You Didn't Ask: Difference between revisions

This idea is often used when computers or Artificial Intelligence are involved. Because computers are [[Literal Genie|extremely literal]], it often happens that the computer or AI knows the answer to solve the problem, but since they weren't asked (or [[You Can't Get Ye Flask|weren't asked correctly]])...

 

 

[[You Can Talk]] may also figure in the conversation.

 

{{examples}}

* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4TVRPvFGt0 In a recent commercial]{{when}} for Ally Bank, there are two girls in a room with a man. He asks one "Would you like a pony?" When she accepts, gives her a small, plastic toy pony. He then asks the other "Would you like a pony?" When she accepts, clicks his tongue a few times to bring out a real pony for her.

{{quote|'''Girl with toy:''' You didn't say I could have a real one.

'''Businessman:''' Well, you didn't ask. }}

 

* Xellos from ''[[Slayers]]'' ''loves'' this trope, and often cheerfully informs the group of such hidden things when they finally ask him about them incredulously. Examples include the fact he used their entire planned heist as a distraction for ''his'', his nature as a mazoku (demon), and numerous other such subjects. However, he does have limits: if he doesn't feel like revealing something, his trademark [[Catch Phrase]] "That... is a secret!" is all anyone's going to get from him. This is very justified in Xellos's case, since he feeds on negative emotions and gets quite a bit of pleasure out of watching the others squirm. There's also the fact that his goals are often different from those of the group...

* In ''[[Ranma ½]]'', this is literally [[Bifauxnen|Ukyô Kuonji's]] explanation for not revealing that [[Wholesome Crossdresser]] [[Master of Disguise|Tsubasa Kurenai]] was a boy she met while infiltrating an all-boy's school until after Ranma has been running around trying to [[Nobody Calls Me Chicken|"out-girl"]] him. For added bonus, she claims that since nobody asked, she figured they must have known—Akane immediately [[lampshade]]s how stupid an assumption that is.

* Second variation in ''[[Naruto]] Shippuuden'' #111. Naruto decides he needs a fire element attack. One of his summoned toads casually mentions that he can use one. Of course, when asked why he never mentioned this before, the reply was that he never asked.

** The manga has been going on for hundreds of chapters and only now do we learn that the tailed beasts actually have names. The shinobi typically consider them to be nothing more than mindless monsters or weapons, so they never thought to inquire about their names, which leads to quite a bit of anger on the beast's part that none of the ninja ever bothered to ask them.

* In ''[[Heartcatch Precure]]'', when Tsubomi, Erika and the recently-recruited Itsuki arrive at the Great Heart Tree for the first time, Itsuki makes mention of the Cure Moonlight dream. Erika wanted to know why she didn't say anything about it and Itsuki really didn't think too much of it. To their credit, though, Tsubomi and Erika ''was'' going to ask Itsuki over it, but Itsuki's concerns over her ailing brother took precedence.

 

* ''[[X-Men (Comic Book)|X-Men]]'' did this with Wolverine's real name. From his first appearance all the way to the end of the (first) Dark Phoenix Saga, his teammates only knew him as "Wolverine". The audience first learned it second-hand from a leprechaun, and first-hand later on in a conversation with his then-love interest. But the X-Men themselves only learned during a reconciliation with [[Alpha Flight]] that his name was "Logan". When asked why he didn't share this information, well... you can guess his answer.

** Wolvie was the living embodiment of this trope while Claremont was building him up. "You speak Japanese?" "You worked with them?" etc. For a while it was practically his [[Catch Phrase]].

{{quote|Hal Jordan: "You never asked." Right. Silly of me.}}

 

* In ''[[Eiga Sentai Scanranger]]'', a story set in Japan has a member of the team dumbstruck to learn that their mentor can ''speak Japanese'' (whereupon she quotes the line). This isn't that big a deal, to begin with, but it's even dumber because not only is the one who notices a Japanese guy who also speaks Japanese and English, the mentor knowing a second language doesn't even come in handy because a friendly alien uses her powers to enable everyone to understand each other.

