History Main / LiteralMinded

* ''VideoGame/IWasATeenageExocolonist'': If Sol flirts with her by telling her that she "looks ''really'' hot today", she'll obliviously respond with this:
--> '''Tang''': It will cool down now that night is falling. And this lab coat is lighter than it looks. I'm fine.

* ''ComicStrip/MadamAndEve'': In one strip, Thandi hears President UsefulNotes/DonaldTrump complain about being the victim of "the biggest witch hunt ever", then imagines him being chased down by a squadron of [[WitchClassic flying witches]].

* ''VideoGame/DiceyDungeons'':
** When Lady Luck asks her what brought her to the show, she replies by describing the make and model of the train she and the others took there.
** When Thief is surprised at the "dice thing" being literal, Lady Luckk says:
--> I mean *everything* literally.

* ''Film/DungeonsAndDragonsHonorAmongThiefes'': Xenk is a ProudWarriorRaceGuy who has a straight moral codex of speaking clear and direct. He has serious problems catching up with the other Party members way of speaking, being not only SarcasmBlind but also misinterpreting figures of speech like "son of a bitch" or "having something off his sleeve" by taking them literally.

* ''Fanfic/TheBoltChronicles'': Bolt is often seen as being very literal-minded, which usually results in his ComicallyMissingThePoint.
** In "The Makeover", he misunderstands what Mittens means when she refers to "[[TheBodyPartsThatMustNotBeNamed doggy lipstick]]", resulting in Bolt giving himself a [[CosmeticCatastrophe hideously garish makeover]]. His thinking is that if Mittens enjoys doggy lipstick, she'll like him even better if he's wearing several other kinds of makeup as well.
** In "The Wedding Reception", he misconstrues a joke by Mittens regarding "Music/PachelbelsCanon" and steps all over the punch line. He thinks Mittens's parodied title, "Taco Bell Canon", was the work's title all along after her quip.
** In "The Cameo", he misunderstands Blaze's ''Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack'' I-am-your-father quote (wondering instead why he just called him Luke), as well as misconstruing his father's description of his girlfriend as a "[[ButterFace two-bagger]]" by thinking this means she plays baseball. Earlier, Bolt is thoroughly confused by the suggestive teasing from Penny and her friend in connection with a smut fic featuring him and his master.
** In "The Gift", he misconstrues Mittens's question "How about sex?" as a come-on rather than an inquiry about whether beings in Nirvana have sex or not.
** In "The Seven", young Bolt misunderstands when one of his friends says that "even ''Film/CitizenKane'' is no ''Film/CitizenKane''." His reaction is to ask "How can ''Film/CitizenKane'' not be ''Film/CitizenKane'' if that's what it is?"
** In "The Cakes" ,Bolt misconstrues Mittens's evasiveness regarding her having gone to use the litter box, taking her "making a cake" euphemism literally.

** In ''Meet the Spy'', the BLU Spy spents a few minutes telling everyone exactly how dangerous the RED Spy is, finalizing with "It could be ''you''... It could be ''me!''". The BLU Soldier takes this last bit a little too literally and [[YourHeadAsplode shoots his head off with a shotgun]] on the spot.

--> '''Kitten''': "Don't worry, my Lord! I can just use this lingua-technis mouthpiece instead so I can talk in binary!"
--> '''Emperor''': [[AC:What the shit?]]
--> '''Kitten''': [[AC: 01001001001111110001000101...]]
** [[spoiler:Rogal Dorn]] is so literal it hurts, and completely oblivious to the fact, driving the Emperor crazy. Apparently {{justified}} even while it's {{exaggerated}}: When the Emperor asks whether it's because of brain damage, he says yes.

* In the short cartoon "Expiration Date", ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'''s Soldier takes an offhand comment that he can teleport bread if he wants as an instruction to spend three days doing nothing but.

