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You Called Me "X" - It Must Be Serious: Difference between revisions
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* If she's his boss, he'll call her "Jefe," or "Boss" or "Mein Frau" or "Slave Driver" or any number of variations.
* If she's a relative, he'll call her "Sis" or "Goober" or "Pinhead".
* If Alice [[Do Not Call Me "Paul"|prefers to be called Cindy]], he'll call her Alice. Every time, and reveling in it when it makes her scream in aggravation.
Unless something serious has come up. Then he'll drop the nicknames and call her by the name she wants to be called by.
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* An impostor Bob could call Alice "Alice" in an instance where Alice knows for certain sure Bob would never do so, which would tip her off to the reality that ''[[Did Not Do the Research|that's not Bob]].''
Related to [[First Name Ultimatum]] and [[Full Name Ultimatum]]
[[Honorifics]] also merit mention seeing as anime characters in this situation will likely start using more affectionate terms for each other. One of the many complaints of western fandom is that important moments lose their impact because of the limitations of the English language in translation.
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And the inverse is true as well. Bob may call Alice "Alice" all the time, but refer to her by an old nickname he has normally avoided using to underscore a serious or intense situation.
Compare against [[My Name Is Not Durwood]], [[
{{examples}}
== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==
* A heartbreaking example in ''[[Puella Magi Madoka Magica]]'' episode 10, wherein Homura calls Madoka by her real name {{spoiler|in a previous timeline, right after Madoka asks her for a mercy kill. Her last words in that timeline are "You finally called me by my real name." Homura is unable to respond to this at all, and merely wails as she shoots Madoka's soul gem.}}
** Also invoked on other occasions. In the {{spoiler|current timeline}} Homura tells Madoka to address her by her first name, {{spoiler|as is fitting for best friends to do}}
** Up until Episode 8, Kyouko is too much of a [[Jerkass]] to call anyone by their name. {{spoiler|As she watches Sayaka turn into a witch, Kyouko yells out [[Say My Name|"SAYAKAAAAAAA!!"]], a sign of her [[Character Development]].}}
* On ''[[Maison Ikkoku]]'', Yusaku Godai and Kyoko Otonashi are always "Godai" and "Manager" to each other as part of their complicated romantic dance. When he calls her "Kyoko" to her face, it's important, and when she calls him "Yusaku," it's ''really'' important.
* In ''[[
* In ''[[Hellsing]]'', Alucard usually calls Seras Victoria "police girl". If he calls her by name, it's serious.
* In ''[[Pokémon Special]]'', Pearl usually calls his best friend 'Dia', but when serious calls him by his full name, Diamond.
* Riza Hawkeye from ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist (
* In ''[[Tokyo Mew Mew]]'', Masaya refers to Ichigo by her last name, in one episode however, when he is chasing her, he refers to her by her first, causing her to stop. In the "[[Macekre|dub]]", he just said her first name but louder.
* In ''[[Tsubasa Chronicles]]'', Kurogane and Fai normally don't use each other's names - the former uses variations of "mage" or "idiot", while the latter uses pet names such as "Kuro-puu", to Kurogane's unending annoyance. After the [[Cerebus Syndrome|Tokyo arc]], Fai finally starts calling him simply "Kurogane" all the time... to put distance between them, [[Be Careful What You Wish For|which Kurogane isn't all too happy about]]. By the end of the series, they've settled their issues and Fai seems to favor the slightly respectful but still affectionate "Kuro-sama". Also to a lesser extent between Sakura and Syaoran, who normally refer to each other "Syaoran-kun" and "Sakura-hime" with a couple notable exceptions. (Rather annoyingly, official published translations rarely pay attention to this.)
* Hestia in ''[[Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?]]'' is quite able to pronounce Ais Wallenstein's name correctly, but usually calls her "Wallen-whats-it" because Hestia is the jealous sort. [[Once a Season]], when things are serious, Hestia calls Ais by her full name.
