Tropedia

  • Before making a single edit, Tropedia EXPECTS our site policy and manual of style to be followed. Failure to do so may result in deletion of contributions and blocks of users who refuse to learn to do so. Our policies can be reviewed here.
  • All images MUST now have proper attribution, those who neglect to assign at least the "fair use" licensing to an image may have it deleted. All new pages should use the preloadable templates feature on the edit page to add the appropriate basic page markup. Pages that don't do this will be subject to deletion, with or without explanation.
  • All new trope pages will be made with the "Trope Workshop" found on the "Troper Tools" menu and worked on until they have at least three examples. The Trope workshop specific templates can then be removed and it will be regarded as a regular trope page after being moved to the Main namespace. THIS SHOULD BE WORKING NOW, REPORT ANY ISSUES TO Janna2000, SelfCloak or RRabbit42. DON'T MAKE PAGES MANUALLY UNLESS A TEMPLATE IS BROKEN, AND REPORT IT THAT IS THE CASE. PAGES WILL BE DELETED OTHERWISE IF THEY ARE MISSING BASIC MARKUP.

READ MORE

Tropedia
Advertisement
WikEd fancyquotesQuotesBug-silkHeadscratchersIcons-mini-icon extensionPlaying WithUseful NotesMagnifierAnalysisPhoto linkImage LinksHaiku-wide-iconHaikuLaconic

A scene with (at least) three characters present (Alice, Bob and Carol). Alice is refusing to talk to Bob for some reason, so she repeatedly says to Carol, "Please tell Bob...". There are a few variants on this:

  • Bob sometimes replies directly, sometimes also via Carol.
  • Carol sometimes actually repeats what she's been asked to say, sometimes doesn't bother.
  • If it goes on long enough, an exasperated Carol might tell Alice to tell him herself.
Examples of Tell Him I'm Not Speaking to Him include:


  • In Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist, Dr Katz talks to Ben via Laura after Ben bought a huge TV.
  • In The Simpsons, Homer and Lisa talk via Marge/Bart when Lisa ruined Homer's barbecue in "Lisa the Vegetarian". (Homer soon gets confused about who he is/isn't talking to).
  • In this Something Positive strip.
  • Happens to Elliot twice in Scrubs - in one episode Dr Cox gets annoyed with her for deliberately setting him up to say the wrong thing to a German patient, so when she asks him for help, he talks to a stapler. And for much of Season Six, once she becomes "Private Practice Barbie", Dr Kelso refuses to aknowlege her existence, and talks to her through the nurses.
  • Granny Weatherwax and Magrat put Nanny in the middle in Witches Abroad.
  • In Thomas Costain's novel The Black Rose, Walter's grandfather has made an oath never to speak to him (does anybody remember why?), and always speaks to him via his mother. Near the end, though, he accidentally addresses Walter directly three times, and decides the oath is permanently broken.
  • Happened between Harry Potter and Ron, with Hermione in the middle (third or fourth book & movie).
  • Spacetrawler has a variant where it's less about refusing to speak, and more about recruiting the third party to bolster their argument, and the third party is an Extreme Doormat.
Cquote1

 Nogg: Cardinal62. Tell them we're the good guys.

Cardinal62: (To Emily) We're the good guys.

Emily: Well, tell alien-fish that I know a dozen good seafood recipes he'd go lovely in.

Cardinal62: (To Nogg) She knows a dozen good seafood recipes you'd go lovely in.

Nogg: Well, you tell her that-

Cquote2
  • In Doug, the breakup of the Beatles homage band The Beets plays out like this, with all four members of the group facing away from the microphone and saying things like this ("I'm not telling them, YOU tell them!") before one finally has enough and very curtly says that they're splitting up.
  • Shaggy and Scooby did this throughout an episode of A Pup Named Scooby Doo, using Daphne as an intermediary.
Advertisement