uhema
Since: Dec, 2012
Jul 9th 2021 at 12:33:38 PM
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I'm making a case for The Forest People being the Trope Maker behind the trope.
TropesForever
Since: Sep, 2016
TropesForever
Since: Sep, 2016
Oct 12th 2016 at 11:11:58 PM
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The Princess Bride example is actually a ZCE. Should we comment it out, or what?
Azvolrien
Since: Jan, 2001
Apr 4th 2014 at 7:08:07 PM
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Would clinical death - when your heart and breathing have stopped, but brain activity hasn't and you can be resuscitated if the doctors act fast - count as a real life example? Sounds pretty 'Only Mostly Dead' to me...
Stoogebie
Since: Apr, 2011
Oct 26th 2013 at 8:36:02 PM
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So, I assume this has nothing to do with someone being dead and alive at the same time.
I suggest that Miracle Max's expression "only mostly dead" was inspired by the Mbuti people's use of a gradated series of expressions ranging from plain "dead" (i.e., very ill) through "completely dead" to "dead forever." Described in The Forest People by Colin Turnbull, published 1961. If anyone knows of similar locutions published earlier than that, great; if not, I have a strong sense that The Princess Bride borrowed an idea from The Forest People.
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