I Am Not Weasel: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

'''Mushu:''' Hey, [[Our Dragons Are Different|dragon]], ''dragon''! Not lizard. I don't do that tongue thing. ''([[Hypocritical Humor|does that tongue thing]])''|''[[Mulan]]''}}

 

 

See [[Mistaken Nationality]] when it is happening with humans for ethnicities or nationalities, or [[My Name Is Not Durwood]] when dealing with proper names.

 

* ''[[Inuyasha]]''

** In the episode "The Mysterious, Lecherous Monk" , Inu-Yasha and Miroku persist in referring to a weasel demon as a "raccoon dog" (tanuki) even when he tries to remind them that "I'm a ''weasel'', dang it!" This despite the fact that one of Miroku's oldest friends (and frequent accomplices) ''is'' a tanuki, so you'd think he'd know the difference.

** Also in ''[[Inuyasha]]'', it's a [[Running Gag]] that Shippo is constantly mistaken for a tanuki, leading to him saying "I'm a kitsune!" (i.e. a fox).

** From a different episode:

'''Inu-Yasha:''' Who're you calling a ''cat'' demon?! }}

** In another episode, the gang have to fight a tribe of panther demons. Much to them, and their more human like leaders' anger, the main characters often call them cat demons.

'''Tora:''' Huh? cat demons? My friend and I are panther demons. Don't lump us with ordinary cats or you'll make us angry. }}

** Of course, if not for his father and half-brother's transformations, it'd be easy to conclude that Inu-Yasha ''is'' a cat demon; claws sharp enough to use as deadly weapons aren't exactly a dog trait after all.

* [[Big Badass Wolf|Zafira]] of ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha]]'', gets this every so often, even from his [[Really Seven Hundred Years Old|long-time]] allies.

'''Zafira:''' ... I'm a wolf. }}

** [[It Makes Sense in Context|Technically, he takes the form of a small dog while on Earth]], having been convinced by Arf that it's less intimidating than his wolf form.

* In ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh! GX]]'', Neo Spacian Aqua Dolphin is called a fish by Judai, and replies that he is a mammal.

* In ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist]]'', Xiao May is thought to be a cat by everyone in Amestris, but she's really a tiny panda bear. Note that the Chinese word for panda literally means "bear-cat".

* A running gag in ''[[Doraemon]]'': when someone first meets him, they think he's a tanuki. This makes Doraemon really mad since he's a robotic cat without ears.

* Fritz the Bitter Goblin in the ''[[Duel Masters]]'' dub gets very upset when he's called a squirrel.

* Like Zafira above, Val of ''[[Otogi Juushi Akazukin]]'' would like to remind us that he's a ''wolf'', not a dog.

* Belbel in ''[[There Beyond the Beyond]]'' is a magician who looks suspiciously like a rabbit, and [[Berserk Button|gets mad]] when compared to one.

* In ''[[Digimon Savers]]'', Masaru's little sister calls Gaomon a dog, prompting him to point out "Would a dog wear boxing gloves?"

* Averted in ''Dorabase'' with Shiroemon, despite the recent [[Art Evolution]] making his ears longer (thus looking like a rabbit). But probably enforced since it ''is'' [[Art Evolution]].

** Similarly averted with Trump (Drump in some translations), despite having the ''longest'' ears in the series for cat robots. Then again, whether or not he was a cat is never pointed out in-series.

 

== Fan Works ==

* Used in ''[[Turnabout Storm]]''; [[Ace Attorney|Phoenix Wright]] calls [[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic|Twilight Sparkle]] a "Talking Horse" shortly after first seeing her, she is quick to correct him (doubling as a small [[Comically Missing the Point]] moment from Phoenix's perspective).

'''Phoenix Wright:''' OH! Okay! A talking '''''PONY''''', [[Sarcasm Mode|that explains everything!]] }}

 

* Inversion. Ratigan from ''[[The Great Mouse Detective]]'' is a rat, but to call him one is seriously pushing his [[Berserk Button]]. He prefers the title of "a big mouse". The Basil of Baker Street book series (on which this movie was based) has "Padraic" Ratigan as a mouse.

* ''[[Over the Hedge (animation)|Over the Hedge]]'' features a turtle who corrects anyone who call him an amphibian. It also features a pest exterminator with a freakishly strong sense of smell:

'''Pest exterminator:''' ''(sniffs again)'' No... reptile. }}

* ''[[Mulan]]''

* Call Pumbaa from ''[[The Lion King]]'' a pig only if you're in a ''real'' hurry to die. Simba and Timon can get away with it, though.

