History Main / TheNounWhoVerbed

* ''Film/MontyPythonAndTheHolyGrail''. ''The Knights Who Say ''Ni'''' use the word as their greatest weapon. They later change their name to something like ''The Knights Who Say ''Ekke Ekke Ekke Ekke Ptangya Zoooooooom Boing Ni'''', however, King Arthur, who can't pronounce this, proceeds to call them ''Knights Who ’Til Recently Said ''Ni''''. ItMakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext

[[quoteright:300:[[Literature/TheManWhoWouldBeKing https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/4dd3ff.png]]]]

* ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'' feature at different times the [[EldritchAbomination Outsiders]] known as ''He Who Walks Behind'', and ''He Who Walks Before''.

Often "The Girl Who..." or "The Boy Who...". A variation for inanimate objects is "The Noun ''That'' Verbed". The verb is usually in past tense and sometimes in present tense but rarely in future tense. Occasionally a pronoun is used instead of a noun.

OlderThanFeudalism with the fable "The Boy Who Cried Wolf".

* HeWhoMustNotBeHeard
* HeWhoMustNotBeSeen
* TheLittleShopThatWasntThereYesterday

* ''Film/TheManWhoNeverWas''

* ''[[Film/TheManWhoWasntThere2001 The Man Who Wasn't There]]''. The title is a {{Literary Allusion|Title}} to the poem "Antigonish".
* ''Film/TheManWhoWouldBeKing''

* ''Film/TheMouseThatRoared''

* ''Film/TheKidWhoWouldBeKing''

* ''The Bear That Wasn't''

* ''[[Literature/DragonridersOfPern The Girl Who Heard Dragons]]'' is a compilation of short stories that includes one of the same name. The main character of this story is a young girl called Aramina who can telepathically "hear" any dragon even though she is not bonded to one (something that is very rare in that 'verse).

* ''Literature/TheGirlWhoWouldBeKing''
* The first chapter of ''Literature/HarryPotterAndThePhilosophersStone'' is called "The Boy Who Lived" in reference to Harry surviving Voldemort's murder attempt the night before.
* One chapter of ''{{Literature/Inheritance|Cycle}}'' is called "That Which Does Not Kill...".

** "The Cat That Walked By Himself"
** "The Crab That Played With The Sea"
** "The Butterfly That Stamped"

* Creator/RobertAHeinlein wrote a novella called "The Man Who Sold the Moon".
* ''Literature/TheManWhoWasThursday''

* ''Literature/TheMouseThatRoared''

* "The Possum That Didn't"

** "The Tale of the Man Who Was Too Lazy to Fail"
** "The Tale of the Twins Who Weren't".
* "The World That Isn't"
* Creator/MarkTwain's "The Man Who Corrupted Hadleyburg"
* Margaret St. Clair's "The Boy Who Predicted Earthquakes"
* James Tiptree Jr.'s "The Psychologist Who Wouldn't Do Awful Things to Rats"
* Lawrence Block's ''The Thief Who Couldn't Sleep''. Also, in his Bernie Rhodenbarr series, about half of the books have titles that start with "The Burglar Who."

* Dr. S. Ralph Harlow wrote articles about alleged mediums called "The Woman Who Could Put Objects Into Motion" and "The Man Who Transported Objects Through Space Without Ever Leaving the Room".

** The series 6 (revival) episode "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E10TheGirlWhoWaited The Girl Who Waited]]". In it one of the Doctor's companions, Amy Pond, gets stuck in a different part of a hospital to the Doctor and Rory. [[spoiler:Due to time moving at different speeds in different parts of the hospital Amy has to wait a long time (from her point of view) for the Doctor to rescue her.]]
** Series 9 (revival) has a two-parter, both the episodes of which follow this convention. The episodes are called "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS35E5TheGirlWhoDied The Girl Who Died]]" and "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS35E6TheWomanWhoLived The Woman Who Lived]]". The title characters are [[spoiler: the same person, Ashildr — a maiden brought back from the grave by the Doctor as a functional immortal]].
** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS37E1TheWomanWhoFellToEarth "The Woman Who Fell to Earth"]]

* The ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'' episode "[[Recap/MysteryScienceTheater3000S08E05TheThingThatCouldntDie The Thing That Couldn't Die]]", which is about [[Film/TheThingThatCouldntDie the aforementioned film of the same name]].
* "The Man Who Was Never Born", an episode of ''Series/TheOuterLimits1963''.
* The ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' comedy sketch "The Thing That Wouldn't Leave", featuring Creator/JohnBelushi, Creator/BillMurray and Creator/JaneCurtin.

