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The Areas of My Expertise: Difference between revisions
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{{work}}
{{Infobox book
| title = An Almanac of Complete World Knowledge Compiled with Instructive Annotation and Arranged in Useful Order by Me, John Hodgman, a Professional Writer, in the Areas of My Expertise, which Include: Matters Historical; Matters Literary; Matters Cryptozoological; Hobo Matters; Food, Drink, & Cheese (a Kind of Food); Squirrels & Lobsters & Eels; Haircuts; Utopia; What Will Happen in the Future; and Most Other Subjects; Illustrated with a Reasonable Number of Tables and Figures, and Featuring the Best of "Were You Aware of It?", John Hodgman's Long-Running Newspaper Novelty Column of Strange Facts and Oddities of the Bizarre
| original title =
| image =
| caption =
| author = John Hodgman
| central theme =
| elevator pitch = A pastiche of almanacks and trivia books in general
| genre =
| franchise = Complete World Knowledge
| followed by = More Information Than You Require
| publication date = October 20, 2005
| wiki URL =
| wiki name =
}}
{{quote|''"All of the historical oddities and amazing true facts contained herein are lies, made up by me -- and it is this astonishing innovation that allows each entry to contain more truths than if it were merely factual... Truth may be stranger than fiction, goes the old saw, but it is never as strange as lies, or for that matter, as true. Proof of which maxim is the fact that I just made it up."''|from the audiobook introduction}}
Short for:
As the name implies, it is a book of trivia written by John Hodgman, better known as [[Mascot|a PC]], and as ''[[The Daily Show]]'''s "Resident Expert". Every single fact in it is a lie ... or is it?
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The first in the ''[[Complete World Knowledge]]'' trilogy, followed by ''[[More Information Than You Require]]'' and ''[[That Is All]]''.
{{tropelist|''The Areas of My Expertise'' provides examples of, and parodies, the following tropes:}}
* [[Alien Geometries]]: One house with a 666 phone number is described as having no right angles.
* [[Ancient Conspiracy]]: Subverted: The Skulls and Bones are said to have failed in their bid for world domination, and now spend all their time masturbating and tending to the pterodactyls on their private island. The Masonic symbols allegedly hidden in Washington DC's architecture are also parodied.
* [[Attack of the Killer Whatever]]: [[Discussed Trope|Discussed]].
* [[Beware of Hitch-Hiking Ghosts]]
* [[Brian Blessed]]:{{context|reason=Is this a trope?}} In the BBC adaptation, in the role of "Old John Hodgman, After He Accidentally Becomes British".
* [[Bunny Ears Lawyer]]: "Idiosyncrasies of the Great Detectives", parodying:
** [[Lord Peter Wimsey]]
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* [[Pirate]]: Blackbeard pops up, briefly. There is also said to be [http://www.venganza.org/ a Utopian community that hopes to improve humanity through acting like stereotypical pirates].
* [[Planet of Steves]]: The ringtail cats, who, by a curious coincidence, are all named John McCain.
* [[The Roaring Twenties]]{{context}}
* [[Running Gag]]: [[Our Werewolves Are Different|The different varieties of werewolf]], [[A Date with Rosie Palms|masturbation]], eels, zeppelins, cheese, [[Hair Tropes|haircuts/facial hair]], distrust for people who use pseudonyms, Henry David Thoreau, giant Brazilian monkeys, Alexander Graham Bell, Yale University, crabs and lobsters (although the term "lobster" originally referred to a type of sea otter), the non-existence of Chicago, getting either [[Intoxication Ensues|"very high or very autistic"]], common flammable gels, Percoset, and, of course, the hoboes.
* [[Shout-Out]]: "The Amazing Duo of [[They Might Be Giants|Flansburgh]] and Goldwasser", Bruce Campbell, "[[Elf Quest|Skywise the Sexual Elf"]].
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* [[Word Salad Title]]: The whole title.
* [[You Can Panic Now]]: One minor character is afraid that terrorists will attack the Mall of America.
{| class="wikitable"
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{{reflist}}
[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]
[[Category:Comic Literature]]
[[Category:Non-Fiction Literature]]
[[Category:The Great Depression]]▼
[[Category:The Areas of My Expertise]]▼
[[Category:Books on Trope]]
[[Category:Pages with working Wikipedia tabs]]
[[Category:Literature of the 2000s]]
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