Verbal Tic/Western Animation

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


Examples of Verbal Tic in Western Animation include:

  • Katnappé from Xiaolin Showdown is chock-full of Incredibly Lame Puns of a feline nature. She proceeds to use them all the time.
  • Pinky from Pinky and The Brain had quite a few of these phrases, including "Narf", "Zort", "Poit", "Troz". And very occasionally, "Fjord". That one's Brain's fault... kinda. Brain is not entirely immune either, as he frequently adds an over-emphatic "Yes!" after his sentences, for no particular reason.
    • Troz as well, wasn't an original one, it happened in one episode where reversing Zort was related the plot, and it ... well, continued from that point onwards.
  • The versions of Mega Man and Kid Icarus seen in Captain N the Game Master affix the prefix "Mega-" and the suffix "-icus", respectively, to half the words that come out of their mouths. Game Boy is even worse, as Seanbaby points out in an issue of EGM-Not only does he make electronic beeps and blorts completely at random, he does it because he likes to-he moves his digital lips to accompany.
  • Another sentence-ender, but a far more serious one, Megatron from Transformers: Beast Wars had a habit of finishing sentences with a drawn out yeessss, or occasionally, nnooo. (Not of the Big No variety, mind you, a very smooth one.) Watch here. This is because Megatron's Achilles' Heel happens to be his overblown sense of drama.Yeeessssssss...
    • Mixmaster did something similar on one occasion, and can Never Live It Down. It's a pretty characterful tic, you gotta admit; he repeats the first syllable of the last word/noun of a sentence, i.e. "auto-auto-auto-bots!", AND it sort of fits his name. It's a shame he didn't stick with it.
    • Armada's Tidal Wave has a penchant for beginning or ending (sometimes both) sentences with his own name. He's also a Hulk Speaker, and the fandom can never quite decide if he's that stupid, or if it's just some kind of speech impediment. In the original Japanese, Tidal Wave (called Shockwave) kept that tic when he upgraded to Mirage (called Shockfleet). He ended all his sentences with "Shock!". However, in the American dub Mirage didn't have the tic.
    • After being given his name, Wreck-Gar of Animated begins every sentence that pertains to himself with "I am Wreck-Gar!" The original Wreck-Gar, along with all the other Junkions, spoke almost exclusively in TV catch-phrases. As they put it "We talk TV!" This stems from the Junkions learning to speak by watching old television broadcasts from Earth.

Wreck-Gar: Yes friends, act now, destroy Unicron! Kill the Grand Poobah! Eliminate even the toughest stains!

    • "Me Grimlock!"
    • Even in the Transformers: Shattered Glass Universe, I, Grimlock, who is gifted with remarkable intelligence, still speak with certain linguistic idiosyncrasies. Mus'nt complain to much, wot?
    • In the Japanese dub of Beast Wars, this was used to fill up pretty much every moment when no one was speaking, and several when someone was. For example, Silverbolt ended every sentence with desu, even though in the original, he's either in mid-conversation or silently brooding. We know he's a Large Ham, but come on.
    • Japanese-dub Beast Wars had two of these from Quickstrike - he'd end sentences with "gicchon" (Japanese for "snippety!"), and the cobra head on his tail would end with "ko", "bura", or "kobura" (verging on Pokémon-Speak). And then there was Cheetor, who'd make a growling noise.
    • Scorponok often made the sound "ora" for no apparent reason, while Waspinator would end his sentences with a "buuun" sound (which I'm assuming is the Japanese onomatopoeia for buzzing).
    • Warpath from the original cartoon had it so bad - it was rare to hear him go more than four or five words without a pow or zowie.
    • Mention of Omega Supreme: Not found. Problem: easily corrected.
    • Soundwave: Superior. Omega Supreme: Inferior.
    • Shrapnel repeats the last word of his sentences. Sentences...
    • In the Marvel comic, Runamuck tended to give a short laugh at the end of each sentence, heh-heh.
    • Beast Wars Inferno thought he was an actual ant. As such, the base is called the colony, Megatron is the Queen, the other Predacons are drones, and those who threaten the colony shall BUUUUUUUURN! FOR THE ROYALTY!
  • While on the topic of Transformers lets remind ourselves of all of the Transformers Animated Examples! Although most of them are a little more "Talks complete gibberish" than "Verbal Tic" But it still happens!
    • In the Japanese version of the series Lugnut feels the need to say "ttsu" in every sentence
    • His fanatic loyalty makes for some interesting lines, especially if he is saying anything in regards to his grand and GLORIOUS leader.

