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"Holy *tik* shrew! Lookit! She's my size — with *tik* wings! I told you I sensed *tik* insect thoughts! Princess, I think I'm *tik* in love!"
—Bug from Micronauts, on Wasp
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An exceptionally odd Catch Phrase used to the point it seems more like a bodily emission than speaking. This is often a single nonsense word added at the end of sentences, well past the expected formal variations in speech, eh? It can also be a word, sound, or phrase that shows up in various places in a character's dialogue.
Contrast with Strange Syntax Speaker, where the character is using language rules unknown to others. See also Character Tics, for similar idiosyncrasies applied to physical behavior.
This is Truth in Television too, as this is extremely common in individuals with disorders such as Asperger's Syndrome and Tourette's. Plus, some regional dialects like, totally also have a little bit of this as part of their local mannerisms, eh?
Anime and Manga[]
- A rather famous example is Rozen Maiden's Suiseiseki with "desu" (former poster girl of this trope). In polite Japanese, "desu" at the end of a sentence can mean "is" or "are", but it is typically clipped in speech to something more like 'des'; Suiseiseki, unusually, stresses the final vowel. There is an enormous amount of Memetic Mutation regarding this character. Most of the other characters have Verbal Tics as well, including:
- Hina-Ichigo with "na no," roughly meaning "definitely!"
- To a slightly lesser extent, Shinku with "da wa" (which when not a tic can be legitimate Japanese).
- In the second season, it adds Kanaria with "kashira," roughly translated to "maybe?" (as a parallel to Hina-Ichigo). All of these are natural parts of Japanese sentence structure used to the point of being odd.
- Lampshaded in the manga reboot, where Future Jun points out that she sounds very uncertain because of her verbal tic. Since he can't remember her name either, he keeps referring to her with it, too, much to her annoyance. She even tries to avoid using said verbal tic somewhat because of this.
- Souseiseki uses the male pronoun "boku" for herself (she lacks the other characteristics of a Bokukko, though). This is because she had been impersonating a young boy against her will for quite some time before the series began.
- Finally, the second season's Big Bad, Barasuishou, has a habit of simply repeating what anyone says to her.
- Suigintou seems to have been spared from this trope, although she stretches the ending vocals of sentences.
- Osomatsu Kun's Iyami is famous for saying ~zanzu at the ends of his sentences.
- So is Zanzu from Bludgeoning Angel Dokurochan
- From Fruits Basket, there's Momiji Sohma who, despite being a boy, uses feminine sentence endings like "na no" and "de ne."
- Tagmec, The Grim Reaper of Marmundo in Aqua Knight, has a habit of randomly tagging "Bone" to the end of his sentences.
- Suupuushan of Houshin Engi adds "-su" to his sentences. His parents also have their own suffixes that they add. There's also Kou Tenka, who adds "-sa".
- One side story in Hellsing had Alucard dreaming about him meeting the spirit of his gun, who was a Bruce Willis parody. Just to hammer the point home, he ended every single sentence with "-wirisu".
- The Dark Horse translation kept this tic in and spelled it correctly ("-willis"). It still makes no sense.
- They kept the tic in the OVA.
- Mikamo, the sadistic torturing robot antagonist from one chapter of the Tenchi Muyo manga, has something like this, in that he occasionally replaces words with "chu". Often used to humorous censoring effect: "Damn you all, you chu-ing scum!"
- Most of the cast of Katekyo Hitman Reborn does this.
- Colonello in particular as he ends every sentence with "Kora!".
- Ken's "pyon" and Squalo's "VOI" are particularly notable as well.
- Let's not forget about Ryohei's "TO THE EXTREME!!" too.
- Lambo has several: There's "ga ma n" (which roughly translates into "Tolerate" or "Gotta stay calm") and he tends to add "e gamo ne", "monya m" and "damone" at the end of his sentences. Also, Adult!Lambo has a habit of saying "Yare yare" ("geez").
- King Dedede in the Kirby anime ends most of his sentences with zoy. Escargo(o)n, his caretaker, says degesu instead of desu. Both of these quirks were dropped for the dub.
- Referenced/played with when Escargon was pretending to be Dedede, and kept ending his sentences with "degesu zoy".
- Kirby himself doesn't say anything other than "Poyo!" At least while he isn't using any absorbed power.
- In World Destruction, Toppi, a bear-tribe mercenary, adds "kuma" or bear to the end of his sentences. He claims that it is how he shows his racial pride.
- Di Gi Charat - Nyo (Dejiko), Nyu (Puchiko), Gema (Gema), Pyo (Piyoko). The character Murataku was introduced when he came to complain about all the weird people who end their sentences with strange syllables.
- Kurumi's "Kyuiin!" exclamation/interjection in the original Japanese version of Steel Angel Kurumi. (ADV's translation note for this "word" in the manga refers to it as, "totally made up, and inescapably cute"). Also, Kurumi's addition of "desu" to the end of virtually every sentence, which since then has been imitated a lot.
- In The Law of Ueki many of Ueki's opponents have this habit. It's even addressed in the anime itself; when the opponent is introduced, Boss Subtitles are displayed, along with the Verbal Tic, if the opponent has one.
- Chichiri's habit of ending every sentence with "no da" in Fushigi Yuugi (A valid bit of Japanese, but much like adding "Isn't that right?" to every sentence one says - isn't that right?) . And if he doesn't have anything to add to the conversation, sometimes he just says "Daaaah!" The popularity of this character caused many American fangirls to pick up the habit back in the late 90's
- Replaced with "You know!" in the English dub.
- Persona 4: The Animation has Teddie/Kuma who uses the word "kuma" randomly throughout his sentences.
- Naruto's titular character has the habit of adding "Dattebayo" or "~ttebayo" to the end of his sentences and speech, which ups the intensity/annoyance factor of the sentence, and is what children use when they're trying to get the attention of adults who are studiously ignoring them. It was translated into "Believe it!" for the American dub, a decent compromise if nothing else. Unfortunately, considering how often it was used (Occasionally more than the original Japanese, especially in the games), it quickly became insanely annoying, Believe it!
- This was apparently acknowledged, as no less a person than Naruto's voice actress herself requested it stop being used, so later episodes use the phrase less and less until eventually not at all beyond every once in a while or if the dialogue calls for it.
- In one episode, Sasuke mocks Naruto's constant use.
Naruto: Oh no you don't, Sasuke. They came here to interview me, not you. |
- This was parodied in a Youtube Poop, and even though repetition is a staple of most Poops, the intent was clear by replacing other words with the catchphrase. As it turns out, he gets it from his mother, who says "~ttebane".
- Other characters have their own phrases; Konohamaru, the grandson of the Third Hokage, ends most of his sentences with "kore", and Akatsuki villain Deidara punctuates his speech with a drawn out "hmm", which is retained verbatim in the dub.
- Kushina, Naruto's mother, ends her sentences with Dattebane, which is commented on by Naruto when they meet during his fight with Kyuubi.
- Gaara's older brother Kankuro has the habit of adding "jaan" at the end of a sentence. It's supposed to give him some sort of though guy/delinquent accent.
- Kenshin Himura in Rurouni Kenshin makes a habit of speaking in archaically formal Japanese, using the "de gozaru" verb form. (he's using it wrong, however) This gets translated into English - the anime anyway - as a rather awkward, repetitive, countrified emphasis in sentence construction, such as "It would not be wise of you to attempt this, that it would not." He also uses the very old and archaic personal pronoun 'sessha', which was generally used by the samurai up until about the time Kenshin lived, but is nearly unheard of anymore. Translating it into "this one", as the Viz manga did, is actually about right; it's very formal. It wouldn't have been terribly odd to hear someone use it in the time period that Rurouni Kenshin is set in, but it's very odd and distinctive today.
- In the english dub, Kenshin always refers to himself in the first person. Still, he tends to end his sentences with "That I am" or "That I do".
- The "de gozaru" is so frequent that at one point, a baby starts calling him "Gojaru" (babytalk for "de gozaru") because he thinks that's Kenshin's name.
- Kenshin's famous "oro?" which he uses to mean "what the...?"
- Metal Fight Beyblade's Tetsuya certainly qualifies, with his frequent exclamations of 'crabba-WHAT'?, adding 'crab' to the end of his sentences, calling people his 'soft-shelled pals' and whatnot.
- Mugimaru from Nurse Witch Komugi would often use "mugi" at the end of his sentences.
- In Eyeshield 21:
- Monta uses "-MAX!" as suffix, or "MAXI-" as a prefix in the English manga translation. He tends to use it more as an adjective than a suffix, though. "That's, like, effort MAX!"
- Ikkyuu uses "oni" to mean something like "really, really" or "totally," as in "She's oni pretty." "Oni" literally means "devil" or, in context, could be translated "wicked" to sound
Totally Radicallike a New Englander. - Hiruma does it overlapping with Cluster F-Bomb in Gratuitous English ("fakkin-").
- Taki doesn't use Japanese honorifics. He just uses "monsieur."
- The Ha-Ha Bros. with their titular "HA?" "HAA?" "HAAAAA!?"
- And Komusubi's "HAN!"
- Kurita's battle cry, "FUNNURABA!"
- Marco ends most of his sentences with, "I'd say."
- And Kisagi compliments everything as "beautiful." Especially strength.
- Akaba starts his speeches with "fuuu."
- Sasaki says, "That's smart!" to a lot of things, mostly when it comes to kicking.
- Omosodake complains about virtually everything and ends every complaint with "I'm only human."
- Moonface from Busou Renkin ends all his sentences with "moo~n" spoken in an extremely odd way.
- Similarly, Risky Safety had one character that appended "desu no" to every sentence where it would be grammatically feasible - if not appropriate.
- Yukari from Rosario to Vampire is yet another "-desu" user. Nazo Koumori (or Kou-chan for short) uses the variation "-de kyuu" (which is like a bat squealing) and "-Whee~" in the dubbed version.
- Aisha from Outlaw Star tends to throw in the masculine-sounding "zo na" every few sentences.
- In Keroro Gunsou, Keroro tends to append "de arimasu" to almost all his sentences, while Tamama uses "desu", Kululu uses "da ze", and Dororo uses "de gozaru". There's also a minor character, Space Police Officer Poyon, who tends to end her sentences with "poyo". "De arimasu" and "de gozaru" are both valid Japanese (both are polite, military-style forms of "de aru", the Japanese equivalent of the verb "to be"); however, "de gozaru" is rather archaic, and "de arimasu" is rarely used outside of the military - not to mention that Keroro and Dororo use them excessively and outside of proper context.
- "Ku ku ku ku". Kururu/Kululu also has an additional one, da ze (doubles as an alleged Evil Laugh); one episode title even lampshades this ("Kururu: Ku Ku Ku no Ku [De arimasu!]")
- "Teyuuka Angol Mois mo desu ka?" (It's more like Angol Mois does it too? [loose translation])
- In a recent episode, Keroro fuses with each of his platoon members. The composite is the left half of one fusee, and the right half of the other. When either half talks, it impersonates the other half. So when Keroro was fused with Tamama, the Keroro half ended his sentences with "desu" while the Tamama half ended his sentences with "de arimasu".
- The Gikongan flavour "Chappy" in Bleach places an energetic modsoul in your body that ends every sentence with "Pyon". The English (manga) translation has Chappy punctuating her sentences with "Hop."
- Which pretty much is a direct translation of the onomatopoeic word. Somewhat annoyingly, the English dub seems to have abandoned this idea in favor of her using "cutesy-wootsy" speech.
- Then there is Dondochakka that ends his sentences with yansu! (subtitled as Don't cha know).
- In the fillers, The Stoic modsoul Nova often says "montai nai," meaning "no problem," and has occasionally said the opposite, "montai ga aru (There is a problem)."
- Lum from Urusei Yatsura ended her sentences with "'cha" or "da'cha".
- She also refers to herself using a rather rare pronoun "uchi" (mostly used by younger women from the Kansai area), which in addition to the "-cha" was a way girls talked to make themselves sound cuter.
- There's also the Dappya Monsters, strange fish-headed beings who randomly pop into scenes to pass comment, and end their sentences with "-dappya!".
- Sent up in an Omake chapter of Fullmetal Alchemist, where Al, after asking Ed for advice on how to raise his popularity, is told he should adopt a unique personal speech habit, like "adding 'nyu' or 'nya'" to the end of his sentences.
- In a fan translation, he was talking like a robot ("brother asleep with stomach expose again", "me shut you up if you keep talk", "first time me get treat like luggage"), but in the official Viz translation he had his own dattebayo, "Al". "Big brother, you're sleeping with your stomach out again, Al", "if you say anything I'm gonna lose it, Al", "this is the first time I was treated like luggage, Al"...
- The title character of Oruchuban Ebichu has the unusual habit of replacing "s" with "ch" as much as possible - and thus her owner's title of respect repeatedly comes out as "Go-shuujin-chama", which sounds childish.
- Late in Slam Dunk, the reader is introduced to the captain of the Sannoh team, Kazunari Fukatsu, who always adds "pyon" to everything he says. Seriously, it has to be seen to be believed. To make matters worse, he's recovering from yet another Verbal Tic, "beshi".
- In the Japanese version of Yu-Gi-Oh, Pegasus frequently uses funnily mispronounced Gratuitous English, and how to forget his "DEEEEEEEEESU!".
- Joey/Jounouchi's English dub "Nyeeh?" (endlessly mocked in the abridged series). It's one of the more versatile Vocal Tics, meaning anything from "Huh?" to "OHMYGAWD!" to "I'm disappointed," depending on the situation and inflection.
- Manga-only-- Yugi has a subtle one; he says "Yep!" or "Yup!" a lot.
- Weevil has his snarky laugh, Dub!Mokuba has his vocal tremor, Ryou is always exceedingly polite, and Dub!Kaiba tends to favor "Yeah" and "Yeah, right."
- Professor Daitokouji in Yu-Gi-Oh GX tends to end sentences with "-nya" (the Japanese sound for a cat's meow), and the dinosaur-loving Kenzan often ends his with "-saurus" or "-don". Sho Marufuji would end many sentences with "ssu" (an elision of "desu"). Hayato would often end his sentences with "nan do na". Professor Chronos de Medici also likes to end his sentences with "(na) no ne" ("Is that not so?"), and his co-worker Napoleon ends his sentences with "de aru".
- In one episode, as they argue bitterly, Chronos and Napoleon take to calling each other by their specific sentence ending.
- Rua in Yu-Gi-Oh 5 Ds has an annoying habit of talking like Gerald McBoingBoing...but only in duels. Just try to get through an episode (or Tag Force 4 duel) with him dueling and not poke out your eardrums after the fiftieth cry of "DOOOOON!", "CHA-KIIIIING!", or "DIIIIAL ON!".