* And in ''WebAnimation/BrawlOfTheObjects'', Boat is known to take breaking the fourth wall literally, as she doesn't talk to the viewers, she breaks a wall with the number four on it. Yes, really.
* Creator/{{Egoraptor}}'s short [[http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/529003 Mr. Literal]] is about this type of character.
* The rule of funny in several ''WebAnimation/EddieAtTheLMV'' [[LiteralMusicVideo musical cover videos]]. A particular one is in the ''[[Music/LadyAntebellum Need You Now]]'' video, in which the lyric "Another shot of whiskey" has a visual of Eddie pointing a pistol at a man (presumably called Whiskey).

* Door from ''WebAnimation/HunterTheParenting'' inherits [[WebAnimation/IfTheEmperorHadATextToSpeechDevice Rogal Dorn's]] literal-mindedness. In the first episode, he responds to the idea of "burning Boy's fear away" with "We are not throwing my son into a fire". Cue Big D threatening to make a metaphor physical and beat him with it.

* ''VideoGame/EarthBound: The Perpetual Adventures'': At one point, Ness tells Poo that he's free to "crash" at his house whenever he'd like. Poo asks why he'd want to do something like slam into his house, before Ness clears it up.

* ''Film/{{Airplane}}'' abuses this trope very frequently:
-->'''Dr. Rumack:''' Captain, how soon can we land?\\
'''Oveur:''' I can't tell.\\
'''Dr. Rumack:''' You can tell me. I'm a doctor.\\
'''Oveur:''' No. I mean I'm just not sure.\\
'''Dr. Rumack:''' Can't you take a guess?\\
'''Oveur:''' Well... not for another two hours.\\
'''Dr. Rumack:''' ''[{{beat}}] You can't take a guess for another two hours?''

* Frederick the Deino in ''[[FanFic/PokemonMysteryDungeonReflectingBalance Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Reflecting Balance]]'' occasionally has moments of this, such as responding to a comment about having difficulty "breaking the ice" with someone by recommending fire or fighting moves, or when he responds to Azure commenting that she has an itch for adventure by asking if said itch is in a spot she can't reach.
* ''Fanfic/MrAndMrsGold'': Belle decides not to use metaphor when planning to tell Mr. Gold [[spoiler:that she is pregnant]] because of this (though it might be a side-effect of hundreds of years of bending the wording of his deals to his advantage).

* In ''Fanfic/WhatTomorrowBrings'', Gafinilan and Mertil are both unfamiliar with human terms. The former thinks that the "ladies" sign on a block of toilets is misleading because it may have one lady in it or none at all; and when [[spoiler:Loren]] is disappointed that the neurobot mat can't cure her mental traumas and "save [her] some money on therapy", Mertil assures her that it doesn't run on money.

* ''FanFic/{{Swordsaint}}'': [[Literature/SwordArtOnline Cardinal]] has moments of this. For example, Kayaba tells it to give Kirito, Asuna, and Joan useful items after defeating the Gleam Eyes. It did so for Kirito and Joan, but because Asuna was spending more after she started dating Kirito, it gave her a shield, counter to her fighting style, so she could sell it for funds.
* ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/5113310 Look the Devil in the Face]]'' is all about the Avengers believing the Devil of Hell's Kitchen ''is'' a genuine demon attached to the neighbourhood. It's actually kinda reasonable because the Marvel universe is completely crazy, but Matt still feels a mite vexed over it.

* At one point in the Sonic fic ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/2651756/6/Caves-of-the-Ancients Caves of the Ancients]]'', Bait the Jackal suffers some cuts to his hands when a rope he is holding rips out of his grip. Knuckles offers to treat his wounds, but he just says he'll lick them. Knux then insists, stating that only the Chaos Emeralds know where his tongue has been, to which he replies "in my head, where I normally keep it."
** Late [[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/2865975/20/Into-the-Void two fics later]], Bait demands a fight with Shadow for having killed Raker, whom he himself admitted had been nothing but abusive. Shadow states that if such a person were his own brother, he'd bust out the champagne and party hats, creating a really weird idea for Bait to visualize.
* During the endgame of ''Fanfic/StarsAbove'', Konata refers to everything that's gone on lately as bullshit. Kyubey asks what actually involves male cow feces.