"STASIS LOCK ITSELF COULD NOT DETER ME FROM YOUR GRAND AND GLORIOUS PLAN, OH WISE AND NOBLE MEGATRON!"

    • Grimlock speaks insanely broken Engrish. (Well what could you expect?)
    • Blurr talks incredibly fast (He is voiced by the fastest talking person ever)
    • Jazz speaks in old timer slang
    • Jetstorm & Jetfire also speak insanely broken Engrish. Although it does sound more like a "Second language" deal.
    • Blitzwing..... It doesn't count as a verbal tyic but he has three different voices which in itself is a verbal tic (Well, he does have 3 heads)
    • Wasp-bot speak strange! Annoys reader-bot!
    • The Starscream clones have verbal tics but that is because of their personalities (It can still be counted, though or at least Ramjet can)
    • Ramjet: Compulsive Liar, Sunstorm: Suck-Up, Thundercracker: Egomaniac, Skywarp: Coward. Slipstream may or may not count since we don't know what part of Starscream she embodies (and likely never will).
    • MOTORRRRRRRRRRMASTER TAAAAAAAAAAAAAALK LIKE RANDYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY SAAAAAAAAVVVVVAAAGGGGEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    • Perceptor has a "Stephen Hawking"-esque voice because he deleted his emotions and personality.
    • Beachcomber, like totally talks like a surfer dude, ya dig?
    • Warpath (Bam, Pow) talks really weird like he has tourettes and causes him to mutter Onomatopoetic words
    • Subject: Dug Base. Speech Impediment: What do you think?
    • Wheelie has nothing wrong with his voice, for this fate he shall rejoice!
    • Pipes and-a Huffer always talk like-a Italian person.
    • Carrera is a nutcase. There. He talks like a sports announcer all the time. But, weirdly enough, Bumper thinks this will lower his chances of being a sports announcer. Sarcasm Mode mode much?
    • Glyph cant help but recite phrases mì languages lahe ayswirä.
    • Cyclonus likes to swoop in like a vast predatory bird and close a sentence with a furmanism. Can he do less? Also, he likes to give a short, sharp lesson to any Autobots and give them a world of pain and he cannot, will not die screaming. He knows the end is near but he never did want to live forever
    • Listen up, ya mooks! Yous palookas are gonna join Dirt Boss' crew, and you're gonna like it!
    • LOL Da H34DM4S73R is L33t wit hs 1nt3rn37 sl4n9
    • Slo-Mo likes to use a synonym for anything.
    • Yon Angry Archer has a preferably dry wit outmatched by his silver tongue
  • Beast Boy in Teen Titans tends to randomly add Dude to his sentences.
    • Starfire was also prone to this, yes?
    • Indeed, it is so, friend troper~!
  • In Gravedale High, Frankentyke has one, man!
  • Fred Fredburger in The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy. Yes! Along with Irwin, yo.
  • The Ren and Stimpy Show has Daisy the Cow, who has a tendency to quietly say "moo" at the end of his sentences.
  • Mr. Mackey in South Park, mmmkay? In one episode, he's speaking Spanish, and ends his sentences with "mmmbien"?
    • In another episode of South Park, magician and cult leader David Blaine tends to end sentences with "twaaa."
    • Jimmy has a habit of saying "very much" at the end of sentences, very much.
    • Their parody of Mickey Mouse ended all of his sentences with his signature "huh-huh" laugh. This is kind of disturbing when he's kicking a Jonas Brother until he bleeds.
    • In an early-season episode, the plane'arium director / baddie hypnotist fibs that he has a medical condition that prevents him from pronouncing the "T" in plane'arium.
      • He was hoping to one day get a bone-marrow transplant (he pronounced that fine).
    • Michael "Jefferson" randomly inserted "Hee-hee!", "Ohhh!", and "Ditabederjah!" into his sentences.
    • TIMMEH!
    • Cartman says "seriously" both in the correct usage ("Seriously, you guys!"), and also where anyone else would normally say "serious" ("I'm seriously!").
  • On Family Guy, Glenn Quagmire's characteristic "Giggity giggity goo", "All right", and "Oh!" may have contributed to him becoming one of the most popular characters on the show.
  • Chuck White from American Dad, ha-HA!
  • In an episode of SpongeBob SquarePants, the titular character gets stuck in "Rock Bottom," where everyone interjects "thbbbbbt" noises randomly into their sentences, and can't understand the "accent" of anyone who doesn't do the same.
  • Snarf, from Thundercats, who often ended his sentences with his own name. Snarfer did it with his name as well. (And as far as we know that is his name. Most uncreative parents ever.)