== [[Comic Books]] ==
* Willie Garvin always calls [[Modesty Blaise (
* In ''[[Batman]]'', the Al-Ghul family has this with the Dark Knight. Ra's Al-Ghul refers to Batman as "Detective". If he ever uses anything else, it's a sign something's seriously wrong. Talia tends to refer to Batman as "Beloved", and likewise, it's serious, if she ever refers to him otherwise.
** When Ra's died and Talia took up the title of Ra's Al Ghul, she started calling him ''Detective''.
* In
* In ''[[Archie Comics Sonic the Hedgehog|Sonic the Hedgehog]]'', Robotnik calls [[The Starscream|Snively]] by his real name, Colin. This it what clues him in that his boss is suffering from a [[Villainous Breakdown]].
* When the [[Fantastic Four|Human Torch]] stays in the negative zone to hold off [[Bolivian Army Ending|the entire horde of Annihilus]], The Thing, who almost always treats him like a kid and uses the name Johnny (or matchstick), calls him John.
* ''[[Kingdom Come]]''. Bruce calls Superman "Clark", knowing it completely annoyed him, since Supes had fully rejected his humanity and only answered to "Kal". In the final scene, Superman once again re-adopts the name Clark, and ''prefers'' it, finally rejoining the rest of the world.
== [[
* Some authors use this in ''[[Mass Effect]]'' fanfiction. In the games, Commander Shepard is never referred to by a first name, since the player can chose it. Many authors will stick with this, because it seems out of character for others to refer to Shepard as anything but "Shepard." This can go as far as audience expectations; many readers will be thrown off if a character refers to Shepard by a first name, some even prefer that not even the narration uses it. Clever authors will invoke this trope using their Shepard's first name in the same way as a [[Precision F-Strike]], where otherwise sticking to the expectation but but having a single use of Shepard's first name will add a tremendous amount of weight to a scene.
* This is used a lot in ''[[
* In ''[[Weekend
== [[Film]] ==
* ''[[Indiana Jones and
* ''[[Star Trek III:
* In ''[[Chicago]]'', Amos is shocked when Billy Flynn refers to him by his actual name at the trial, rather than the Andy or Alan or whatever from all their previous meetings. This helps Flynn get exactly the testimony he needs.
* ''[[Men in Black (
{{quote|
** Better still, the ''whole room'' looks.
* In ''[[Coraline (
* Variation, from ''Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels": "What are we going to do, Rory?" "Mister Breaker. Today, my name is MISTER BREAKER."
* All through [[John Carpenter]]'s Vampires, the priest calls Jack "Mr. Crow." So when he says "Jack, you need to see this," as he's staring at a closed circuit television, you ''know'' something bad's about to happen. For the record, he calls him "Jack" from that point on in the movie as well.
* In [[The American President]], the president tells A.J., his Chief of Staff, to call him Andy in private, but he never does until one of the very last scenes. The president asks, hypothetically, if they would have been elected if his wife hadn't died.
{{quote|
* In [[The Flintstones]] movie, Barney tries to get BamBam to call him "Dada" all through the movie. He finally does during a death-defying rescue... which overjoys Barney so much that he doesn't notice the beam about to hit him in the head.
* In the American remake of [[The Ring|The Ring 2]], Rachel's son Aidan insists on calling his mother by her first name. So when {{spoiler|Samara [[Demonic Possession|takes over Aidan's body]] and subsequently [[Something They Would Never Say|starts calling her "mom",]]}} she realizes something's up.
** At the end, Aidan calls her "mom" again. She tells him to call her Rachel.
== [[Literature]] ==
* ''[[
** [[Chekhov's Gun|Comes back later]] when Butler {{spoiler|is watching Artemis' tape made to help them recover their memories after their Mind Wipe. Artemis saying "your name is Domovoi" is what triggers Butler's memories to come rushing back to him.}}
** Root has been known to comment that Holly calls him Julius only when she's about to do something he really won't like.