* Played with (and possibly inverted) in the ''[[Bleach]]'' fic ''[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/6401057/1/Getting_It_Right Getting It Right]''.

"You didn't give us time to," I replied.}}

 

* Irene and her [[Unlucky Everydude|new boyfriend Curdie]] play this trope almost word-for-word in the [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0107875/ 1991 animated version] of [[George MacDonald]]'s ''[[The Princess and the Goblin]].'' After narrowly escaping the [[Our Goblins Are Wickeder|tunnels full of evil goblins]], Irene wants to kiss Curdie to thank him for saving her life, but [[Almost Kiss|they are interrupted]] by Irene's obnoxious and terminally stupid caretaker, Lootie.

{{quote|'''Lootie:''' ''(hollering insistently from the castle grounds)'' Princess Irene!!!

* In ''[[The Toy]]'', [[Richard Pryor|Jack]] and bratty kid Eric are trying to break into Eric's father's printing press, when Eric casually mentions that he has the key. Richard Pryor asks Eric why he never told him he had the key.

 

* Used quite often in J.D. Robb's ''[[In Death]]'' series about [[The Ace|Roarke,]] Eve's [[Fiction 500|billionaire]] husband, who went from [[Rags to Riches]] with roots in criminal activity. The first time this happened, when Roarke casually picked a set of locks.

{{quote|'''Eve:''' You never told me you could do that.

* Played horribly straight in ''[[The Lost Fleet]]''. A character was involved in a monstrous secret project, and for security reasons, was conditioned to be unable to talk about it (or about the conditioning); this is gradually driving him insane. Fleet regulations require that he be allowed to speak of it to a fleet admiral, but only if the admiral orders him to speak, in a secure environment (with no other witnesses or recording devices). And since he can't talk about his problem, the odds that a fleet admiral ''would'' ask him about it are very slight.<ref>It's suggested that the security forces that gave him the conditioning figured that eventually the burden would drive him to suicide.</ref>

 

* Just about every episode of ''[[House (TV series)|House]]'' features this trope, as the patient of the week and their relatives fail to provide crucial medical details and end up being misdiagnosed.

* A variation occurs in ''[[Law and Order SVU]]'' where a rape victim refuses to give the detectives the identity of her rapist with the statute of limitation ticking because she's sure he's no longer a threat. When they find him, they discover he'd been involved in an accident and was paralyzed from the waist down, thus no longer a threat. If she'd told them that, they likely wouldn't have jailed her for obstruction.

* In ''[[Get Smart]]'', Max learns that [[No Name Given|Agent 99]] has introduced herself to another man as "Susan Hilton." He jealously points out that she's worked with him for years and never told him. It's rare for 99 to say the punchline, but this was one such occasion. {{spoiler|It turned out to be a mere code name.}}

 

* ''[[Paranoia (game)|Paranoia]]'': One official mission has the GM offhandedly mention that there's {{spoiler|a bot}} in the middle of the briefing room. It is, in fact, {{spoiler|a [[Names to Run Away From Really Fast|Vampire Bot 666]], every bit as visibly lethal and [[Squick]]y as the name implies}}, but the GM is specifically instructed not to describe it in any further detail unless the [[Player Character|PCs]] think to ask.

 

* In ''[[Spamalot]]'', King Arthur needs to find a Jew. After some searching, his servant Patsy reveals that he is Jewish on his mother's side. When King Arthur asks why this information wasn't revealed previously, Patsy responds with, "That's not exactly the sort of thing you say to a heavily-armed Christian."

 

* In ''[[Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney]]'' and its sequels, the main character invariably must guess his way to the truth before the witnesses will admit that they were ''not'' murdering the victim. Some witnesses are instructed (read: threatened) by prosecutors to not mention certain events or evidence unless asked about that event of evidence specifically.