    • Slythe was also fond of adding "yessss?" to the end of his sentences.
    • The Berzerkers would repeat the last word or phrase of a sentence a couple of times (a couple of times! a couple of times!)
    • Ben Gali tended to growl. It was half Narm, half sexy.
    • And of course, Chilla had to use ice puns as often as possible.
  • Serpentor from G.I. Joe debatably had such a tic, as he took his Catch Phrase to tic-like levels. THIS, I COMMAND!
  • Flownominal of The Boondocks ends nearly every sentence with "Naw mean?". In an episode where Riley and Grandad watch too much BET, they can't stop interspersing and ending their sentences with "y'feel me?" and "dog."
  • One episode of The Tick (animation) featured a tribe of pseudo-Aztecs who said "-itlan" at the end of each sentence. (They were actually an abandoned soccer team who got their knowledge of Aztec culture from a badly written pulp novel.) They were doing it on purpose, to sound more Aztec. When Carmelita asked what all the "itlan" nonsense is, the team captain calls out to the rest of them, "I declare that we shall all stop saying itlan, itlan!"
  • Boomhauer of King of the Hill has an incredible array of verbal tics which have a tendency to consume his sentences like some horrifying cancerous growth. Combine this with the speed at which he speaks, and it can make his comments very difficult to dang-ol' understand, man.
    • Hank's "I tell you what", too. He says it after almost every sentence.
  • Ned Flanders from The Simpsons peppers ran-diddly-andom words with odd sounds like "diddly" and "doodly". This trait appears to run in his extended family. When Ned finally has a nervous breakdown, the sentence devolves totally into "-diddly-doodly-" until he's dragged away. It comes to light that this tic is an ineffective release valve for Ned's repressed negative emotions, as a result of being spanked from a hyperactive child into a model citizen. Notably, when he breaks down after the town completely fails to rebuild his house (among other things--long story), he lashes out at them ("Aw hell diddley-ding-dong crap! Can't you morons do anything right?) and the tic disappears for a while.
    • At one point it's revealed that Ned even writes the "diddly" part of his speech.
    • In the episode "E-I-E-I- (Annoyed Grunt)" there's a Southern colonel who adds "I say" into the middle of every other sentence, for example "Sir, I say Sir, it's time for our duel!" This is of course based on Foghorn Leghorn.
    • Don't, er, ah, forget Mayor, er, ah, Quimby. Whose accent and speech patterns were based on the late Senator Ted Kennedy.
    • Marge's disapproving "Hmmm..." and Homer's annoyed/despairing "Ohhhh...!" might count as well.
    • You Forgot Professor GLAYVEN-MAYVEN Frink? Oh, for Glayven out loud!
    • Then there's the security guard from "Marge Be Not Proud", uhuh, he has one of these, that's right. Capice?
  • Kevin French from Mission Hill has a tendency to say "bling, blong" whenever he's nervous or trying to concentrate on something.
  • The Director from Animaniacs. And all his wacky henchmen with the "HOY-yal!" and of course, "Freunleven!"
    • Of course, this is because The Director is a parody of Jerry Lewis.
    • Also, more noticeable, Yakko tends to stammer/draw out the word "I" when it begins a sentence to emphasize discomfort or, well, to just sound a little more sarcastic, leading to, "Yaaaaaaaaahhhhh I don't think so," or variations thereof. If the sentence doesn't start with "I" he'll just take on a long "Ahhhh" at the beginning.
    • Sort of lampshaded in the Macarena parody, "Macadamia Nut," which ends each verse with a different character's Verbal Tic.
  • Ducky, from The Land Before Time, ends most sentences with either "yep, yep, yep" or "nope, nope, nope."
  • Phil Ken Sebben from Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law punctuates every other phrase with a "Ha-HA!" followed by a double entendre or non sequitur .
  • In The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron, Sam ends pretty much every statement with "yeah." One time he even did it in song.
  • Motor Ed from Kim Possible seriously can't talk two sentences, seriously, without using the word seriously, seriously. Seriously, it's lampshaded every time when someone seriously mimics his seriously expression.
    • How do the villains find each other? In Drakken's and Motor Ed's case, they're related:

Kim: Seriously?
Drakken/Ed: Seriously.

