History Main / AndCallHimGeorge

* One of the TropeMakers is undoubtedly Lennie Small, in John Steinbeck's ''Literature/OfMiceAndMen''. Lennie was a childlike man who [[DoesNotKnowHisOwnStrength didn't know his own strength]], and so ended up crushing the mice and puppies he tried to pet, and eventually [[spoiler:killed someone by accident]] in much the same way. George was the name of his sidekick (or rather, Lennie is ''his'' sidekick), hence the WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes and MGM examples are {{Shout Out}}s. There is also the fact that poor Lennie's reaction to being startled is to hold on tightly to whatever he's holding.

* In the Manga/TokyoBabylon OAV's, [[spoiler: a young boy around 10 years old accidentally strangled his younger sister to death and didn't even seem to notice that she was dead, even happily greeting their shocked mother when she walked on the scene.]] [[spoiler: That boy is the younger version of the second OAV's BigBad, a psychotic SerialKiller.]]

* A seemingly kind old woman turns out to be this type in the ''WesternAnimation/SpongebobSquarepants'' episode, "Gary Come Home." When Gary, the pet snail, runs away from a neglectful Spongebob, he is rescued by the old character. Before he is smothered by attention, he finds the bodies of other pet snails that she's loved to death, or alternatively fattened up with food and affection so that she could eat them. He beats a quick path home. While he doesn't actually ''kill'' them, Spongebob himself has this behaviour towards Squidward, Ms. Puff, Gary, and Barnacle Boy.

* There was a strip in ''Manga/AxisPowersHetalia'' where [[PsychopathicManchild Russia]] asked Latvia why he couldn't stop shaking, and gave him a hug. Latvia died of fright. He got better.

[[caption-width-right:300:LoveHurts, but hugs kill.]]

* ''TransformersEnergon'' has a variation with, of all mechs, Megatron, who didn't realize until his soldier Demolishor pointed it out, that humans actually ''die'' and don't have "sparks" that can be collected after their bodies are destroyed. (Unlike Cybertronians, who have fought the same war with the same people for millions of years, and most death just results in a new toy... uh, [[MerchandiseDriven body]].) Megatron even pauses to think about this, saying "Really?". This doesn't stop him from wanting to blow up the planet later on.

* Parodied in ''Manga/RanmaOneHalf''. When Ryouga "hears" Akane tell him she loves him (though it was really Shampoo impersonating her) he goes mad with joy and pursues her, intending to give her a big hug. Akane, for her part, thinks he's being mind-controlled (long story) and is absolutely ''horrified'' when she sees him destroy half the landscape pursuing her. Realizing that a hug from him would crush her, she escapes and trades places with [[GenderBender Ranma]], who is resilient enough to be only slightly squished when he [[FoeYay embraces her]].
* ''Ranma'':

* Used in ''TalesOfMU'', with Sooni and her servant/slave, "Baby Kai-Kai." Usually funny in a CrossesTheLineTwice way, until she crossed the line a third time [[spoiler:and refused to get Kai treatment for a cracked skull until it was almost too late]].

* The animated short, [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8CordF1nl8 The Terrible Thing of Alpha-9]]

** One WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes version of this trope occurs in "Hoppy Go Lucky" (1952), in which Sylvester the cat tries to catch Hippety Hopper as a pet for his large, dumb friend ''Bennie''. In a neat twist, Bennie calls ''Sylvester'' "George", even going so far as to utter the immortal line, "But I can't say 'Sylvester', George."

** ''[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oo8HM77q4Is Lonesome Lenny]]'' (1946) is probably the ultimate example of this. "You know, I had a little friend once-- but ''[[PleaseWakeUp he don't move no more!]]''". At which point Screwy Squirrel (the "little friend" in question) pulls a sign saying "Sad ending - Ain't it?" Noticeably, this is the LAST ScrewySquirrel Cartoon chronologically... so yea, [[KilledOffForReal Think about that]].

* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' has an {{expy}} of [[CthulhuMythos Shub-Niggurath]] -- [[http://wiki.lspace.org/wiki/Tshup_Aklathep Tshup Aklathep, Infernal Star Toad with A Million Young]]. She shows pictures of them all to anyone she can catch. Until her new friends' [[YourHeadASplode brains implode]] or they kill themselves.