- The Pretty Cure multiverse gives every Non-Human Sidekick one such catch phrase.
- Futari wa Pretty Cure: Mipple ("-mipo"), Mepple ("-mepo"), Porun ("-popo"), and Lulun ("-lulu").
- Futari wa Pretty Cure Splash* Star: Flappi ("-lapi"), Choppi ("-chopi"), Mupu ("-mupu"), Fupu ("-pupu")
- Yes! Pretty Cure 5: Coco ("-coco"), Nuts ("-natsu"), Milk ("-miru") - and listing those added in the second season would take too much time.
- Surprisingly averted in Fresh Pretty Cure - Chiffon spoke babytalk until episode 13 and Tart spoke in Osaka-ben Kansai dialect.
- Heartcatch Pretty Cure: Chypre and Coffret go the Suiseiseki route and end each sentence with "desu". Potpourri, being very young, ends each sentence with a slightly-off "-dechu".
- Suite Pretty Cure: each of the Fairy Tones end each sentence in a solfège name (for example, Dori and Dodori use "-dodo"). Hummy also speaks often with the "-nyan" word that sometimes sounds like a verbal tic.
- Smile Pretty Cure: Candy ends each sentence with "-kuru". Pop frequently ends sentences with "-de gozaru," since he sounds and acts like a samurai.
- Kaede Nagase in Mahou Sensei Negima ends most of her sentences with "de gozaru", the archaic speaking style highlighting her "samurai-like" personality. Ku Fei ends hers in "aru" or "arune", intended to convey a Chinese accent. Yue Ayase also frequently ends sentences with an extra "desu". Chao Lingshen ends her sentences in "ne".
- Kaede uses "sessha" as a personal pronoun too. She actually talks a lot like Kenshin...
- When the typically Cute Mute Zazie Rainyday's identical twin sister starts talking, she passes through several of these. First she uses "poyo" several times, then, when called out on her sudden non-use of it, gives "zazi" and "ponyo" a try before settling back to "poyo".
- Nishiyama Kankuro in Muteki Kanban Musume adds "nya" to every sentence he finishes.
- From The Prince of Tennis:
- Dan Taichi uses "-desu"
- Kikumaru Eiji ends many of his phrases with "-nya", or substitutes 'nya' for the 'na' sound in a word.
- Subverted in the case of Yanagisawa Shinya: he finishes his phrases with "da ne", but it's so annoying that at one point Kaidou and Momoshiro go all "STFU!" at him.
- Momo doesn't have a specific word he uses, so much as a specific sentence structure. Whenever he feels the need to emphasize how seriously he's taking something, he adds an emphatic negative to the end.
- And of course Kaidou's "...fshuuuu..." which pretty much is an unconscious exhalation, though he tends to do it more often and forcefully when he's pissed off.
- Also, Niou from Rikkai Dai often ends sentences or randomly says "puri", though this also borders to a Catch Phrase. It was more prominent in the manga than the anime, though.
- Nia, the apprentice Biter in DearS always adds "ni" to her sentences as well. In fact, sometimes it's the only thing she says.
- Mojo Jojo in Demashita! Powerpuff Girls Z usually adds "-mojo" to the end of his sentences, presumably because the original Mojo's wonky grammar wouldn't translate well into Japanese (being a parody of bad Japanese-to-English translations in the first place).
- This happens with other characters. Peach the digital dog (-wan), the Amoeba boys (-nume), and Fuzzy Lumpkins (-de mon da). Generally this seems to be an indication that the speaker isn't human, except in one certain case: Miyako, who ends her sentences with "desu wa".
- Pani Poni Dash has a cat-like creature who ends its sentences with "nya", a tanuki that ends its sentences with "de yansu", and a giant salamander that ends its sentences with "kero".
- Not to mention Himeko, who says "Maho" practically every other sentence.
- Akane Serizawa, when in her "Roboko" disguise, says "piko piko" randomly in an apparent attempt to indicate Roboko "computing."
- Yanki tends to punctuate his sentences with "dot com."
- Sayaka Suzuki uses "... Of The Year", in English, as her nonsensical way of adding emphasis. (Example: "Becky is hungry of the year.")
- Ichigo of Tokyo Mew Mew occasionally "nya"s, as she is a Catgirl; Chinese Girl Bu-ling avoids the stereotypical "aru" and instead says "nano da" to show that she's a Genki Girl, and Ojou Minto uses "wa" at the end of her sentences.
- Mocchi from the Monster Rancher series adds "chi" to the ending of most of his lines. Sometimes he simply exclaims "Chi!", too.
- Tsuruya in Haruhi Suzumiya said the word "nyoro[1]" only once in the anime, though she uses it more often in the light novels, in which she is a more prominent character. This, too, has become a Memetic Mutation, with the fan-comic character "Churuya", a chibi version of Tsuruya that says "nyoro~n" at the end of every strip.
- However, she does regularly add an additional 's' at the end of her words. Whether this is a lisp due to her snaggletooth or just a way of talking is anyone's guess.
- She is also known for 'megas(sa)'.
- Eiji Niizuma from Bakuman。 might have one of the oddest Verbal Tics ever: he punctuates his phrases with manga onomatopoeiae.
- The main character of Zatch Bell ends almost all of his sentences with "na(ru) no da", an expression of emphasis that loosely reads as "isn't it?", although it's seldom translated.
- In the anime-only (that is, not from the original manga) episode of Hayate the Combat Butler!, the supporting cast gets caught in a roleplaying game, with a villain whose verbal tic is "-tima." She reveals in one of her monologues that "-tima" is part of her punishment, and something she will be able to get rid of if she defeats the heroes. It's so bad she writes it on a welcome banner.
- Mega Man NT Warrior has entirely too many of these. Higure's "de masu" (brought over in the games as "huh", forgotten in the anime), Gutsman's "de gatsu" and Toadman's "kero" (brought over as "guts" and "ribbit"), Aquaman's "pyuu", Iceman's "desu", Bubbleman's "puku", Diveman's "deaaru", the list just doesn't stop.
- In the US version, Bubbleman goes "Blub" about as often as a Smurf says "Smurf". Presumably for the same reason.
- Also, Diveman's "deaaru" was translated as "awooga" (a reference to his "submarine" motif).
- The sequel series, Ryuusei no Rockman (Mega Man Star Force) has a few more of these. The most outstanding is Cancer Bubble's "~buku" dialect. Since Cancer Bubble has the same theme and basic role (inept comic relief villain) as Bubbleman from the original, this might be him actually taking after Bubbleman, puku.
- Nyu/Lucy from Elfen Lied can only say "Nyu" while in her Nyu personality. It's darker than is usually seen with this trope, as it's not just a cute habit; it's brain damage from being shot in head.
- Only in the anime. She starts out this way in the manga, but becomes more articulate as the series progresses, regaining some standard speech habits and even singing. Nyu and Kaede/Lucy are still distinctly separate personalities, though.
- Noda Megumi of Nodame Cantabile often uses nonsense words such as "Mukya!" and "Gyabo!"
- Wilhelmina Carmel of Shakugan no Shana ends nearly every sentence with "de arimasu", de arimasu.
- Said expression was adapted in the dub by making the character say "indeed" in pretty much every sentence. The results are satisfactory indeed. It was indeed a nice Woolseyism.
- Domino uses the unnecessarily convoluted "de gozaimasu desu", which is basically the same thing both in a formal and informal way one after the other.
- Freya in Matantei Loki (Mythical Detective Loki Ragnarok) ends absolutely every sentence with "desu" (ie, "Hai desuu!").
- Suouin Kana from Otome wa Boku ni Koishiteru has an annoyingly long sentence ending ~na no desu yo.
- From D Gray Man, Lero, the Millennium Earl's sentient umbrella, adds "-lero" to the end of his sentences.
- The sadistic Akuma Eshi, being an artist when still human, begins most of his sentences with "Title."
- While not necessarily a verbal tic, the Millennium Earl ends all his sentences (in the manga) with a heart. No matter what. This is occasionally creepy, since the Earl is the Omnicidal Maniac Big Bad.
- Also, Lavi and Chomesuke with their "sa"s and "cho"s respectively. Chomesuke was named for hers.
- Nyake from Kamichama Karin ends her sentences with "da shi". She also laughs with a 'shi shi shi' and has a tendency to mangle and 'ni's and 'na's in her speech into nya's (Japanese onomatopoeia for 'meow'). This is why she's called 'Nya-ke' and not 'Nike'.
- Pokémon: In the Japanese version of episodes 18-19, the two Obabas (US: Brutella in ep. 18 and Nastina in ep. 19) would end whatever they say with "-baba".
- Team Rocket's Meowth occasionally adds "-nya" to the end of his sentences, which makes sense as he's a cat. The dub tried to do this in early episodes with the English "meow" (or "Meowth"), but it was quickly dropped. Not to mention Haruka, (US: May), who used "-kamo" at the end of most sentences in the season she is introduced; it was played as a joke with her Pokémon, Achamo (AKA Torchic), who always repeated "-chamo" at the end of the sequences.
- There's also Hikari (Dawn) who usually says "Daijobu". Unlike the other examples, it's actually translated into English as "No need to worry".
- In the eleventh Pokémon movie, Shaymin (in the Japanese version) ends sentences with the verbal tic of "deshou".
- When the female player character from Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver (Kotone) appeared, she added "koto ne?" at the end of her sentences.
- The fictional Nessie-like lake monster Kishi in Majin Tantei Nougami Neuro adds "-ki" to the end of every sentence. When the murderer "crosses the line" and transforms, he also speaks in this way.
- Franky of One Piece, among his other eccentricities, uses "super" in a variety of ways (including shouting it at the top of his lungs) when he's in a good mood.
- This is only the tip of the iceberg, a section on the unique laughs alone would be enough for its own page.
- Unique laughs aside, there are a couple other characters with similar verbal tics. Buggy tends to say "flashy" in a flashy way every sentence where it's remotely flashily possible, for example.
- There's also Caimie, who addresses everybody by the non-existent honorific of "<insert name here>-chin".
- Kaku's use of -ja to end sentences is notable because it's a tic normally used by old men. When the Straw Hats question him about this, Kaku replies that he's in his mid-twenties... while continuing to use the tic, further confusing the issue.
- Dosun of the New Fishman Pirates has 'dosun' as his tic, boardering on Pokémon-Speak. However, it's unique in that his tic corresponds to how powerful he's feeling. According to the One Piece Wiki, his tic rating is this, from weakest to strongest; Fosun after Rapid Aging -> Pikon -> Kotsun -> Potsun -> Posun -> Tosun -> Dosun -> Dogan -> Bokan -> Zugan -> Bagon -> Gyaban.
- Various characters in Digimon had it: Culumon, Guilmon, Deramon and Piyomon on occasion, ShogunGekomon. It became particularly prominent in Digimon Frontier, though, with many secondary characters having very obvious ones. Baby I Digimon had Pokémon-Speak in Digimon Adventure.
- Taken to the extreme in Digimon Xros Wars, where nearly any character under two feet tall will suffix each sentence with the a part of it's name. Chibikamemon says "kame", Pawnchessmons say "chess", Evilmons say "evil"... you get the picture.
- Marumaro of Blue Dragon sometimes added "-maro" as a sentence ender.
- ...which surprisingly was kept in the dub. Maro.
- Kogarashi from Kamen no Maid Guy uses "ku ku ku" a lot in his sentences.
- The Robot Buddy Giru in Dragon Ball GT often repeated his own name.
- Uzura, an animate doll from Princess Tutu, ended most sentences with "zura."
- Dio, the main villain of the 1st & 3rd story arcs of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure ends almost all of his sentences with '-te yare', which is about the most elaborately condescending way to give other people a direct order. It roughly translates in intent to giving an order to an insect or inanimate object.
- As well, a relatively minor enemy from the second story, Wired Beck, can't help but say 'ok' at the end of every sentence.
- Gyro in Steel Ball Run has a weird little chuckle he uses when things get interesting: Nyohoho~
- Coopa from The Tower of Druaga tends to end many of her sentences with "de gozaimasu".
- Many of the Monsters Of The Week in Sailor Moon do this, adding their name or part of it to the end of sentences. (Actually, the monsters that don't do this are generally only capable of saying their own name, period.)
- Banban.
- The Token Mini-Moe in Girls Bravo adds "na no da" to all of her sentences. Her magic formula even goes "poru poru poru na no da!".
- The same applies to Rinrin/Chouhi in Koihime Musou and Nano-Nano Pudding from Galaxy Angel II.
- Cardcaptor Sakura's main character has her ever present "Hoee".
- And her "Rosy Daydreaming Variant", "Hanyaaan".
- Haruko from FLCL sometimes ends her sentences with random tics such as "pyon" or "nyaa", though this is more to come across as an eccentric, mischievous person. Her codas are usually ad hoc, such as "nyaa" in an episode that was framed by a cat theme.
- Mamimi, on the other hand, expresses the -ssu coda throughout.
- Boss in Mazinger Z often ends his words with "Da wa sa". He discards it in the Mazinkaiser OVA, da wa sa.
- Subaru from Comic Party often says "ugyuu" for no reason at all; It's, among other things, her equivalent of "Oh?"
- Ume from Air Gear (in the manga, at least) often punctuates her sentences with "deshi."
- While believing she is a child, the titular character of Nanaka Six Seventeen often says "Hayaya" or "Hawawa" when surprised by something. This is partly in imitation of the Magical Girl in the Show Within a Show she loves.
- Belbel, Beth's assistant in Petite Princess Yucie, very classically ends every sentence with "desu".
- In the English dub, she ends with a quick 'yes!' every so often.
- In Kyattou Ninden Teyandee (aka Samurai Pizza Cats), Yattaro (Speedy Cerviche) always says "Teyandee!" to whatever he says.
- Chobits has Chii's case, similar to Nyu's mentioned above, and Plum/Sumomo's, that ended her sentences with desu and preceded Suiseiseki on it.
- Shark Fujishiro from Seto no Hanayome speaks as if all sentences were interrogatory. What this means is that everything he says ends like a question? You know with an upward inflection? There's maybe 3 lines in the entire dub where he doesn't talk like this?
- Not to mention that Maki uses "Desu~"...at least when she's in her cute, non-Yandere mode...
- Little-known Ken Akamatsu work Mao-chan (originally released around the end of Love Hina's run, though only just now being translated into English in an official publication) features a character named Misora who ends her sentences with "de arimasu". In the English version, this is translated as "don'tcha know!" or "if ya please!". .
- Possibly the best joke in the series: someone fears that the girls have been killed and will come back to haunt her as ghost/zombies... with their evil chuckles... "Heh heh heh." "Heh heh heh." "Heh heh heh de arimasu."