Motor Ed: Seriously dude, are you Sirius? I mean, seriously.
The Joker: No, I am not. But I wonder, why so serious?
Motor Ed: Seriously! Aaaahhhh * air guitar solo*

  • The hick wolf from the Tex Avery cartoon Billy Boy repeated the last word of his sentences three times.
  • Butt-head of Beavis and Butthead begins many of his sentences with "Uhhh?", while Beavis laughs before he talks.
    • Both boys tend to laugh when they're not talking.
    • And David Van Driessen, like Mr. Mackey in South Park, ends sentences with "mkay".
  • A sentient galaxy in Futurama that may or may not be God has a habit of ending sentences with "my good chum."
    • Morbo the Newsmonster typically begins sentences with variations on "Pathetic humans" and ends them with variants of "I WILL DESTROY YOU!"
    • Richard Nixon's head peppers his speech with "Aroo".
    • SURELY YOU HAVE NOT FORGOTTEN ABOUT LRRR, RULER OF THE PLANET OMICRON PERSEI 8?!
    • Futurama also featureses Sal, who tends to ends randoms wordses with additional esses, evens if theys alreadys gots 'em.
    • The giant chicken prosecutor has a tendency to say "Ba-kaw!"
    • Hubert Farnsworth not only pronounces the H in "wh" words, but pronounces an H in words that don't have it. Since this hypercorrection is fairly consistent, it's not as readily noticeable as when Stewie does it.

Farnsworth: Whell, let's get started.