* In ''[[Tangled]]'', Flynn keeps referring to Rapunzel's chameleon sidekick Pascal as a frog.

* Elsa the Pterodactyl from ''[[We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story]]'' apparently hates being referred to as a bat.

* Lampwick from ''[[Pinocchio (Disney film)|Pinocchio]]'' refers to Jiminy Cricket as a beetle just right before he turns into a donkey.

* ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'': Never call an Ent a "tree". Mocked by the [[Riff Trax]] of ''The Two Towers'' movie.

"Well then, why did you get so upset when we called you by half your name?!" }}

* From the [[Mystery Science Theater 3000]] take on ''[[Eegah]]'':

'''Crow:''' There is a big difference! }}

* Krull from Tim Burton's version of ''[[Planet of the Apes]]'' seriously dislikes being called a "monkey":

** This also pops up in ''Escape From The Planet Of The Apes''. Cornelius tells the commission not to call him and Zira monkeys because it's offensive to them.

 

== Literature ==

* In the ''[[Redwall]]'' books by Brian Jacques, the heroic and generally weapon-ready hares absolutely cannot stand being referred to as rabbits. (Rabbits in the ''Redwall'' world tend to be quiet and passive.)

'''Death:''' {{smallcaps|And have you been a good bo... a good dwa... a good gno... a good individual?}} }}

* In one scene in ''Wolf Speaker'', Daine is telepathically communicating with Tkaa, who then passes on her message to Numair, while riding in the mind of a marmot named Quickmunch. Later on in the conversation, Daine informs Numair that if he keeps on incorrectly identifying Quickmunch's species, the marmot will bite him.

* In the first ''[[Percy Jackson]]'' book, Percy meets the Greek-mythological dragon known as Echidna. He mentions the [[wikipedia:Echidna (disambiguation)|Australian mammal]] called the echidna, which was named after the mythological dragon. Echidna is [[Berserk Button|irked by this comparison]]; she always hated having a small anteater named after her.

* In one United Kingdom ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog]]'' book, an imaginary creature (long story) refers to Sonic and Tails to Sonic as "you and your ''ilk''". Tails replies indignantly, "I'm a ''fox'', not an ''ilk''." The fault is Tails', though, as "ilk" is an infrequently used term used similar to "kind" used to describe similar cohorts. The creature was merely referring to Sonic and Tails as both being real animals.

* In the ''[[Myth Adventures]]'' series, people from the dimension Perv are Prevects, not Perverts, and don't you forget it.

 

== Live-Action TV ==

** The Abzorbaloff resents Rose mistaking it for a Raxacoricofallapatorian.

** The Doctor can get a bit tetchy when people tell him he looks human.

'''Eleventh Doctor:''' No, ''you'' look Time Lord. We came first. }}

* Occurs with human John Crichton in ''[[Farscape]]''. Due to being pretty much physically identical ([[Bizarre Alien Biology|at least externally]]), he is often mistaken for a Sebacean, which is unfortunate since they're mostly bad guys.

* Data, one ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation]]'', would occasionally correct people that he is an android, not a robot.

 

== Music ==

* Flanders and Swann's ''The Gnu Song'' has two references to g-nus (that's the way they say it in the song) objecting to being confused with "similar" animals like bison, okapis and hartebeests. One even threatens to sue over it.

* To this day since its release, people think Three Dog Night's ''Joy To The World'' is called "Jeremiah Was A Bullfrog," simply because it's the song's first line.

 

== New Media ==

 

== Radio ==

* In the [http://www.zbs.org/ ZBS Foundation] series ''Ruby: Adventures of a Galactic Gumshoe'', rat-faced alien Rodant Kapoor has to constantly correct pronunciation of his name. ("Not rodent, ''Rodant!''")

 

== Puppet Shows ==

** The King from the Muppets' rendition of "The Frog Prince" kept making the same mistake about Kermit's little nephew Robin.

* From ''[[Muppets Tonight]]'', Pepe is constantly telling people that he's a king prawn, not a shrimp.

 

== Video Games ==

* In ''[[Final Fantasy Tactics Advance]]'', it's common knowledge that nobody ever should call a Bangaa (the reptilian humanoid race of Ivalice) a lizard; that is, common knowledge to everyone but the protagonist, who crashlanded in the world almost immediately before. Said innocent confusion instead leads to Marche almost getting, one would expect, killed. Likewise, upon their first prolonged meeting, Marche confuses Montblanc, a Moogle, for a ''stuffed animal''...

** The sequel has a [[Shout-Out]] where Montblanc manages to prevent Luso from making the same mistake. (Luso knew they were Bangaa, but he didn't know how far his insult would hit.)

