"When the interaction between two hypothetical characters is needed to explain or describe some system, they are nearly always called Alice and Bob."
Nearly always where? Everywhere? Just in This Very Wiki?
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Nearly always everywhere, but I can't give a source.
That was the amazing part. Things just keep going.
Well I ask because this is the first I've heard of it, and I'm in a field where we have to give examples like this all the time. It's not the case in linguistics, philosophy, logic, or as far as I can tell, computer science.
Necro-ing, but for future reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_and_Bob
I see it on the playing with pages for Butt-Monkey, "It" Is Dehumanizing, Spit Out a Shoe, and Directionless Driver. And Don't Explain the Joke.
Edited by MrStranger616
What's the reason this isn't supposed to be used in trope descriptions and what is to be done instead? Use A and B?
Edited by VVK Hide / Show Replies
Or better yet, not use specific names at all. The reason we don't like the format is because it gets repetitive and not all tropes can be explained well in this way.
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
Using specific examples for the description is problematic because if people only do that, the trope is poorly defined. It becomes impossible to tell if the trope only applies to that specific situation or if it's a bit more flexible, for example.
Found a Youtube Channel with political stances you want to share? Hop on over to this page and add them.
I see. I used this in "Yes"/"No" Answer Interpretation, and I didn't make up a specific example and I think it worked fine to explain it since I specifically needed characters A and B. I can't say it's not repetitive, but I can't really think of a better option for that one, since "A and B" just sounds clumsy.
We need a character sheet for this trope; there are a crapload of genericly named characters:
- Alice
- Alex
- Betty
- Biggs
- Bob
- Brian
- Carol
- Charlie
- Chance
- Chica
- Claire
- Clyde, and his girlfriend, a gaming console
- Dennis
- Draco
- General Drake
- Edna
- Emmit
- Emperor Evulz
- Euphie
- Frank
- Hiro
- Jack
- Ichigo
- Kimiko
- Lance
- Mark
- Melody the Team Mom
- Mike/Michelle
- Mr. Sombre
- Princess Pearl
- The army of puppies on the OneHitPointWonder page
- The XX Squad
Emperor Evulz is the Big Bad. Also, you forgot "Karen", the entitled soccer mom.
Also, that'd only work if their personalities were consistent, which they aren't.
For people who don't exist, they sure get a lot of mentions. Like Alan Smithee.
Edited by MrStranger616
For a while I thought "Alice and Bob" was an actual comic series or something, or a movie.
No real harm in it; I think it's Just for Fun.
That was the amazing part. Things just keep going.
Bob and Alice each have twelve candies. If Bob eats six of his candies, and Alice eats three, how many do they each have left, and what is the remaining total?