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** The demon Algaliarept calls people by the names he has been given in exchange for demonic favors. Unless he has them in his thrall, at which point he uses diminutives. And conversely, Rachel's people tend to refer to him by the nickname Big Al due to [[Speak of the Devil]], and only use his proper name when they have to deal with him directly...which is always serious.
** Rachel's brother Robbie hates to be called "Bert", so Rachel does it when she needs to drive a point home to him.
* In ''Turn Coat'', the 11th of [[
** ''Blood Rites'' does a different variation on the trope: Murphy is well acquainted with Harry's usual irreverence in the face of authority, so when she hears him address his mentor Ebenezar McCoy as "sir," she [[Drop What You Are Doing|drops everything she's holding]] in shock.
* In ''[[Harry Potter (
** A minor example crops up in ''Half-blood Prince'', when Harry and Hagrid, usually good friends, refer to each other as 'Potter' and 'Professor' in conversation to indicate that they're annoyed with each other.
* Maya Angelou in ''I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings'' recalls a conversation with her mother when she was afraid she was turning into a lesbian. She fears the worst when her mother calls her "Marguerite" instead of one of her many nicknames. When her mother calls her "Ritie", she knows it's nothing serious.
* In Linnea Sinclair's ''Games of Command'', Admiral Kel-Paten only calls his flag ship captain by her surname, Sebastian, as is professional. But when she suddenly falls ill, he addresses her as Tasha, revealing that his feelings for her are less than professional. After her condition has stabilized, he reverts to calling her Sebastian.
* In the ''[[Fever Series]]'' by Karen Marie Moning, Jericho only refers to Mac by her first name when she's been brutalized or badly
* In ''[[Black London]]'' once learning Pete's full name, Jack uses it to prove he's being sincere rather than wily and dodgy.
* Mother considers [[Matthew Reilly|the Scarecrow]] far too badass to be called 'Shane', until {{spoiler|he's [[Heroic BSOD|about to commit suicide]]}}.
* In ''[[The Bartimaeus Trilogy]],'' magicians never use their birth names, because [[I Know Your True Name|those have magical power over them]]. The djinni Bartimaeus thus ''always'' calls Nathaniel by his real name, until the end of the second book when he finally calls him by his pseudonym. Bartimaeus says it's because he's just like all the other magicians now. Nathaniel takes it as a compliment. [[Comically Missing the Point|It wasn't suppose to be]].
* In ''[[Hawksong]]'' by [[Amelia Atwater Rhodes]], Danica is walking with her bodyguard, Andreios. As the Avians (Danica included) are very stiff and formal, she knows that Andreios is very serious when he calls her "Dani" in public. In turn, she uses Andreios' full name, instead of his nickname "Rei" to let him know that ''she's'' serious.
* In the [[Amelia Peabody]] mysteries, Amelia and her husband scrap all the time, but she knows he's really angry at her when he calls her "Amelia" rather than the usual "Peabody."
* Mr. D (Dionysus) never calls [[Percy Jackson]] by his real name, usually "forgetting" it and saying something like "Peter Johnson" instead. Except for once, at the end of the last book, after Percy manages to save all of the gods and the entire world. When called out on it, he immediately pretends to have done nothing of the kind, but it's obvious that he really is proud of Percy.
* Used in ''[[A Song of Ice and Fire]]'' with Jaime and Brienne; from their first meeting on, they snipe at each other constantly, and the only terms of address used are "Kingslayer" and "wench". When Jaime wants to convince Brienne that following the Kingsroad is a really bad idea, he finally calls her by name.
== [[Live Action TV]] ==
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** New series, the Doctor has occasionally called companion Amy by her real first name, Amelia, when she's about to do something silly.
*** This is a holdover from the first time they met. Amelia was seven and introduced herself to the Doctor with her full name. About an hour later, she was 19 and preferred to be called Amy. He preferred Amelia, although most of the time he just calls her "Pond."
