History Main / LiteralMinded

'''Egoraptor's''' [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jI4Ojgz5Qo4 'Mr.Literal']]

* From an episode of ''Bottom'':

See also LiteralGenie, who uses powers to do this maliciously; {{Bothering by the Book}} and ExactWords, where somebody deliberately uses a literal interpretation in order to gain an advantage or make a point (perhaps using ObfuscatingStupidity to look like this); and RalphWiggum, who is a complete idiot in a more general sense. Causes EntendreFailure. These characters will occasionally be TheUnfunny as well. NoLongerWithUs can be a subtrope; contrast LiteralMetaphor.

[[AmeliaBedelia http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/catsandogs_9863_6832.png]]
[[caption-width:330:Be careful. Don't step in a [[IncrediblyLamePun poodle]]!]]

* Bart Allen (Impulse/Kid Flash) is pretty literal minded, though it could be justified in his case--not only is he from the future, but he grew up in virtual reality.
-->'''Superman:''' The Pope was very understanding--especially when you wondered if he was Catholic.
-->'''Bart:''' A lot of people I know keep asking!

* Inverted in [[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3946501/8/Thousand_Shinji Chapter 8]] of ''FanFic/ThousandShinji'', Rei is asked by Asuka, "Aren't you hot wearing all that?? To which Rei replied, "Yes. Very. Thank you,? It took Asuka couple seconds to figure out what Rei had said, then she became more specific.

-->''(Tony gets up and heads for the victim's home. Ziva stays)''\\

* [[TheSimpsons Homer]] is usually prone to this. Then he subverts it by imagining what a Thinking Tank might be... namely a group of executive people having a discussion.
--> '''Homer (to the baffled Marge and Lisa):''' What? Can't I get one right at least?!

Saying {{Think Nothing of It}} is a common way to learn of this quirk.

* Inside ''{{Spaceballs}}'', [[IncrediblyLamePun Colonel Sandurz]] [[spoiler:(think of Kentucky Fried Chicken)]] and [[CaptainErsatz Lord Helmet]] are ordered to comb the desert, searching for the protagonists. Guess what happens.

[[quoteright:330:[[AmeliaBedelia http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/catsandogs_9863_6832.png]]]]
[[caption-width-right:330:Be careful. Don't step in a [[IncrediblyLamePun poodle]]!]]

[[AmeliaBedelia http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/catsandogs_9863_6832.png]]
[[caption-width:330: Be careful. Don't step in a [[IncrediblyLamePun poodle]]! ]]

-->"Phil, look. I've had it up to here with you."
-->"Relative to what? Up to here relative to what? The floor? Sea level? The distance from here to the sun? What?"
-->--'''Philip K. Literal''' and his boss.

See also LiteralGenie, who uses powers to do this maliciously; BotheringByTheBook and ExactWords, where somebody deliberately uses a literal interpretation in order to gain an advantage or make a point (perhaps using ObfuscatingStupidity to look like this); and RalphWiggum, who is a complete idiot in a more general sense. Causes EntendreFailure. These characters will occasionally be TheUnfunny as well. NoLongerWithUs can be a subtrope; contrast LiteralMetaphor.

Saying ThinkNothingOfIt is a common way to learn of this quirk.

!!Examples

* Sousuke Sagara from ''FullMetalPanic''. His literal-mindedness provides a lot of humor in quite a few serious situations (as well as not serious situations). One particular CrowningMomentOfFunny in the novels comes during the Behemoth arc. Sousuke defeated Takuma, which is supposed to result in a {{Tearjerker}} moment, where the dying Takuma moans, "I lost, sister. Why'd I lose?..." Sousuke proceeds to take the question ''literally'', and tactlessly attempts to explain to Takuma why he failed so miserably in an "I-told-you-so, but did you listen?" sort of way. Needless to say, Kaname tells him to shut up, and Tessa tries to repair the dramatic atmosphere.
* One AstroBoy story has Astro succumb to this when Ochanomizu says he'll find the authorities who sent Astro to be scrapped and "grease their palms". He then uses a rapid-fire sequence of these to make a computer [[LogicBomb implode]].

--> '''France:''' Just shake your ass at them or something.
--> (later)
--> '''Italy:''' Oh, oh, Japan! Want to see my bum-?

* Various Characters in {{Chick Tracts}} are literal minded, but we're supposed to agree with them on every single issue in TheBible. But then again, JackChick is a [[TheFundamentalist Fundamentalist]] IRL.

--> '''Sarge:''' Zero, take this report to the General's office, and step on it!

[[folder:Eastern Animation]]
* The main character in ''There Lived Kozyavin'' who takes the order "go this way" literally and ends up walking quite a distance.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Film]]