* In the SNES (among other systems) game ''The Lost Vikings II'', the vikings are joined by a werewolf, Fang; it's a [[Running Gag]] after he joins the group to have the vikings mistake his species (or at least make horrible animal puns in his presence).

* ''[[Lunar 2 Eternal Blue Complete|Lunar: Eternal Blue]]'' has Ruby, a cat-like [[Non-Human Sidekick]] who [[Infallible Babble|never passes up a chance to inform people that]] [[Instant Awesome, Just Add Dragons|she's a baby Red Dragon]].

* In ''[[Sonic Storybook Series|Sonic and the Secret Rings]]'', the Djinn Erazor repeatedly calls Sonic a "blue rat", even when he was [[And I Must Scream|sucked back inside of his lamp for the rest of eternity.]] And each time he did, Sonic repeatedly reminded him that he was a hedgehog, and not a rat. Sonic got the last word in that argument.

* In the Nintendo DS RPG ''[[The World Ends With You]]'', Shiki sewed herself a stuffed cat named "Mr. Mew", and she gets extremely angry when Neku (repeatedly) mistakes it for a pig. [[Calling Your Attacks|"Go, Mr. Mew!"]] [[Combination Attack|"Get 'em, piggy!"]]

* In ''[[Sam and Max Hit The Road|Sam & Max Hit the Road]]'' a fisherman catches a giant fish:

'''Fisherman''': Holy trout! }}

* In ''[[Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World]]'', the main characters are accompanied by a Centurion (a spirit-creature) named Tenebrae, who has a vaguely lupine appearence. When the party runs into [[The Ditz|Collette]], a hero of the previous game, she promptly starts referring to Tenebrae as a "doggie", much to his annoyance. When he requests a name more appropriate of his power and dignity, he is instead titled "Mr. Doggie."

 

== Web Comics ==

* The species of ''[[Exploitation Now]]'''s Ralph is a [[Running Gag]] in the strip. Whatever people guess, he denies with indignation. (He looks most like a no-name-brand [[Final Fantasy|Moogle]].)

* George Fennec, from ''[[Kevin and Kell]]'', is often thought to be a rabbit. (A fennec is a type of fox with huge ears.)

* In ''[[Freefall]]'', Florence Ambrose, a red wolf, get almost invariably mistaken for a dog on first contact.

* In ''[[Schlock Mercenary]]'', the title character is often mistaken for a pile of dung.

 

== Web Original ==

 

== Western Animation ==

*** In the same show, Mac and Tosh occasionally get mistaken for squirrels, to which they respond in deadpan unison, "We're gophers."

* Quark, of ''[[Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog]]'', is constantly being mistaken for a duck, despite being human. "I'm not a duck!"

* In the ''[[Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers (animation)|Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers]]'' episode "Out of Scale", "Ratso" Ratskiwatski sends his two thugs out for squirrels for his daughter. They pick up Chip and Dale. ''None'' of the humans can tell the difference, and call them squirrels throughout, each time corrected with a "[We're] chipmunks!" from one or both of them. Not that they ever pick up on this...

* Fang from ''[[Dave the Barbarian]]'' is always being mistaken for a monkey. She even is delighted that when she meets her idol, he calls her a human. (Even after him doubting for a second.)

* Not quite animal, but Larry the Cucumber of ''[[Veggie Tales]]'' is often mistaken for a pickle, which bothers him.

* In the first episode of ''[[Xiaolin Showdown]]'', Raimundo refers to Dojo (who is a small dragon) as a gecko. Dojo is... not pleased, and shapeshifts into his larger form to intimidate him. This may be a reference to the ''[[Mulan]]'' example.

* ''[[SpongeBob SquarePants]]''. This has happened to Sandy Cheeks a few times, especially in the episode "Someone's in the Kitchen with Sandy", where townsfolk mistake a naked Sandy for a ferret and even a goat among other things.

* ''[[Aaahh Real Monsters]]''. Ickis is [[Berserk Button|rather insistent]] that he is ''not'' a bunny.

* ''[[The Ren and Stimpy Show]]'':

** Also, Stimpy himself is mistaken for a dog by his [[Negative Continuity|two-episode-lasting]] owner George Liquor. Even after Stimpy corrects him, he still insists otherwise.

'''George Liquor:''' Atta boy, Rex. }}

'''Ogden:''' Do not! }}

* Another not-animal but not human so it probably counts: [[Fairly Oddparents]] Faries don't like being confused with Pixies and vice-versa.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Animal Tropes]]

[[Category:Mistaken for Index]]