** "[[Doctor Who
* In the ''[[CSI]]'' episode "Grave Danger", it took Grissom calling Nick by his family nickname (Pancho) to break Nick out of his panic.
* In every ''[[Star Trek]]'' series ever, calling someone by their first name instead of their rank or last name indicates something very serious is going on.
** This goes all the way back to ''[[Star Trek:
{{quote|
'''Kirk:''' I intend to get a lot closer. I'm gonna ram her right down that thing's throat.
'''Spock:''' Jim, you'll be killed. Just like {{spoiler|Decker}}. }}
*** Or his giddy shout at the end of ''Amok Time'', showing his relief that he hasn't... that is, that [[Blatant Lies|Starfleet has not lost a fine captain.]]
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** See Tom Paris and B'elanna Torres' [[Now or Never Kiss|now or never almost kiss]] for another example.
* In ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'', Buffy always calls Spike by that name, until she breaks up with him "for real" and calls him William.
* Sort of inverted on ''[[Joan of Arcadia]]''
** This is also how Joan usually identifies the random strangers who are God speaking to
* At the end of season 3 of ''[[Lost]]'', Sawyer's in a funk after finally killing Cooper. Sawyer repeatedly addresses Kate by her name instead of "Freckles" or another nickname when she confronts him about what's wrong:
{{quote|
** It's a sign that things are getting really serious when almost ''everyone'' begins referring to Sawyer and Hurley by their given names (James and Hugo, respectively) instead of their nicknames.
* Aside from his wife the First Lady, only five people in seven seasons of [[The West Wing]] ever called President Bartlet "Jed" to his
{{quote|
* On ''[[Burn Notice]]'', Sam has called Michael by his first name (as opposed to "Mike" or "Mikey") exactly once, when he found confirmation that a crazy conspiracy theorist who'd been trying to enlist their help was right about a plot to kill several American spies.
** Sam combines this with [[Something They Would Never Say]] in the season two finale. He's been tasked with getting Michael's mother, Madeline, out of town to keep her safe from the bad guys, but she refuses to run. She jokes around with Sam, offering him a beer - something Sam would never turn down. He slams his hand on the counter and says "I don't want a beer, Madeline!"; refusing the beer and his calling her Madeline (instead of "Maddie") tells her he's dead serious.
* On ''[[The X-Files]]'', the only time we ever really hear Mulder called Scully "Dana" is when things get deadly serious and extremely dangerous. The favor isn't really returned, since [[Embarrassing First Name|Mulder doesn't like his first name]].
* Either used or inverted in ''[[Battlestar Galactica
* ''[[Eureka]]'': Sheriff Jack Carter and several friends become trapped inside his house by its sentient AI. When his deputy Jo Lupo shows up to check on him, Carter wants to let her know what's going on, but, of course, the house is listening. So he tells Lupo that everything is fine, but addresses her as Josefina (which no one ever does) as a way to alert her that something isn't right.
* On ''[[Law and
* Similarly, when ''[[Law and Order Special Victims Unit]]'' Detectives Benson and Stabler stop the "El" and "Liv" and use "Elliot" and "Olivia", it's a bad sign.
* ''[[Starsky and Hutch (TV series)|Starsky and Hutch]]'': Captain Dobey calls Starsky "Dave" when he's been poisoned and has less than 24 hours to live. Starsky and Hutch crack jokes about the lengths required to get a first name out of him.
* [[Inspector Lynley]] universally called his colleague and partner Barbara Havers by her last name - until Havers {{spoiler|was shot in the line of duty}}, at which point Lynley [[Berserk Button|went quite berserk]] and could only say desperately, "Barbara? ''Barbara???''"
* In ''[[
{{quote|
** Used jarringly in recent episodes, though not between Morgan and Garcia. Reid, upset that {{spoiler|JJ didn't tell him that Emily's death was faked, even though he spent over two months in a deep depression and crying at her house}}, calls JJ by her first name of "Jennifer". Given that ''everyone'' calls her JJ, it was quite unusual to hear, especially out of Reid, who has always had a close relationship with JJ.