* "Music/TheManWhoSoldTheWorld", the TitleTrack of Music/DavidBowie's third album. The song was later covered by Music/{{Nirvana}}.
* "The Little Man Who Wasn't There" by Harold Adamson with music by Bernie Hanighen that was adapted from the poem "Antigonish".
-->''Yesterday, upon the stair,\\
I met a man who wasn't there.\\
He wasn't there again today,\\
I wish, I wish he'd go away...''
* "The Man Who Invented Himself" by Robyn Hitchcock
* "The Man Who Dies Every Day" by Music/{{Ultravox}} (John Foxx era)

* "The Princess Who Saved Herself" by Jonathan Coulton.
* "The Cockroach That Ate Cincinnati" by Rose & the Arrangement.

* ''Women Who Run with the Wolves'', which is about the "Wild Woman" archetype.

* Creator/ChuckJones did "The Bear Who Wasn't", which might've been based on a book of the same name.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSmurfs'' episode "The Smurf Who Would Be King".
* The ''WesternAnimation/DangerMouse'' episode "The Spy Who Stayed In With A Cold."
* ''WesternAnimation/TheHairBearBunch'' episode "The Bear Who Came To Dinner."
* The [[WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes Bugs Bunny]] cartoon "The Wabbit Who Came To Supper."

* In UsefulNotes/{{the Bronze Age|OfComicBooks}} Creator/MarvelComics a supergroup of supervillains are called "They Who Wield Power", or "They" for short.

* ''Film/MontyPythonAndTheHolyGrail''. "The Knights Who Say "Ni"" use the word as their greatest weapon. They later change their name to something like "The Knights Who Say "Ekke Ekke Ekke Ekke Ptangya Zoooooooom Boing Ni"", however, King Arthur, who can't pronounce this, proceeds to call them "Knights Who ’Til Recently Said "Ni"". ItMakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext

* In ''[[Literature/AlcatrazSeries Alcatraz Versus the Secret Librarians]]'', Alcatraz shrewdly guesses that "She Who Cannot Be Named" must be so fearsome her name is taboo, as in Literature/HarryPotter. Turns out people just can't pronounce it.
* In a parody of "She Who Must Be Obeyed", the trolls of ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' know Granny Weatherwax as "She Who Must Be Avoided".
* "The Prince Who Dreams in the Void" is mentioned in passing in ''[[Literature/WarOfTheSpiderQueen Dissolution]]''.

** Harry is often called "The Boy Who Lived" as he was the only one to ever survive either the Killing Curse or Voldemort.
** [[BigBad Lord Voldemort]] is often referred to as "He Who Must Not Be Named", as people are afraid that [[SpeakOfTheDevil speaking his name might summon him]]. In the last book he has a moment of GenreSavvy and puts a curse on his name, so that everyone who speaks it can be located, making the previous fear pretty much justified.
* ''{{Literature/Inheritance|Cycle}}''. One of the titles of the king of the werecats, Grimrr Halfpaw, is "He Who Walks Alone". Eragon notes that it's an odd title but no explanation is given other than Saphira theorising that it's a case of ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin.
* Valar are rarely called that by name in ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' (in contrast to ''The Silmarillion'' where they were often referred to by either that or their individual names), instead being known as "Those Who Dwell Across the Sea".
* In the book ''Literature/{{She}}'', "She" is a shortened form of the full name the natives use to refer to their immortal queen Ayesha: "She Who Must Be Obeyed."
* ''Literature/TheShipWhoSang''. Helva is known as "The Ship Who Sings" due to her reputation as a [[WetWareCPU Brainship]] with a rare talent for it. Doubles as a TitleDrop.
* ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'' feature at different times the [[EldritchAbomination Outsiders]] known as "He Who Walks Behind", and "He Who Walks Before".

