Basic Trope: A misunderstanding over the phone is Played for Laughs.
- Straight: Bob calls his friend Alice to ask what she wants for her birthday. She says she wants a llama sweater, but Bob doesn't hear the word "sweater", so he and one of his other friends Charlie end up getting an actual llama for her.
- Exaggerated: Bob can't understand anything Alice is saying, and decides to just wing it.
- Downplayed:
- Bob hears Alice say that she wants a llama sweater, but Bob is unsure whether Alice wants a llama-themed sweater or one that's made from llama's wool. He ends up getting the one other than what Alice expected, but she doesn't mind much.
- Same idea, but through a text message rather than a phone call - can be caused by Auto-Incorrect.
- Justified:
- Alice and/or Bob's phone(s) have bad audio quality.
- Alice has a rather thick accent that makes it hard to understand what she's saying.
- Alice and/or Bob were in fairly loud areas during their call, making it hard to hear.
- Bob is The Ditz.
- Inverted: A misunderstanding over the phone is Played for Drama.
- Subverted: ???
- Double Subverted: ???
- Parodied: ???
- Zig-Zagged: ???
- Averted: Nobody misunderstands anything through the phone.
- Enforced: To add a humorous misunderstanding.
- Lampshaded: ???
- Invoked: ???
- Exploited: ???
- Defied: Bob asks for clarification before buying Alice any gifts.
- Discussed: ???
- Conversed: "I wonder why so many comical misunderstandings happen on the phone in fiction."
Back to Punny Home, Miss Understanding. Oh wait, that's not it? Sorry, I got the instructions through the phone - Funny Phone Misunderstanding is the real title!