** In the season one episode "Riding the Lightning", Hotch and JJ interview a guy on death row.
{{quote|
'''Suspect:''' Well... hello, JJ.
'''JJ:''' ''You'' are not my friend. ''You'' can call me Jennifer. }}
* Played with in the ''JAG'' episode "Full Engagement." Harm always calls Sarah MacKenzie by her nickname "Mac." During an emergency landing in Harm's Stearman, Harm mutters, "Come on, Sarah." Mac later says she knew the situation was serious because Harm called her Sarah. Harm explains that Sarah is his plane's name; he named it after his grandmother.
* In ''[[Ashes to Ashes]]'' Ray almost never refers to [[Fair Cop|Alex]] by name, and then only as [[Last-Name Basis|Drake]], but when they all get a bit of [[Character Development]] in series three and he begins to respect her skills despite her gender he refers to her as [[Crowning Moment of Heartwarming|"ma'am"]]. Also in a similar vein, when Gene's in a good mood he calls her Bolly, Bollykegs, Bolly-knickers, Bolls or Mrs-lady-woman over there, when he's angry he calls her Drake and when it's serious, Alex.
* [[Inverted Trope|Inverted]] in ''[[Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide]]'', [[Only Known
* In the ''[[Sherlock Holmes]]'' stories, Holmes and Watson only refer to each other by last name unless the situation is deadly serious. (In the Granada TV Series, this happens in "The Devil's Foot" when Holmes is under the influence of a psychotropic drug, and Watson is trying desperately to snap him out of it.)
** Subverted in the new series of [[Sherlock]], which has a modern setting, in that they call each other 'John' and 'Sherlock'.
* When [[Stargate SG
* [[Person of Interest|Finch and Reese]] are usually very formal and only call each other by their last names unless they're really worried the other is in a really bad situation or are really serious about something they're going to say (though occsionally Reese uses Finch's first name when he wants to be especially irritating to his very formal and very private boss).
* ''[[El Chavo
== [[Professional Wrestling]] ==
* Any time a wrestler is called by his real first name (e.g. Mark for [[The Undertaker]] not [[Mark Henry| Henry]] , Paul for either [[Triple H]] or [[The Big Show]] and not Heyman, or Phil for [[CM Punk]] and so on), you know things just got serious. Especially in real life, since wrestlers usually call each other by their ring names outside the ring.
** And when it's done blatantly on-air to the point of Lampshading, one can usually count on an audience reaction somewhere between maniacal cheering and awed silence. Or both at the same time, from different sections.
{{quote|
* During their feud, [[Jeff Hardy]] called Edge and Lita, '''Adam''' and '''Amy''' respectfully due to [[Real Life Writes the Plot| the love triangle]] among them outside of the ring.
== [[Video Game]] ==
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* It's pretty subtle, but Jay of ''[[Jays Journey|Jay's Journey]]'' only calls Antignarot by his proper name in a few of the more serious scenes (oddly, never in Antignarot's presence.) As Atolla mechanically corrects Jay's mispronunciations of Antignarot [[Running Gag|all throughout the game]], he even starts to correct one of these correct usages.
* In ''[[Ace Attorney|Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney]]'', Klavier usually calls Apollo "Herr Forehead". When he calls him "Apollo Justice", it's serious.
