History Main / PsmithPsyndrome

-->'''Dorothy''': We'd like to arrange a funeral--
-->'''Mr. Pfeiffer''': Oh, how sweet. The three of you planning ahead for mother!
-->'''Sophia''': Hey, Pfeiffer, how'd you like a punch in your ''puh-face?''

* In ''Podcast/WelcomeToNightVale'', Old Woman Josie can tell that Cecil is misspelling the names of the angels that live with her (they are all called Erika, with a 'k').
* On ''Podcast/TheJohnDredgeNothingToDoWithAnythingShow'', there is Herman Goatsheep, owner of a Burgon Dispensing plant in Frinton, whose full name is Herman "Baaah"[[note]]Actual sound effect of a sheep bleating.[[/note]] Goatsheep. Although the "Baaah" is supposed to be silent, he can still hear it if you forget to pronounce it.

Some people [[MyNaymeIs spell words differently from the usual spelling]]. Some people not only spell words differently from the usual spelling, but can tell when somebody saying it ''is spelling it wrong in his head''. It's as if they can infer the other person having an "incorrect" FunetikAksent.

* The Psmiths in ''ComicBook/BuckGodotZapGunForHire'' spell their name(s) this way not only as a possible ShoutOut to Wodehouse's Literature/{{Psmith}}, but to indicate their telepathically-linked HiveMind status (the Greek letter Psi is parapsych shorthand for PsychicPowers).

* In Creator/DavidLangford's [[http://ansible.uk/writing/platens1.html pastiche Victorian con report]], the reporter can somehow hear that Creator/GeorgeBernardShaw isnt using apostrophes, and transcribes accordingly.

* Scott ffolliott (played by George Sanders) in Hitchcock's ''Film/ForeignCorrespondent'', whose family dropped the first capital letter following the death of an ancestor at the hands of Henry VIII. Apparently it's pronounced as a straight 'fuh'.

* In ''Literature/{{Wicked}}'', "animals" are ordinary creatures, whereas "Animals" are creatures who can talk, think, and act like people. Apparently Ozites have a way of telling whether or not words are pronounced with a capital letter.

* The protatgonist of the Creator/BrandonSanderson short has the magical "knacks" of hearing the spelling and punctuation in spoken words and [[SupernaturallyDeliciousAndNutritious smelling so delicious to dragons that they go insane with the desire to eat him]]. He's rather annoyed at how people only seem to be interested in the second of those knacks.

* {{Invoked|Trope}} by Alan Davies in the pilot episode of ''Series/{{QI}}'', leading to the above quote. When Alan answers a question by saying '[[UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler Adolf]]', it turns out that that answer was one of the pre-designated ones that make you lose points, so after Creator/StephenFry reveals the card reading 'Adolph', Alan protests with the page quote. This issue is also brought up in another episode, when Sean Lock asks 'can you tell if I'm spelling things wrong when I say them?' and Stephen Fry brings up Literature/{{Psmith}}. On yet another occasion, Phil Jupitus discusses a hypothetical waiter named Steven, with Stephen commenting that he can tell it Phil was saying it with a "v".

* Achmed the Dead Terrorist, one of Creator/JeffDunham's puppets, corrects him when he says its name...the ch being pronounced with a back-of-the-throat spitting noise is drawn out as a gag:

*** It's more common in the UK, with a reasonable number of people familiar with the correct pronunciation of "Loch". One character in Creator/IainBanks's novel ''The Crow Road'' is put out by the fact that after decades of apparent inability to pronounce the guttural 'ch' sound in Scottish names, the western television and radio media suddenly demonstrate that they're quite capable of doing so in Arabic names.

** Ron [=DeLite=] in the third ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorney'' game corrects Phoenix's spelling of Mask☆[=DeMasque=]. Apparently there's a difference between 'mask' and 'masque', and you have to get them in the right order. Also, you have to include the star, somehow. This has led to the fan theory that the star is pronounced by pausing and doing jazz hands.

