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You Can Talk: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
[[File:
{{quote|'''Leela''': ''Nibbler you... You can talk?''
'''Nibbler''': ''I can do more than talk. I can pontificate.''
|'''''[[Futurama]]'''''}}
The character stumbles upon a seemingly normal animal/inanimate object. Turning away from it they hear a voice addressing them. Confused, they look around to see no one but the animal/object. When they finally realize it was the animal/object that spoke they freak out and exclaim their disbelief whilst [[Captain Obvious|stating the obvious]].
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Which is then usually replied with [[You Never Asked]].
{{examples}}
== Anime and Manga ==
* ''[[Bleach]]'': Uryu is asking Orihime who their master will be. Orihime says that the master was standing there the whole time. Yoruichi speaks up to tell Uryu that it is "he" who will be training them. Uryu predictably freaks out at the notion of a talking cat. After regaining his composure over the issue, Uryu calmly states he can't believe that there is such a thing as a talking cat. {{spoiler|Later, when Yoruichi [[The Reveal|reveals her true, human form to Ichigo]], she plays with this trope by telling him it was silly of him to believe that a cat could talk.}}
* In ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS
* This happens between [[Big Bad|Captain Shiki]] and Dr. Indigo in the ''[[One Piece]]'' movie ''[[One Piece Strong World|Strong World]]''. Dr. Indigo tries to explain something to Shiki through charades or mime or something. When Shiki doesn't get it, Indigo just comes out and says it, and Shiki gives the reaction with much surprise. This happens more than once.
* ''[[Mameshiba]]''{{context}}
== Comics ==▼
== Comic Books ==
* In [[Alan Moore]]'s ''Skizz'' from ''[[2000 AD]]'', the characters contrive a plan to break Skizz (an extra-terrestrial who crash-landed and stranded himself on Earth) out of an RAF airbase in Birmingham, not knowing that he has been taught English by his captors. When Loz discovers this, he has the following to say,
{{quote|'''Loz:''' You can ''talk''! Well I'll be! We've had our budgie for seven years and all it can do is ''whistle''.}}
* Happens in ''[[Buck Godot: Zap Gun for Hire]]''. Buck manages "Was that... did you..." and then gives up and just looks thoroughly bemused.
** Earlier in the series, the second appearance of [[Space Pirate|the Pistol Packin' Polaris Packrat]]<ref>[[
* In one printed ''[[Garfield]]'' story, Garfield and the other animals sense a huge storm approaching that will destroy the town. Garfield convinces the other animals that they need to warn their human families about this and that this is reason enough to reveal that they can talk. Jon and the other pet owners all react this way when their pets suddenly start talking to them, which nearly distracts them from the huge storm their pets are trying to warn them about in the first place.
* Kicked off a week-long [[Out-of-Genre Experience]] ([[All Just a Dream|turned out to be a nightmare the father was having]]) in ''[[Marvin]]'':▼
{{quote|'''[[No Name Given|Father]]:''' Can you say "dada"? Come on, Marvin! Say "dada"!<br />▼
'''[[Enfant Terrible|Marvin]]:''' ''(in [[Thought Bubble]])'' Oh, very well...<br />▼
'''Marvin:''' ''(out loud)'' [[Hurricane of Euphemisms|Dada, papa, daddy, father, pops, pater, and my old man.]]<br />▼
'''Father:''' Wh-wh-wha-y-y-y-you can '''talk'''?!?<br />▼
'''Marvin:''' [[Deadpan Snarker|And better than you, apparently.]] }}▼
* [[Played for Laughs]] (well, as a joke, anyway) in ''[[Transmetropolitan]]'': for Spider Jerusalem's first interview with presidential nominee Gary [[Stepford Smiler|"The Smiler"]] Callahan, it's his [[Yes-Man|sycophantic campaign manager]] who actually answers most of the questions, while Callahan just sits there, immobile... ''[[Meaningful Name|smiling]]''. When Spider finally gets fed up and forces the issue, there's a long silence before Callahan extends his hand and re-introduces himself, prompting a reaction of mock horror.
* At the beginning of [[Grant Morrison]]'s ''[[Doom Patrol]]'' run, Larry Trainor's Negative Spirit suddenly begins speaking after twenty-plus years. When queried on this, he responds that he "had nothing to say." Things quickly get [[Sharing a Body|weirder]] from there...
* [[H.P. Lovecraft]] is quite, er, surprised to discover that [[Atomic Robo]] (whom he has mistaken for an armored pygmy) can speak.
{{quote|'''Lovecraft:''' ''Ah!'' Look, it's attempting to ''communicate.'' No doubt the savage thing knows the language like a housepet knows its reflection in the mirror. The sense is taken in, but the process, the ''meaning'', is lost forever.