* In a ''Anime/LuckyStar'' anthology titled ''Lucky Powers'', Kagami's story involves her becoming a mage. A portal she opens grants her request to teleport Misao and Ayano's panties to her, followed by a cake when she says that it "takes the cake." Kagami makes note to be careful around it before sending all three items back.

* ''WebVideo/TheBuggerAnthology'': Dalek Sec proudly [[BadassBoast boasts that one Dalek could wipe out five million Cybermen]], only for Caan to volunteer to be that one Dalek.
--> '''Dalek Sec: I WAS BEING FIGURATIVE.'''\\
'''Dalek Caan: OH.'''
* ''Fanfic/CheatingDeathThoseThatLived'':
** Woof Casino has a learning disorder that makes him feel unable to act without receiving orders. Once he gets orders, though, he takes them to the extreme. He volunteers when his disabled younger brother is reaped, not so much out of love and affection, but because he interprets the pleas to "save me" as a command. When his mentor orders him to "learn everything", he goes to every training station in the gymnasium, picking up the skills to earn a training score of 11. This [[PlayedForHorror takes a darker turn]] when [[spoiler:his last opponent in the arena mutters, "[[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil Aw, fuck me.]]"]] Then, after his victory, Duke Saint-Rose tells Woof to [[spoiler:"Stop obeying everybody's damn orders" and he does ''that'' without a second's pause]].
** Blinded by {{greed}}, Hessian Leblanc, the Head Gamemaker for [[HandicappedBadass Snag's]] Games, responds to the President's orders for an "explosive" Hunger Games by [[spoiler:only supplying hand grenades as weapons at the Cornucopia, which ends [[StuffBlowingUp just as well as you'd expect]]. {{Deconstructed|Trope}} when Hessian ends up getting executed painfully over this blunder]].
* In the ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' fic ''Fanfic/TwilightsList'', Rainbow Dash shows some signs of this, believing that pruning apple trees is some sort of strange excuse for Applejack to not come watch her new stunt because apple trees don't grow prunes. She also is confused by metaphors, though that may also be an outgrowth of her [[ShapedLikeItself lack of ability to construct proper metaphors herself.]]
* In ''Fanfic/KyonBigDamnHero'', Kyon starts chatting with Sasaki, who brings up that most of his events were most probably organized by someone else. His PDA, being able to learn and adapt, brings up his event planner immediately. He then tries to avoid meetings with her with lame excuses that Skynet (his PDA) obligingly fills his schedule with as it doesn't understand Kyon is lying.
* 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.
* From ''Fanfic/CalvinAndHobbesTheSeries'':

* In the fic ''Fanfic/NewStars'', Isaac is shown to be this. When John states that Maxx and the other clones had been gaslighted by the Kaminoans into thinking they could never be anything but soldiers, Isaac asks if John believes that the clones were regularly set on fire.

* In ''Fanfic/EquestriaAHistoryRevealed'', the LemonyNarrator certainly fits this well. She tends to analyze minute details behind word choice in an attempt to find some hidden meaning. However, this is not always the case, as sometimes she ignores the literal meaning for a more symbolic one. She really tends to go either way depending on what supports her way of thinking the best at the moment.

* ''WebAnimation/TurnaboutStorm'': Every metaphor [[Franchise/AceAttorney Phoenix]] uses inevitably flies over [[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic Pinkie's]] head. For example, she says she missed the part where [[TheStoic Sonata]] was [[DeathGlare throwing daggers out of her eyes]], and wishes she could do that.

* Godzilla Junior in ''Fanfic/TheBridge'' only barely grasps figurative meaning in a lot of sayings. Hilarity ensues.

