Mathematician's Answer: Difference between revisions

* A commercial for Lyrica begins with a voiceover along the lines of: "I was wondering why I had muscle pain, so I asked my doctor. It turns out, connected to muscles are nerves which send pain messages to the brain."

** Also a [[Captain Obvious]] moment. "Nerves send pain messages to the brain?! [[Sarcasm Mode|Noooo]]!"

* A commercial for Grey Poupon mustard has one Rolls-Royce pull up to another, and they both roll down their windows. One man asks, "Pardon me, do you have any Grey Poupon?" The other replies, "But of course!" - then signals his chauffeur to drive away.

 

== Anime and Manga ==

'''Moe:''' Hospital??

'''Shemp:''' Yes, I wanted to be near my mother! }}

{{quote|'''Vanessa:''' Did you use protection?

'''Austin:''' Of course, I have a 9 millimeter automatic. }}

'''Katrina Van Tassel:''' Because it is yours. }}

* When asked why he committed the eponymous crime in ''The Great Train Robbery'', [[Sean Connery]]'s character says "[[Crowning Moment of Funny|I wanted the money]]."

 

== Literature ==

** "Where does this road go?" "It isn't going anywhere. It's just staying put."

** One Vermont farmer approaches another. "My horse is sick. What did you give your horse when it was sick?" "Hay and molasses." Two weeks later: "I gave my horse hay and molasses, and it died." "Yep, so did mine."

{{quote|'''Susan''': Are those mountains real or some sort of shadows?

** Similarly, when the Senior Wrangler suggests that the mistletoe, while being genuinely symbolic, is only symbolic of mistletoe:

{{quote|'''Archchancellor:''' That statement is either so deep it would take a lifetime to fully comprehend every particle of its meaning, or it is a load of absolute tosh. Which is it, I wonder?

{{quote|'''Lord Downey''': Can I offer you a drink?

'''Auditor''': Yes ... we judge you capable of performing that action }}

{{quote|'''Susan''': Are you {{spoiler|Lobsang}} or are you {{spoiler|Jeremy}}?

''' {{spoiler|Lobsang/Jeremy}}''': Yes.

'''Susan''': Yes, I walked into that. Are you {{spoiler|Lobsang}} ''and'' are you {{spoiler|Jeremy}}?

''' {{spoiler|Lobsang/Jeremy}}''': Much closer. Yes. }}

{{quote|'''Rincewind''': There's a door.

'''Eric''': Where does it go?

'''Rincewind''': It stays where it is, I think. }}

{{quote|'''Granny Weatherwax''': Am I dying?

'''Death''':{{smallcaps|yes}}.

'''Granny Weatherwax''': But to you, everybody is dying, right? So you are not exactly being Mr. Helpful here.

'''Death''':{{smallcaps|yes}} }}

{{quote|Demons were like genies or philosophy professors - if you didn't word things exactly right, they delighted in giving you absolutely accurate [...] answers.}}

{{quote|Things just happened. What the hell?}}

* ''[[The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy]]'': When Zaphod learns that Marvin is waiting for them in the car park at the Restaurant at the End of the Universe (and has been for several trillion years), he asks what he's doing there. Marvin's answer? Parking cars. What else would he be doing there?

** More literally: "42". [[You Should Know This Already|For those that don't know about this]], an alien race constructs a massive supercomputer in order to learn "The answer to the question of Life, the Universe, and Everything". The computer, after <s> centuries</s> seven and a half million years of computation, comes back with "42". When asked about this, the computer responds that it is able to figure out the answer, but they need another computer to calculate [[Jeopardy!|what the question is.]] The programmers, afraid of the mob's reaction to this nonsense, just make up the question: "[[Shout-Out|How many roads]] [[Bob Dylan|must a man walk down?]]"

'''Ford Prefect''': Why? What did she tell you?

'''Arthur Dent''': I don't know! I didn't listen! }}

* Jarlaxle the drow from R.A. Salvatore's series of Drizzt books is so fond of the Mathematician's Answer that "Yes" might as well be his catch phrase.

* ''[[Animorphs]]'' After being told by the resident friendly alien member of the team that they have all been dragged through a fracture in space-time continuum

{{quote|"How are you going to ...?"

"Efficiently." }}

{{quote|"What did you cut him with?"

"Something sharp." }}

'''Sweeney:''' I did it with panache and style. }}

* ''How Rude!'', an etiquette book aimed at teenagers, contains an anecdote from the author. He attempted to call a friend of his and the friend's five-year-old son answered. When the author asked if his daddy was there, the boy replied, "Yes."

 

== Live-Action TV ==

== Music ==

* When asked what his songs were about, [[Bob Dylan]] responded, "Some are about three minutes, some are about four minutes..."

 

== Newspaper Comics ==

* ''[[Bloom County]]'' has one in its first series about the Presidential election. Trying to find a local candidate, Milo asks the bum Limekiller "How do you stand on nuclear waste?" Limekiller immediately begins balancing awkwardly on one foot, earning Milo's approval.

 

* In ''[[Twelfth Night]]'', when Malvolio tells Olivia that a man wants to see her and will not be turned away:

{{quote|'''Olivia''': What kind of man is he?

{{quote|'''Major General''': May I ask – this is a picturesque uniform, but I’m not familiar with it. What are you?

'''Pirate King''': We are all... single gentlemen. }}

 

== Video Games ==

* The third generation ''[[Pokémon]]'' games will let you answer yes or no...to the question of where your character came from. If you answer "yes," he'll reply that he's never heard of Yes Town. If you say no, he'll say that you have to have come from somewhere.

* Same deal in ''[[EarthBound]]''. Someone asks you to name a Beatles song - [[XX Xterday]]. If you say Yes, that is technically correct. If you say No, the asker answers that Noterday is just wrong.

 

== Web Comics ==

"First time to be rectally violated or first time to feel good about yourself?"

"Yes." }}

{{quote|"I honestly, truly hate you."

"Because I did that to your character, or because I thought to put it in a game before you?"

'''Question''': Of all the ninja skills in the world, which is the deadliest?

'''Ninja''': The one that kills you. }}

 

== Western Animation ==

{{quote|'''Molotov''': Tell me how you did such thing.

'''Heloise''': It owes me a favor. }}

* [[Family Guy]] has a very funny example by the mayor of Quahog Adam West:

{{quote|'''Adam West''': Will you answer one question for me?.

'''Orson:''' I guess you really are a doctor, Roy. }}

 

* A famous one by mountaineer George Mallory: when asked, "Why do you want to climb Mount Everest?", he retorted, "Because it's there". It's since been called, "the most famous three words in mountaineering".

* From an old Marvel Comics trading card:

{{quote|The famous pipe. How people reproached me for it! And yet, could you stuff my pipe? No, it's just a representation, is it not? So if I had written on my picture "This is a pipe," I'd have been lying!}}

 

{{quote|It's a third person singular neuter pronoun. [[Brick Joke|But that's not important right now.]]}}

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Cryptic Conversation]]

[[Category:Dialogue]]

[[Category:Characterization Tropes]]