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Asymmetric Dilemma
- 149 statements
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- 16 referencing feature instances
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A standard wry joke form, often offered in the form of an Obstacle Exposition. A pair of problems is presented as if the problems are of equal importance. The first problem is relatively minor, and is explained in unwarranted detail. The second problem is so much simpler and more serious that the first problem seems like a silly thing to worry about: "I Broke a Nail. Oh, also, I have terminal cancer." This joke often overlaps with I Would Say If I Could Say, where a character can't use a common expression because it technically doesn't apply to them, like The Undead claiming to be "breathless with anticipation". If the less serious problem is instead a list of problems, that's a case of Bread, Eggs, Milk, Squick; if the serious one is a list, it's Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking. A Lopsided Dichotomy is another rhetorical device comparing mundane things to extreme things, but in more of an "or" way than this trope's "and". |
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Dropped link to TheBeatles: Not an Item - IGNORE | |
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In Terror Island the Unity refuses to be complicit in Stephen's scheme in theorem 147 because: | |
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A famous example comes from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid: About to jump from a high precipice into a river below, Sundance points out that he can't swim. "You crazy?" says Butch, "The fall will probably kill you!" | |
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The Killing Joke features the Joker telling a joke that uses such a dilemma to Batman. Two men escape from an insane asylum by climbing onto the roof. One jumps to a nearby building, but the other is too scared to follow. The first offers to shine a flashlight across the way, letting the second walk across the beam of light. The second man replies "What do you think I am? Crazy? You'd turn it off when I was half way across!". | |
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From Meet the Robinsons: | |
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8-Bit Theater loves this trope. | |
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Sesame Street: Ernie wants to buy an empty box from Lefty the Salesman, but he doesn't have any money. | |
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Discworld: In Wyrd Sisters, Nanny Ogg asks the strolling players (having invited herself to get a lift in their wagon) if they have a light. After the group proffer an array of matches, she asks if anyone happens to have any tobacco. In Maskerade, she does it again, asking the other people (reluctantly) sharing a stagecoach with her if they have "anything to open a bottle of beer", "anything to drink a bottle of beer out of" and finally, "Anybody have a bottle of beer?" Men at Arms has a bit where Detritus the troll needs to find something to write on. Then he needs to find something to write with. Then, once he finds something to write with, he needs to find someone who can teach him how to write. Unseen Academicals: Everyone is entitled to vote, unless disqualified by reason of age or not being Lord Vetinari. |
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The Adventures of Dr. McNinja: From this strip: Later: |
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Ben 10: Alien Force | |
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Roy and Durkon spend one The Order of the Stick strip discussing how, even though they now believe the Villain Has a Point, they can't offer an alternative solution to Redcloak as long as he's working with Xykon. After a Beat, Roy adds that it would also help if they had an alternative solution. | |
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On Red Dwarf, Kryten was fond of these: And: |
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Unseen Academicals: Everyone is entitled to vote, unless disqualified by reason of age or not being Lord Vetinari. | |
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Dead Ringers: Liz Truss, trying to do trade deals with tiny, otherwise unheard of nations, is unsure whether they even have phones she can call them on. She then hits on the idea of selling them phones... except Britain doesn't make phones either. So she decides they could buy phones from other countries and then sell them on. | |
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From Avatar: The Last Airbender: | |
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In Steven Universe, Greg tends to downplay Rose Quartz's actions by comparing them to his own relatively mundane actions: saying they both made mistakes in that he thought disco was coming back while she started a war, and later not being too concerned that he didn't know she was Pink Diamond, because she didn't know he was born Greg DeMayo. | |
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In Froot Butch, when asked how RJ apparently lives like a king without a job, RJ informs his girlfriend that he can either never see her again, or be forced to get a job. | |
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In Wyrd Sisters, Nanny Ogg asks the strolling players (having invited herself to get a lift in their wagon) if they have a light. After the group proffer an array of matches, she asks if anyone happens to have any tobacco. In Maskerade, she does it again, asking the other people (reluctantly) sharing a stagecoach with her if they have "anything to open a bottle of beer", "anything to drink a bottle of beer out of" and finally, "Anybody have a bottle of beer?" | |
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Animorphs: A couple of books in the series take place on the Hork-Bajir planet, where several deep chasms open down to the molten planetary core. The Arn, a winged species, have cliff dwellings extending partway down these chasms, with very thin walkways. In two separate instances, Andalites have concluded that there is no need to worry about the magma, because the body would probably be disintegrated in mid-fall. This seems pretty typical of the Andalite sense of humor (assuming they have one; the jury's still out). Ax makes comments like this all the time. "You're worried that a passing Z-Space craft might collide with our extruded mass and splatter it all over Z-Space? Don't worry. That's impossible. The ship's shields would just disintegrate it." |
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Men at Arms has a bit where Detritus the troll needs to find something to write on. Then he needs to find something to write with. Then, once he finds something to write with, he needs to find someone who can teach him how to write. | |
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Futurama has a couple examples: Another example: |
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Beyond the Borders: After realizing that she's plural, Rachel laments that she could talk to her internet friends that have more experience with that subject, if only she could find her phone... and also the internet still existed... and also those friends were still alive.note By Kingdom Hearts physics, they probably aren't actually dead, but they're just as impossible to contact as if they had been. | |
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On The West Wing, Toby points out that the problem with jokes about the Vice President's mediocrity is that "He doesn't think they're funny, and everyone else doesn't think they're jokes." An earlier episode, "The Fall's Gonna Kill You", referenced the Butch Cassidy exchange. The series uses this joke form in numerous other instances to point out how short their various successes fall of actually fixing massive social injustices. | |
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Similarly, in Walt Kelley's comic strip Pogo, a slightly-recurring character was a beetle who, whenever she saw something she didn't like, always exclaimed "If I could write I'd write a nasty letter to the mayor, if he could only read." | |
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In Ch.5 of the Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles fanfic Judge the Sky, Cameron is worried that she may have to pass a Navy physical. Which involves swimming exercises. This is problematic, as: "a) she would be under the intensive examination of a doctor, and b) she did not swim." | |
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Keep Beach City Weird, a spin-off novel from Steven Universe, uses this several times. For example, Guacola, the guacamole soda, is described as "So dense, it [is] like trying to drink a collapsed star! Or a can of fizzy guacamole." | |
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My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic does this from time to time. Rarity is especially prone due to her Large Ham tendencies: | |
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An especially long version done in the "Bookshop" sketch from Monty Python's Flying Circus. A customer has put the bookstore clerk through an incredible ordeal in finding a book. Eventually he finds one the customer likes ("Ethel the Aardvark Goes Quantity Surveying") and the clerk slams it onto the counter: | |
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From the Gravity Falls episode "The Time-Traveller's Pig", after Dipper tries out one of the rides at Grunkle Stan's Mystery Fair and it crashes. | |
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