* A "calorie" (with a small "c") and a "Calorie" (with a big "C") are not the same thing, the latter being equivalent to one thousand of the former. This is not a problem when written, such as on the Nutrition Facts section of food boxes, but the two cannot be distinguished when spoken, such as in commercials. Ninety-nine percent of the time, the big-C kilocalorie is what is meant, despite there being absolutely no indication of this in the commercials themselves. Certain countries use the more "correct" notation since calorie is metric, kcal. However, among those countries, at least the Swedes has the annoying habit of ''pronouncing'' kcal as "calorie". As in reading "forty-five calories" where the carton says "45 kcal".

** The usual criterion of being part of Capital-D Deaf culture is being fluent in sign-language.

* Parodied in an episode of ''Series/TheGoldenGirls'', where the four come into contact with a funeral director named Mr. Pfeiffer. The pronounciation of his name is [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin exactly how it's spelled]]: "''Puh''-feiffer"; the "P" is not silent.
-->'''Dorothy:''' Anyway, Mr. Puh-feiffer... about the puh-funeral -- about the funeral...\\
'''Pfeiffer:''' ''[not verbatim]'' You're pre-arranging one for your mother?\\
'''Sophia:''' How'd you like a punch in the p-face?

* Franchise/KingdomHearts has the all-powerful X-Blade, sometimes pronounced Kai-Blade. However, most characters pronounced it Kee-Blade, like the signature Keyblade weapons. Somehow the characters know how to distinguish between the X-Blade and their normal Keyblades.

** The second game does this too: although the incriminating evidence (a message supposedly written by Maggey Byrde's boyfriend which calls her "Maggie") is a photograph and thus makes total sense, once this distinction is brought up, everyone seems fully capable of distinguishing the two spellings by sound. Of course, since this is ''Ace Attorney'', it's almost certainly done for humor.
** Imported straight from the Japanese version, in which the court can tell apart two names that are pronounced ''exactly the same way'' but spelled using different kanji. "Her name isn't Suzuki... it's ''Suzuki!''"

* T-Rex from ''Webcomic/DinosaurComics'' at one point tries [[http://www.qwantz.com/archive/000691.html speaking in homophones,]] except that no one can tell the difference. Also, God can tell whether or not [[http://www.qwantz.com/archive/001245.html a spoken sentence is properly punctuated.]]

!!Examples

[[folder:Comics]]
* SelfDemonstrating/{{Deadpool}} can and has done this thanks to MediumAwareness.

[[folder:Film]]

-->'''Dorothy:''' Anyway, Mr. Puh-feiffer... about the puh-funeral -- about the funeral...
-->Pfeiffer: (not verbatim) You're pre-arranging one for your mother?
-->'''Sophia:''' How'd you like a punch in the p-face?
* In one host segment of ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'', Tom Servo declares that his name has been changed to Tom Sirveaux. Later, he adds an H to his first name... to make it Htom Sirveaux. In response, Crow suggests that Htom hlick him and starts spelling his name with an "e" and a HeavyMetalUmlaut (Cröe).
** During this sequence, Tom can tell when the others are calling him Servo rather than Sirveaux even though the pronunciation is exactly the same.

* This trope is infamously well-loved by manga creators. Because Japanese names can be drastically different despite using the same kanji, characters are often seen stating that they use a rare reading. It's a level up on reading Smith as either "smith" or "smythe". On the other side of this trope, in which the same name can be written with sometimes wildly differing kanji, even characters in manga not known for breaking the fourth wall can express an unusual writing of their name in speech bubbles, so it comes across as if other characters can actually read what they're describing.

* The Irish name Seán has maintained [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff a surprising amount of popularity]] across socioeconomic groups in Israel, where having a Western name if you were born there is generally seen as a sign of pretentiousness, at least for boys, but more often than not they spell their ''own'' name in English as ‘Shon’.

[[quoteright:300:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/crw_jay_a_reaction.png]]

* In Creator/LarryNiven's ''The Literature/{{Ringworld}} Throne'', sapient races' names receiving a capital letter, and lower case letters used for non-sapients. Justified by TranslationConvention, as a character remarks that one species "takes the prefix" for animals, not people.