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'''Robo:''' Uh-''huh.''
'''Lovecraft:''' Oh, back to its native grunts. I say, the poor beast is ''devolving'' before our eyes, Charles. }}
== Fan Works ==
* In [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38ryh-nmnuE this] ''[[Axis Powers Hetalia]]'' doujin, Germany is transformed into a cat by England. Italy is out of the room at the time, so when he returns and sees a cat in Germany's place, he goes over to it and cuddles it. When Germany-cat starts talking, this is Italy's reaction. (Warning: Slightly NSFW)
{{quote|'''Italy:''' Oh, there's a kitty! *picks up Germany-cat* Hi there!
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'''Italy:''' IT TALKS?! }}
* This is [[Ace Attorney|Phoenix's]] inmediate reaction in ''[[Turnabout Storm]]'' after seeing the source of the voice he was hearing after waking up from unconciousness and finding out he's not in his office anymore.
{{quote|'''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic|Twilight Sparkle]]:''' Hey! You're a human are you?
'''Phoenix Wright:''' Yeah, I'm a human... *beat* ''WAIT, '''[[Big "What?"|WHAT!?]]'''''
'''Twilight Sparkle:''' A human in Equestria, that's amazing!
'''Phoenix Wright:''' '''Y-Y-YOU'RE A TALKING HORSE!''' }}
* It's a [[Running Gag]] in ''[[Shadowjack Watches Sailor Moon]]'': "TALKING CAT! TALKING CAT!" (Even {{spoiler|''Luna'' (one of the talking cats)}} does it.)
** Averted with {{spoiler|Hotaru}}:
{{quote|{{spoiler|'''Hotaru'''}}: Oh my gosh, a talking cat! So cute! May I pet you?
'''Luna:''' …I LOVE YOU, {{spoiler|HOTARU}}. }}
* [[Played for Laughs]] in ''[[Sailor Moon Abridged]]:''▼
{{quote|'''Serena:''' "You can read?"▼
'''Luna:''' "Serena, if I can talk of course I can read."▼
'''Serena:''' "...You can talk?" }}▼
== Film ==
* ''[[Tom and Jerry]]'' [[The Movie]]: The eponymous cat and mouse do this to each other once they both reveal they can talk.
* ''[[The Cat in the Hat]]'' Movie: The kids do this when they discover their fish is talking.
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'''Archimedes:''' And certainly a great deal better than you do! }}
* In ''[[Tarzan (Disney film)|Tarzan]]'', Jane says this after Tarzan repeats her line "Very nice", the first words he says [[Animal Talk|in human]].
* In ''[[Toy Story (franchise)|Toy Story]]'', discovering that Woody can talk causes Sid to freak out.
{{quote|'''Woody''': [[Punctuated! For! Emphasis!|So...]][[Crowning Moment of Awesome|play...]][[Crowning Moment of Funny|NICE!]]}}
* Subverted in Disney's ''[[The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe]]'', when Mr. Beaver first speaks. Peter, Susan, and Emund are shocked to hear an animal speak, while Lucy simply giggles.
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* ''[[The Cat from Outer Space]]'', when Jake (the cat) first reveals his telepathy:
{{quote|'''Frank''': You? That's you?
'''Jake''': [[Deadpan Snarker|Well, it isn't the mouse.]]
'''Frank''': But your lips aren't moving! You're not... speaking.
'''Jake''': Thought transference. Nothing exceptional where I come from. }}
== Jokes ==
* There was a joke about a kid that refuses to say a first word, then asks for the salt at the table one day. When the parents are surprised he comments that it is the first time the table wasn't set properly and so there was no need to say anything.
** A variant of that joke has the son of university professors who is seemingly retarded, the parents start spelling out things like "intellectually inferior" because they don't want him to know what they're saying, and he says "You left out an 'l'". This may be [[Truth in Television]].
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{{quote|A man is riding his horse down a road when he meets a rabbit. The rabbit tells him, "Good morning!" and bounds away. The man says to himself, "I didn't know rabbits could talk." "Neither did I," says the horse.}}
* A man knocks on the door of a farmhouse. He tells the farmer "Listen, I was driving past your farm when my car broke down. I got out to fix it and I heard a voice say 'It's the carburetor!' I turned, and all I saw was this brown horse." The farmer says "Well, don't you listen to him! He don't know nothin' 'bout cars!"
== Literature ==
* ''[[Inheritance Cycle|Eragon]]''
* [[Terry Pratchett]] loves playing with this one.
** In ''[[
{{quote|'''Gaspode:''' I expect you're wondering how come I can talk?
