fails) to explain how his digital computer works to a much less technically savvy character:

{{quote| "Dr. Turing, of Cambridge University, has pointed out that bobbadah bobbadah hoe daddy yanga langa furjeezama bing jingle oh yeah," Waterhouse says, or words to that effect.}}

* From an example in [[How Not to Write A Novel]]: "He went into his office and began his routine of blah while he admired the same view of blah blah that was just the same as every other day on which blah and like clockwork blah blah until it began to seem as if life was an empty series of meaningless actions."

 

 

== Live-Action TV ==

** Buffy in an earlier episode interrupts a lecture of Giles's.

{{quote| '''Buffy:''' Blah blah, biddy blah, I'm so stuffy, get me a scone.}}

** "Fool For Love", researching what mistakes previous Slayers made leading to their deaths:

{{quote| '''Buffy:''' Same as all the others. Slayer called. Blah, blah. Great protector. Blah, blah. Scary battles. Blah, blah. Oops! She's dead. Where are the details?}}

* In the first ''[[The Comic Strip Presents]]'' episode, "Five Go Mad In Dorset" (a parody of [[Enid Blyton]]'s ''Famous Five'' books), [[Exact Eavesdropping|the heroes overhear]] the villain's goons talking like this: ''"Blah blah blah secret blueprints, blah blah blah kidnapped scientist..."''

{{quote| '''Dr. Kelso''': Why, I remember back in '68, ''blah blah blah'', nostalgic story. ''Now get the hell outta my office!''}}

** "Shoe shopping" is used to similar effect in "My Big Bird." Anytime a girl says "shoe shopping," all men within earshot zone out and hear most likely nothing but "blah blah blah" until someone mentions bras or similar. Subverted later in the episode when Dr. Cox reveals to have gained immunity because of overexposure to his ex-wife, Jordan.

** In another episode, what Barney heard on the previous night was

{{quote| "Blah, blah, blah, I'm an architect. Blah, blah, blah, I don't wear suits. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Wow, an architect.How fascinating. Blah, blah, blah, blah. Rambling architecture anecdote. Blah, blah, something about a bridge. Blah, blah, blah..."}}

* ''[[Mad About You]]'' was another show that used the "this is what the dog hears" version.

{{quote| ''Blah blah blah blah Murray blah blah blah blah, Murray ?''}}

* Used ''twice'' in the ''[[Frasier]]'' episode "Death and the Dog". Frasier and Martin start arguing about whether Eddie (the dog) can understand them - we cut to Eddie's point of view where all he can understand is his own name. Later, Frasier and Niles start having a psychiatric debate about Martin - we cut to Martin's point of view, where the only thing he can understand is the word "Dad".

{{quote| '''Monk''': Ugh, all Dr. Bell wants to do is talk. This is Dr. Bell: "Blah blah blah. Tell me about your mother. Yak yak yak. How does that make you feel? Words words words."}}

* In a parody of ''[[The Sims]]'', ''[[The Drew Carey Show]]'' has an opening where all the characters are talking in 'blah'. Their thoughts were expressed by pictures in thought bubbles.

'''Ross''': First of all it's Professor Pittain! And second of all, that little bone proved that that particular dinosaur had wings, but didn't fly.<br />

'''Rachel''': Okay, see now, what I just heard: blah-blah-blah, blah-blah-blah-blah-blah, blah-blah-blah, blah, blah. }}

* In ''[[Grace Under Fire]]'' Grace's boss does this in constantly, especially in pep talks, possibly undermined in that he's usually effective.

* The ''Get Me Hennimore!'' sketches from ''[[That Mitchell and Webb Look]]''. In each sketch, Hennimore's boss would give him two straightforward but mutually incompatible jobs, the central [[MacGuffin|Macguffins]] of which were indistinguishable from each other. [[Hilarity Ensues|Hilarity Ensued]]. In the final episode, the audience was given an insight into Hennimore's head, where his boss's instructions consisted entirely of "blah blah blah" while he pictured the inevitable and imminent resulting disasters.

* ''[[Web Soup]]'' showed a video where a little girl gets kicked in the face with a soccer ball. When the clip ends, Chris Hardwick goes, "[[Blah Blah Blah]], balls-to-the-face joke."

* On ''[[Rescue Me]]'', this is Tommy's sort-of catch phrase.