* ''Fanfic/WhiteSheepRWBY'':
** Jaune, due to being raised completely away from human civilization with only his family around. He does get better eventually, but it takes him a while to learn that "sleep with" is a euphemism for sex (since sex doesn't involve much sleeping), and mistakes Yang's joking "it's a date!" [[MistakenForRomance for an actual invitation to a date]].
** Jaune's sisters are at least as bad. Though his eldest sister, Sapphire, does seem to have a bit more experience in human civilization, and correctly uses the phrase "there are plenty of fish in the sea" instead of "there are plenty of nevermore in the sky" that the rest of the family uses.
--->'''Coral:''' I can't ''fuck'' a fish.\\
'''Sapphire:''' It's an expression!

* ''Fanfic/TheBoltChronicles'': Bolt is often seen as being very literal-minded, which usually results in his ComicallyMissingThePoint.
** In "The Makeover", he misunderstands what Mittens means when she refers to "[[TheBodyPartsThatMustNotBeNamed doggy lipstick]]", resulting in Bolt giving himself a [[CosmeticCatastrophe hideously garish makeover]]. His thinking is that if Mittens enjoys doggy lipstick, she'll like him even better if he's wearing several other kinds of makeup as well.
** In "The Wedding Reception", he misconstrues a joke by Mittens regarding "Music/PachelbelsCanon" and steps all over the punch line. He thinks Mittens's parodied title, "Taco Bell Canon", was the work's title all along after her quip.
** In "The Cameo", he misunderstands Blaze's ''Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack'' I-am-your-father quote (wondering instead why he just called him Luke), as well as misconstruing his father's description of his girlfriend as a "[[ButterFace two-bagger]]" by thinking this means she plays baseball. Earlier, Bolt is thoroughly confused by the suggestive teasing from Penny and her friend in connection with a smut fic featuring him and his master.
** In "The Gift", he misconstrues Mittens's question "How about sex?" as a come-on rather than an inquiry about whether beings in Nirvana have sex or not.
** In "The Seven", young Bolt misunderstands when one of his friends says that "even ''Film/CitizenKane'' is no ''Film/CitizenKane''." His reaction is to ask "How can ''Film/CitizenKane'' not be ''Film/CitizenKane'' if that's what it is?"
** In "The Cakes" ,Bolt misconstrues Mittens's evasiveness regarding her having gone to use the litter box, taking her "making a cake" euphemism literally.

* When [[Wrestling/HunterJohnston Delirious]] debuted for Elite Wrestling, he tried to eat Cheeseburger his opponent, for the night (who had been nicknamed such by [[Wrestling/TheWorldsGreatestTagTeam Charlie Haas]] on the grounds [[HollywoodThin he needed to eat one]]).[[/folder]]

* ''ComicStrip/PhoebeAndHerUnicorn''; Marigold Heavenly Nostrils is both a unicorn and very literal minded. She reacts with horror when Phoebe says she's going to rub Marigold in Dakota's snotty face, and when Phoebe's mom says she has to paint her, Marigold is game, but wants to know which color, first.

A literal-minded person just [[BluntMetaphorsTrauma doesn't get figurative speech]], instead interpreting instructions, idioms, {{understatement}}, {{sarcasm|Blind}}, etc. completely literally.

** The [[WesternAnimation/TheLionKing2019 remake of the first film]] has Azizi taking Kamari's puns literally, at one point taking his "staying for dinner" line for "inviting the cubs to have dinner with them".

A literal-minded person just [[BluntMetaphorsTrauma doesn't get figurative speech]], instead interpreting instructions, idioms, {{understatement}}, {{sarcasm|Blind}}, and so forth completely literally.

'''Cid:''' Thank you, Clive. But I meant that figuratively.\\

-->'''Cid:''' Well, that didn't work. I think we're going to need a bigger sword.
'''Clive (drawing his sword):''' Mine's bigger.
'''Cid:''' Thank you, Clive. But I meant that figuratively.