Large Ham trope abused

IOwnTheSpire

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Jul 27, 2014
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Anyone else annoyed the way people don't even know what it means to be a ham?

If you visit TvTropes, the trope Large Ham comes up often, but people seem to think that if you raise your voice even in the slightest, you're hamming it up. If it's in character for someone to be loud and dramatic, then it's not hamming. Hamming is going above and beyond what is necessary.

I don't know if anyone has anything to say about this, but I'm irritated when people don't know what a trope means.
 

Vault101

I'm in your mind fuzz
Sep 26, 2010
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erm...no not really

I do tend to use tropes because they're an easy shorthand but I can't expect most people to know them outside of an online setting

I am happy to explain them though...so long as its someone who wont look at me weird
 

DefunctTheory

Not So Defunct Now
Mar 30, 2010
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Well, this is basically the flaw of any online database that can be modified by anyone.

I think Wikipedia has spoiled people when it comes to this type of website.
 

Kolby Jack

Come at me scrublord, I'm ripped
Apr 29, 2011
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The worst for me was looking through the Crowning Moment of Heartwarming page for Skyrim one day. Someone posted that they were going through a spooky dungeon and in the middle of it, their AI follower happened to nudge them in the back due to poor pathing. They interpreted this as a hug, to help them get through the spooky dungeon.

A hug. Of emotional support. From a dumb AI follower. Bumping into you on accident. By way of a sloppy pathing script.

CROWNING. MOMENT. OF HEARTWARMING?!!?!?!?



Needless to say, some people on TV Tropes are idiots. Much like anywhere else in life.
 

Kajin

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Apr 13, 2008
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Kolby Jack said:
The worst for me was looking through the Crowning Moment of Heartwarming page for Skyrim one day. Someone posted that they were going through a spooky dungeon and in the middle of it, their AI follower happened to nudge them in the back due to poor pathing. They interpreted this as a hug, to help them get through the spooky dungeon.

A hug. Of emotional support. From a dumb AI follower. Bumping into you on accident. By way of a sloppy pathing script.

CROWNING. MOMENT. OF HEARTWARMING?!!?!?!?



Needless to say, some people on TV Tropes are idiots. Much like anywhere else in life.
What? Just because it wasn't an official aspect of the game doesn't mean someone can't find it awesome.
 

AntiChri5

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Kajin said:
Kolby Jack said:
The worst for me was looking through the Crowning Moment of Heartwarming page for Skyrim one day. Someone posted that they were going through a spooky dungeon and in the middle of it, their AI follower happened to nudge them in the back due to poor pathing. They interpreted this as a hug, to help them get through the spooky dungeon.

A hug. Of emotional support. From a dumb AI follower. Bumping into you on accident. By way of a sloppy pathing script.

CROWNING. MOMENT. OF HEARTWARMING?!!?!?!?



Needless to say, some people on TV Tropes are idiots. Much like anywhere else in life.
What? Just because it wasn't an official aspect of the game doesn't mean someone can't find it awesome.
The issue isn't whether or not it is an official aspect of the game.

The issue is that that didn't happen and the person who wrote it interpreted it that way due to insanity and/or idiocy.
 

Elementary - Dear Watson

RIP Eleuthera, I will miss you
Nov 9, 2010
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Disliking people who don't know what you mean when you use a trope is like getting annoyed at anyone who can't recite the Klingon dictionary with full meanings and episodes memorised where the words were used, plus any incident the word has been muttered on YouTube, or at a convention.

In other words... you are being a bit over the top. I don't know what you mean by Large Ham. I don't really care what you mean. And without looking it up I don't understand your mini rant in the OP.
 

San Martin

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Jun 21, 2013
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I get the feeling that some joke's gone straight over my head here, but I haven't a clue what the OP's on about. Anyone care to explain?
 

Kolby Jack

Come at me scrublord, I'm ripped
Apr 29, 2011
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Kajin said:
Kolby Jack said:
The worst for me was looking through the Crowning Moment of Heartwarming page for Skyrim one day. Someone posted that they were going through a spooky dungeon and in the middle of it, their AI follower happened to nudge them in the back due to poor pathing. They interpreted this as a hug, to help them get through the spooky dungeon.

A hug. Of emotional support. From a dumb AI follower. Bumping into you on accident. By way of a sloppy pathing script.

CROWNING. MOMENT. OF HEARTWARMING?!!?!?!?



Needless to say, some people on TV Tropes are idiots. Much like anywhere else in life.
What? Just because it wasn't an official aspect of the game doesn't mean someone can't find it awesome.
They certainly can. What I take issue with is they plastered their wildly inaccurate interpretation of a quirk in the game on a public wiki page dedicated to listing, not just any little heartwarming moment, but the CROWNING heartwarming moments encountered in the game.