* Solid Snake does this ''multiple'' times (he says "you never asked") in ''[[Metal Gear Solid]] 2'', so much it becomes a [[Running Gag]]. Details never asked about include: Snake's real identity; the fact that they're hiding a [[Humongous Mecha]]-[[Forgotten Superweapon]]-[[Elaborate Underground Base]] hybrid under the sea; and numerous lower-key pieces of information involving the personal lives of the characters. He seems to enjoy it greatly. At least Snake has a good reason not to tell Raiden his entire life story - he ''is'' a terrorist who had faked his own death.

* In ''[[Solatorobo]]'', several hours into the game the main hero discovers that the boy he's been travelling since the beginning is in fact a girl. She uses this trope to justify not correcting him in the first place.

 

* ''[[Red vs. Blue]]'': When Gary effortlessly disables a bomb about to blow up the base the cast is standing in:

{{quote|'''Sarge:''' Gary, you mean to tell us you could have disabled the bomb this whole time, and you didn't say anything? [[Genre Savvy|And don't say it was because I didn't]]--

'''Simmons:''' Goddammit. }}

 

* In ''[[RPG World]],'' Cherry is revealed to be an elf, after the strip had been running for several years, much to the surprise of the other characters. As a bit of subversion, however, her pointed ears are clearly visible in her first appearance. Though the early images are a bit inconsistent.

* ''[[Narbonic]]'', [http://www.webcomicsnation.com/shaenongarrity/narbonic/series.php?view=archive&chapter=9960 here].

* Doc Scratch from [[Homestuck]] bases his whole existence around this. He claims that only he can know all the facts, and he's only saving time by not telling everybody everything. However, it's clear he has his own agenda, and he fulfills it by leading people to the wrong conclusions through [[Exact Words]].

 

* In one ''[[Global Guardians PBEM Universe|Global Guardians]]'' story, a villain tries to hold inoffensive precog heroine Second Sight hostage in order to escape. Second Sight, whose powers all revolved around her clairvoyant ability to see the future, took the villain apart with previously unseen [[Suddenly Always Knew That|Kung Fu skills]]. When her amazed teammates questioned her about them, her response was the classic, "You never asked." It turns out the skills had been there since the creation of the character. They'd just never been needed before.

* In [[The Title of Show Show]], the cast ask Mindy why she didn't tell them Cheyenne Jackson shot her (they had been trying to catch her killer in front of her the whole episode). She replies with this.

 

* ''[[Swat Kats]]'': T-Bone's answer to Chance asking why he never mentioned to his best friend and fellow Swat Kat that he can't swim.

* Fenton in ''[[DuckTales (1987)]]'' never dared ask his prospective [[Love Interest]] out until he could get a promotion. Where she replies that she'd have dated him even if he'd just been a bean-counter. He asks her why they never did and she responds: "You never asked."

* From''[[Teen Titans (animation)|Teen Titans]]'' episode "The Quest"; this is the reason [[Old Master| Chi-Hui (the True Master)]] gives to Robin when he asks why she didn't tell him who he was when they first met.

 

* Anyone who has worked in the accounting or tax-preparation fields has heard this one (or its sibling "I didn't think it was important") at least once per client, if not more.

{{quote| '''Accountant:''' Why didn't you mention your thousands of dollars in [overseas investments]/[margin purchases}/[gambling losses]?

** Or tech support.

* Once heard a story: A married couple is arguing, and right out of the blue the wife yells that the husband doesn't say "I love you" anymore. The husband is completely stunned by this and replies, in that tone people get when they have to explain things to very slow children, "I told you that when I married you. If I change my mind, I'll let you know."

** [[Wil Wheaton]] stated the same about the ''[[Robot Chicken]]'' voice sketch making fun of the fact that ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation]]'' would [[Character Shilling|stoop to any low]] to [[Creator's Pet|force viewers to like]] [[The Scrappy|Wesley]].

 

{{reflist}}