* In ''[[True Blood]]'', Pam's explanation of a dire situation is: "Blah, blah, vampire emergency, blah."

* ''[[That 70s Show]]'' has an entertaining variation: A conversation between Eric, Hyde, Kelso and Laurie takes place, involving Laurie shooting down Kelso's blatant attempts to hit on her. After she leaves, we see that Kelso only heard just enough of what Laurie said to him to string together a few sentences that make it seem like she wants him just as badly.

{{quote| '''Leonard:''' Are you even listening to me?<br />

'''Sheldon:''' Of course I'm listening. Blah blah, hopeless Penny delusion, blah blah blah. }}

You're makin' sound good and loud now, I can't make it out<br />

Your lips are workin' fine, but when you talk, "blah blah" }}

{{quote| We bankrupt all invaders, we sell them souvenirs<br />

We ner ner ner ner by the ears<br />

* "Sayin' blah blah blah, just jackin' their jaws" from Montgomery Gentry's "What Do Ya Think About That."

* "She said, '[[Gratuitous Spanish|bienvenidos, señor, blah blah blah blah]]'" from Blaine Larsen's "I Don't Know What She Said."

{{quote| I'm walking to the something, blah blah blah blah blah blah blah (collapse)<br />

I'm drinking too much blah blah, blah blah blah blah blah blah (fall out)<br />

I'm feeling very blah blah, I want to blah blah blah (collapse)<br />

And in the end, it means I blah blah blah blah blah blah blah (the end) }}

* [[Kesha]] wants you to [http://thatguywiththeglasses.com/videolinks/teamt/tis/tpsr/20736-ep-01-kesha-blahblahblah stop ta-ta-talkin' that blah blah blah.]

* [[The Police|De Doo Doo Doo De Dah Dah Dah, they're meaningless and all that's true]].

 

== Newspaper Comics ==

** ''Robotman'' also did a similar one, with the dog's barking translated as "Fleas, fleas, tail, fleas..." and the cat's meows as "Ball, ball, chase ball, tuna..."

* Inverted in one ''[[FoxTrot]]'' comic, which has Paige complaining that the day has been boring, and it's just been one "blah" event after another. Cue Peter walking up to hear her actually say "blah blah blah" out of the legitimate context Paige had been using.

** This strip was possibly Amend lampshading, as early strips involved Paige's phone conversations literally written as "Blah blah blah blah blah".

{{quote| '''Evie''': Everything ok at home, Val?<br />

'''Val''': We're fine. Weather's nice... the girls can't wait for summer... Phil and I are seeing more of each other... blah blah blah...<br />

'''Evie''': "Blah blah blah"?? [[Is That What They're Calling It Now?|I haven't heard that euphemism in quite a while]].<br />

'''Val''': I haven't ''needed'' that euphemism in quite a while. }}

* In ''[[Prickly City]]'', Winslow at a press conference -- in a [[Wall of Blather]] as well.

* ''Dog's Best Friend'' had Cuddles opining endlessly about the beauty of the winter scene before him. As he is doing this, Fergus writes "BLAH, BLAH, BLAH. . ." in the window condensation.

== Videogames ==

* In the ''[[Literatur/Discworld|Discworld]]'' video game, the password to the monks' meeting place is literally "Blah blah blah spoons blah blah blah [[The Password Is Always Swordfish|swordfish]] blah blah blah Simon Says".

** This is actually a reference to the first game, in which this happens twice; Once by the local fortune teller, and once by the ghost of his ancestor.

* From the first ''[[Sly Cooper]]'' game:

{{quote| '''Mz. Ruby:''' Ha ha ha... Oh, Sly. I see your mouth a' movin', but all I hear is 'Blah, blah, blah'!}}

* In ''[[Luminous Arc 2]]'', Pop use this to get {{spoiler|saying the vows required to Unite with Master Roland}} over with.

* The explanation of how the Transfer Machine in ''[[Pokémon Black and White]]'' works is this trope mixed with random technological phrases. It's unknown whether this is the player character ignoring/not understanding what the scientist is saying or [[Cloudcuckoolander|the scientist]] not bothering with a real explanation.

 

 

* [http://hlcomic.com/index.php?date=2006-07-26 "I'm Gordon Freeman! I never say anything! Blah Blah Blah!"]

