Playing With / Historical Longevity Joke

Basic Trope: A character implies that another character might have been present at an historical event, implying the second character is very old.

• Straight: Alice notes that it was sad that Socrates was forced to poison himself. Bob replies, "You should know, Alice, you were probably there!"
• Exaggerated: Bob says, "Weren't you there?!" when Alice asks if the Big Bang really happened.
• Downplayed: Alice mentions World War II and Bob says, "You were probably there."
• Justified: Alice is older than Bob and Bob likes to tease her for being older than him.
• Inverted: Alice says, "What happened yesterday again?", to which Bob says, "No wonder you don't know — you probably weren't born then!"
• Subverted: Alice reveals that she really did know Socrates.
• Double Subverted:
  • She was just kidding.
  • She knew him via Time Travel.
  • She then says, "And I bet you knew him too!" to Bob.
  • She didn't know the Socrates, only somebody named after him.
• Parodied:
  • Bob says "You were there" to Alice in reference to an historical event in an Alternate History or Alternate Universe.
  • Bob says "You were there" to Alice even though he's older than she is.
  • Bob says "You were there" to Alice in reference to an historical event that happened during her lifetime even though she's told him exactly where she was and what she was doing at that time.
• Zig-Zagged:
  • This exchange:
    Alice: Gee, Bob, it sure was sad that Socrates was forced to poison himself.
    Bob: You should know, Alice, you were probably there!
    Alice: In fact, I was there, but I went back in time to meet him. You, on the other hand, are probably old enough to have been his babysitter!
  • Bob says "You were there" to Alice in reference to some historical events, but not others.
  • Bob says "You were there" to Alice in reference to a certain historical event sometimes, but not all times.
• Averted:
  • Alice says her Socrates comment, but Bob doesn't reply.
  • Bob says "You were there" to Alice in reference to something that he knows she saw.
• Enforced: The creators must include a Socrates reference.
• Lampshaded: "And that joke's probably older than Socrates too!"
• Invoked: Alice, whom Bob thinks is somewhat pretentious, mentions Socrates.
• Exploited: Alice uses this as an opportunity to prank Bob into believing she really is older than Socrates.
• Defied: "It sure was sad that Socrates was forced to poison himself, and no, Bob, I didn't see it happen!"
• Discussed: "I have this friend who's always joking about me being old enough to witness historical events."
• Conversed: "There's this hilarious scene where he implies she was around to witness Socrates' death!"
• Implied: We don't hear Bob make this joke, but later, Alice tells Alan that he did.
• Deconstructed: Bob's joke is overheard, taken seriously, and a rumour spreads that Alice knows everything because she's a witch.
• Reconstructed: Alice and Bob clear up the misunderstanding in good time.
• Played for Laughs: It's all part of Alice and Bob's Vitriolic Best Buds dynamic.
• Played for Drama: This causes Alice to worry about growing old.
• Plot Foundation: Bob naïvely assumes everyone who is older than he is knows everything that happened before he was born, so he makes this joke with Alice intending it seriously. When she reveals that she doesn't know everything that happened from before he was born, he realizes he needs to learn how to do research for himself.

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