* ''Series/DoctorWho''. At different points the Eleventh Doctor calls Rory and Amy "The Boy Who Waited" and "The Girl Who Waited" respectively due to Amy having to wait twelve years for the Doctor to come back for her and Rory having to wait two thousand years as a Roman centurion for Amy. As noted above, "The Girl Who Waited" becomes the title of an episode.
* ''Series/RumpoleOfTheBailey''. Rumpole calls his wife (out of earshot) "She Who Must Be Obeyed."
* ''Series/NCISLosAngeles'': A diplomat and a dictator are desperately searching for "The Girl Who Lived", the possibly mythical survivor of a massacre.

* In ''ComicStrip/{{Garfield}}'', Jon mentions a movie called ''The Man Who Stubbed His Toe''. Garfield says "there's a lot of adult language in it".
* ''ComicStrip/ThePhantom'' is sometimes called "The Ghost Who Walks".

* Parodied in ''WebComic/SluggyFreelance'', in the ''[[Literature/HarryPotter Torg Potter]]'' parodies. In order to sound more ''mysteeerious'', Homnigrits is known as "The man who goes where few fear to tread". Places like the mall. Not many people fear to go there.

Can be a LongTitle and[=/=]or a SpoilerTitle. Usually TheTheTitle. InUniverse examples can overlap with EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep and[=/=]or TheTropeWithoutATitle.

** ''Literature/TheShipWhoSang''. Helva is a [[WetWareCPU Brainship]] who learned to sing despite her artificial body. It even gave her an extraordinary range. Throughout her travels she uses singing as a hobby, but sometimes that talent comes in use...

** Harry is often called "The Boy Who Lived" as he was the only one to ever survive the Killing Curse or Voldemort.

* ''Film/TheManWhoWasntThere''. The title is a {{Literary Allusion|Title}} to the poem "Antigonish".

* ''WesternAnimation/HairBearBunch'' episode "The Bear Who Came To Dinner."

* ''NewspaperComics/ThePhantom'' is sometimes called "The Ghost Who Walks".

** Series 9 (revival) has a two-parter, both the episodes of which follow this convention. The episodes are called "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS35E5TheGirlWhoDied The Girl Who Died]]" and "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS35E6TheWomanWhoLived The Woman who Lived]]". The title characters are [[spoiler: the same person, Ashildr — a maiden brought back from the grave by the Doctor as a functional immortal]].

** Series 9 (revival) has a two-parter, both the episodes of which follow this convention. The episodes are called "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS35E5TheGirlWhoDied The Girl Who Died]]" and "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS35E6TheWomanWhoLived The Woman who Lived]]". The title characters are [[spoiler: the same person, Ashildr -- a maiden brought back from the grave by the Doctor as a functional immortal]].

* ''Film/TheBrainThatWouldntDie'' (aka ''Film/TheHeadThatWouldntDie'' because TheyJustDidntCare)

* Creator/AnneMcCaffrey's ''Literature/TheShipWho...'' series:
** ''The Ship Who Sang''. Helva is a [[WetWareCPU Brainship]] who learned to sing despite her artificial body. It even gave her an extraordinary range. Throughout her travels she uses singing as a hobby, but sometimes that talent comes in use...
** ''The Ship Who Searched''
** ''The Ship Who Won''
** ''The City Who Fought''

* The ''DangerMouse'' episode "The Spy Who Stayed In With A Cold."

* MarkTwain's "The Man Who Corrupted Hadleyburg"

A simple way to make a title: by taking an animal or person central to the story and say they do something that is also central.

* "The Bear That Wasn't"

* Parodied in ''WebComic/SluggyFreelance'', in the ''[[Literature/HarryPotter Torg Potter]] parodies. In order to sound more ''mysteeerious'', Homnigrits is known as "The man who goes where few fear to tread". Places like the mall. Not many people fear to go there.