{{quote|
** And in ''[[Ace Attorney|Trials and Tribulations]]'', Godot calls Phoenix Wright, "Trite," because he blames him for Mia's death. He only calls Phoenix by his real name at the end of the last case in the game after {{spoiler|he successfully proved that Godot was the real killer, and proved his worthiness as Mia's successor.}}
* Danette from ''[[Soul Nomad and The World Eaters]]'' has a problem with remembering names, which gets really annoying for Gig whom she frequently refers to as "Hey you in there". Until the end of the game {{spoiler|Gig [[Heroic Sacrifice|uses up all of his powers to defeat the final boss]] and appears to have died. She first tries to call for him as "You in there" before screaming "Giiig!" Ironically in one of the endings she still calls him "You in there" even when he's no longer possessing the main character.}}
* Being the stubborn teenager that [[.hack GU|Haseo]] is, he never calls Pi by her name, instead preferring [[Oba
* In [[Dragon Age II]], Varric, who tends to refer to most people except for Hawke, Isabella and [[I Call It Vera|his crossbow Bianca]] by pet names, starts to call Fenris "Elf", then says his actual name when {{spoiler|trying to convince him not to kill his sister}}.
== [[Web Comics]] ==
* In ''[[
** Played [[Tear Jerker|another way]] in the prequel, "Start Of Darkness": {{spoiler|Redcloak and his brother, Right-Eye, have a conversation where they promise to call each other "big brother" and "little brother" instead of the names they've adopted for Xykon's convenience. At the end of the book, after Redcloak has mortally wounded Right-Eye, their last words to each other are "Goodbye, little brother." "Goodbye...''Redcloak''."}}
** Another instance, when Belkar decides being left behind is an elaborate prank:
{{quote|
* ''[[Scary Go Round]]'': [http://scarygoround.com/?date=20090901 "Oh, Eustace"]
* ''[[
== Web Original ==
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* In the 1985 ''[[Pound Puppies]]'' TV special, Cooler spends the entire time calling Violet 'Sam,' until she's in the path of an out-of-control car. Her reaction to him calling her by name to warn her: "Cooler, you called me Violet!"
* In the ''[[Magic School Bus]]'' episode about weather, when everyone buys into the idea that Ralphie is the superhero Weatherman except [[Only Sane Man|Keisha]]. At the end, when Ralphie has been disillusioned by his inability to stop the thunderstorm he made, but they need his knowledge to get out of it, Keisha urges him, "Come on, Weatherman, think!"
* In ''[[Hey Arnold!]]!'', Arnold's grandfather used to call him "
** Likewise, Helga had a number of rude epithets for him, including "Football Head", but in private, she could indulge her romantic feelings for him and only then did she call him Arnold.
* In ''[[Justice League Unlimited]]'', Shayera abandons her Hawkgirl moniker after her part in the Thanagarian invasion. For the most part, that's respected. But when the Hawkgirl name comes up again, it is ''always'' for serious reasons:
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** A woman with very little English used the Hawkgirl name to thank Shayera for saving her and her child. This was especially poignant because the rest of the crowd in which she stood was berating Shayera for her part in the Thanagarian invasion.
* On ''[[The Secret Saturdays]]'', Van Rook's first name is used when circumstances become dire for him. {{spoiler|Like moments before he dies after a [[Heroic Sacrifice]] }}
* In ''[[Codename: Kids Next Door]]'', when one operative refers to another operative by name instead of number, it means either A. They're particularly close or B. Something serious is happening or about to happen.
* Episode 11 of ''[[Scooby Doo Mystery Inc]]'' had a pissed-off Velma call Shaggy, who chose Scooby over her, Norville to express her hostile reaction to losing out to a dog.
* MIB - Kay calls Jay "Jay" - compared to how he's ranked Jay from Tiger (competent streak) to Slick (regular) to Sparky (did something REALLY stupid) - when Jay gets REALLY intuitive against heat-loving (to the point of psychopathy) aliens. Too bad Jay's not good enough (at golf) to hold it.
* [[Dastardly and Muttley
* ''[[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles]]'': Splinter usually calls his students/adopted sons by their full names. In a tie-in book for the [[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 1987
* Lois attempts to invoke this in one episode of [[Family Guy]], when {{spoiler|Diane Simmons is pointing a gun at her back, and}} she refers to Peter as 'Pete' in the hope that he'll suspect from her out-of-character behavior that something is amiss. Peter notices, but [[Subverted Trope|doesn't think anything of it.]]
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