Sad to say this is the case with many of the "crowning" pages. It's mostly just fan gushing/borderline fan-fiction. Actual examples of things that go above and beyond in the awesome/heartwarming/funny categories are pushed aside in favor of tripe, despite the TV tropes site-runners trying to keep things about the tropes.
 

Isalan

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Jun 9, 2008
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I prefer to think of Large Ham as a title, and the undisputed holder is Brian Blessed. He is the essence of Ham and the meaning of Large. The entire page should be a huge picture of this god of a man, with the rest of the page underneath his fearsome visage simply titled "Lesser Hams and other meat".
 

Elementary - Dear Watson

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Nov 9, 2010
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San Martin said:
I get the feeling that some joke's gone straight over my head here, but I haven't a clue what the OP's on about. Anyone care to explain?
Basically the OP is annoyed that someone has interpretted the poorly-writen, user-submitted definitions from the TV-Tropes site, has used it in a way he sees as incorrct, and nerd-splurged it into a thread here to see if anyone else gets annoyed when people misuse made up phrases.
 

Kolby Jack

Come at me scrublord, I'm ripped
Apr 29, 2011
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Elementary - Dear Watson said:
San Martin said:
I get the feeling that some joke's gone straight over my head here, but I haven't a clue what the OP's on about. Anyone care to explain?
Basically the OP is annoyed that someone has interpretted the poorly-writen, user-submitted definitions from the TV-Tropes site, has used it in a way he sees as incorrct, and nerd-splurged it into a thread here to see if anyone else gets annoyed when people misuse made up phrases.
What else is the internet for if not to make petty arguments against "poorly-writen" things we see as "incorrct?"
 

Elementary - Dear Watson

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Nov 9, 2010
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Kolby Jack said:
Elementary - Dear Watson said:
San Martin said:
I get the feeling that some joke's gone straight over my head here, but I haven't a clue what the OP's on about. Anyone care to explain?
Basically the OP is annoyed that someone has interpretted the poorly-writen, user-submitted definitions from the TV-Tropes site, has used it in a way he sees as incorrct, and nerd-splurged it into a thread here to see if anyone else gets annoyed when people misuse made up phrases.
What else is the internet for if not to make petty arguments against "poorly-writen" things we see as "incorrct?"
Damn... Touche! :p

That is a fair point... I am currently using an office communicator tool to moan that I am tired. So I can't really complain!
 

giles

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I have seen this a few times now. Why do people feel the need to complain when tropes are "misused"? Isn't a trope just a poor writing cliché? Shouldn't you be annoyed that it's there in the first place?

I don't get it...
 

Elementary - Dear Watson

RIP Eleuthera, I will miss you
Nov 9, 2010
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giles said:
I have seen this a few times now. Why do people feel the need to complain when tropes are "misused"? Isn't a trope just a poor writing cliché? Shouldn't you be annoyed that it's there in the first place?

I don't get it...
I think that's how it started... but now anything that can be linked in 2 or more things will be named and uploaded.

"Oh... your book has a male character... How Cliche! That is so much the 'He ate my burger' trope named after that other book where the guy says he ate my burger..."
 

TheMightyMeekling

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giles said:
I have seen this a few times now. Why do people feel the need to complain when tropes are "misused"? Isn't a trope just a poor writing cliché? Shouldn't you be annoyed that it's there in the first place?

I don't get it...
That's not quite true.

"Tropes are devices and conventions that a writer can reasonably rely on as being present in the audience members' minds and expectations. On the whole, tropes are not clichés. The word clichéd means "stereotyped and trite." In other words, dull and uninteresting. We are not looking for dull and uninteresting entries. We are here to recognize tropes and play with them, not to make fun of them."

Taken directly from TV Tropes.

Also, Tropes aren't bad. It is actually impossible to write a story that does not utilize atleast a few.
 

Johnny Novgorod

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I was thinking this exact same thing last month when I played Ratchet and Clank for the first time, regarding Captain Qwark. I kept thinking "This guy would've been sooooo much fun if I had played the game 10 years ago, before The Tick and Disgaea and Rocko's Modern Life".
 

Asita

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giles said:
I have seen this a few times now. Why do people feel the need to complain when tropes are "misused"? Isn't a trope just a poor writing cliché? Shouldn't you be annoyed that it's there in the first place?

I don't get it...
No. A trope is a narrative convention that doesn't have to be explained to the audience for them to understand what's at play. The One Ring's corrupting influence on those around it is a trope. The 'gentle giant' is a trope. An immortal character that is far older than s/he looks is a trope. A fictional couple being happily married is a trope, as is unrequited love, unresolved sexual tension between the two, a purely professional relationship, etc, etc. They're patterns that we recognize[footnote]And we as humans are very good at recognizing patterns[/footnote] well enough that an author can show the effect rather than sit down and explain it to us. That is not a bad thing.