- Also, Sylvia, who refers to the other girls as "dudettes" and often starts sentences with "yo, yo" The translation notes say this was just to convey a general manner of casualness to her speech.
- Misha and her constant "Suuuu~" or "Nyaaa~" at the end of her sentences in Pita-Ten. Even lampshaded on occasion by several characters.
- In Shugo Chara, several of the Chara use Verbal Tics, including Yoru's "~da nya~", Nana's "nia" (Which, as she is quite clear towards pointing out towards the afore - mentioned Yoru, is NOT the same as "nya".) and Su's "desu~" (Which is actually a self - reference: Peach-Pit did both Rozen Maiden AND Shugo Chara, and Su happens to wear green, medieval - maid - ish clothing, so that it is.)
- Mileina Vashti from Mobile Suit Gundam 00, perhaps as part of her Genki Girl persona or she's just following Suiseiseki's example, usually ends her sentence with 'Desu'.
- The titular character of Otogi Juushi Akazukin says "juushi" at every opportunity, leading to another character wondering what's so "juicy" anyway.
- Mahoraba thrives on these, with almost every character having one tic or another.
- Kagura from Gintama ends many of her sentences with "aru" (which is translated as "uh-huh" in the Viz licensed volumes). At one point, when the other characters thought Kagura was gone from the story, Otae (aru/uh-huh), Sacchan (nin-nin) and Catherine (nya/meow) make up their own verbal tics in an attempt to be chosen as the new female lead.
- There's also Okita, whose signature way of speaking includes ending his sentences with desaa~ or desu zee.
- Paya-tan, the "heroine's" animal mascot in Dai Mahou Touge, ends his sentences with "-paya!" except when in Jouji Nakata mode.
- Arita Shion, Birdy's idol/part-time model alter-ego in Birdy the Mighty: Decode speaks in a forced bubbly manner, accentuating all the final 'u' sounds in words that have them and adding "de arudesu~" to most sentences.
- The demon in Baccano that gave Maiza the secret to eternal life regularly peppers his speech with a phrase that roughly translates into "but, whatever." Now, isn't funny that camorrista Ronnie tends to use that very same phrase...
- He lampshades this in the novel:
Demon: "...Oh, 'but, whatever,' is a Verbal Tic of mine. Don't worry about it... It's kind of strange to call it a verbal tic when I'm communicating directly into your minds. But, whatever." |
- The main character of Iono the Fanatics has "-zoyo". As in, "Would you like to be my sobame (concubine), zoyo?"
- Each member of GEAR Fighter Dendoh's Goldfish Poop Gang ends all of his sentences with a different tic: -dawa, -bari, or -jyan.
- Chappy, the enchanted broom from Himechan no Ribon, ends every sentence with the onomatopoeia for "swish swish".
- "Manager" from Excel Saga (the Emeraldas look-alike character) ends most sentences with "isn't it?" in the English translation of the manga, while Elgala combines this with Third Person Person by referring to herself as "I, Elgala".
- Aah, that's right, Signum of Lyrical Nanoha has her distinctive "Aah" which she uses as a preface for certain statements or simply as a very old-fashioned "Yes".
- There's also Wendi, the cheerful, red-headed, Hover Board riding cyborg who has a habit of adding a "~su" at the end of her sentences ~su.
- Shigure from Kenichi the Mightiest Disciple has an odd habit of pausing once or twice per sentence, oftentimes right in the middle of a wo...rd.
- Miu tends to end her sentences with 'Desu wa.'
- Apachai has a habit of saying "Apa!" a lot, sometimes very rapidly in sequence: "APAPAPAPAPA!"
- The Chinese Tsun family in Doctor Slump say "yes" often, such as, "Ah! That is Turbo, yes!" So when someone asks Tsun Tsuku-tsun a question, he responds with, "No, yes!"
- Which is actually a more or less literal translation of "iie desu."
- In Welcome to The NHK, there's Puru Puru Pururin, where the eponymous heroine ends her sentences with '-purin'.
- Quon from RahXephon tends to say "ra ra" when surprised or confused.
- "MISAKA from To Aru Majutsu no Index narrates her own dialogue from the third person perspective," explained the troper.
- "This is probably a design decision on the part of the scientists that created them, given that her narrations tend to include details that would normally be conveyed through inflection, but are lost in her monotone delivery," the troper explains helpfully.
- "'Similarly, Last Order narrates herself narrating her own dialogue from the third-person perspective,' said the troper," said the troper.
- Komoe is a constant user of desu as well, even using it on its own (for example, instead of saying yes).
- Sora, the main character of Kaleido Star, occasionally repeats the last word or sound of a sentence three times, times, times. She actually doesn't do it often in the actual series, except when she is very excited or worried about something and mostly for comic relief, but she does it at the end of the brief introduction at the beginning of every episode, sode, sode.
- Touka of Saki has a "Desu Wa" Verbal Tic as fitting The Ojou desu wa. The title of her Image Song gave this a Lampshade Hanging: "You Won't Escape... Desu wa!"
- Momoko, meanwhile, has a tendency to add "-su" at the end of her sentences when she's talking aloud-su.
- And don't forget Yuuki's "Je!"
- A one-time character in Plus Anima ended all of his sentences with "Now,". Because he spoke frequently, and in very short sentences, it got rather grating by the end of the chapter.
- Eruka Frog from Soul Eater often uses "geko," the Japanese equivalent of "ribbit."
- Mizune always adds "chi chi chi" to the end of her sentences (when she speaks in sentences). Chichichi is the sound a rat makes in Japanese. There is also one-shot character Al Capone's "y'know?".
- Chikinaro from the Japanese anime version of Utawarerumono often ends his sentences with a drawn-out "Haaaiii..." which actually means "yes" in Japanese. Some Western characters actually do a similar thing, yes.
- Rizelmine's Lan-Lan and Rachel have them, being foreigners. Lan-Lan uses the Chinese "-aru" frequently, while Rachel, being Russian, ends her sentences with "-ski" often, as this is a common ending to Russian words.
- Rave Master has a talking penguin-esque creature named Ruby who ends every other sentence with "poyo", and even writes it at the end of sentences. This is joked about lightly once when, after giving a long drawn out explanation about how magic and elements works, Ruby guesses that the resident mage, Sieg, must not be aligned to any element. In the background is an image of Sieg saying "Correct, poyo"
- Fairy Tail - Ebi means shrimp/prawn in Japanese. The Stellar Spirit Cancer is the one who says it, to the disappointment of all who wanted to hear him say something more appropriate, being The Crab.
- You also get Hot-Eye of the Orachion Seis in the Nirvana arc... desu ne!/desu yo!
- Kinana says -kina.
- Axis Powers Hetalia is in love with verbal tics. Be it China's 'aru', Russia's 'da', or N. Italy's 've', the use is heavy and often.
- Don't forget Sealand, desu-yo!
- Or, like, totally, Poland, you know?
- Canada has a tendency to say "Maple" when he is in pain.
- Romano says "chigi" whenever someone pulls his curl, which is also his erogenous zone.
- China's sometimes changes to -ahen (which is Japanese for opium) when talking to Britain (in reference to the Opium Wars).
- Korea uses da-ze all the time to emphasize his sentences.
- Prussia's... not-quite-laugh, per say, but something he says when amused is 'Kesesesese.'
- Russia chants 'Kolkolkolkolkol' when he is upset, threatened, insulted, or taking pleasure in someone's misfortune.
- Belarus chants 'Kekkonkekkonkekkon'('Marriage') -translated to the English dub as 'Marry me'- whenever she's in the mood to terrify/marry Russia (which is all the time).
- Thailand says "ana" after his sentences.
- Lady Aska of Fahren in Magic Knight Rayearth ends nearly every sentence with "-ja", rather than the typical "-aru" you'd expect from a Chinese Girl ja. Sometimes appends a "-ja" to the end of a random word in the middle of a sentence, or replaces a word's last syllable with "ja".
- In Seitokai no Ichizon, one episode has Kurimu punishing the rest of the student council by ASSIGNING them verbal tics which they had to use, including "gesu" for Ken and "mokyuu" for Chizuru.
- Similarly to Su, Caramel from Yumeiro Patissiere ends virtually every sentence with "desu", even in group dialogue-desu.
- Chocolat also does sometimes-desu wa.
- Chinatsu Nakayama from Doki Doki School Hours (Sensei no Ojikan) has a habit of ending sentences with "kyaha" when excited.
- A rare Sonic the Hedgehog manga released before the first game has Eggman have one of these with the word 'hai' at the end of every sentence. This is translated to a fascination with cooking giant eggs in English, yes!
- Rikuson Hakugen of Ikki Tousen ends her sentences with "Zo ne", an odd combination for a young girl; "Zo" is a strong and manly tic and "ne" is, of course, the cutesy girl kind.
- Himawari's Darkskinned Blonde Himeji ends her sentences with "arisu".
- Ika Musume of Shinryaku! Ika Musume ends most of her sentences with "de geso".
- In one episode of MM!, Mio uses hypnosis to temporarily make Taro end all of his sentences with "muccha boin" (translated as "hugetastic boobs").
- From Ranma One Half, Shampoo's tendency to add "Aiyah" to the beginning of sentences when agitated.
- Maomolin the cat ghost randomly adds the noun "Nya", the Japanese word for "Meow", to his sentences, and the people he possesses will also talk like this.
- Homura from Puella Magi Madoka Magica sports a fan-created verbal tic: Japanese fans have her use the tic "homu" (sometimes repeated twice or more) in fanart. She often says it while engaging in illicit activities (another meme that's totally fan-made).
- C the Money And Soul of Possibility has Q's "Nano des", Which she literally ends every sentence with, even when she's discussing very disturbing secrets.
- Sheila of Superior does this quite a lot, nyaaa~!
- Similar to Suiseiseki above, Dalian of Bibliotheca Mystica de Dantalian ends most of her sentences with "desu" regardless of whether the word fits there, though she at least pronounces it the normal way. Also, if a sentence starts with "Yes" or "No," she usually says "Yes" or "No."
- In Tamayura, the Cute Clumsy Girl Fuu often finishes her sentences with "na no de". This phrase is then used also in episode names.
- Much like Kenshin, Masa in House of Five Leaves ends his sentences with a polite, "de gozaru."
- Lana Linchen from Freezing has the same verbal tic as Wilhelmina above de arimasu.
- Black Hanekawa of Bakemonogatari says "nya" for every "n" sound in a word.
- Mayo Chiki has a verbal hic from Kanade. Hiccups from her results in a "nyu" sound that's used much like a regular Verbal Tic, and Jiro even thinks she's doing it on purpose. It's just about the only thing that breaks her normally very solid composure.
Comic Books[]
- The interstellar
bounty hunterfreelance peacekeeping agent Deaths Head, from several of Marvel's UK comics, would often end his sentences with "Yes?" or, less commonly, "no?" or "huh?" - In the Asterix comic books, the title character is bemused on a visit to England by the locals' habit of adding ", what" to the end of their sentences.
- The original French version has them speak using British expressions (translated in French) and use French words but with an English syntax; adjective-noun instead of noun-adjective.
- In The Sandman series, the character Fiddler's Green (a part of land in the Dreaming who walks the world as a human named Gilbert), always interjects the word "Hoom." into his statements.
- Rorschach's "Hrm." According to Jackie Earle Haley, who plays him in The Movie, it's impossible for him to do without wearing the mask.
- Bug, of Micronauts, Annihilation: Conquest and --*Tik!*-- Guardians of the Galaxy takes this to its logical extremes, as his tic is that his speech is randomly interrupted by "TIK", a side effect of his speaking difficulties.
- Blindfold of X-Men is... hard to describe. Basically, as she's having a conversation with you, she sounds like she's giving yes-or-no answers to someone just offscreen.
- Or given the nature of her precognitive abilities, she's answering yes-or-no questions that haven't been asked yet.
- Litterbug is a giant bug-like mutant who has difficulty forming words without being interrupted by a distinctive "KHKK".
- In The Walking Dead, Axel ends most of his sentences with a "You follow me?"
- Golden Age Etta Candy has "woo woo!"
- When facing down a Khund warrior, Modern Age Lt. Candy sarcastically muttered "Woo &^%$ing woo!"
- Fallen Angel has Chief Examiner Slate, henh. It appears to be a trait of the position, as his successor, Ezil, has inherited it.
- Doufu Ma from Bowling King doesn't have a specific phrase he uses... but his constant stammering (which ruins his Bishounen image) is definitely a verbal tic.
- When Canadian John Byrne was writing the Marvel Comics series Alpha Flight (about a Canadian superhero team), Puck had the stereotypical Canadian habit of adding "eh?" to the end of his sentences. He specifically did not have that tic in thought balloons.
- Similarly, several Marvel monsters as seen in Nick Fury's Howling Commandos, including the Glob (who needs a special respirating device to speak and breathes with a deep "-SSSK-" a few times a sentence) and the Zombie, whose limited intelligence keeps him from completing a thought without stumbling through it with several uses of "Um..."
- And following that pattern, as The DCU's Metal Men began to develop more distinct and expressive personalities, Dumb Muscle Lead couldn't complete a thought without interrupting it with "Uhh..." Tin's stammering may also count, and Mercury boasts about the fact that he's the only metal that's liquid at room temperature so often it might as well be one of these, too.
- Batman villain Scarface has a slight variation in that he pronounces the letter "B" as "G" (due to the fact that the Ventriloquist is the one actually talking and this is an actual problem faced by many ventriloquists); Humorously, this means, among other things, that he cannot properly say "Batman" or, indeed, speak intelligibly at all depending on the context. When Peyton Riley became the new Ventriloquist, Scarface's "B" sounds became actual "B" sounds.
- In a straighter example that ties into this, Scarface often ends sentences with "guddy goy."
- This became a major plot point during the Cataclysm story arc - Robin revealed the Quakemaster to actually be another of the Ventriloquist's puppets by daring him to say his name, since he had been carefully avoiding words with B in them.
- Unfortunately, in his first appearance, Quakemaster correctly pronounces the word "Burn".
- Oyuki-chan, or as Ninjette calls her in reference to her verbal tic, "fucking Oyuki-chan".
- That humble fucking genin seems to have a bad case of Hollywood Tourettes.
- Grant Morrison gave unique pseudo-tic catch phrases to several characters in his JLA run (most of them were Gotham-based) including Batman: "hh", Huntress: "tt", and Commissioner Gordon: "ff". He even uses Damian Wayne's "tff" and "tt" as subtle cues that he really is Bruce's son.
- In the Morrison-penned Final Crisis, "hh" is Batman's dying word.
