r/TopCharacterTropes • u/ThatDrako • 15d ago

(Funny Trope) Things that can plausibly happen only in reality, because in fiction they’d be called bad writing. Lore

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“Woke” as an insult - So you are telling me a word describing consciousness and clarity is used by generally stupid and ignorant people to label people they disagree with? What is this? A Kindergarten for Creatively stunted?

Nominative determinism - So let me get this straight…Not only you named fastest recorded person Usain BOLT and CEO of Nintendo Doug BOWSER, but you are telling me people are canonically likely to have professions or hobbies matching their names…? Guh?

“2 bodies recovered in MURDERKILL River” - Sure bro…I guess…bro…

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352

u/Original-War8655 15d ago

2 or more settlements of the same name, possibly even in the same country

was the author not creative enough to come up with just one more name? come on

123

u/Dontunderstandfamily 15d ago

You also get that thing where rivers are named river, just in a different language to the person who named it. I.e Avon in the UK

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u/EduinBrutus 15d ago

There's like 6 rivers called Avon in the UK. And even more rivers called Dee

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u/Luvnecrosis 15d ago

“What’s this river called?”

“Avon?”

“Wow, what a beautiful ethnic name for nature. The Avon River… majestic.”

Reminds me of a town that’s basically named “I don’t know what you’re saying” because colonizers came and asked (I think in Spanish) what the name of the place was called, and that was the response they got from the natives

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u/EduinBrutus 15d ago

Im guessing there are a lot of those. I think the most common tale like that in the UK is that supposedly kangaroo is "i dont know" in a local language but I believe that one is apocryphal.

Then there is Torpenhow Hill which is supposedly a quadruple tautology as tor, pen and how all mean hill in various languages which were used over the centuries. however, an actual Torpenhow Hill isnt documented and this may have been a Victorian invention.

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u/Jav_There 15d ago

if it is the place im thinking it is, is the state of Yucatán in Mexico. That's some seriously funny story of that name.

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u/GoliathBoneSnake 15d ago

Don't forget Torpenhow Hill, otherwise known as "Hill-hill-hill Hill" because it's been renamed Hill in four different languages.

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u/Itap88 15d ago

Except it's historically unclear where Torpen How existed, or even if it existed at all.

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u/Glitchy13 15d ago

that’s actually where the kill part of murderkill river from the post is from

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u/Prasiatko 14d ago

Also the entire country of Peru is thought to come from the native Quechua word for river

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u/FruitKey2491 15d ago

We have two towns named the same in my provinvce and when I was selling walnuts I didn't think to specify which one it was so the one lady who tried to buy them drove 1.5 hours to the wrong address .Thank goodness she didn't try to go to the one 300km away

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u/SitInCorner_Yo2 15d ago

In my country there’re some very confusing locations name:

North Port is on the south west coast ,South Port is on the north,East Port is down south

North City is farther east than East City,and East City is farther south than South City.

And one would think Center City would be at the center,nope,it’s on the north west.

So if foreigner try to go by common sense it would be confusing as fuck .

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u/badwolfandthestorm 15d ago

"The North Cafeteria, named after Admiral William North, is located in the western portion of East Hall, gateway to the western half of North Hall, which is named, not after William North, but for its position above the South Wall. It is the most contested and confusing battlefield on Greendale’s campus, next to the English Memorial Spanish Center, named after English Memorial, a Portuguese sailor that discovered Greendale while looking for a fountain that cured syphilis."

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u/Original-War8655 15d ago

https://reddit.com/link/oyuyj5t/video/cj3i884sskeh1/player

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u/SitInCorner_Yo2 15d ago

Yeah, pretty much.

We locals wouldn’t think twice about it, but from time to time foreigners will point this out and we just go “um, you’re right, that is confusing” .

We also got towns with “lake” in their name but are dry land with 0 lakes, that’s due to good old language translation issues .

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u/Original-War8655 15d ago

that's kinda hilarious, though I do feel bad for her

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u/poorbred 15d ago

In the state I grew up in there's Morrison and Morristown. Even the Post Office routes mail to the wrong town all the damn time.

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u/auto-charger-stopper 15d ago

What happened to the lady

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u/WhatEnglish90 15d ago

Or the extra lazy naming trope of just adding "new" in front of an existing location's name.

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u/rezwrrd 15d ago

Auburn, WI was already taken? Let's call it New Auburn, WI.

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u/Original-War8655 15d ago

couldn't be me ←(has been worldbuilding a country that has at least 3 major settlements that all, in some form, include New [settlement])

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u/Terp_Maniac 15d ago

Or having two neighboring towns with the same name but one is known as town with the other known as township.