* Elmyra of ''WesternAnimation/TinyToonAdventures'':

** In the episode :Only a Dream", Superman is subjected to a [[PersonalHorror nightmare]] where his strength is [[PowerIncontinence out of control]]. His attempt to [[DeadlyHug hug]] Jimmy in joy snaps the kid like a twig.

* The example from ''Frankenstein'' (1931) was parodied in ''Film/YoungFrankenstein'', when the monster accidentally throws a little girl through the air by sitting down too hard on a see-saw. This time she's safely thrown through a window of her house into her own bed. The girl, after throwing all their petals in the well and making their wishes, asks, "What will we throw in now?" Cue the Monster's AsideGlance.

* In ''{{FEAR}} 2: Project Origin'', Alma repeatedly tries to...[[AttemptedRape embrace]] Beckett. If Beckett doesn't fight off her amorous intentions, she ''will'' kill him by doing so. It is implied that the only reason he survives [[spoiler: getting raped at the endgame]] is because of the Telesthetic Amplifier boosting his PsychicPowers.

* In TadWilliams' ''{{Otherland}}'', the Other, [[AIIsACrapshoot quasi-sentient]] operating system of the titular network, [[FriendToAllChildren loves children]] and seeks them out, but the combination of its [[PsychopathicManchild ignorance of real life]], PsychicPowers, and the [[YouCannotGraspTheTrueForm horror of its existence]] means that its attempts to "play with them" ends up inadvertently {{Mind Rap|e}}ing them into comas. Oops.

* One of the dumbest customers in ''NotAlwaysRight'' killed her goldfish [[http://notalwaysright.com/like-a-fish-out-of-water/6568 by taking it out of the water to pet it. Then went back to the shop, bought a new one and did the same thing]]. Then learned fish don't breath air. Maybe.

...and for some reason he fell asleep. [[PleaseWakeUp You OK, little guy?]]

** Elyra loved animals but didn't know how to treat them. She was honestly confused when the adorable animals she meant no harm towards objected to being put in too-small cages, bathed via near-drowning, and other overly-affectionate acts. One of her pets ''falls apart in the sink,'' having been dead already [[PleaseWakeUp unbeknownst to her]]. Hands with carcass go in, empty hands come out as she looks on in confusion. Her bow has the skull of some poor small animal, supposed to be her very first pet, according to forgotten sources.

** In the episode :Only a Dream", Superman is subjected to a nightmare where his strength is out of control. His attempt to hug Jimmy in joy snaps the kid like a twig.

* In ''WolfsRain'', where [[spoiler: Toboe greets the old woman who keeps him as a pet a little too vigorously and breaks her neck.]] A variant, since the affectionate monster is not a child, but an old person.

[[quoteright:349:[[WesternAnimation/BugsBunny http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/chuckjonesabsm2_7013.png]]]]

[[quoteright:340:[[WesternAnimation/TinyToonAdventures http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/petabuse_6534.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:340:LoveHurts, but hugs kill.]]

* The title phrase comes from the WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes shorts with Hugo the [[BigfootSasquatchAndYeti Abominable Snowman]], a furry giant who would "adopt" fuzzy animals (like Bugs) and nearly smother them with adoration. He would always call his new pet "George" ("I'm gonna love him, and hug him, and pet him, and call him ''George!''") (This is something of a ShoutOut to the [[NotQuiteStarring origin]] of the character, which was Lon Chaney Jr.'s portrayal of Lennie in ''Literature/OfMiceAndMen''.)
** Another WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes version of this occurs in "Hoppy Go Lucky" (1952), in which Sylvester the cat tries to catch Hippety Hopper as a pet for his large, dumb friend ''Bennie''. In a neat twist, Bennie calls ''Sylvester'' "George", even going so far as to utter the immortal line, "But I can't say 'Sylvester', George."

** ''[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oo8HM77q4Is Lonesome Lenny]]'' (1946) is probably the ultimate example of this. "You know, I had a little friend once-- but ''[[PleaseWakeUp he don't move no more!]]''"
** At which point Screwy Squirrel (the "little friend" in question) pulls a sign saying "Sad ending - Ain't it?"
*** Noticeably, this is the LAST ScrewySquirrel Cartoon chronologically... so yea, [[KilledOffForReal Think]] [[FridgeHorror about that.]]
** Avery also did a series of cartoons with George and Junior, a vaguely bear-like pair closely modeled after George and Lenny. Junior's regular screw-ups required him to bend over for George to kick his ass.
*** This was actually the ''censored'' version. A more controversial version had Junior turning around so that George could ''shoot him in the head''-- [[spoiler: exactly like the ending of the book it was referencing.]] It was presumably changed due to a case of DudeNotFunny.

* ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'': In Cheetah's first appearance, it was implied that Solomon Grundy killed her this way - but then she was shown alive, in hand-cuffs. Earlier in the episode, when [[spoiler:Batman exposed her to the members of her criminal team as the "traitor,"]], she was "given" to Grundy and was shown being dragged out of the room, screaming. However, despite the implied death, the end of the episode featured an ensemble picture of the villains being loaded into a police vehicle, including Cheetah. WordOfGod states this was an accident, the intention was for everybody to assume she had been "petted" to death, but it allowed her to make a few future appearances in various episodes.
** In another episode, ''Only a Dream'', Superman is subjected to a nightmare where his strength is out of control. His attempt to hug Jimmy in joy snaps the kid like a twig.
* Elmyra of ''WesternAnimation/TinyToonAdventures'' loved animals but didn't know how to treat them. She was honestly confused when the adorable animals she meant no harm towards objected to being put in too-small cages, bathed via near-drowning, and other overly-affectionate acts. One of her pets ''falls apart in the sink,'' having been dead already [[PleaseWakeUp unbeknownst to her]]. Hands with carcass go in, empty hands come out as she looks on in confusion.
** Her bow has the skull of some poor small animal, supposed to be her very first pet, according to forgotten sources.
** In a TalesFromTheCrypt parody, she is seen looking through a photo album of deceased pets, including a fish that she didn't realize couldn't live out of water, and a horse that [[DrivenToSuicide deliberately jumped off a cliff]]. Said pets end up coming back as zombies to try and get revenge, only to endure more torture from Elmyra.
* A segment of ''WesternAnimation/RobotChicken'' featured a giant robot coming to life and innocently harming everyone he meets; he picks up a group of people to hug and crushes them to death, splattering their guts all over himself, then picks up a dog and crushes it when he pets it. When police open fire to try to stop his apparent rampage, he decides to "play" too... and "wins".
** Another ''WesternAnimation/RobotChicken'' sketch features an Elmyra CaptainErsatz who is so cuteness-crazed that she traps a pegasus in a bear trap, ''hacks off his wings'', paints him pink, and [[{{Roots}} whips him until he accepts that his new name is Sunnymuffins]]. Definitely CrossesTheLineTwice.
*** Said clip was made even better when you realize the voice actor for Pegasus is Wayne Brady, and the little girl is voiced by Cree Summers, who also voiced the aforementioned Elmyra and Susie Carmichael from ''WesternAnimation/{{Rugrats}}''.

* A seemingly kind old woman turns out to be this type in the ''WesternAnimation/SpongebobSquarepants'' episode, "Gary Come Home." When Gary, the pet snail, runs away from a neglectful Spongebob, he is rescued by the old character. Before he is smothered by attention, he finds the bodies of other pet snails that she's loved to death, or alternatively fattened up with food and affection so that she could eat them. He beats a quick path home.
** While he doesn't actually ''kill'' them, Spongebob himself has this behaviour towards Squidward, Ms. Puff, Gary, and Barnacle Boy.

* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'', Barry mistakes a girl in a cat costume as the ghost of his pet cat Mr. Whiskers and says "I'm sorry Mr. Whiskers I didn't know you couldn't breathe under water" while sobbing.
** He has also said "Puppies can't fly, or at least mine couldn't" while holding back tears.

* In ''MonstersVsAliens'', B.O.B. enthusiastically hugs Susan's mom, and since he's TheBlob, accidentally absorbs her. Susan orders him to spit her out before she suffocates, then apologizes for him. "He's just a hugger."
** Later, Susan herself goes to her fiancee Derek, and as she is [[AttackOfThe50FootWhatever ten times taller than he is]], she very nearly crushes him and almost snaps his head off with a kiss.

* ''EdwardScissorhands''. The name should give you an idea as to why it was hard for him to properly express physical affection.
** Though in this case, Edward seems to understand the dangers his hands pose.

