Basic Trope: Someone is trying to see what something is, and tastes it after giving it a sniff.
- Straight: When Alice and Bob are investigating something, Alice asks Bob to try and see what a mysterious substance is. Bob sniffs it, and then tastes it.
- Exaggerated: Bob's way of investigating is going around licking everything.
- Downplayed: Bob only does this to objects he knows are food, but even then, he takes some time thinking about it.
- Justified:
- Bob is The Ditz.
- Bob is immortal, or otherwise immune to poisoning, or knows the object isn't poisonous.
- The substance is a food.
- Inverted:
- Alice asks Bob to taste a food. Instead, he looks at it.
- Bob is trying to identify a food without tasting.
- Subverted: Bob lifts his finger full of substance to his mouth but decides against tasting it.
- Double Subverted: He then says, "Oh, what the heck?" and tastes it.
- Parodied: They have Sniffer Dogs, but also Taster Dogs.
- Averted: Nobody tastes mysterious substances.
- Zigzagged: Bob has a good long think about it before actually tasting the substance.
- Enforced: To set Bob up as The Ditz while throwing in some comedy.
- Lampshaded: "Are you sure eating it to find out what it is wise, Bob? After all, we don't know what it is."
- Invoked: Alice actually tells Bob to taste it for some reason.
- Exploited: Bob is an Extreme Omnivore and can identify things by tasting them.
- Defied: Bob refuses to taste things when he doesn't know what they are or where they came from.
- Discussed: "No, Bob! Don't eat it!" "Maybe I'll find out what it is if I do." "But it could be dangerous!", etc, etc.
- Conversed: "Could that Bob character get any dumber? That's clearly not food!"
- Implied: The first scene is Alice, Bob, and the object, and them trying to find out what it is. The next scene, the object has a bite out of it.
- Deconstructed: Bob dies after eating something poisonous.
- Reconstructed: Bob only tastes things he knows are not poisonous at least.
- Played for Laughs: Bob tastes the object, does a Spit Take, and shouts, "It Tastes Like Feet!"
- Played for Drama: Bob gets poisoned, leaving Alice to have to Find the Cure!.
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