History Literature / ToSayNothingOfTheDog

** On the other hand, he gets engaged to the angel at the end of the book, so that might have been more romance than time-lag.

* ShoutOut: Principally, though far from exclusively, to Jerome K. Jerome's still-hilarious Victorian travelogue ''Literature/ThreeMenInABoat (To Say Nothing of the Dog)''. While boating down the Thames (with two other men and a dog), Ned Henry actually recognizes the three men and dog in question as they pass him going upstream.
** The RealLife boat trip on which Jerome based his book didn't actually have a dog, which leads to several possibilities -- mistaken identity (Henry's thoughts become unreliable under the mounting stress of time travel), alternate timeline, or just one of Jerome's other boat trips. Or Jerome was lying in order to take credit for coming up with the idea later.
** Also, Baine saying "[[ThePrincessBride as you wish]]" multiple times, when ordered around by a spoiled mistress, [[spoiler: whom he is in love with.]]
*** P.G. Wodehouse is mentioned and quoted several times. His plots revolved around making sure the right people get engaged and the wrong engagements are broken off, much like the plot to ensure Tossie marries Mr. C rather than Terence.

* InThePastEveryoneWillBeFamous: Strongly averted--''nobody'' they meet in the past is even remotely famous, except for the brief appearance of Jerome K. Jerome, author of ''Literature/ThreeMenInABoat (To Say Nothing of the Dog)''.
** Baine the butler previously worked for LordDunsany, but this is a subversion as this is the ''father'' of the famous author, who is only aged ten in 1888.

* ShaggyDogStory (At the end of the book, it turns out that the entire bizarre adventure [[spoiler:is possibly part of the timestream's self-correction for another paradox that will occur hundreds of years in the future.]])
** Combined with the in-story WildMassGuessing at the end of Blackout, it appears possible that [[spoiler:the timestream has caused, via an absurd level of coincidences and time travel, ''the Allies to win WWII'' solely to cause a cathedral to be build in Christ Church Meadow! Just exactly how big was that incongruity in 2678?]]

* BabyTalk: Tossie, to her cat Princess Arjumand (aka. "Dearum Dearum Juju").
** Which, to Ned, TastesLikeDiabetes

** Bain the butler previously worked for LordDunsany, but this is a subversion as this is the ''father'' of the famous author, who is only aged ten in 1888.

* LoveAtFirstSight: A symptom of time-lag

* ForWantOfANail: Small items, like cats, can have huge impacts on history. At one point, when ruminating on just how much trouble he's in, Ned quotes the TropeNamer poem directly.

* HumansAreWhite: [[{{Handwave}} Handwaved]] rather {{egregious}}ly. See PoliticallyCorrectHistory

* PoliticallyCorrectHistory: Averted because of NoEqualOpportunityTimeTravel. Ned remarks that ''all'' of history is considered too dangerous for blacks, [[http://www.ferretbrain.com/articles/article-456 some people consider that Willis went a little too far in the other direction.]]
** Though, considering Lady Shrapnell's obsessions, Ned might have just meant that all of ''English'' history is off-limits for blacks, which makes a lot more sense.

** FridgeBrilliance: He wasn't fictional - he was killed when his ship went down with all hands, removing knowledge of his brief command from history... until time-travelling historians went back to Midway and discovered him again.

* DiscussedTrope: Frequently. For example, on first arriving in the Victorian era, Ned (or his interior monologue, anyway) comments that, were this a book, he'd have quickly found a newspaper to let him know the date. Then, he promptly finds a newspaper. Which, it later transpires, is several days old.

* InThePastEveryoneWillBeFamous: Strongly averted--''nobody'' they meet in the past is even remotely famous, except for the brief appearance of Jerome K. Jerome, author of ''ThreeMenInABoat (To Say Nothing of the Dog)''.

* RoseTintedNarrative: Indulging in sentimental monologues is one of the leading signs of time-lag. Probably another ShoutOut to ''ThreeMenInABoat'', in which Jerome now and then interrupts his satire in favor of misty meditations on history for no apparent reason.

* ShoutOut: Principally, though far from exclusively, to Jerome K. Jerome's still-hilarious Victorian travelogue ''ThreeMenInABoat (To Say Nothing of the Dog)''. While boating down the Thames (with two other men and a dog), Ned Henry actually recognizes the three men and dog in question as they pass him going upstream.

The novel could be this site's designated mystery; the two lead characters are extremely GenreSavvy, know their tropes, know when they encounter one, and still manage to wind up blindsided by events. Furthermore, the novel makes repeated references to Jerome K. Jerome's Victorian comic classic ''ThreeMenInABoat''; the novel takes its title from that one's subtitle.

The novel could be this site's designated mystery; the two lead characters are extremely GenreSavvy, know their tropes, know when they encounter one, and still manage to wind up blindsided by events. Furthermore, the novel makes repeated references to JeromKJerome's Victorian comic classic ''ThreeMenInABoat''; the novel takes its title from that one's subtitle.

* ContrivedCoincidence: Justified. Not the coincidences, the trope itself - when push comes to shove, the space-time continuum will pick causality over plausibility every time. The number of these becomes a source of humour for the reader, and terror for the protagonists - with that much coincidence in the air, the continuum must be trying to choke down something ''big''.

* RunningGag: One of the most notable symptoms of [[TemporalSickness time-Lag]] is really poor decision-making, and the main characters rag each other mercilessly about it whenever the other does anything strange, such as [[AcceptableTargets expressing an appreciation for Victorian art]].
* ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney - Lady Schrapnell's attitude toward the laws of time travel physics/causality, and a whole lot of abuse in general. The only reason the researchers put up with her at all is that [[MoneyDearBoy they badly need her money to fund the department]].

** The RealLife boat trip on which Jerome based his book didn't actually have a dog, which leads to several possibilities - mistaken identity (Henry's thoughts become unreliable under the mounting stress of time travel), alternate timeline, or just one of Jerome's other boat trips. Or Jerome was lying in order to take credit for coming up with the idea later.

* YouAreInCommandNow: Discussed, in the form of the (fictional) Ensign Klepperman, who found himself in command of a ship in WWII in the Battle of Midway.

''ToSayNothingOfTheDog'' is a novel by Creator/ConnieWillis. The story is set in Oxford, England, about 60 years into the future, after TimeTravel has not only been invented, but pretty much everyone except historians has lost interest in it. This is mainly because it turns out that you can't bring things from the past to the future, or at least, you aren't ''supposed'' to be able to. Most of the history of this period and rules of time travel are laid out in Willis' earlier novel ''Literature/DoomsdayBook'', which takes place in the same universe.

* AcceptableTargets: The Victorian conception of what constitutes "restraint" when it comes to art. [[spoiler:The fact that even some of the contemps detest the stuff becomes a plot point.]]

''ToSayNothingOfTheDog'' is a novel by ConnieWillis. The story is set in Oxford, England, about 60 years into the future, after TimeTravel has not only been invented, but pretty much everyone except historians has lost interest in it. This is mainly because it turns out that you can't bring things from the past to the future, or at least, you aren't ''supposed'' to be able to. Most of the history of this period and rules of time travel are laid out in Willis' earlier novel ''Literature/DoomsdayBook'', which takes place in the same universe.

** Also a case of DidNotDoTheResearch since, despite Dunworthy saying Klepperman's ship took out several Japanese cruisers and destroyers, all Japanese losses in Midway were from aircraft attacks. The only successful submarine attacks were by the Japanese, and there were no direct engagements between surface ships.
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