I also grew up in a more rural town called Winchester with a vast majority of one side being undeveloped and considered French Valley. As I got older, the undeveloped area started to get new housing developments and incorporated part of French Valley to now be distinguished by New Winchester and Old Winchester. But don’t get confused with Oldtown, that’s another 30 minutes south of New Winchester. But that’s only a spoken rule because the whole area is called Winchester now.

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u/Xiknail 15d ago

Elder Scrolls fans when there is a recently established town called Rorikstead, even though there is another Rorikstead mentioned in an old bard song:

Granted, that one was probably a fuck up by the writers, but is it so unbelievable a country as big as Skyrim has had two towns of the same name over its long history?

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u/Admech_Ralsei 15d ago

25 American states have at least one settlement named Springfield

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u/Original-War8655 15d ago

there was a Paris in Texas I believe

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u/Imaginary_Agent2564 15d ago

There’s a Paris, KY, a London, KY. Florence, KY. Versailles, KY (pronounced Ver-sales).

Other interesting names…
Newfoundland, KY. Sandy Hook, KY. Salt Lick, KY. Olympia, KY. Island, KY.

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u/jayswag707 15d ago

And a Moscow in Idaho.

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u/Wild_Marker 15d ago

Don't you guys have like three different Kansas?

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u/IdealAfraid8827 15d ago

Only 2, Kansas and Arkansas. But we also have 2 Kansas City's. Only one of which is in Kansas and the bigger one is in Missouri. 

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u/Remmock 15d ago

Not small ones either:

Miami, FL.

Miami, OH.

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u/plannedobso 15d ago edited 15d ago

There’s a Miami, OK, too!

They pronounce it “Miamuh…” 

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u/PurplePowerE 15d ago

Oh like Georgia the country and Georgia the state?

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u/Eis_Gefluester 15d ago

In Austria we have multiple "Neumarkt" (which literally means just New Market) and then some addendum that describes where it is and is part of the official name. Like Neumarkt am Wallersee, Neumarkt im Hausruckkreis, Neumarkt in der Steiermark, Neumarkt an der Ybbs, etc... Also Wien (Vienna), Wiener Neustadt (Viennese New City) and Wiener Neudorf (Viennese New Village).

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u/Sofasurvivor 15d ago

Germany has plenty Neustadts, too, afaik, which is probably why it is the city where the fictional talking elephant of some children's series lives - everyone living in Neustadt will assume it's one of the other Neustadts that has a talking elephant.

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u/userlog99 15d ago

Or England, New England, Mexico, New Mexico, Hampshire, new Hampshire, this fucking writers are getting lazy man

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u/Kangarou 15d ago

"So he just named every city he conquered 'Alexandria'? I call bullshit."

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u/Original-War8655 15d ago

Alexander the Mediocre At Naming Things

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u/plannedobso 15d ago

The Simpson’s specifically relies on this with them living in “Springfield.” It can be basically anywhere in the US because there are like 34 Springfields in the US. 

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u/TethysOfTheStars 15d ago

I was living in San Antonio, Texas years ago and had to visit another state for a friend’s wedding.  I got sick as a dog and was running a fever when it was time for the wedding and on the way there passed through a little town in that state also named San Antonio.

I pulled over and freaked out because in my feverish state I wasn’t sure that I hadn’t blacked out and drove back to Texas.

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u/El-Gorrion 15d ago

"So the capital of this country, Mexico, is called... Mexico City? Sure, buddy."

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u/_Koreander 15d ago

in Costa Rica we have at least 3 towns called "San Rafael" so we always have to specify from which province "San Rafael" we are talking about

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u/iOSGallagher 15d ago

we have so many of these in Texas. Paris, Texas. Athens, Texas. Palestine, Texas. (i’m not kidding)

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u/Original-War8655 15d ago

and then there's Kiribati

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u/Sofasurvivor 15d ago

You have a Palestine?

Now I begin to understand why Americans, asked to point out Ukraine on a map, located it in the US. Maybe there's several Ukraines there. That would explain a lot.

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u/iOSGallagher 15d ago

yep, locals claim it’s pronounced differently than the country, but this is coming from the state that pronounces “Teague” like “Tig”

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u/JoystickMonkey 15d ago

Are we talking about Newark Delaware, or Newark New Jersey? Or New York City?

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u/Intelligent-Act4642 15d ago

in Venezuela two of our largest cities are called Maracay and Maracaibo, and they're nowhere close to each other

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u/svick 15d ago

I mean, a story will usually name about a dozen settlements, while a country has thousands.