    • Zapp Brannigan has a habit of elongating the last syllable of a sentence. Billy West says he does this to imitate radio announcers who love the sound of their own voice.
  • Mr. DeMartino of Daria fame, who was even more high-strung than Principal McVicker on Beavis and Butthead, would EMphasize certain WORDS when chastising or complaining about anything or anyone, COMPLETE with his left eye bulging in a Nightmare Fuel fashion.
    • Don't forget Jake's angry "GAHHHH!", occasionally emphasized with a "DAMMIT!" There's even a song dedicated to it.
    • Sandi's disapproving "Gee," followed by uttering the name of whoever she's gee-ing at.
    • And, of course, Brittany's perky cheerleader squeak.
  • Whenever Donald Duck realizes something he'll shout "Quack!" as an exclamation, instead of humming or grumbling he'll quack instead, and when he's really mad he'll go into a series of furious quacks.
  • Ed from Ed, Edd 'n' Eddy sometimes randomly shouts "Buttered Toast!" or "Gravy!", once during an argument between the threesome all Ed was saying was "Buttered Toast!".
    • In the same show, there is of course Kevin's "dork!". In the beginning, he only said it to the Ed's faces, but after a while he would find it impossible to stand closer than twenty feet from an Ed without muttering "dork!" all the time.
    • Double D also had a habit of saying things three times, especially phrases like "Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear!" and "Messy, messy, messy..."
  • Snagglepuss has a number of verbal tics, catchphrases even, along the lines of "Heavens to Murgatroyd" or "Exit stage left," even.
  • Skeeter of Doug makes a honking noise occasionally. It's revealed in one episode that he doesn't even realize he's doing it.
  • Jacob Two Two earned his nickname because, as the youngest child in his big family, he's used to saying things twice. Twice!
    • Also, resident bully Quigley is known for inhaling sharply and suddenly for no apparent reason.
  • Toki and Skwissgar from Metalocalypse tends to pluralisings their words unnecessarily, and be havings a bad grasp of English grammars.
    • Dildos.
    • Pickles sports a number of Wisconsinisms, such as changing "th"s to "t"s, ex: He call Nathan "Natan".
    • Dr. Rockzo tends to start random words with "ka-ka-ka". As in "I need your ka-ka-ka help!" or "I do ka-ka-ka COCAINE!"
    • The band's manager, while worlds more eloquent than they will ever be, still can't seem to go a sentence without pausing at least once.
  • As mentioned...I say, as mentioned before, Foghorn Leghorn is prone to doing this...prone, that is (one short lampshades this with a sleeping Foghorn going "(snore), I say...(snore), that is...). This was borrowed from Senator Claghorn, a character on Fred Allen's hugely popular radio show. Foghorn predated the debut of Claghorn by a few months, but once Claghorn became popular, the Warner staff turned Foghorn into a very blatant Expy of Claghorn. And eclipsed him, eventually.
    • Also from Looney Tunes is Daffy Duck who, when irritated, ends almost every sentence with an aggressive "bub!", and Bugs Bunny who seems to believe everyone he talks to has a Doctorate...
  • In The Fairly OddParents, Mr. Crocker did this in at - FAIRY GODPARENTS!! - least once an episode.
    • Does Chet Ubetcha also count? You betcha (but not very often, though).
    • Don't forget Doug Dimmadome, who can't just say Doug Dimmadome without mentioning he is in fact the owner of the Dimmsdale Dimmadome.
  • Bobby's mother has been known to do this, don'cha know
  • Yo! Rocky Ratrock (from The Flintstones Kids) would like to have a word with you.
  • Any of Joe E. Ross's animated roles, where he does his trademark "Ooh, Ooh!" Fangface (and his human alter-ego Fangs) also did this, possibly as a tribute to him.
  • Like, wow. I'm surprised no one mentioned Shaggy. ZOINKS!.
  • In Codename: Kids Next Door, Numbuh 5's father (a parody of Bill Cosby) was like this, with the habit, and the frequency...oh, you know what I'm talkin' about.
  • In the Canadian series C.L.Y.D.E., does the head computer bug (colored red) sometimes fall into this? "Yes or no!?"
  • Strawberry Shortcake is berry famous for "berry talk", most frequently substituting the word "berry" for "very". In the 1980s animated specials, her nemesis the Purple Pieman is berry annoyed by this, to the point that she can use the tic as a threat. Of course, he can never resist a little scat-singing-and-dancing every time he introduces himself or someone else recognizes him. Also from the '80s specials is Angel Cake in "Pets on Parade": Begging your pardon, she's unfailingly polite to the point that she works the phrases "begging your pardon", "please", and/or "thank you" into her speeches at every opportunity, thank you please.
  • A lot of animated shows involving a vampire will have the lead vampire say "Bluh! Bluh!" either at the beginning or end of their sentences.
  • Word Girl villain the Whammer tends to replace random words in his sentences with the word "wham" or "whammer." So he often says things like "this is gonna be whammer" or "let's wham this thing" or "are you whamming to me?" He also ends pretty much every sentence with the phrase "yeah!"
  • Phineas and Ferb has Bob Webber, okay? *finger snap* "Okaaaay!"
    • Meap!
    • Khaka Peu Peu finishes practically every sentence with the phrase "Thank you very much," thank you very much.
  • Probably not the Ur Example, but still older than most or all other examples in this section are The Smurfs who like to replace random words in their sentences with "smurfing"
  • Oh Freaky Fred, never haughty, has a verbal tic that's quite...Nauuughty.
  • In Regular Show, Mordecai and Rigby repeat a "Hm! Hm! Hm!" tic, which seems to state agreement and/or amusement.
  • Dagget from The Angry Beavers tends to inject "Eh" into his sentences when confused or angry.

Dagget: Stupid EH! Stupid EH! Stupid EH!

    • Invader Zim, also voiced by Richard Horovitz, does the same thing.
  • Snap from ChalkZone often puts the word "bucko" into his sentences.
  • Vince from Recess, man.
  • Cow from Cow and Chicken, moooo!
  • In Hey Arnold!, Lila is ever so prone to insert the words "ever so" into her sentences ever so often.
    • Monkeyman has been known to, Monkeyman, use his, Monkeyman, name in his, Monkeyman, sentences.
  • The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack has Doctor Barber... Hmmm?... Yes?
  • Uncle from Jackie Chan Adventures whenever he was annoyed or agitated he would shout "Aieyaah!" and when notifying others he would say "Hacha!", in one episode Jade absorbs Uncle's chi to save her from the Chi Vampire and she starts using his tics.

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