Basic Trope: Being the best/worst/whatever at something doesn't mean much if you're the only one who's doing it.
- Straight:
- In advertising, Alice's Diner prides itself on having the best service at a chili restaurant in town. Her restaurant is the only restaurant to serve chili in town.
- Mr. Johnson, a school teacher, calls the last class of the day his "favorite ninth period class that year."
- Exaggerated:
- Alice's Diner prides itself on having the best service at a chili restaurant on 17th Street, which is otherwise residential only, between one and five pm, on a good day...
- Mr. Johnson calls his final class, "The best class ever to be in his room at this time, this date, this year."
- Downplayed: Mr. Johnson calls his ninth period class his best class that year. Outside that class period, he doesn't teach.
- Justified:
- While overly-narrow, the superlative still draws positive attention.
- Alternatively, Alice knows she'll be mocked for the overly-narrow superlative, but there's No Such Thing as Bad Publicity.
- Mr. Johnson was asked which class was his favorite, and wanted to give a non-answer to avoid hurt feelings.
- The superlative is made because the speaker finds it funny.
- The best chili claim is meant to encourage competition... while Alice's restaurant is currently the only chili restaurant, they can't serve all of town, so a bit of competition is just what the doctor ordered.
- To bring attention to how the question was phrased.
- Inverted: Alice's Diner prides itself on being one of the restaurants that has service. Just service.
- Subverted: The set of chili restaurants in town is much larger than on expects...
- Double Subverted: ...but a simpler superlative would have done just fine.
- Parodied:
- The superlative has so many qualifiers it becomes obviously meaningless.
- The sheer length of the superlative becomes an Overly Long Gag.
- Somehow, in someway, Alice is second place.
- Zig Zagged: Overly-narrow superlatives swap around regularly with simpler ones, seemingly at random. It's hard to tell which ones are contested, or otherwise meaningful.
- Averted:
- Alice simply advertises "really good service."
- Mr. Johnson tells his class he doesn't play favorites.
- Enforced:
- Alice's ad agency doesn't want its clients to make competing claims.
- The executives behind The Mr. Johnson Show want to teach professionalism and impartiality.
- Lampshaded: Mr. Johnson, "You are my favorite class ninth period class to hear me make this very specific claim this year."
- Invoked: This trope is invoked by default. The exception would be if the speaker is unaware of their specificity.
- Exploited: One of Alice's rivals tweaks their business strategy around her new ad campaign.
- Defied: "There's no way I could make that claim without sounding cheesy."
- Discussed: "Wow, being the best out of one possible option really says something."
- Conversed: "You ever notice how some people give compliments so specific, they would never apply to anyone else?"
- Implied: Mr. Johnson says something that causes a mixed reaction among his students. Some believe he complimented them, while others are aware he belittled them.
- Deconstructed: Mr. Johnson's class takes his comment wrong, and assume he has other favorites, forcing damage control.
- Reconstructed: However, after tensions cool, the class decided this was Actually Pretty Funny.
- Played For Laughs:
- The overly-narrow superlative has funny combinations of words.
- Everyone takes the lead after Alice, competing for the most ludicrous, technically correct titles.
- Played For Drama: Alice's Diner has poor finances. She needs an ad campaign that's strong enough to work, without risking false advertising.
And with that, you have just read the best "Playing With" page on this wiki that pertains to Alice's Diner and Mr. Johnson's ninth period class, and can link back to the main page for Overly-Narrow Superlatives by clicking on this link.