- Wingman, the member of the Club of Heroes who spent his whole life trying to be Batman and thus emulates him even in this sense: he uses "tt", and his own dying word is "kk".
- In the ABC Warriors comics, Happy Shrapnel, as one of the oldest ABC Warriors still in service, is often interrupted during speech by an uncontrollable buzzing sound that sometimes conveniently takes the place of expletives.
- The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen has Griffin's distinct "Aheheh".
- Though this isn't without purpose, as it would otherwise often be impossible to know that he was indeed in the scene; especially when he's doing espionage.
- Nova recently introduced an alien Corpsman who abuses the hell out of the prefix "ultra-".
- Worldbreaker in Atavar begins the majority of their sentences with "We are Worldbreaker."
- Bionicle's air-Toa have a habit of running pairs of words together, often redundantly ("Toa-heroes" has come up more than once). Then again this is how all of the Le-Matoran/Toa speak.
- WE ARE VENOM!
- When nervous, Chrysoprasia from DR and Quinch is "unbelievably quiet apart from the weird, squeaky little 'EE-OUK' noise that she keeps making in her throat."
- In Judo Girl, master villain Captain Steel succeeds in transferring his consciousness into a sentient liquid form, which for some reason causes him to repeat the last syllable in every sentence he speaks. For example: "My body is my intelligencegencegence. I am invulnerablebleble. I am immortaltaltal. At last, I am truly Captain Steelsteelsteel!"
- The Messiah in Preacher (Comic Book) frequently uses the nonsense word "Humperdidoo", or some variant thereof.
- Hell're you lookin' at, bub?
- Jaeger Ayers of Finder tends to refer to the people he's talking to as 'cousin' quite a lot.
Fan Work[]
- Daneel Rush of TFF fame has given us Higashiyama Sayuri, the Badass Loli Kyuubi No Youko (who won her tails in a drunken bout of poker with Inari-sama) sealed inside of Uzumaki Naruto, who ends most every sentence with Mugyuu, the shortened Mugii, or (if her tails are mentioned or she's exceedingly happy) a "Wai!" followed by wagging her tails.
- Also in the same story is Higashiyama Yurine, Sayuri's aunt, who uses "Hawa" to much the same effect.
- Here, Ron's "Bloody Hell!" is lampshaded in that Draco in Leather Pants finds it incredibly sexy and keeps asking him to say it.
- Tsuruya's father shares her Verbal Tic in Kyon: Big Damn Hero.
- Leif of Soulless Shell frequently ends sentences with "eh". Or at least those might be the points where the sentence is supposed to end, it's hard to tell.
- BROOOOOTTTHHHERRR.
- In Dragon Ball Z, the Oni add "oni" to the end of every line. The translation gets rid of the tick completely.
Film[]
- Curly from The Three Stooges, who liberally adds "nyuk-nyuk-nyuk" or "woo-woo-woo" at the end of his lines.
- TRON's Master Control Program exhibits this. End Of Line.
- Spoofed in the film Kung Pow Enter the Fist, in which the villain Betty constantly ended his sentences with "nngggggg!" and love interest Ling said "Weeee-ooo-weee-ooo-weee!". (Both were done by the voice actor to fill in the gaps made by the lip movements.) By the end of one scene, they were conversing entirely in these sounds.
- In Office Space there's Bill Lumburgh, Peter's hated boss, who litters his speech with smarmy verbal tics. He begins every conversation with a shallow, "What's happening?" He always tells workers to "go ahead" and do things, to mask the fact that he's handing down disagreeable orders. After delivering an order, he tells the person, "That'd be great," as a threadbare attempt at encouragement. He also punctuates many sentences with a drawn-out "yeeeeaahhhh" or patronizing "mmmkay?"
- The antagonists in Dark City, (Mr Book, Mr Hand et al) tend to close most of their affirmative or interrogative phrases with Yes?. "We remember, yes?".
- Kenneth Williams in the Carry On movies and elsewhere: "Nnnnnnnnoooooooooooo, stop messin' about!"
- Fingers, in the film Shira: Vampire Samurai is practically an English-speaking version of Naruto, ending almost every sentence with a hearty "Believe that!"
- Monty Python and The Holy Grail: the Knights Who Say NI!.
- In The Master of Disguise, one of Pistachio's disguises is Mr. Turtle, who says "turtle" at the end of his sentences.
- George III, as seen in The Madness of King George, has one of these, wot wot? This is actually true of Nigel Hawthorne in general.
- Manos the Hands of Fate: The Master woUlD noT apProVE. YoU canNot stAy. ThE MasTeR wOulD noT apProVe. NoT deAd tHe waY yOu kNoW iT. He iS wiTh uS aLwaYs. NoT deAd thE wAy yoU kNoW iT. He iS wItH uS alWayS.
- Mr. Deltoid, yes, from A Clockwork Orange, yes, has a tendency to insert the word yes into every sentence, sometimes at the beginning, yes, but often at the end as well, oh yes. It also begins to rub off on Alex, but more so in the book than the film.
- Streets of Fire: Billy Fish says "shit" so much that it's practically a Tic.
- Star Wars: The Phantom Menace: Watto ends many sentences with "methinks".
- Pirates of the Caribbean: Captain Jack Sparrow. Savvy? This expression comes from French colonists, who added "savez?" ("you know?", as in "get it?") at the end of sentences to make sure the natives understood.
- In the sequels, Davy Jones has a tendency to punctuate sentences with an "-ah".
- In The Squid and the Whale, the tennis instructor Ivan tacks "my brother" onto the end of every sentence. Eventually, he becomes a dubious role model for his young pupil Frank, who starts imitating the same goofy tic.
- In Fargo, stereotypical Minnesota verbal tics are mined for comedy. Natives frequently say things like "ya," "you betcha," and "you're darn tootin'!" Natives are so fixated on saying "aw geeze" when they're upset that Wade says when he gets shot.
- The dog in Up: "Squirrel!"
- The uh, Joker, in The Dark Knight Saga, can't, uh, seem to manage a sentence without using the word "uh," and enunciattting everythingggg.
- Dude, Where's My Car?:
- "And... theennnnn."
- "Zoltan!"
- The View Askewniverse character Jay does this some version of this constantly in nearly every film, as well as the animated series. Variations include "Snooch!", "Snoochie boochies!", "Snooch to the Nooch!", and "Snoogans". He even lampshades it in both Chasing Amy and Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. According to director and longtime friend Kevin Smith, Jason Mewes was doing that in real life long before the films were made.
- Number (Johnny) Five from Short Circuit has a habit of listing synonyms for various words as he speaks.
"Number 5... furious! Livid! Perturbed!" |
- Goodfellas: Joey Two-Times. "I'm gonna go get the papers, get the papers."
- In The Room, everyone greets each other by saying, "Oh, hi (name)!" often leading numerous people to say this to each other.
- Rocky Balboa in the Rocky series "Ya know!"
- In the third Austin Powers movie, the eponymous Goldmember has a tendency of quoting a famous song, then whispering the copyright distractedly. "And that's the way, uh-huh uh-huh, I like it! (KC and the Sunshine Band.)"
- Doyle Lonnegan in The Sting. Ye follow?
Literature[]
- Sparhawk from The Elenium used called pretty much anyone he didn't know "neighbor". It's explained as him just trying to be friendly. When asked he didn't just call them friend, he replied that they weren't necessarily his friend. Justified, in that given his profession, they were just as likely to go all stabbity on him as greet him warmly.
- Sartain Stradius from Felsic Current, says "See" at the beginning of sentences, or at the end, or after a comma. Basically anywhere. And often, see.
- Mariana from Icarus Phaethon's The First Breath, with her idiosyncratic habit of beginning her sentences with "Aha".
- Padfoot in Summerland interjects his chuckle, described as paper dry, into almost everything he says.
- Hasimir Fenring of Frank Herbert's Dune tends to pepper his dialog with phrases such as "hmmmm" and "hmmmm-aaah" for no apparent reason. However, this is actually a plot point - Fenring and his wife have a private code disguised as humming, allowing them to hide a conversation with one another in the midst of an overt conversation with someone else. However, it sounds like a verbal tic to other characters.
- Redwall:
- The bally hares, wot!
- Asssssssmodeussssss the sssnake alssso hasss the odd habit of hissssssing hisss own name between sssentencesss... *Assssssmodeussssssss*... Ego issssssuesss?
- Asssssssmodeussssss' dessscendant, Balissssss, doesss the sssame thing. Balisssssssss...
- The bats have spent so long living in caves that they're now in the habit of providing their own echo, echo, echo ...
- Have you already noted Friar Bellows? Good, good.
- "I Am The Law"
- An' all dem molers, bo hurr
- This is just grand- Gurgan Spearback, as well as a tribe of hedgehogs near Martin's old home in the north.
- The Paul Jennings short story Without a Shirt concerns a kid who can't speak without ending his sentences with the titular phrase.
- Holden Caulfield thought what he'd do was, he that that he'd have a few. He really does.
- Stephen King's IT: Bill had a stutter as a child, which came back when he had to return to the Town with a Dark Secret.
- Desperation had "Sherrif" Collie Entragian who had a habit of adding "TAK!" to the end of random sentences. He was Possessed by the Ultimate Evil at the time
- The Dark Tower, especially in book five. Say thankya and hear me well.
- Anne of Green Gables,
- Rachel Lynde, that's what.
- Well now, don't forget about Matthew Cuthbert!
- From Discworld:
- Carcer Dun of Night Watch is arguably one of these - he punctuates his speech with an "irritatingly patronising chortle", which is always rendered in the text as "haha." We also have Captain Tilden, what. And Snouty, hnah, don't forget him. Not tomention...Captain Swing.
- Brother Nhumrod of Small Gods has a habit of repeating the last few words of the previous speaker. Many of Terry Pratchett's characters (especially his villains) have this sort of verbal tic, whether by the in-sertion of mispla-ced pauses orbyhaving... the speedof the... words be . . . curiouslyrandom or just by using a lot of --ing Unusual Euphemisms.
- And E-Edward D-D'eath, and--aha, aha--Dragon King of Arms.
- In The Fifth Elephant, Inigo Skimmer has a habit of saying "mmm", "mmhm", or some variant thereof every few words.
- Thud: hWell, hwe hwould have all been lost, sureleah, hwithout Sir Reynold Stitched?
- Soul Music: Hat hat hat.
- The Truth: Mr. Tulip thinks you have a --ing great trope by the way.
- I comma square bracket tropers name square bracket solemnly swear by square bracket tropers deity of choice square bracket comma that we should not forget the proper pronunciation of the oath of his slash her square bracket delete as appropriate square bracket square bracket name of reigning monarch square bracket Ankh-Morpork City Watch comma so help me square bracket tropers deity of choice square bracket full stop
- In the third book of The Chronicles of Narnia, it was established that Calormenes always follow any mention of the Tisroc [2] with the phrase "May he live forever", usually rendered in parentheses to indicate just how unconscious it is. When talking horse Bree omits this little phrase, the protagonist rather nervously calls him on it, to which the horse replies: "Why should I say that, when he won't live forever and I don't want him to anyway?"
- Professor Umbridge in Harry Potter frequently clears her throat (usually to interrupt someone), rendered as "hem hem." And then there's Ron's "Bloody hell!"
- Gollum in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. In this case, the character is actually named after his catchphrase. He also addresses his words to the Precccioussssss frequently.
- Bonzo Madrid of Ender's Game, sabe?
- Mark Twain's A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court has the narrator give Sandy a suggestion of giving one of the characters in her tale a verbal tic of saying "bejabbers," to help him know who's talking.
- Jacob Two-Two, because he has two brothers and two sisters and two parents, yes, two brothers, two sisters, and two parents, says everything twice. He says everything two times. Nobody ever hears him the first time. No, nobody ever hears him the first time.
- Offscreen, in Spider Robinson's novel Stardance: the narrator mentions a character who unthinkingly replies "There you go" to everything anyone says. By the end of their acquaintance, the narrator is considering dumping him out an airlock. "There he goes, I kept thinking, there he goes ... "
- Shirley Jackson, in her loosely autobiographical Raising Demons, describes her daughter Sally going through a phase, at about four, where she repeated the key word in every sentence: "Well, I told Amy's mother that I did not have any breakfast, breakfast, because my mommy did not wake up and give it to me, mommy. And Amy's mother said I was a poor baby, baby, and she gave me cereal and fruit, cereal, and she said there, dear, and she gave me chocolate milk, and I did remember to say thank you, remember." (Of course Jackson was gifted at capturing the Verbal Tic s of small children's speech: "You bad bad webbis.")
- Blagden, the white raven from the Inheritance Cycle, frequently yells, "Wyrda!" (which means "fate" in the Ancient Language).
- In The D Case, the narrator points out that Jules Maigret even pauses mid-sentence to puff at his pipe during a telepathic conversation.
- Walder Frey in A Song of Ice and Fire often makes a sound somewhere between a laugh and a grunt: "Heh".
- Kenneth 'Type of Thing' Hindle in The Pale King.
- J.R.Ward's Black Dagger Brotherhood character, Vishous tends to substitute other words with, "true" or otherwise use the word as a sentence-closer; "You've got my back, true?" or "We'll get this done, true."
- John Ringo's Poertena from David Weber's Empire of Man series. And later his expy as Portana into Ringo's Looking Glass Series.
- Pock.
- Hallo, I say, Bertie Wooster has millions of these, don't you know, what? Right ho! (On a lesser level, there's Jeeves, who manages to interject a respectful "sir" into nearly every line he says.)
- Mistress Coyle of Chaos Walking ends almost all her sentences the same way, my girl.
- Jay Gatsby has a interesting one, old sport.
Live Action TV[]
- Scrubs has one of J.D.'s girlfriends constantly saying "That's so funny" any time someone says something.
- To make matters worse... she never even laughs.
- Also a patient once complained about Turk constantly using the phrase "That's what I'm talkin' about"
- But sometimes, it is what he's talking about!
- Dr Cox and his syllable elongation ("I re-e-e-e-e-a-a-lly don't have time to repeat myself.")
- Boba Fett in The Star Wars Holiday Special, friend.
- Model/actress Misa Kikouden appears often on Japanese TV, spoofing the Kawaiiko phenomenon. Her Kawaiiko parody, an airhead Genki Girl calling herself Hakyuun, can hardly finish a sentence without throwing in a cutesy nonsense phrase (e.g. "Pakyunwa" or "desu nyo" or the occasional "Kyuiin!" borrowed from Kurumi above).
- Doctor Who: The First Doctor, William Hartnell, had a habit of ending many if not most of his lines with a "hmmm?", plus interjecting the terms "young man" and "my child" into seemingly every third phrase.