** Parodied in ''Film/YoungFrankenstein'', when the monster accidentally throws a little girl through the air by sitting down too hard on a seesaw. This time she's safely thrown through a window of her house into her own bed.
*** The girl, after throwing all their petals in the well and making their wishes, asks, "What will we throw in now?" Cue the Monster's AsideGlance.

* One of the TropeMakers here is undoubtedly Lennie Small, in John Steinbeck's ''Literature/OfMiceAndMen''. Lennie was a childlike man who [[DoesNotKnowHisOwnStrength didn't know his own strength]], and so ended up crushing the mice and puppies he tried to pet, and eventually [[spoiler:killed someone by accident]] in much the same way. George was the name of his sidekick (or rather, Lennie is ''his'' sidekick), hence the WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes and MGM examples are {{Shout Out}}s.
** There is also the fact that poor Lennie's reaction to being startled is to hold on tightly to whatever he's holding (doing this with a woman's red velvet dress got him and George chased out of town in the beginning) - and ended up causing the aforementioned incident.
* The Howlers from ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'' are a terrifying race of warriors responsible for the genocide of several other alien races - until our heroes find out that they're all children who believe they're playing a game under the control of the evil Crayak.
** It gets better. Jake morphs into a Howler and finds out they have a {{hivemind}} and are personally killed off by Crayak to ensure they don't remember death. When Jake gets back from his espionage, he kisses Cassie. This inadvertently throws off the whole killer race thing, as the Howlers now try to kiss everything into total submission. Whoops.

** In TheNineties {{revival}} of ''Series/TheOuterLimits'', an episode involves a man copying his comatose dying son's consciousness into a clunky robot body. When he comes home, he finds the cat has finally stopped being afraid of the robot, because he's petting its "soft" bloody body with his cheap robot claws.

* In the play ''Rabbit'', set in a TeenageWasteland, [[spoiler: Tib does this to the titular bunny]].

* Debilitas from the SurvivalHorror game ''VideoGame/HauntingGround'', the PsychopathicManchild gardener who chases Fiona around the castle because he's mistaken her for one of his dolls and just wants to play with her. Unfortunately, his over-excitement means he'll violently beat her to death in glee if you let him get close, or pick the poor girl up and squeeze her to death in a BearHug while giggling manically. His misunderstood intentions, however, mean he's the only assailant in the game who makes it out alive (in the [[MultipleEndings Good Ending]]).
** On the less pleasant side of things, though, it's implied that he's a cannibal, who, upon accidentally killing Fiona while trying to play with her, does the ''other'' thing that comes naturally, and ''eats'' her. It's not a nice game.
*** On an even ''less'' pleasant side of things, some take the [[NonstandardGameOver gruesome Game Over screen noises]] to mean he's ''raping'' her. Seriously, not a nice game. [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotForKids But it's got a puppy in it!]]
**** [[WebVideo/TheNostalgiaChick "Puppies!!! *arf! arf!*"]]

* The VideoGameRemake of ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil'' for Gamecube introduced a deformed mutant who, in your first encounter, doesn't hurt you--just knocks you out. One of her "diary" entries reads:

** It is worth noting that said mutant is a forty-five year old woman with the (damaged) mind of a fourteen year old girl and is ''wearing her mother's face.''
* ''Videogame/WorldOfWarcraft'' gives us XT-002 Deconstructor, a GiantRobot raid boss in Ulduar ([[RuleOfFunny who does yoga-like exercises while it waits for you to show up]]) who has the voice of a cartoon child and seems to regard the players it smashes into flinders as "toys".
-->'''XT-002''': New toys? For me? I promise I won't break them this time!
** There's also Patchwerk from Naxxramas, who "[[HulkSpeak want to play]]".
*** Both are brilliant examples as the attacks they both do are rather simplistic as well, Patchwerk will just smack 2-3 people over and over, and XT-002 will smack one target and periodically throw a tantrum, punching the ground and causing a massive earthquake. There's other parts to the XT encounter but it can easily be viewed as it's not him doing those, but his "Father" Mimiron.
*** Mimiron later calls the player out on this, vowing to get revenge for "what you did to the XT-002".

* Dink in ''VideoGame/KingsQuestVAbsenceMakesTheHeartGoYonder'', and the clinging vines in ''VideoGame/KingsQuestVIHeirTodayGoneTomorrow''.
** In his LetsPlay of KQV, WebVideo/PawDugan makes direct reference to the {{Trope Namer|s}} when he gets killed by Dink.