** "That...That doesn't even make sense!"

** And played straight in [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0257.html a conversation between Julia and her friends]. ("Blah blah blah blah boyfriend blah blah seriously...")

** Also played straight with [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0051.html Roy and Thog getting the Earth Sigil].

* From the annotation to ''[[Terror Island]]'' strip #351:

{{quote| Ben's rough draft for panel three was "blah blah blah balance." I "jazzed it up" a bit.}}

{{quote| '''Kat:''' But what did you use to jargon jargon [[Techno Babble|babble]] babble strange words?<br />

'''Anja:''' Haha, it took a while to perfect, but chatter chatter jargon computers [[Magic From Technology|technical wizardry]] [[Magi Babble|babble]] jargon. }}

{{quote| '''Newspaper''': blah blah blah blah blah radish blah blah blah.}}

* ''[[Blank It]]'''s [http://blankitcomics.com/about/ about page].

* ''[[Skin Horse]]'' [http://www.webcomicsnation.com/shaenongarrity/skinhorse/series.php?view=archive&chapter=39951&name=skinhorse#strip3 here].

* ''Borderline Boy'': [http://borderline-boy.com/2009/06/30/tennis-1/ Jay and Trent geek out about the internet].

* ''[[Slightly Damned]]'' uses this trope to spur Buwaro into...{{spoiler|well, [http://www.sdamned.com/2010/03/03142010/ something] [["Shut Up" Kiss|he wouldn't have been anywhere near mature enough to do]] a hundred comics ago.}}

* ''[[Wapsi Square]]'' does like [[The Far Side]] [http://wapsisquare.com/comic/dietzel-speak/ here].

{{quote| '''''Terumi''''': Well, since you're all here, I may as well tell you the same story I've told everyone else today. Blah blah blah, '''CAULDRON''', blah blah blah, '''BLACK BEAST''', blah blah blah, '''AZURE''', blah blah blah, '''NEW WIFE''', blah blah, '''HURRAY!''' The end!}}

* Parodied in [[Fedora Spade]] Episode 4, when it's a good time to mash "C".

* An ''[[Awkward Zombie]]'' strip has this exchange:

'''Sheik:''' ''[[Crowning Moment of Funny|"Song."]]'' }}

* ''Darken'' has [http://darkencomic.com/?webcomic_post=20081027 Gort and Dragon customs.]

* ''[[Never Mind the Gap]]'': [http://nmg.thecomicseries.com/comics/127 on this page], Miwa isn't listening what a teen robot is saying to her. He apparently notices.

 

== Web Originals ==

* The satirical blog ''[http://ifyoulikeitsomuchwhydontyougolivethere.com/ spEak You're bRanes]'', which used to allow comments on posts until the owner got fed up of the fans. Now, any comment posted will appear as blahs with the occasional word slipping through ("blah blah blah reenable blah comments" is a common one).

* [[The Demented Cartoon Movie|"Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah...."]] [[Your Head Asplode|(cue tons of heads exploding)]]

** [[Words of Power|Zeeky Boogy Doog.]]

* ''[[The Abridging of Haruhi Suzumiya]]'' does this:

{{quote| '''What Kyon Hears''': "Blah, Blah, Blah. I'm a selfish jerk. Blah, Blah, Blah. Pay attention to me. Blah Blah Blah. I have delusions of godhood."<br />

Olaf: Listen to my nonsense dribble.<br />

Colin: Yes sir! }}

{{quote| The planet Tabletopistan is the blah blah ancient derelict of the blah blah blah claimed by the Necrogumby blah which seeks to blah blah and also by the Hello Kittau empire blah bringing dire blah to the civilized blah of the galaxy. You must blah blah by reaching the derelict and holding it from all enemies at the end of the last turn. {{spoiler|Fnord.}}}}

* Parodying the YGOTAS example above, there's part of [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdMs4opSvIU this Randomdce video].

 

== Western Animation ==

* Taz's dad (a Bing Crosby Soundalike) from ''[[Taz-Mania]]'' often went ''"Blah, blah, blah, yakkety schmakkety."''

** In the [[The Rashomon|Rashomon episode]] "Once Upon an Ed", all [[Teen Genius|Edd]] can say during [[The Ditz|Ed's]] flashback is things like ''"Yap yap, blah blah, drivel drivel drivel"''.