- Not to mention the habit of mangling his companion's last name ("Chesterton" becomes Chatterton, Chesterfield, Chessington, etc.)
- The Seventh Doctor, Sylvester McCoy, tended to roll his R's, leading to a deeply unfortunate incident when he encountered aliens known as the Gods of Rrrrrrrrrrrragnarrrrrrrrrrrrok. Oh boy.
- The Eighth Doctor liked monosyllables. "Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes!" "No, no, no, no, no..." "Grace, Grace, Grace, Grace!" Like that. Generally when he was excited, really thinking, or, as one character in the Expanded Universe observes, when he was distressed.
- And Ten uses 'brilliant' every few sentences. He also says 'weeeell' a lot, similar to the Fourth Doctor.
- Chantho, an alien in the episode "Utopia"', begins every sentence with "Chan" and ends it with "to" or "tho" (depending on your preferred spelling - TV subtitles used the latter). When asked why she does so, she explains that to not begin and end her sentences thusly would be her species' equivalent of profanity.
- The Eleventh seems to use a lot of more generic verbal tics, in the manner one might when trying to stall while they puzzle out a half-formed thought.
- Toku example: Mahou Sentai Magiranger's Small Annoying Houseplant Mandora Boy de gozarimasu desu!
- Another Super Sentai example is the Engines in Engine Sentai Go-onger. All of them have a verbal tic, usually the last syllable of their name. Speedor, for example, usually says "doru doru!". It's also onomatopoeia of their vehicles' sounds, in some cases ("doru" doubles as the drrrrr! for engine revving, for example.)
- Several Monsters of the Week mimic this, as is sentai tradition (though Go-Onger has every monster do it.) Oddly enough, the leading villains' verbal tics occur nowhere in their names: Kitaneidas '-zoyo', Kegalesia '-ojaru', Yogostein '-nari', and his father Yogoshimacritein '-narina'.
- Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger has an example of a Verbal Tic battle; in one episode, Luka turns into the Boukengers' Pokemon Speaking ally Zuuban and uses his tic to annoy the Dogormin, who respond with their own tic "Dogou".
- In another toku example, Tomica Hero Rescue Fire, Chukaen, Ukaen, and Sakaen have the tendency to end all of their sentences with "de shii (C)", "de aru (R)", and "de eru (L)" respectively. This is a gag based on the fact that they always stand in that formation, with Chukaen in the center, Ukaen on the right, and Sakaen on the left.
- Catwoman in the 1960s Batman TV series, like anime catgirls, laced virtually every sentence she spoke with some variety of catlike vocalization.
Purrrrrrrfect! |
- In the movie based on this series, she repeatedly slips into this while disguised as a Russian reporter. Presumably due to Rule of Funny, Batman never actually notices what should be a very familiar verbal tic.
- On the same show, compare the Penguin's muttering "wah-wah" chuckles.
- And the Otto Preminger version of Mr. Freeze often said "Wild!"
- Count Blah from Greg the Bunny, blah. It even extends to his writing:
Gil (reading) "Greg the Bunny is a filthy old sock, blah" (sarcastic) People, if you don't sign your names, we're not gonna know who wrote it! |
- And his wife's tombstone read "Beloved Wife, Blah. R.I.P.B."
- Martin Short's SCTV and Saturday Night Live character Ed Grimley, I must say!
- The McKenzie Bros., eh?
- Jon Lovitz's Compulsive Liar character ended most of his sentences with "yeah, that's it" and his really big lies with "Yeah, that's the ticket!"
- And Nathan Thurm. "I know that, don't you think I know that?"
- Penelope ends most of her sentences in so...she has a better verbal tic than you, so...she was the Trope Maker, so...
- James Carville played a rather exaggerated version of himself on Thirty Rock that ended every sentence with "Cajun style."
- The Vicar of Dibley's Jim would start every sentence with 'No..no..no..no..no...'. In one episode it is revealed his wife starts her sentences with 'Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes...'
- At the start of the series finale, Jim tells the village council how he went on Deal or No Deal, where his Verbal Tic cost him 100,000 pounds. He ended up with 50p.
Jim: So I said "No, no, no, no, no ... Deal". And for some reason I cannot begin to comprehend, they thought I said "No, no, no, no, no ... No deal". |
- Desmond on Lost is almost guaranteed to end his sentence with "brotha" when he's initiating a conversation with someone.
- Rather amusingly, one episode featured flashbacks to his time in a monastery that served no apparent purpose besides explaining this habit, brotha.
- Likewise, Hurley likes to say "dude". It even warrants a Lostpedia article, dude.
- Guppy on ICarly, which sometimes doubles as Pokémon-Speak and Catch Phrase.
Guppy: Happy birthday! |
- From No Heroics episode 2:
Timebomb: Powers are against pub rules. |
- A character of the day in Pokémon had the same habit.
- Pepe the King Prawn from Muppets Tonight almost always ends his sentences with either "okay" or "alright".
- John Cage, Ally McBeal's resident Bunny Ears Lawyer, would stammer "P-P-Poughkeepsie!" whenever he got nervous.
- Randy from American Idol used to call the contestants "dawg" a lot. He probably made a conscious effort to stop after sketch comedy shows Flanderized the phrase in their impersonations of him.
- Now he tells contestants that they're "in it to win it," making him Captain Obvious because why would they be competing if they weren't in it to win it?
- Clifford from All the Small Things can barely speak a sentence without replacing a noun or verb with "thingy" or "whatsit".
- One Round the Twist episode had a ghost dog inflict one of these on Pete when he touched it, without my pants. It made his life very difficult, without my pants. In case you hadn't guessed, yes, he ends all his sentences with the phrase "Without my pants," without my pants.
- Robot Buddy Twiki from the 1970s Buck Rogers series was infamous for his "Bidi-Bidi-Bidi" tic.
- On This Is Wonderland, Alice mutters to herself a lot. Swear words often come into it.
Rude Man: Hey, I heard that! |
- Horatio Caine of CSI: Miami tends to repeat sentences for emphasis. He repeats things... (Glasses Pull) ...for EMPHASIS.
- He also uses a lot of rhetorical questions, now doesn't he?
- Danny Messer of CSI: NY, Boom!
- Babylon 5. Londo Mollari would say yes at the end of every sentence, yes?
- Boston Legal: Bunny Ears Lawyer Denny Crane. Denny Crane. Denny Crane.
- Jon Stewart's "New York Italian" voice on The Daily Show comes punctuated with "no disrespect" and "how you doin'" in places where they make no sense at all. "So I'm tellin' you, take your Salvation Army and your breast-cancer ribbons and shove 'em up Gandhi's ass! Boom!... no disrespect how you doin'."
- Viewers of The West Wing have sometimes noted with frustration that the characters say "yeah" and "okay" a lot more than people do in Real Life. To a lesser extent, the same applies to "you know."
- Arguably they say these things just as much as people do in Real Life, only we're not used to hearing it represented in TV or other media so it seems excessive.
- "She's thin, she's blonde, she says "Wow!" a lot!!"
- Brick on The Middle occasionally whispers the last part of his sentence to himself.
to himself |
- Penelope Taynt from The Amanda Show also has a verbal tic, please!
- Bones has Caroline Julian, cherie.
- Guerrero from Human Target adds 'dude' to the end of a lot of his sentences, dude.
- He even says that to his boss, Ilsa Pucci. If you haven't guessed, she's not a dude.
- Lie to Me: Cal Lightman wants you to consider him as well, love.
- Ernest P. Worrell, the Jim Varney character, ends a solid half of his sentences with "you know what I mean?".
- Brazilian comedian Mussum, of Os Trapalhões, liked to add the suffix "is" to words - i.e. turning heart into "heartzis". And apparently when he got the advice to do this, he asked "What if I have to say 'pena'?"
- Jesse from Breaking Bad, yo. The other druggie characters also toss it out occasionally.
- At one point, Jemaine from Flight of the Conchords is described as possessing a verbal tic of "Wut" by his friends. This is rarely, if ever, demonstrated in the show.
- Munter from Outrageous Fortune uses bro about once every sentence, occasionally more.
- Big Brother Brasil had Igor and his "Tá ligado?", which translates to something like "Get it?", and has been made fun of a few times.
- General Melchett in Blackadder goes Forth. Baa!
- The various incarnations of Flashheart. WOOF!
- Hercule Poirot, no?
- Nerdy Harold from The Red Green Show has a tendency to punctuate sentences with odd sounds like "Whaaa", which is amplified when Ranger Gord turns him into a character in his animated educational films.
- Actually, Reid from Criminal Minds does love correcting people by opening the sentence with "actually".
- More informed by Vic Mackey, but in the premiere of the fifth season of The Shield, it's revealed that the newly promoted Captain Billings ends all his daily roll calls with "and so forth."
- The title characters of Jeeves and Wooster have all the same tics as they do in the short stories. Jeeves' tic becomes especially prominent in a scene where Bertie pulls him into a Call-and-Response Song (and note that even after the following dialogue, he still mouths the word "sir").
Bertie: I don't mean to be overly critical Jeeves, I mean, I know you're doing your best... |
Music[]
- Cheech and Chong, man. They constantly use the word "Man" wherever it makes sense, man. Sometimes twice consecutively, man.
- James Taylor likes to throw in "baby" to pad out some empty space on a track, baby.
- Pitbull says "dale" no less than 15 times in any song he's in.
- Dale dale!
- YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!
Professional Wrestling[]
- Virtually anybody who cuts a promo during an interview will say "let me tell you something" or "I'll tell you what" several times during the segment.
- Ric Flair is almost incapable of finishing a sentence without adding at least one "Wooo!". The more passionate he gets, the more they show up.
- Stone Cold Steve Austin (WHAT?) used to do this by adding "What?" (WHAT?) between every word he spoke (WHAT?) to cut off any response, (WHAT?) a habit that started during his memorable 2001 heel run (WHAT?) (when it was supposed to be rude and annoying). (WHAT?) Like most things during that run, the crowd absolutely loved it and used it (WHAT?) long after Stone Cold stopped. (WHAT?)
- Let me tell you something, brother, that Hulk Hogan sure uses "brother" a lot, brother!
- The Ultimate Warrior punctuated his sentences with a sort of nasal, feral grunt, which got immortalized in his short-lived comic book as, "SKRONK!"
- Macho Man Randy Savage: "OOOOOHHHHHH YYYYEEEEEAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!" He also frequently used "YEAH!" and "DIG IT!" as punctuation.
- Hacksaw Jim Duggan: "Hooo!", "Tough Guy!", and "U-S-A!"
- Scott Steiner's "HUH?!"
- Sheamus has a tendency to end every other sentence with "fella," fella.
- Triple H went through a period of adding an "uh" sound to every third word he spoke.
- Jim Ross would often say things three times! three times! three times, bah gawd!
- Lay Cool does this occasionally, saying phrases like "Flawless!" and "Real talk!" always in unison, and always after a short pause.
- Really? No mention of The Miz? Really? Really? Really?
- Whenever Chris Jericho locks in a submission he screams "ASK HIM!" Presumably he's telling the ref to ask if his opponent submits, but he's even said it when holding someone outside a match.
- Theodore Long says holla, playa. Believe that.
- Daniel Bryan. YES! YES! YES!
- Well, you know, it's like, not even exclusive to wrestlers, you know? Dave Meltzer os The Wrestling Observer Newsletter always says "you know" and "well, it's like" during radio shows.
Radio[]
- Neddie Seagoon (Harry Secombe) from The Goon Show frequently fills the time the audience laughs at someone else's joke at him by simply going whatwhatwhatwhatwhatwhatwhatwhatwhat... until the laughter fades.
- Please... don't do that with your head on.
- On Hello Cheeky, a parody of David Frost started every sentence with "Hello", a reference to David Frost's alleged Catch Phrase "Hello, good evening and welcome".
Tabletop RPG[]
- The Skaven have a habit of repeating some words (yes-yes! run-run!) and call other races as (name)-things, like "Man-things"
- As shown in the novel Grey Seer, they also often put words together when speaking in Queekish.(kill-slay, traitor-meat, see-smell etc.)Jeremias Scrivener speaks the same way when challenging Thanquol in Queekish, so this seems to be a trait of the language.
- In Legend of the Five Rings, a race of rat-people known as Ratkin tend to repeat random words when speaking Rokugani. Towards the end of their regular appearances in the story, this was scaled back as the players were getting sick of it (although some of their later appearances retain the quirk).
- In Dungeons and Dragons, some players (and D Ms) who roleplay kobolds tend to have them saying "meep!" with almost every line, often with a fair amount of Hulk Speak for good measure.
Theatre[]
- Angels in America: "I I I I Am the CONTINENTAL PRINCIPALITY OF AMERICA"
- Ye Gods Zaneeta and Tommy from The Music Man, jeely cly!
- Twelve Angry Men, you know what I mean *sniff*?
- Cześnik, one of the characters in the Polish play Zemsta ("The Revenge"), has a Verbal Tic of "mocium panie" (approx. translated as "my dear Sir"). In one of the most famous scenes, he dictates a letter to his servant, who ends up putting the Verbal Tic all over the letter.
- Henrik Ibsen's Hedda Gabler features a primary character who ends most of his sentences with "What?" but, for the life of me, I can't seem to remember his name, even.
- Garry from Noises Off frequently ends sentences in "...Do you know what I mean?" or "You know." This is only when he isn't actually saying his lines.
Video Games[]
- All townspeople (or rather, town animals) in Animal Crossing. They can also allow you to change what they say, which is just asking for trouble.
- NPCs that appear in every town (i.e. in the shops, town hall, etc.) would probably also count. Brewster (the pigeon who runs The Roost, a coffee shop) tends to say "coo" frequently when he talks, and owl siblings Blathers and Celeste often say "hoo" and "hootie-toot," respectively. Tom Nook also has a habit of saying "yes, yes" and "hm?", though unlike the other examples, that's unrelated to the kind of animal he is. Unlike the normal, apparently unemployed villagers, these phrases cannot be changed.
- In the Final Fantasy series, the Moogles - wherever they appear and whatever they may look like - always stick "-kupo" in at the end of every sentence, if they can say any other words at all. Some incarnations, in the Japanese versions, use "mogu" in place of a personal pronoun like "watashi" or "boku".
- Cyan in the Japanese version of Final Fantasy VI speaks in a samurai manner ending sentences with "de gozaru." The English translation made him speak Ye Olde Butcherede Englishe by using "ye" and "thou". This caused Gau to call Sabin "Mr. Thou" he first meets the two of them.
- Final Fantasy VII with Reno's 'zotto'. Much more apparent in the Compilation. Sometimes translated as ending every sentence with 'yo'.