* [[Website/SomethingAwful Shmorky's]] parody of VideoGame/HomestarRunner (viewable [[http://www.somethingawful.com/d/flash-tub/tub-bites-vol.php here]]): "I petted 'The Sheep' too much. Now he don't move no more!"
** And then it happens again with "Marmalade".
* One of the dumbest customers in NotAlwaysRight killed her goldfish [[http://notalwaysright.com/like-a-fish-out-of-water/6568 by taking it out of the water to pet it. Then went back to the shop, bought a new one and did the same thing]]. Then learned fish don't breath air. Maybe.

* The 2008 Halloween event on ''GaiaOnline'' features a four-way battle between Humans, Dark Elves, Vampires, and Zombies. The Zombie attacks are attempts to ''hug'' their victims.

-->--''MarvelUltimateAlliance 2'' "[[Comicbook/TheIncredibleHulk Hulk]]-Ku" haikus

** Also played (semi-)straight in ''Ranma'' This time Ryoga's on the receiving end when he's kidnapped in his piglet form by [[{{Kawaiiko}} Azuza Shiratori]] of the Golden Pair, who steals anything she considers cute (animals and inanimate objects alike) and give them cute French names like Francoise or Charlotte.
** Similarly, Akane takes P-Chan (Ryoga's pig form) to bed with her. When Happosai decides sneak into bed with her, he learns- a bit too late- that she tosses and turns in her sleep, and gets pummeled. The following dialogue ensues;
-->'''Ranma:''' Does she usually sleep like this?
-->'''Ryoga:''' No, this is a lot calmer than usual.

* Inverted in ''WolfsRain'', where [[spoiler: Toboe greets the old woman who keeps him as a pet a little too vigorously and breaks her neck.]]
* There was a strip in Manga/AxisPowersHetalia where [[PsychopathicManchild Russia]] asked Latvia why he couldn't stop shaking, and gave him a hug. Latvia died of fright. He got better.

* Seems to be a bit of a problem for ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'' newcomer Iris, who got shocked by Pikachu when she first met it and CutenessProximity took over.
** And she does this with Ash's Tepig, too. [[TheWoobie Poor thing]], as if [[ParentalAbandonment it didn't]] [[DarkAndTroubledPast suffer enough already]].
*** Iris has taken fire to the face ''twice'' and electrocutes, and all before the ninth episode! She's not stopping, and we should all fear for the safety of every Pokémon.

* In one of the later portions of ''Anime/GhostSweeperMikami'', Yokoshima and Hyakume are captured by Ashtaroth's agents. One of these agents, [[BrattyHalfPint Papillio]], has a ridiculous fondness for collecting pets, so into the menagerie Yokoshima and Hyakume go. The problem isn't that they'll get squished or otherwise negligently killed by Papillio...not directly. The problem is her ''other'' pets aren't so nice. Not when they include the likes of '''''KERBEROS'''''.

* {{Mad Scien|tist}}ce teacher Nakamura of ''{{Nichijou}}'' adores her cat Taisho, but has ''no'' idea how to care for a cat, among other things feeding him ramen like it was proper food. Taisho eventually ran away and became [[spoiler:the Shinonomes' cat Sakamoto, though as he himself notes this isn't ''that'' great an improvement other than more reliable feeding]].
* ''Manga/OnePiece'' gives an example when Porche meets Chopper. She constantly hugs him, much to his own dismay when [[spoiler: he is forced to join the Foxy Pirates because of the Strawhats losing the first round of a Davy Back Fight]]. Chopper is all too happy to get away from her [[spoiler: when he is won back]].
** That's more of CutenessProximity than anything else. Chopper wasn't exactly afraid or uncomfortable because of Porche hugging him. He was more upset about the fact the he had to leave the [[TrueCompanions Straw Hat Pirates]] than he was scared over hugs. The anime {{Flanderized}}] the relationship between the two in the {{filler}}] and made him hide for his life from her. Still, Chopper wasn't being [[DoesNotKnowTheirOwnStrength crushed in her arms]] or anything. He was just scared that he might not see his friends ever again. Knowing Chopper, if Porche was gushing over his cuteness any other time, he'd probably [[RunningGag dance around while blushing before calling her an asshole.]] If this is an example, then it is a very downplayed example since Chopper wasn't exactly being loved "to death" or even accidentally abused or anything like that.