'''Victor:''' Hadn't given it a thought. }}
** Malicia's reaction to the talking rats in ''[[
** In ''[[
** It's kind of a joke in ''[[Discworld]]'' that people always have this reaction to Gaspode, despite living in a setting where such a thing is hardly implausible.
*** It's explained in the books that adults have ideas about what "must" be real and what must not be, so their minds edit out a lot of what comes through their senses.
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{{quote|'''Om:''' How many talking tortoises have you met?
'''Brutha:''' Well, they might all talk. They just might not say anything when I'm there. }}
** Subverted in ''[[
* ''[[Land of Oz|Oz]]'' series:
** When Dorothy meets the Scarecrow in ''[[The Wonderful Wizard of Oz]]'', she has this reaction.
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'''Lea''': "Because you don't know how to listen." }}
▲== Live Action Television ==
* ''The [[Benny Hill]] Show'': in a parody of ''[[The Six Million Dollar Man]]'' and ''[[The Bionic Woman]]'', Steve Austin and Jamie Summers have a baby. They're worried about him not talking yet even though he's [six?] years old. He takes a suck from his bottle, and spits it out.
{{quote|'''Baby''': This is terrible!
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== Music ==
* In his take on ''[[Peter and The Wolf]]'', [["Weird Al" Yankovic]] has Peter go "Wow! A talking bird!" when the bird appears.
* [[Frank Zappa]]'s "Stink-Foot" has this, with a dog and his owner having a short philosophical conversation before the owner exclaims, "You can't say that." Mind you, the owner and the dog had already been talking for a short while before this.
== Newspaper
▲* Kicked off a week-long [[Out-of-Genre Experience]] ([[All Just a Dream|turned out to be a nightmare the father was having]]) in ''[[Marvin (comic strip)|Marvin]]'':
▲'''Marvin:''' ''(out loud)'' [[Hurricane of Euphemisms|Dada, papa, daddy, father, pops, pater, and my old man.]]
▲'''Marvin:''' [[Deadpan Snarker|And better than you, apparently.]] }}
== Theatre ==
* In ''[[Arsenic and Old Lace]]'', Mortimer initially mistakes his long-missing and heavily surgically-altered brother for a particularly grotesque statue, so one can imagine his shock when it addresses him by name.
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** [[Goldfish Poop Gang|Thinbeard's dragon Azareth]] surprises the main cast when he speaks, as well; he'd gone almost the entire game without uttering a syllable.
▲* [[Order of the Stick|Vaarsuvius' familiar?]]
** Played with, somewhat. Vaarsuvius knew that Blackwing could speak Common, but thought that Blackwing wouldn't because it was demeaning. Turns out, that was only partly true. Blackwing considered speaking in Common ''to Vaarsuvius'' [[Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness|to be demeaning.]]
* In ''[[The Adventures of Dr. McNinja]]'' he says this to {{spoiler|Yoshi}}. According to the alt text he responds with, "[[That Reminds Me of a Song|And I can SING!"]].
▲* [[Played for Laughs]] in ''[[Sailor Moon Abridged]]:''
▲{{quote|'''Serena:''' "You can read?"
▲'''Luna:''' "Serena, if I can talk of course I can read."
▲'''Serena:''' "...You can talk?" }}
== Western Animation ==
* These are Elisa's first words to Goliath in ''[[Gargoyles]]'' after she falls off the Eyrie Building. Once talking's been established, she corrects herself mid-sentence.
{{quote|Elisa: You can talk?
* In ''[[Young Justice (animation)|Young Justice]]'' (another Weisman production), when Aqualad, Robin, and Kid Flash discover and free Superboy, Kid Flash blurts out "He can talk?", to Superboy . . . who doesn't take it so smoothly.
** Series Creator Greg Weisman likes to reference his work from time to time, as it's even reiterated in the non-canonical ''[[The Spectacular Spider-Man]]''/Gargoyles crossover, this time the ol' Webhead throws the jab at Goliath, and takes offence at his reading habits. [[Hilarity Ensues]].
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* On an episode of [[He-Man and the Masters of the Universe]], Prince Adam introduced a young boy to Cringer, who of course ran and hid. The boy said "Hi, kitty-cat!" Cringer responded with "I'm not a Kitty! My name's Cringer and you scared me!" The boy says "Wow! You can talk!" Cringer says "Doesn't everybody?"
* In the original [[My Little Pony]] cartoon, when Firefly asks Megan (who is used to real horses) for help, the first thing out of her mouth is "Talking pony!"
* ''[[The Simpsons]]'', as mentioned above, when Troy McClure stars in a musical version of [[Planet of the Apes]] the famous scene kicks off a musical number.
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Dialogue]]
[[Category:Stock Phrases]]
▲[[Category:You Can Talk]]
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