- In Final Fantasy VIII, underlings Raijin and Fujin have verbal tics. Raijin ends every sentence with "ya know?", while Fujin almost always speaks in monosyllabic sentences, and IN ALL CAPS. Raijin's "ya know?" was carried over into Kingdom Hearts II, revealing that this is much more annoying in spoken form. There's also Watts who refers to nearly everyone as "sir" in every sentence to show his politeness.
- In Final Fantasy IX, Regent Cid was transformed into an insect-like creature called an oglop, and while he can still speak English, he still makes a "gwok" sound every few words or so. Then he tries to get cured, and turns into a frog, and the gwok is replaced with a ribbit. When he finally returns to being human, he's so used to the verbal tics that he still gwoks and ribbits on occasion.
- In Final Fantasy X, Wakka would end whatever he says with "ya?"
- Rikku had one too, you know?
- In Final Fantasy XI, most Tarutaru NPCs have some sort of verbal tic, though it varies widely from person to person. The most common variant is adding extensions to random words to make them rhyme (for example, "timey-wimey") and ending words that would normally end in "t" with "taru." e.g. "Didn'taru you know? The homepoint is over that way"
- Elvaan NPCs have a habit of screaming "foreigner!". ...On a more serious note, a voice which is heavily implied to be Absolute Virtue typically addsss extra sss to everything, probably to indicate hisssing or sssomething.
- A special mention goes to Dissidia Final Fantasy when several characters are given such with Warrior of Light's love for his namesake, with Cecil right behind him with a little darkness here and there. And ExDeath's infatuation for the Void and nothingness.
- In Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles Ring of Fates, the Yuke mage Alhanalem ends his sentences in "-al" for all matters conversational. Lilty warrior-alchemist Meeth, as befitting of her "cutesy" personality, ends all of hers with "-ie" sounds.
- Every character in Just Cause 2 has this, serdadu.
- No Delivery: Trashcans always start out by saying, "Mrrr…."
- In the English dub of the Disgaea games, Prinnies tend to insert the word "dood" somewhere into one of their sentences whenever they speak. In Japanese, they slur at the ends of sentences ("ssu" is the most common way).
- In Disgaea 4: A Promise Unforgotten, it's shown that the number one rule of being a Prinny is that you must end your sentences with "dood"/"ssu".
- In addition, Yukimaru from Disgaea 2 Cursed Memories adds the word "zam" to all her sentences ("de gozaru" in the Japanese version).
- Mr. Champloo of Disgaea 3 Absence of Justice needs emphasis, boom! This Verbal Tic was actually added to the English dub — the Japanese version's main speech pattern quirk is that he speaks like an overly excited Samurai.
- Desco of Disgaea 4 likes the word "desu" a lot. She uses it in a grammatically correct fashion, as opposed to simply saying it at the end of sentences, though. It's also written in the way that can be romanized as "death" in her dialogue. Pretty much certain to be Lost in Translation.
- In the Art of Fighting games (And The King of Fighters series that followed it), Yuri Sakazaki frequently appends "-cchi" to her speech, a bit of nonsense that doesn't mean anything.
- Speaking of The King of Fighters, don't forget Choi Bounge, yansu! It's been weakly translated as "Yeeessss..." or "Buddy-boy" in different sources, since the fact that he says it is central to his character.
- Nergal from Sailor Moon Another Story has a tendency to say "Ma..." in the middle of her sentences.
- Nekonin (Or Katz) of the Tales (series) end each sentence with "nya" or distort the last syllable into "~ya" (The English version has "Meow" instead, natch). They're not really catgirls, but a species that looks like humans in cat costumes, though exactly what they are is unclear.
- In Tales of Innocence, Coda, a frightening little mascot-thing traveling with one of the characters, will end many of his sentences with "shikashi" (or, per the Fan Translation, "you know"). Hermana, the ten-year-old fistfighter, will draw out the final syllable of her attack names and sentences into a "ya~" or "yan."
- Cerberus ends its sentences with "~wan".
- The Oresoren from Tales of Legendia, ors!
- In the Japanese version of Tales of the Abyss, the Team Pet fuzzy mascot character Mieu ended every sentence with "desuno." This was removed completely in the English version, though he is prone to punctuating his dialog with "Miieeeuuuuu..." or "Mieu mieu!"
- Without the aid of the Sorcerer's Ring, all cheagles can say is "mieu."
- The "Jack" class of demons/persona (Jack Frost, Pyro Jack, Black Frost, King Frost, etc) in the Shin Megami Tensei series tend to add "hee-ho!" to every sentence they speak. Various other demons speak IN ALL CAPITAL LETTERS or iN ToRGo sPEeCh.
- Jacks don't just add it: some words get-hee hodified heecause they can't stop ho.
- Digital Devil Saga made fun of this: there is a boss fight with a Jack Frost and a Pyro Jack. Their human forms are hip-hop artists who use the hees and hos in normal speech.
- Don't forget Teddie's un-bear-able bear puns.........-kuma.
- Aigis from Persona 3 ends most of her sentences with "de arimasu." Lost in Translation unfortunately.
- From Star Ocean the Last Hope, Lymle speaks like this, kay?
- Western example: T-Bone from Grand Theft Auto San Andreas ends each and every sentence with "ese"; however, as described below, he does it to sound more cholo. César Villalpando also does this, though less often, and also ends his phrases with "holmes" and "vato".
- A fan-translation of Chrono Trigger reveals that the character Mayonay (known as Flea in the SNES release) would end her(?) sentences with "yo nay", which was meant to sound like her name and be sickeningly cute at the same time..
- Chrono Cross practically revolves around this-- the number of characters you could invite to your party was so vast that the lines given to your party members during story scenes were the same for most party members, but modified by that character's 'accent'-- many times this meant adding a Verbal Tic of some sort.
- This is explained by a "developer" in the secret ending, who will allow you to channel any character in the game with a short passage he uses to see how their accent modifies it. The real reasoning for this approach was to reduce the amount of text in the game to a more manageable level for the developers (they only had to write each part once, then have any character say it with the code that modifies it to suit them). It's especially interesting for some of the stranger accents.
- For example, Pierre, who uses a "french" accent, but he's inconsistent- using his accent on the passage again and again reveals he slips up and speaks without his french accent quite frequently.
- In Ghost Trick Inspector Cabanela likes to draaaaw out his voooowels, baaaaby.
- Count Bleck in Super Paper Mario tends to punctuate sentences with his own name ("My victory will soon be complete, Bleck.") or maniacal laughter, also in the form of his own name ("O'Chunks! Get him! Bleh-heh-he-heck!"). Or, more rarely, with simply "...mused Count Bleck."
- Certain theories explain that use of the third person as Bleck quoting his dialogue directly from the Dark Prognosticus.
- Nerdy chameleon Francis likes saying "nerr."
- Don't forget Nastasia, 'kay?
- WATCH IT! Or Mayor Watchitt of Yold Town will put grit in your grunders.
- Paper Mario the Thousand Year Door has even more of them, many of them villains with a distinctive (and annoying) Evil Laugh.
- Emperor Grodus's "Gaaaack aaaack aaaack aaaack aaaack!"
- Lord Crump's "Buh huh huh huh huh!", along with other punctuations of "Buh!" within his speech.
- Beldam's "Mwee hee hee hee hee"
- Also Doopliss's habit of calling everyone "Slick".
- Most of the fighters at the Glitz Pit also have a Verbal Tic, some as mild as an interesting manner of speaking (like the Hulk Speaking Hyper Bald Cleft or the Totally Radical King K), some as egregious as putting BOMB! in the middle of their sentences randomly, BOMB!
- The Bob-omb example was lampshaded as "some speech issues" by King K.
- The Bob-bombs at Fahr Outpost occasionally do this too, but not nearly as bad as the one at the Glitz Pit.
- Then there's Rawk Hawk, who lets out a loud RAAAAAAAAAAAWK!!!!!!! This could be just him crowing/squawking though, since he is a giant chicken or something like that.
- Enemies and NPCs outside of the RPGs do this as well. Jibberjays (birds you race against) in Super Mario Galaxy 2 repeat words after saying them like 'Listen up! Listen up!', while star bunnies from both Galaxy games add "boiyoing" to the end of their sentences.
- mR. sAtURn hAVe VeRbAl tIc tOO, bOInG!
- Blue, blue. I'm a Happy Happyist.
- Nwehehehehehehehehe! ...That's one "Nwe" and eight "He"s.
- Axel Almer, during his stitch as the amnesiac hero in Super Robot Wars Advance, often ends his sentence with 'korenara' or 'koitsuna' (which means 'that is'). He drops it completely if he's the Rival or his OG 2 version. But in Original Generations, he occasionally (not very often) slips up.
- In Drawn to Life, the Raposa are an entire species that exhibits the same verbal tic. They refer to themselves as "Rapos" (ie "that young Rapo," "you stubborn Rapo," etc.), which isn't that unusual-but their money is "Rapo Tokens", and occasionally the townsfolk will, without provocation, scatter "Rapo" into their sentences. Also, when you talk to NPC children not important to the plot, the voice clip the little girls will spout is a joyous "Wapo!" and the little boys a rather bewildered "Wapo...?" Once in a while, you also get the curious "opa," which seems a little out of the pattern.
- "opa" could be a corruption of the "osa" part of "Raposa", although it still doesn't fit "Rapo".
- Could it be "Opar"? As in, "Rapo" spelled bakwards.
- And Xenogears has the infamous Chu Chu, who replaces many ordinary words by "chu" and has a shrill voice clip. It later turns out that there's a whole race of little chus who insert "chu" everywhere, have shrill voice clips and let's say it's a bit chu much.
- Xenoblade Chronicles's resident race of Chu Chu expies, the Nopon, end all of their sentences with "mo" in the Japanese dub. In the English dub, they frequently tack "pon" onto the ends of words they say.
- The Gorons from The Legend of Zelda series tend to do this, goro. In Ocarina of Time, this wasn't translated, but in Majora's Mask, one Goron uses it (it's a plot point. He shares a name with you, so you get his room at the inn without having to pay. You don't know why at first, but if you're at the lobby at the right point, you can see a Goron trying to check in, but since there is no "Link-goro" listed...) In Twilight Princess, they use "brother" instead, brother.
- My God, now we know what an entire race of Hulk Hogans would look and sound like...
- This is kept in the manga, goro. Likewise, some of the Zoras ended their sentences with "Zora". You catch my drift, zora?
- Also in Twilight Princess there's Ashei, the female warrior from the Resistance group, yeah? It's never really explained why, but she ends about a third of her sentences that way. Even if what she's saying isn't actually a question, she still sometimes does it, yeah?
- And, in Skyward Sword there's the Kikwis, tiny woodland creatures that, kwee, often put "Kwee" at random spots in their sentences, kwee!
- In the Japanese version of Oracle of Ages, the Tokay peppered their speech with "toka". This was removed in translations, since other audiences generally found that sort of thing annoying.
- Don't forget Spat from Hamtaro: Ham-Ham Heartbreak, pfpth!
- Bowyer[3] in Super Mario RPG (at least in Ted Woolsey's translation) likes to go around shouting "Nya!" Object-Subject-Verb sentence form he also uses, much like Yoda.
- Toadbert in Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time and Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story, by boogity.
- Does Dr. Toadley phrase each of his sentences in the form of a question and answer? He does.
- The Emoglobins have two verbal-ish globins. And they're all Large-ish Globins.
- In the Japanese version of Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, Fawful (Gerakobits in the original) ends his sentences with "rururu". The English translation pulled an epic Woolseyism on this, translating it as him speaking in hilariously mangled English reminiscent of poorly-translated old video games.
- In the Touhou series, Cute Witch Marisa Kirisame's brash, tomboyish attitude is emphasized by her use of the masculine "ze".
- In some English-language fanon, Cirno, instead of using "I" as a first-person pronoun, uses "eye", resulting in "Eye'm the strongest" instead of "I'm the strongest", as a mirror to her tic in Japanase: using atai as a contraction of atashi, a Japanese first-person pronoun.
- Tewi Inaba, the leader of the Earth rabbits of Eientei, is sometimes shown to end her sentences with "-usa".
- SHODAN's stutter, combined with the Creepy Monotone, makes for one of the most Badass tics in history.
"L-l-look at you, hacker. A p-p-pathetic creature of meat and bone, panting and sweating as you r-run through my corridors-s. H-h-how can you challenge a perfect, immortal machine?" |
- This is Xerxes. Can you not feel the glory of the flesh?
- Salsa in Eternal Sonata tends to end a lot of her sentences with "tabe" in the Japanese dialogue.
- "As part of a required test protocol, we will stop enhancing the truth in three, two, bzzt.."
- One of the characters in Bahamut Lagoon routinely ends sentences with "De Arimasu" in the Japanese. This was left out of the fan translation; but, oddly, this was cited as being because the translator couldn't think of a way to translate it — it actually translates fairly well as someone using "Sir" or "Yes sir" as a sentence ender; although this isn't even close to a literal translation, it has the same militaristic and over-regimented connotations.
- Solid Snake's growling increases ten-fold in Metal Gear Solid 4 Guns of the Patriots... Not that this is a bad thing.
- Snake also says "Got it" a lot and is of course the founding father of Metal Gearing.
- MGS3 has the Cobra unit, who love saying their own codenames.
- Otacon's nervous laugh also counts.
- Liquid Snake/Liquid Ocelot is fond of addressing Snake as "Brother!".
- In Baroque, the Coffin Man punctuates all of his speech with "Goddamn" and "Goddammit" placed in completely inappropriate places, regardless of his actual feelings or tone. It's kind of creepy... but less so than the Bagged One who speaks entirely in quotes from other people, prefacing everything with a statement of its original source.
- Knights of the Old Republic. Exclamation: How DARE you meatbags neglect to mention me!
- Justification: Less a verbal tic and more a very, um, convincing characterization that somehow manages to be more badass than annoying. Conjecture: perhaps the writers felt that it would dehumanize him. Conclusion: It seems to have had the opposite effect.
- Suggestion: They may have simply thought it would be funny. Addendum: And they were right.
- In Dune 2000, House Ordos' Mentat often feels the need to clarify a sentence by stating its nature immediately afterwards. That is an example. It's quite distinctive. That is an opinion.
- In Deus Ex, the AI Helios has a habit of adding a confirming "yes" to his sentences, occasionally drawling it out unnaturally. His first word upon being 'born', in fact, is "Y-e-e-e-e-s-s-s..."
- The Mutant Master from Fallout has the awesome tic of switching between his two voice actors mid-sentence - a sarcastic intellectual for most of his speech, a raving lunatic whenever anything violent is mentioned and a woman whenever anything "pleasant" comes up. Since his voice is generated by a synthesiser in-game, it also sometimes "fuzzes out" into a more electronic-sounding tone.