* Creator/CartoonNetwork's ''What A Cartoon Short'' "A Short Pfuse" starred Pfish, a shark, who with Chip (a bobcat) were bomb squad officers. It was made by a pre-''Fairly Oddparents'' Butch Hartman.

* {{Invoked|Trope}} by Alan Davies in the pilot episode of ''Series/{{QI}}'', leading to the above quote. When Alan answers a question by saying 'Adolf', it turns out that that answer was one of the pre-designated ones that make you lose points, so after Creator/StephenFry reveals the card reading 'Adolph', Alan protests with the page quote. This issue is also brought up in another episode, when Sean Lock asks 'can you tell if I'm spelling things wrong when I say them?' and Stephen Fry brings up Literature/{{Psmith}}.

* The villain Goda from ''Anime/GhostInTheShellStandAloneComplex 2nd Gig'' manages to exemplify a Japanese take on Psmith Psyndrome. In his first appearance, he points out to Aramaki that most people read his name wrong and that his given name, written 一人 (normally read as "hitori"), is actually "Kazunodo." He also likes it, because after having been corrected once, people have a much easier time recalling his name later.

* The villain Goda from ''Anime/GhostInTheShellStandAloneComplex 2nd Gig'' manages to exemplify a Japanese take on Psmith Psyndrome. In his first appearance, he points out to Aramaki that most people read his name wrong and that his given name, written 一人 (normally read as "hitori"), is actually "Kazudo."
** He also likes it, because after having been corrected once, people have a much easier time recalling his name later.

Some people [[MyNaymeIs spell their names differently from the usual spelling]]. Some people not only spell their names differently from the usual spelling, but can tell when somebody saying their name ''is spelling it wrong in his head''. It's as if they can infer the other person having an "incorrect" FunetikAksent.

-->'''Paige:''' Hi there! You must be little Catherine!\\

* In ''Webcomic/{{Narbonic}}'', ANTONIO SMITH, FORENSIC LINGUIST [[http://www.webcomicsnation.com/shaenongarrity/narbonic_plus/series.php?view=archive&chapter=50919#strip5 can hear your semicolons]].
* T-Rex from ''Webcomic/DinosaurComics'' at one point tries [[http://www.qwantz.com/archive/000691.html speaking in homophones]], except that no one can tell the difference. Also, God can tell whether or not [[http://www.qwantz.com/archive/001245.html a spoken sentence is properly punctuated]].

** Inverted when Durkon didn't prepare the Control Winds spell even though he knew they'd be going through the Windy Canyon. [[RuleOfFunny Somehow]], Durkon had thought the title referred to the canyon's "winding" passages. [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0837.html Lampshaded by V in the same strip]].

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* Early in ''Literature/TheGraceOfKings'', LoveableRogue Kuni Garu crashes a party under the name of Fin, a wealthy young man. When his love interest, Jia, points out that she just met the actual Fin, Kuni [[RefugeInAudacity then claims]] that he's Fin's cousin, ''Phin'', and purses his lips to show the (nearly nonexistent) difference in pronunciation.

* Used in in a sketch on ''Punch!'' where Tom Cruise and Penélope Cruz's relationship is said to have been broken up due to her frustration about everyone calling her Penélope Cruise.

* Cartoon Network's ''What A Cartoon Short'' "A Short Pfuse" starred Pfish, a shark, who with Chip (a bobcat) were bomb squad officers. It was made by a pre-''Fairly Oddparents'' Butch Hartman.

*** Played with, in that whereas initially Pteppic pronounces every "t" word with a "p" in the beginning, by the time he's finished his education in Ankh-Morpork, even he doesn't include the "p" in front of his own name, thinking of himself as Teppic.

* It happens occasionally in PiersAnthony's ''Literature/{{Xanth}}'' series.

* In PiersAnthony's ''BEARING AN HOURGLASS'', the protagonist can actually hear when Satan is capitalizing His pronouns.