The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul: Difference between revisions

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* [[The Alleged Car]]: Kate's Citroën 2CV is the [[Trope Namer]] -- at one point she's in court for a traffic mishap (her car threw a wheel and nearly caused an accident) and a police officer refers to it as "the alleged car", and the name sticks.
* [[The Alleged Car]]: Kate's Citroën 2CV is the [[Trope Namer]] -- at one point she's in court for a traffic mishap (her car threw a wheel and nearly caused an accident) and a police officer refers to it as "the alleged car", and the name sticks.
* [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking]]:
* [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking]]:
{{quote| King's Cross Station is a scary place, full of muggers, pimps, drug-pushers and hamburger salesmen. If you want cheap sex, a quick fix or -- God help you -- a hamburger, this is where you can find it.}}
{{quote|King's Cross Station is a scary place, full of muggers, pimps, drug-pushers and hamburger salesmen. If you want cheap sex, a quick fix or -- God help you -- a hamburger, this is where you can find it.}}
* [[Baleful Polymorph]]: Thor does this by accident when he's angry, thus setting off the events of the novel. His many unfortunate victims include a lamp, an airline ticket clerk, and {{spoiler|a fighter jet}}.
* [[Baleful Polymorph]]: Thor does this by accident when he's angry, thus setting off the events of the novel. His many unfortunate victims include a lamp, an airline ticket clerk, and {{spoiler|a fighter jet}}.
* [[Bavarian Fire Drill]]: Dirk's favorite way of getting places he shouldn't be.
* [[Bavarian Fire Drill]]: Dirk's favorite way of getting places he shouldn't be.
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* [[Gods Need Prayer Badly]]
* [[Gods Need Prayer Badly]]
* [[A Good Name for a Rock Band]]: "Pugilism and the Third Autistic Cuckoo".
* [[A Good Name for a Rock Band]]: "Pugilism and the Third Autistic Cuckoo".
{{quote| "It can mean whatever you want it to mean."}}
{{quote|"It can mean whatever you want it to mean."}}
* [[Impossibly Mundane Explanation]]: When Dirk meets a girl who repeatedly recites the previous day's stock quotes, he rejects the assumption that she's just memorizing them somehow (after all, the information is out there!) in favor of some more mystical explanation, because nobody would ever go to that much trouble. It's a little different since he's arguing on the basis of general human nature, not specific character, but the principle is the same. Dirk sums this up by reversing [[Sherlock Holmes]]' usual maxim: Eliminate the improbable, and whatever remains, however impossible, must be the truth.
* [[Impossibly Mundane Explanation]]: When Dirk meets a girl who repeatedly recites the previous day's stock quotes, he rejects the assumption that she's just memorizing them somehow (after all, the information is out there!) in favor of some more mystical explanation, because nobody would ever go to that much trouble. It's a little different since he's arguing on the basis of general human nature, not specific character, but the principle is the same. Dirk sums this up by reversing [[Sherlock Holmes]]' usual maxim: Eliminate the improbable, and whatever remains, however impossible, must be the truth.
* [[It Came From the Fridge]]: Dirk and his cleaning lady absolutely refuse to open his fridge, and try to trick others into opening it. He eventually has to call a fence to take his fridge away and replace it with a brand new, stolen one, which he vows never to use. {{spoiler|The old one has a god of Guilt burst from it to resolve the plot, in a [[Deus Ex Machina]].}}
* [[It Came From the Fridge]]: Dirk and his cleaning lady absolutely refuse to open his fridge, and try to trick others into opening it. He eventually has to call a fence to take his fridge away and replace it with a brand new, stolen one, which he vows never to use. {{spoiler|The old one has a god of Guilt burst from it to resolve the plot, in a [[Deus Ex Machina]].}}
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* [[Necktie Leash]]: Kate uses this one on Dirk, who subverts a repeated use by taking off his tie and handing it to her.
* [[Necktie Leash]]: Kate uses this one on Dirk, who subverts a repeated use by taking off his tie and handing it to her.
* [[Never Heard That One Before]]:
* [[Never Heard That One Before]]:
{{quote| "I'm a private detective."<br />
{{quote|"I'm a private detective."
"Oh?" said Kate in surprise, and then looked puzzled.<br />
"Oh?" said Kate in surprise, and then looked puzzled.
"Does that bother you?"<br />
"Does that bother you?"
"It's just that I have a friend who plays the double bass."<br />
"It's just that I have a friend who plays the double bass."
"I see," said Dirk.<br />
"I see," said Dirk.
"Whenever people meet him and he's struggling around with it, they all say the same thing, and it drives him crazy. They all say, 'I bet you wished you played the piccolo.' Nobody ever works out that that's what everybody else says. I was just trying to work out if there was something that everybody would always say to a private detective so that I could avoid saying it."<br />
"Whenever people meet him and he's struggling around with it, they all say the same thing, and it drives him crazy. They all say, 'I bet you wished you played the piccolo.' Nobody ever works out that that's what everybody else says. I was just trying to work out if there was something that everybody would always say to a private detective so that I could avoid saying it."
"No. What happens is that everybody looks very shifty for a moment, and you got that very well." }}
"No. What happens is that everybody looks very shifty for a moment, and you got that very well." }}
** Also, everyone and their dog keeps asking Dirk if he knows his nose is broken.
** Also, everyone and their dog keeps asking Dirk if he knows his nose is broken.
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