** In "Boys Will Be Eds", as the boys suddenly find themselves infatuated with Nazz, her angry tangent about them making fun of Jimmy's [[Amusing Injuries]] trails off into "blah blah blah".

* The adults on ''[[Peanuts]]'' and their muted trombone-larynges would probably count as another perceptual equivalent to blah.

{{quote| '''Toph''': ''"You know what I just heard? Blah blah [[Magi Babble|spiritual mumbo jumbo]] blah blah something about space."''}}

** What about:

{{quote| '''Aang''': ''"Firebenders...Fire Lord...blah, blah, blah, blah."''}}

** The same happens to Bart and Homer themselves, when speaking to a teacher and a psychiatrist about Bart's bad performance in school.

** In a flashback, Young!Krusty also invoked this trope when poking fun at his father's profession as a Rabbi ("Blah, blah, blah, Moses!").

** The trope did happen in an episode of ''[[Murphy Brown]]'' as well: Murphy speaks to Frank, and all he hears is a loud noise that sounds like a foghorn.

*** And ''Something, Something, Something, Dark Side'' was used as the title of their spoof of ''[[The Empire Strikes Back]]''.

* Farmer John often starts talking like this in ''[[Sheep in The Big City]]''. At one point he goes on like this for an entire night, then says: [[Lampshade Hanging|"I guess I should stop saying "blah" over and over again and get going"]].

* ''[[Chowder]]'' once had the title character listening to Mung Daal's lecture about midnight-snacking:

*** Which implies that Mung ''actually wrote'' blah blah blah for almost an entire letter. Then again, she does have an obsession with him in that episode, so apparently she was crazy enough to fill in the blanks for herself and pretend he actually wrote them.

** In "Chowder's Catering Company", when Chowder arrives in the kitchen with a dirty fuzzball, we see Mung talking to Shnitzel, although we can only hear him say "blah blah blah".

** The same thing happens in "Band Geeks". The ambient noise of everyone talking before practice is revealed to everyone just saying blah blah blah.

** A similar thing happens in a different episode when Spongebob calls Squidward on the phone. We hear Squidward's half of the conversation, with Spongebob talking in muffled gibberish in the background. When Squidward hangs up, the scene switches to Spongebob and Patrick, still talking in gibberish to each other.

'''Patrick:''' Sorry. }}

** In the season 6 episode 'The Card'; Spongebob is trying to explain to Patrick how valuable his trading card is, but all Patrick could hear is 'bla bla bla'.

*** Let's not forget "RABBLE RABBLE RABBLE", which is yelled by pretty much every angry mob on the show.

*** The "RABBLE RABBLE RABBLE" gets lampshaded ocasionally.

* In a holiday edition ''[[The Boondocks]]'', Granddad completely [[Hand Wave|waves away]] Huey's detailed explanation about Christmas actually being a pagan holiday with the hilariously out-of-context line, "Blah blah gay sex, blah blah Congress."

{{quote| '''Aquaman:''' Uh, what about the plan?<br />

'''The Atom:''' Blah blah blah! ''Let's punch 'em!'' }}

* Played in every single ''[[Humf]]'' episode when it's an adult talking to another adult or over the phone.

* In ''[[Care Bears]]: Share Bear Shines'', Share is trying to convince Princess Starglo not to abandon her post by telling her the storybook version of her history. "You were the first twinklet, the mother of all the stars!" Starglo is not impressed, as she continues the story, "The keeper of starlight and wishes, burning brightly in the sky, blah blah blah blah. Yeah, I've heard the story, too." Though she does admit that the story is true, "Except for the 'blah blah blah' part. I made that up."

* Phong's password on ''[[Re Boot]]'' was "yadda yadda yadda".

* An episode of ''[[Jimmy Two-Shoes]]'' has Jimmy trying to listen in on a conversation between Beezy and Heloise. Even when he's right next to him, all Beezy says is "blah blah blah".

* [[Pepper Ann]] frequently heard teachers this way.

* On ''[[Courage the Cowardly Dog]]'' Eustace sometimes says this when something doesn't interest him.

* The "from a character's perspective" version in parodied/subverted by [[Phineas and Ferb]]. Candace is ranting at the two main characters, when they start to phase out. When Candace asks if they were even listening, it turns out that her voice ''literally'' became echo-y, for some reason.