"The Unity will bring about the master race. Master! MASTER! One able to survive, or even thrive in the wasteland. As long as there are differences, we will TEAR OURSELVES APART! fighting each other. We need one race! Race! RACE! One goal! GOAL! Goal! One people . . . to move forward to our destiny. Destiny." |
- Rise and. Shine Missster Freee. Man. Riseand. Shine.
- Pommy in Bomberman 64 The Second Attack would throw "myu" randomly in most of his sentences.
- In Dynasty Warriors, Yellow Turbans leader Zhang Jiao never stops talking about the HEAVENS, Ma Chao has an obsession for JUSTICE, Sima Yi's tendency to call everyone Imbeciles and more recently, we have Shu's BENEVOLENCE
- Samurai Warriors has a few: Kanetsugu interlaces every sentence with honour, love, and friendship; Kotaro's every second word is chaos, chaos, chaos; Hanzo's obsession with shadows and darkness; Motochika's preoccupied with history and being remembered; Kanbei loves talking about fire and it's many variations, Kenshin consistently referring Shingen as his "Nemesis" and Masamune's own urge to call everyone Imbeciles.
- In Harvest Moon: Friends of Mineral Town, the Harvest sprites say "budum" after pretty much every sentence.
- The old and slightly loony Dr. Brackman in Supreme Commander has a habit of saying "oh yes" at various moments (often at the end of something as emphasis), which is kinda creepy with his weird accent/voice. To be fair, being nothing but a brain in a jar hooked up to supercomputers (and having been so for over a thousand years) probably isn't good for one's sanity - Dostya tells you to be patient; he may be a bit wonky upstairs, but he is a genius.
- Sho Minamimoto of The World Ends With You uses liberal amounts of advanced mathematical terminology in his speech, such as calling the meddling protagonists 'Factoring hectopascals!'. He's especially fond of the term Zetta, using it as an exclamation, modifier, noun, frequently, sometimes repeatedly in the same sentence.
- We are Ermac. In the Mortal Kombat series, we usually refer to ourselves as a group of beings rather than a singular individual, much like Venom does.
- In Treasure of the Rudra, each of the Races except Danans and Humans have this, Mermaids would use Glub, Giants would emphasize their voice through Capitalizing parts of words in their sentences, and Reptiles emphasize the s sounds in their speech.
- Phantasy Star IV's musk cats have a charming tendency to end or begin all of their sentences with 'meow' in the English version. "I can get the top off this bottle, meow."
- The Gaws from Popful Mail are a race of diminutive dragons who often end their sentences with "gaw!"
- Popple from Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga also has a tic, see? Fawful's infamous 'I have fury!' Prone to saying it whenever things weren't going exactly as planned.
- Miki from iDOLM@STER has two of them nano! ...afu.
- This one is impressed that you have not forgotten the Hanar from Mass Effect.
- Delighted, nor have you forgotten the elcor.
- Mordin. Salarian scientist. Short sentences. Lack of conjunctions. Talks fast. Never[4] uses pronouns. Long-winded, overly analytical. Thinks out loud. Likes to solve puzzles, chatter on about problems. *sharp inhale* Tends to annoy slow thinking aliens.
Shepard: For the love of God, take a breath! |
- Does Legion not count, Shepard-Commander?
- The merchant-inclined Shugo in Aion sometimes add "ekekekekek" or especially "nyerk!" to dialogue. The US/EU beta forums actually started using that latter tic as part of the censor, one nyerk per letter, so that "fucking" for example became "nyerknyerknyerknyerking". Now the official and fansite forums have inherited it: "I killed a lot of nyerking worgs today. None of them dropped anything good, nyerk."
- Know that Dak'kon from Planescape: Torment hails from a culture that puts special emphasis on what is known to them, to the point of emphasizing the concept in their speech.
- Know that Zhjaeve from Neverwinter Nights 2 comes from the same culture, and know that she also talks like this.
- The Vortigaunts in the Half-Life series, once they learn English, apparently drag a few rules of grammar with them. The first person plural is used, unless it's important that the speaker clarify that he is speaking of himself (in which case "this one" replaces "I"); proper names are usually preceded with "the" (The Alyx Vance, The Eli Vance, The Magnusson, The Freeman...).
- The Soviets in Destroy All Humans! 2 are being having a unique way of being speaking, that is not being making any sense, along with being having heavy Russian accents.
- Condescension: The wiki cannot withstand the superiority of the Daktaklakpak. Declaration: Many other, inferior races in the Star Control series also have Verbal Tics.
- The Umgah end almost every statement with "Har-har-har!" The Talking Pet even imitates this when he mentally enslaves the Umgah.
- The VUX tend to audibly express how *urp* repulsive they find humans whenever they converse with one.
- Such a pity that the English translation of Dragon Quest VIII hasn't been mentioned! Anyone who has been possessed by the evil scepter can't help but feel pity, pity, pity, to the extent that random NPCs you find muttering about what a pity things are, are a major clue to finding the whereabouts of the Lord of Darkness, and when your own team member is possessed by Rhapthorne, you can tell because she keeps saying what a pity it is she has to kill you.
- In many Dragon Quest games, the slimes have a tendency to pepper their speech with the word "goo".
- Adult Fongoid Males in Ratchet and Clank Future A Crack In Time have one, believed to be a genetic misfunction from constant time travel, to which the scientists mention would be a laughable theory, according to the trivia text anyway.
- In World of Warcraft, Arakkoa - rraa-ak! caa-ak - pepper their speech they do - hmmmm - their birdlike nature they have - mmmmm - as well - ra-ekkk! - their sentences, awkward - raa-aawk! - structured they are, yes? Along with - eckk! eckk! - ticks physical - kaa-aak - too, yes?
- The Guild Grunties in .hack//G.U. has various verbal tics.
- "I'm Grunty! You're Haseo! Oink!" -Death Grunty
- "I think I smell Death Grunty on you. Mellow." -Melo Grunty
- "Good and ill fortune are closely interwoven.' That's a proverb I learned from my master. Nero." -Wise Grunty
- Carter Blake from Heavy Rain always seems to feel the need to address Norman Jayden as "NORMAN." Always the first name, always emphasized, always spat out like a playground insult.
- Very minor NPC example: In Star Ocean Till the End of Time, Rossetti Troupe member Gonnella the Clown likes to finish pretty much every other sentence with the word "eh." And no, he is not Canadian.
- The Kingdom of Loathing has various equipment and effects that will cause these when you chat.
- And then there's Bumpty-bump The Lighthouse Keeper Bumpty-bump
- A few of the shopkeepers in La-Mulana have these.
- My friends, Kugar from Alter AILA always begins and ends his sentences with "My friends"...my friends.
- Zanber from Super Robot Wars NEO tacks on -pen after every sentence.
- In the original Star Fox (1993, Super NES) and its comic series, Slippy would commonly stutter the beginnings of his words, and in the game he would also sometimes add "ribbit" to the end of his sentences. Since Star Fox 64 though, Slippy has lost all verbal tics and speaks (sort of) normally.
- Axel from the Kingdom Hearts series. Got it memorized?
- Why have you not mentioned Dr. Letz Shake question mark. Also, Thunder Ryu peppers his sentences with THAT!
- This is Sergeant Foley from Modern Warfare. Don't forget me, hooah?
- Omochao has one in the Japanese version, chao!
- King Dedede ends his sentances with "-zoi" - just like he did in the Anime - in the Japanese version of Kirbys Epic Yarn.
- City of Heroes has Dillo, an alien who has come to Earth to help fend off the same world-destroying threat that almost wiped out his race. His infectious enthusiasm, geeky love of all things human, almost-Moe vulnerabilities, and Blunt Metaphors Trauma have combined to make his Verbal Tic--"*hoorb!*"--downright memetic.
- The catgirls in Slave Maker. Meow! The same rule also applies for the ponygirls. Neigh!
- In the Japanese version of Mega Man 7, Rightot (AKA Auto) ends his sentences with "-dasu."
- Blaze Union's Byff tends to punctuate his remarks with "nantsutte", a dialectual phrase that generally means something like "just kidding". Appropriate, as rarely does he open his mouth without shoehorning some kind of joke or pun into what he wants to say.
- In The Elder Scrolls V Skyrim, the various dragons such as Alduin, Paarthurnax, and Odahviing have a tendency to slip from mortal speech to their dragon tongue without thinking about it. Krosis. Paarthurnax, at least, is friendly enough that he bothers noticing and correcting himself.
- In Mass Effect, Shepard has a habit of ending nearly every conversation with "I should go".
Visual Novels[]
- Averted in Fate/hollow ataraxia until the cast gets drunk and then adds animal tics to their speech such as nya! (cat) or wan (dog) based on what their favorite animal is.
- Moran in Shikkoku no Sharnoth often answers statements or questions with either 'Yes. No.' or 'No. Yes.' followed by an explanation.
- Misuzu Kamio in AIR, who is fascinated with dinosaurs, often says "Gao" (her idea of the sound a dinosaur makes) when surprised, distressed or embarrassed.
- Gao is the sound a dinosaur makes in Japanese. (For extra credit, look up the Japanese word for a dog's barking.)
- Kanon is full of such characters: Nayuki ("nyuu"), Makoto ("auu"), and Ayu ("uguu"), to the point of being overdone. It adds tremendously to the moe factor of the girls though, especially in Ayu's case - it's just so darn cute, which of course it is also helped by the marvelous performance of Yui Horie, Ayu's voice actress.
- Though not a heroine, Sayuri Kurata from Kanon tends to say "ho-e?" in addition to her more usual "ahaha." Whether or not this is influenced by Sakura from Cardcaptor Sakura is unclear; although, due to Sakura's Genki Girl personality, her ho-es are usually much more verbal.
- Nagisa Furukawa in Clannad is also fond of ending her sentences with desk~.
- Several characters in Higurashi no Naku Koro ni:
- Rena Ryuuguu has a habit of repeating the final words of sentences, most famously kana, kana (I wonder, I wonder).
- Satoko Hojo has generally flaky grammar, mixing up her first person pronouns and ending her sentences in wa even when it would be considered improper. However, in 1983, when Higurashi no Naku Koro ni is set, there would be no problem with her using this particle.
- Rika Furude likes to use nipaa~ (an onomatopoeia for 'smiling') and mii (a nonsense word). Technically, not onomatopoeia but phenomime.
- Rika also has a habit of saying "nano desu" after her sentences, which is translated as "Sir" in the official manga translation (she uses sir for everyone, including her friends, no matter their gender).
- The second season character Hanyuu's trademark is a cry of au au au! when she is upset.
- In the second episode of Higurashi Kira, Fairy Hanyuu ends most of her sentences by saying her own name.
- In Umineko no Naku Koro ni, Maria has her trademark "U~." This actually has some significance to the plot. According to her, it's a spell for happiness.
- Also something of a deconstruction; if her mother is to be believed, the weird speech pattern is the reason she's bullied in school and has no friends. It's certainly the reason said mother smacks her.
- Dlanor A. Knox always puts emphasis on the last word of every SENTENCE. Just like that one there and this ONE. Even if it's just one WORD.
- Spark Brushel in Apollo Justice Ace Attorney is a reporter who likes to ends most phrases with "End Quote", End Quote.
- Det. Gumshoe ends most of his sentences with "Pal" when he's addressing someone, Pal.
- Director Hotti, hmm, yes? It even rubs off on Phoenix temporarily.
- Shrinking Violet Ron DeLite's speech tends to trail off off into nothing, which also affects other characters in the area.
- Sentai show director Sal Manella 1ik35 2 5p34k 1n l33t.
- "Foolish fools who foolishly dream of foolish dreams! Franziska von Karma has no foolish verbal tic!"
- Detective Badd has a... nonverbal tic. His sentences... are usually broken up... by elipses. (possibly to represent... sucking on his lollipop, the tic stops... when it's not in his mouth).
- In Brass Restoration, Minori has a habbit of saying "Nyu, Nyu" when Ryo teases her or she's stressed. Kouri also says "Pigyuu" occasionally.
- In Maji De Watashi Ni Koi Shinasai, Haguro likes to add -kei in random places.
Web Animation[]
- The Old Baton Man from Alejo y Valentina, an Argentinian web cartoon, ends all his lines with "viteh", which in heavily accented Buenos Aires Spanish translates to something like "see?".
- Pretty much all the characters, principal or not.
- Luke in Professor Layton and the malignant growth
- BASEBALL!!!
- I'M 42!!!
- Rumble Red, the old-timey Great Gazoo knockoff from Homestar Runner, frequently ending sentences with "...rumble?" Then there's Homsar's "AAaaAAaaAA..." and drawing out vowel sounds in words.
Web Comics[]
- In Adventurers Chookie inserts "chook" to random places when he speaks. It is a trait shared by his species.
- The Last Days of Foxhound. The Pain's half Verbal Tic, half-Catch Phrase..."I'M COVERED IN BEES!"
- In Looking for Group, the Bloodrage tribe's leader constantly says "Heh" either at the beginning or end of his sentences. Sometimes in mid-sentence.
- Elliot (and by extension, Ellen) of El Goonish Shive uses "Za?" in places where most people would say "Huh?"
- In Brawl in the Family, Captain Falcon is compelled to cry "Falcon [verb]!" before performing any action: "Falcon pray!" "Falcon sneak!" "Falcon bluff!" "Falcon Sleep!"
- We also have Waluigi's constant WAA-ing.
- In Wilys Defense has Dr. Doppler, yes?
- When she was first introduced, Grim Eyes from Digger frequently rolled her r's. She does it much less frequently post Heel Face Turn. Some fans have theorized the rolling was due to a growl. Honored Murai always refers to everyone as Honored Such-And-Such, which looks a bit odd when she mentions several names in a row... especially given her companions', uh, informal approach. Presumably it's cultural.
- All the protagonists of Homestuck have a specific typing quirk when chatting online (which is the only way they communicate), usually tied to their personality; John uses no capital letters, Rose writes in an overtly correct manner, Dave eschews both capital letters and punctuation, Jade multiplies her punctuation and uses lots of smileys.
- The trolls use more complex ones: Karkat types in all caps; Sollux (obsessed with doubles and bifurcation) types 2's instead of s's and "ii"'s instead of i's; the shy Tavros tYPES IN CAPS LOCK, finishes his sentences with commas and uses "uUH" a lot; Feferi replaces h's with brackets )( (referencing her Zodiac sign, Pisces, and the shape of her horns) and precedes capital E's with a hyphen to make them look like her weapon of choice; and so on.
- Curiously, their typing quirks also represent the way they speak - for example, Kanaya (who begins each word with a capital letter and uses no punctuation) is stated to enunciate each word carefully when speaking, just like she types; Sollux has a lisp; and so on.