-->'''Woody''': Buzz, will you get up here and give me a hand?\\
''(Buzz tosses his severed arm at Woody.)''\\
'''Woody''': Ha-ha! Ha-ha... [[CrowningMomentOfFunny that's very funny]], but THIS IS SERIOUS!
* ''FreddyGotFingered'': "You must get inside the animal".
* ''{{Zoolander}}'': "The files are [[{{Too Dumb To live}} ''inside the computer'']]..."
* Inside ''{{Spaceballs}}'', [[IncrediblyLamePun Colonel Sandurz]] [[spoiler:(Think of Kentucky Fried Chicken)]] and [[CaptainErsatz Lord Helmet]] are ordered to comb the desert, searching for the protagonists. Guess what happens.
* In ''TempleGrandin'' we see the autistic Temple's interpretation of idioms (Temple's Aunt: We wake up with the chickens around here!" Temple: (after imagining her relatives perched on a fence in their PJ's) * laughing* "That's ridiculous!"). This gets her in a bit of trouble when she builds a hugbox and a psychiatrist asks her if she gets [[IfYouKnowWhatIMean a release from it]] and she says yes (because if there wasn't a release lever she couldn't get out). Unfortunately she doesn't clarify that part and her hugbox gets taken away.
* In a Swedish movie called ''In Space, There Are No Emotions'', the (autistic) main character, Simon, states during a monologue that he dislikes people who speak in sayings and metaphor.
-->'''His Boss:''' Come on, get to work now, Simon! Time is money!
-->'''Simon:''' ...''(yelling, as his boss walks away)'' No, it's not! Time is time! Money is money!
* Peter in ''FindingNeverland''. At the very least, he can't (or won't) imagine that a dog is a bear, for instance.

** Similarly, never tell Cohen the Barbiarian that you would "rather die than betray my emperor". He will be all too happy to oblige. Ankh-Morpork citizens are known for a certain amount of this, if not so much as the dwarfish race in general is.

* Ziva from {{NCIS}}, on occasion. Once, the team had to come in on a Sunday, and Tony joked that Gibbs was wearing a suit because he was getting married again:
--> ''(Tony gets up and heads for the victim's home. Ziva stays)''\\
''Gibbs'': (angrily) Are you waiting for an invitation, Officer David?\\
''Ziva'': (clueless) Oh. So you really ''are'' getting married?\\
''Tony'': He means you're with me.\\
''Ziva'': Oh!

-->'''Bones''': It's not a spaceship.
-->'''Booth''': Well, if it smells like a duck, walks like a duck, quacks like a duck...
-->'''Bones''': Then it would be a duck, not a spaceship. Your point escapes me.

-->'''[[TheBarnum Sir Humphrey]]''': I'm taking the director of the bank to lunch, we might manage to cook something up.\\
'''Bernard''': Why don't you go to a restaurant - oh...I see what you mean.

--> '''Penny''': I give up, he's impossible.\\
'''Sheldon''': I can't be impossible, I exist. I believe what you meant to say is, "I give up, he's improbable."

--->'''Leonard''': For God's sake, Sheldon, do I have to hold up a "sarcasm" sign every time I open my mouth?\\
'''Sheldon (intrigued)''': You have a sarcasm sign?\\

* There was a sketch on The Amanda Show about an entire family with this condition. Naturally, they were literally named "The Literals".
* [[OurAngelsAreDifferent Some of the angels]] on ''{{Supernatural}}''. While most of the angels encountered (notably (and quite surprisingly) Zachariah, Anna (who had been human) and Gabriel, [[spoiler: the Trickster]]) seemed to understand sarcasm and were often sarcastic themselves, others have more difficulty--particularly Uriel, and especially, ''especially'' Castiel:
**
-->'''Dean''': "Your buddy Lucifer..." \\
'''Uriel''': "Lucifer is no friend of ours."
**
-->'''Dean''': "Try New Mexico, I've heard [God]'s on a tortilla.\\
'''Castiel''': "He's not on any flatbread."

-->'''Dean''': "You know what, blow me, Cas."\\
Cue a slightly confused expression on Castiel's face.

--> '''Mega Man:''' Are you dense?!?
--> '''Dr. Wright:''' What does my mass-to-volume ratio have to do with anything?
--> '''Mega Man:''' WHAT ARE YOU? CAPTAIN LITERAL?!?
--> '''Dr. Wright:''' No, I'm Doctor--
--> '''Mega Man:''' DON'T ANSWER THAT!!

[[folder: Web Original]]

* Happens more often than not to [[TeenTitans Starfire]].

* Brian's human girlfriend Jillian from ''FamilyGuy'' was like this.
* There was that one episode of {{Animaniacs}}, when Yakko was the king. He suggested polka-dot new flag (among other things, since this was the episode's {{Running Gag}}). Then someone was sure to ask: 'Polka-dot?' and cue to the person dancing Polka with Yakko's sister Dot.

** Schizophrenics have been noted in making errors with the meanings of metaphors and irony - typically that they do tend to take things literally.

<<|StockCharacters|>>

* The title character of ''[[KaBlam Life with Loopy]]''.

* In [[{{Ptitle0028gzjm}} Kyon: Big Damn Hero]], Kyon starts chatting with Sasaki, who brings up that most of his events were most probably organized by someone else. His PDA, named Skynet, brings up his event planner immediately, and he quickly notices that she's right. He then tries to avoid meetings with her, with lame excuses, that Skynet obligingly fills his schedule with.

* In totalitarian societies like the old Soviet Union, literal interpretation of laws may be one of very few ways people can express discontent with them, since following poorly chosen laws and thus becoming an inefficient worker will make the case that the laws have to be changed; this can also be seen on a smaller scale with workers in private firms.

* In ''[[BioPic Temple Grandin]]'' we see the autistic Temple's interpretation of idioms (Temple's Aunt: We wake up with the chickens around here!" Temple: (after imagining her relatives perched on a fence in their PJ's) * laughing* "That's ridiculous!"). This gets her in a bit of trouble when she builds a hugbox and a psychiatrist asks her if she gets [[IfYouKnowWhatIMean a release from it]] and she says yes (because if there wasn't a release lever she couldn't get out). Unfortunately she doesn't clarify that part and her hugbox gets taken away.