No, You Hang Up First/Playing With

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


  • Basic Trope: An obnoxiously schmoopy (usually teenage) couple have a mock argument over who should end the call first.
  • Played Straight: At the end of a conversation with Alice, Bob tells Alice, "You hang up first." And Alice replies playfully with, "No, you hang up first!"
  • Exaggerated: This banter continues all night long.
  • Inverted: Bob and Alice hang up at the same time. Bob and Alice try and time when to call each other at the appropriately.
  • Justified: Alice and Bob are a very schmoopy young couple, trying to be cute.
  • Subverted: "No, you hang up first!" "Talk to you later, sugar!" Click!
  • Double Subverted: But then she texts Bob or calls him back, saying she was just playing with him.
  • Deconstructed: This is really annoying for others who have to use the phone, or others (such as roommates or siblings) who have to listen to them. It's also usually associated with young couples, who may be prone to confusing "the butterflies" with actual love.
  • Reconstructed: Alice and Bob keep their schmoopiness to levels where it won't be annoying to themselves or others, and let their love mature from "the butterflies" into real love.
  • Parodied: Alice and Bob are breaking up: "No, you move on first."
    • Bob (who is in the military) is supposed to radio another pilot or what have you, but is instead using the radio to play this game with his girlfriend.
    • Rather than being done with ending a phone call, it's done with some other action, such as leaving the house.
    • This mock argument goes on for several days straight, and Alice and Bob both have bloodshot eyes and undereye bags and other obvious signs of exhaustion, but are still going.
  • Lampshaded: See "Played Straight"
  • Averted: Alice and Bob simply end the phone call normally.
  • Enforced: "How about we use Rule of Funny for an annoying young couple?"
  • Invoked: Alice and Bob decide to be cute on the phone.
  • Defied: Alice and Bob think this is stupid and decide not to do this.
  • Discussed:
  • Conversed:
  • Played For Laughs: Almost always is.
  • Played For Drama: Alice's dad has a heart attack downstairs, but her mom can't call 911 because of the stupid phone game her daughter is playing with her boyfriend.

No, you go back to the main page first!

Retrieved from "https://allthetropes.org/wiki/No,_You_Hang_Up_First/Playing_With?oldid=953309"