What Did You Expect When You Named It?: Difference between revisions
What Did You Expect When You Named It? (view source)
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{{trope}}
{{quote|"You know, when you name your son 'Jeeves', you've pretty much set up his life's path for him. What is he going to become... a hitman? 'Pardon me sir, but I'm afraid I must whack you.'"
|'''[[Seinfeld|Jerry Seinfeld]]'''}}
Some names, frequently taken from historical events, seem to be jinxed. No one wants to ride on a ship (or a [[Space Sailing]][[Starship Titanic|ship]]) named "Titanic" or "Hindenburg". Similarly, [[Icarus Allusion|anything named "Icarus" is begging for a wing-clipping]], and [[The Bible|the Goliath is going down hard, probably to a smaller opponent]] (bonus points if said [[David Versus Goliath|smaller opponent is named David.]]) Likewise, don't compare your defenses to the walls of Jericho - that'll just make 'em go splat like an ant beneath an elephant's foot (with said ant being you, and said elephant's foot being the wrath of [[God]].) It's probably not a good idea to name your vehicle the [[Doomy Dooms of Doom|Doom Buggy]], either, especially if you plan on driving your friends around in it. And if you're assigned to name a computer, let alone a supercomputer, [[Terminator (franchise)|"Skynet"]] is strictly off limits; after all, what good is a computer if all it wants to do is [[Take Over the World]]?
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* Most of the ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion]]'' cast are named after sunken [[World War II]] battleships (poor Asuka gets the dubious distinction of having ''both'' of her last names be associated with a terrible fate); is it any surprise that the place is a [[Dysfunction Junction]]?
== [[
* Ozymandias in ''[[Watchmen (comics)|Watchmen]]''. Apparently he wanted to reclaim the name from the elegant ignominy to which Shelley's poem had consigned it.
** Also, there's the [[Gordian Knot]] Lock Company.
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* To the humans in ''[[Avatar (film)|Avatar]]'' - you named the new moon [[Classical Mythology|Pandora]]? Really? I don't care if it means "All-Gifted," there's a reason you don't try to open things named after or belonging to Pandora!
** This is probably more a case of the creator invoking [[Meaningful Name]], which seems to be a theme of the movie. For crying out loud, they're going after a precious mineral literally called [[Unobtanium]]!
* [[The Asylum]] [[The Mockbuster|movie]] ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20131113011102/http://www.thefilmcatalogue.com/catalog/FilmDetail.php?id=9424 Titanic 2]'' features a shipping magnate not only building a second ''Titanic'' [[Tempting Fate|but also setting its maiden voyage in the 100th anniversary of the original disaster and having it traverse]] ''[[Tempting Fate|the exact same route of the original]]'' (though in the opposite direction). Somehow, things go even ''worse'' than in the original voyage: the ship is slammed by an iceberg ''carried by a tsunami'' and later is hit by a ''second'' "mega tsunami". It ends with the female lead as the sole survivor. And this is played ''100% straight''.
* In ''[[Cherrybomb]]'', the health centre where Malachy works is called "Titanic Leisureplex". And people are ''[[Genre Blindness|surprised]]'' when bad things start happening there.
* In the ''[[James Bond (film)|James Bond]]'' film ''[[Die Another Day]]'', the villain's superweapon is named "Icarus". At the end of the movie, the villain loses control of the weapon and accidentally burns the wings off his own plane, causing a spectacular crash.
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{{quote|'''Kif Kroker''': But that leads us straight through a comet field!
'''Zapp Brannigan''': Ah, yes. Comets, the icebergs of the sky. }}
* An episode of ''[[DuckTales (1987)]]'' went for the Double Dog-Dare with an airship named the ''Hindentanic''.
* In one episode of ''[[Family Guy]]'', Peter jumps up shouting "Quick, to the ''Petercopter!'', and immediately crashes a helicopter with his face on the front lawn of his neighbor Joe. A few scenes later, the situation repeats itself with Peter shouting "Quick, to the ''Hindenpeter''!" and all we get to see is a zeppelin with Peter's face [[Scream Discretion Shot|passing by through the window]] with exactly the results you would expect.
{{quote|''"Joe, I am '''sooo''' sorry!"''}}
* ''[[Rick and Morty]]'' had a bizarre version of this in one episode, where Beth and Jerry go to a party on a replica of ''The Titanic'', the theme being a reenactment of the voyage. As in, the ship is ''supposed'' to sink. Given Jerry's luck, it fails to do so. [[Attempted Rape| Although that is the least of Jerry's problems here.]]
* Notably averted in The '70s Sunday-Morning cartoon ''[[Davey and Goliath]]''. Goliath was Davey's [[Talking Animal|talking dog]] and was harmless. Of course, calling them "Samson and Delilah" would probably have worked too, because the two characters here didn't resemble the Biblical ones in the slightest.
== [[Real Life]] ==
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** Cerberus would acquire infamy for acquiring several firearm companies in 2006-2008, then proceeding to gut all quality control (new products literally shipped with heavy rust), crashing market share. As a result of Cerberus none of the companies will ever escape the land of the dead.
* One would expect a Delilah's Barber Shop to be jinxed, after the [[Traumatic Haircut]] she gave to Samson in [[The Bible]], much like one couldn't open a Ford Theatre without invoking the ghost of Abe Lincoln... but businesses with this name (or a variant) exist.
* The first USS Roanoke disappeared (under the water) immediately upon its launch. Unexpectedly, at least five, less cursed, ships were subsequently given that name.
{{reflist}}
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