- Furthermore, the quirks make their way into sound effects - for instance, when Tavros uses his communing superpower to Mind Control animals, the sound effect is "cOMMUNE,"
- More traditional tics: Aradiasprite's "ribbit" and Feferi's "glub". Even though they're actually typing.
- Karkat's basically constant Cluster F Bombs probably count as well...
- Vriska's quirk – typing some letters and punctuation eight times for emphasis and replacing Bs and "ate" sounds with 8 – seems to be contagious, since John has picked up on the former, and hereditary, since Marquise Mindfang did the latter.
- Jade later picks up another verbal tic in the form of going "woof" when excited or making other involuntary noises like laughter, after she attains Dog Tier.
- The Killotron robots in Skin Horse no longer want to Destroy All Humans!, but they still use the word "destroy" in place of random verbs. It's considered a bit intimidating in-universe.
Web Original[]
- Keiji Tanaka of Survival of the Fittest did this with "Like (something) and stuff". A lot. As in 'At least once in almost every sentence,' a lot.
- In The Guild, Zaboo often ends his sentences by taking one of the words from the sentence he just spoke and tagging on 'd. "I know every floor plan of every place where you've ever lived... floor-plan'd."
- The Kobolds of Unforgotten Realms often say "kobold" when they're talking. Or for (seemingly) no reason. Hell, all a person has to do to speak the "language" of the Kobolds is to say nothing but "kobold".
- Slowbeef during the second Kaizo Mario World Retsupurae and the 1st I Wanna Be The Guy Retsupurae. Here are the tics:
second Kaizo Mario World Retsupurae: SNES9X |
- In Yu-Gi-Oh the Abridged Series, the ridiculously stereotypical American Bandit Keith from Yu-Gi-Oh! adds "In America!" to the end of most of his sentences. Parodied in the episode where he duels Joey; as Joey plays Copycat, he declares, "This lets me copy your Catch Phrase... in America!"
- It was also parodied in Keith's second appearance, where during a duel between Joey and Zombie Boy Keith gloats how Joey will be defeated only for the latter to reply "Let me guess...'in America', right?" Keith defensively responds "I wasn't going to say that! ...(inamerica)."
- Also, Kemo (Pegasus' henchman, known as the "Nameless Henchman" in the series) constantly begins his sentences with "Attention, Duelists!" and narrates his actions and moods in the third person - but replacing references to himself with his (spectacularly pointy) hair. For instance, "My hair is inviting you to enter the castle!" or "Attention, duelists! My hair is assaulting you!" At one point, Keith and Kemo run into each other...
Keith: [thinking] Man, that guy sure likes talking about his hair. |
- Same with Mai Valentine, who refers to herself as "My breasts".
- Tristan does the same thing with "My voice", though not nearly as often.
- Joey very often goes "NYEH!" for no reason, as a sort of sound for all occasions. It's been noted that he himself has no idea he's doing it, and seems not to hear it at all, wondering what Bakura means when he references the Nyeh-sound.
- Taken to extremes in one episode where, after being called out on his nyeh-ing, he then proceeds to sing the entire Abridged theme song in nyehs, ending with "Still not hearing it."
- Agamemnon Tiberius Vacuum has a weird verbal tic in which his speech is sometimes slowed, sometimes sped up, sometimes even reversed.
- Chuggaaconroy says "Whatever" in his Let's Plays a lot, often without him noticing. He tries to cut back on it, but hasn't succeeded.
- Mitchell, in the MSF High Forums and MSF High IRC, has an interesting one, in AIM chat and IRC. He tends to surround 'action' posts with '8action8'. This is due to a incorrectly working shift key, which doesn't register his attempt to post '*action*'.
- "Welcome to my Glory, hyuuuumaaaan...."
- Raocow has a lot, including "that's pretty great" and "oh man!"
Western Animation[]
- Katnappé from Xiaolin Showdown is chock-full of Incredibly Lame Puns of a feline nature. She proceeds to use them all the time.
- Pinky from Pinky and The Brain had quite a few of these phrases, including "Narf", "Zort", "Poit", "Troz". And very occasionally, "Fjord". That one's Brain's fault... kinda. Brain is not entirely immune either, as he frequently adds an over-emphatic "Yes!" after his sentences, for no particular reason.
- Troz as well, wasn't an original one, it happened in one episode where reversing Zort was related the plot, and it ... well, continued from that point onwards.
- The versions of Mega Man and Kid Icarus seen in Captain N the Game Master affix the prefix "Mega-" and the suffix "-icus", respectively, to half the words that come out of their mouths. Game Boy is even worse, as Seanbaby points out in an issue of EGM-Not only does he make electronic beeps and blorts completely at random, he does it because he likes to-he moves his digital lips to accompany.
- Another sentence-ender, but a far more serious one, Megatron from Transformers: Beast Wars had a habit of finishing sentences with a drawn out yeessss, or occasionally, nnooo. (Not of the Big No variety, mind you, a very smooth one.) Watch here. This is because Megatron's Achilles Heel happens to be his overblown sense of drama.Yeeessssssss...
- Mixmaster did something similar on one occasion, and can Never Live It Down. It's a pretty characterful tic, you gotta admit; he repeats the first syllable of the last word/noun of a sentence, i.e. "auto-auto-auto-bots!", AND it sort of fits his name. It's a shame he didn't stick with it.
- Armada's Tidal Wave has a penchant for beginning or ending (sometimes both) sentences with his own name. He's also a Hulk Speaker, and the fandom can never quite decide if he's that stupid, or if it's just some kind of speech impediment. In the original Japanese, Tidal Wave (called Shockwave) kept that tic when he upgraded to Mirage (called Shockfleet). He ended all his sentences with "Shock!". However, in the American dub Mirage didn't have the tic.
- After being given his name, Wreck-Gar of Animated begins every sentence that pertains to himself with "I am Wreck-Gar!" The original Wreck-Gar, along with all the other Junkions, spoke almost exclusively in TV catch-phrases. As they put it "We talk TV!" This stems from the Junkions learning to speak by watching old television broadcasts from Earth.
Wreck-Gar: Yes friends, act now, destroy Unicron! Kill the Grand Poobah! Eliminate even the toughest stains! |
- "Me Grimlock!"
- Even in the Transformers Shattered Glass Universe, I, Grimlock, who is gifted with remarkable intelligence, still speak with certain linguistic idiosyncrasies. Mus'nt complain to much, wot?
- In the Japanese dub of Beast Wars, this was used to fill up pretty much every moment when no one was speaking, and several when someone was. For example, Silverbolt ended every sentence with desu, even though in the original, he's either in mid-conversation or silently brooding. We know he's a Large Ham, but come on.
- Japanese-dub Beast Wars had two of these from Quickstrike - he'd end sentences with "gicchon" (Japanese for "snippety!"), and the cobra head on his tail would end with "ko", "bura", or "kobura" (verging on Pokémon-Speak). And then there was Cheetor, who'd make a growling noise.
- Scorponok often made the sound "ora" for no apparent reason, while Waspinator would end his sentences with a "buuun" sound (which I'm assuming is the Japanese onomatopoeia for buzzing).
- Warpath from the original cartoon had it so bad - it was rare to hear him go more than four or five words without a pow or zowie.
- Mention of Omega Supreme: Not found. Problem: easily corrected.
- Soundwave: Superior. Omega Supreme: Inferior.
- Shrapnel repeats the last word of his sentences. Sentences...
- In the Marvel comic, Runamuck tended to give a short laugh at the end of each sentence, heh-heh.
- Naturally, this lead to Memetic Mutation among the fans that he and his buddy Runabout were the Decepticon versions of Beavis and Butthead.
- Beast Wars Inferno thought he was an actual ant. As such, the base is called the colony, Megatron is the Queen, the other Predacons are drones, and those who threaten the colony shall BUUUUUUUURN! FOR THE ROYALTY!
- While on the topic of Transformers lets remind ourselves of all of the Transformers Animated Examples! Although most of them are a little more "Talks complete gibberish" than "Verbal Tic" But it still happens!
- In the Japanese version of the series Lugnut feels the need to say "ttsu" in every sentence
- His fanatic loyalty makes for some interesting lines, especially if he is saying anything in regards to his grand and GLORIOUS leader.
"STASIS LOCK ITSELF COULD NOT DETER ME FROM YOUR GRAND AND GLORIOUS PLAN, OH WISE AND NOBLE MEGATRON!" |
- Grimlock speaks insanely broken Engrish. (Well what could you expect?)
- Blurr talks incredibly fast (He is voiced by the fastest talking person ever)
- Jazz speaks in old timer slang
- Jetstorm & Jetfire also speak insanely broken Engrish. Although it does sound more like a "Second language" deal.
- Blitzwing..... It doesn't count as a verbal tyic but he has three different voices which in itself is a verbal tic (Well, he does have 3 heads)
- Wasp-bot speak strange! Annoys reader-bot!
- The Starscream clones have verbal tics but that is because of their personalities (It can still be counted, though or at least Ramjet can)
- Ramjet: Compulsive Liar, Sunstorm: Suck-Up, Thundercracker: Egomaniac, Skywarp: Coward. Slipstream may or may not count since we don't know what part of Starscream she embodies (and likely never will).
- MOTORRRRRRRRRRMASTER TAAAAAAAAAAAAAALK LIKE RANDYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY SAAAAAAAAVVVVVAAAGGGGEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!
- Perceptor has a "Stephen Hawking"-esque voice because he deleted his emotions and personality.
- Beachcomber, like totally talks like a surfer dude, ya dig?
- Warpath (Bam, Pow) talks really weird like he has tourettes and causes him to mutter Onomatopoetic words
- Subject: Dug Base. Speech Impediment: What do you think?
- Wheelie has nothing wrong with his voice, for this fate he shall rejoice!
- Pipes and-a Huffer always talk like-a Italian person.
- Carrera is a nutcase. There. He talks like a sports announcer all the time. But, weirdly enough, Bumper thinks this will lower his chances of being a sports announcer. Sarcasm Mode mode much?
- Glyph cant help but recite phrases mì languages lahe ayswirä.
- Cyclonus likes to swoop in like a vast predatory bird and close a sentence with a furmanism. Can he do less? Also, he likes to give a short, sharp lesson to any Autobots and give them a world of pain and he cannot, will not die screaming. He knows the end is near but he never did want to live forever
- Listen up, ya mooks! Yous palookas are gonna join Dirt Boss' crew, and you're gonna like it!
- LOL Da H34DM4S73R is L33t wit hs 1nt3rn37 sl4n9
- Slo-Mo likes to use a synonym for anything.
- Yon Angry Archer has a preferably dry wit outmatched by his silver tongue
- Beast Boy in Teen Titans tends to randomly add Dude to his sentences.
- Starfire was also prone to this, yes?
- Indeed, it is so, friend troper~!
- In Gravedale High, Frankentyke has one, man!
- Fred Fredburger in The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy. Yes! Along with Irwin, yo.
- The Ren and Stimpy Show has Daisy the Cow, who has a tendency to quietly say "moo" at the end of his sentences.
- Mr. Mackey in South Park, mmmkay? In one episode, he's speaking Spanish, and ends his sentences with "mmmbien"?
- In another episode of South Park, magician and cult leader David Blaine tends to end sentences with "twaaa."
- Jimmy has a habit of saying "very much" at the end of sentences, very much.
- Their parody of Mickey Mouse ended all of his sentences with his signature "huh-huh" laugh. This is kind of disturbing when he's kicking a Jonas Brother until he bleeds.
- In an early-season episode, the plane'arium director / baddie hypnotist fibs that he has a medical condition that prevents him from pronouncing the "T" in plane'arium.
- He was hoping to one day get a bone-marrow transplant (he pronounced that fine).
- Michael "Jefferson" randomly inserted "Hee-hee!", "Ohhh!", and "Ditabederjah!" into his sentences.
- TIMMEH!
- Cartman says "seriously" both in the correct usage ("Seriously, you guys!"), and also where anyone else would normally say "serious" ("I'm seriously!").
- On Family Guy, Glenn Quagmire's characteristic "Giggity giggity goo", "All right", and "Oh!" may have contributed to him becoming one of the most popular characters on the show.
- And then there's when Stewie enjoyed cool wHip wHith wHil wHeathon.
- Chuck White from American Dad, ha-HA!
- In an episode of SpongeBob SquarePants, the titular character gets stuck in "Rock Bottom," where everyone interjects "thbbbbbt" noises randomly into their sentences, and can't understand the "accent" of anyone who doesn't do the same.
- Snarf, from Thundercats, who often ended his sentences with his own name. Snarfer did it with his name as well. (And as far as we know that is his name. Most uncreative parents ever.)
- Slythe was also fond of adding "yessss?" to the end of his sentences.
- The Berzerkers would repeat the last word or phrase of a sentence a couple of times (a couple of times! a couple of times!)
- Ben Gali tended to growl. It was half Narm, half sexy.
- And of course, Chilla had to use ice puns as often as possible.
- Serpentor from G.I. Joe debatably had such a tic, as he took his Catch Phrase to tic-like levels. THIS, I COMMAND!
- Flownominal of The Boondocks ends nearly every sentence with "Naw mean?". In an episode where Riley and Grandad watch too much BET, they can't stop interspersing and ending their sentences with "y'feel me?" and "dog."
- One episode of The Tick featured a tribe of pseudo-Aztecs who said "-itlan" at the end of each sentence. (They were actually an abandoned soccer team who got their knowledge of Aztec culture from a badly written pulp novel.) They were doing it on purpose, to sound more Aztec. When Carmelita asked what all the "itlan" nonsense is, the team captain calls out to the rest of them, "I declare that we shall all stop saying itlan, itlan!"
- Boomhauer of King of the Hill has an incredible array of verbal tics which have a tendency to consume his sentences like some horrifying cancerous growth. Combine this with the speed at which he speaks, and it can make his comments very difficult to dang-ol' understand, man.
- Hank's "I tell you what", too. He says it after almost every sentence.
- Ned Flanders from The Simpsons peppers ran-diddly-andom words with odd sounds like "diddly" and "doodly". This trait appears to run in his extended family. When Ned finally has a nervous breakdown, the sentence devolves totally into "-diddly-doodly-" until he's dragged away. It comes to light that this tic is an ineffective release valve for Ned's repressed negative emotions, as a result of being spanked from a hyperactive child into a model citizen. Notably, when he breaks down after the town completely fails to rebuild his house (among other things--long story), he lashes out at them ("Aw hell diddley-ding-dong crap! Can't you morons do anything right?) and the tic disappears for a while.
- At one point it's revealed that Ned even writes the "diddly" part of his speech.
- In the episode "E-I-E-I- (Annoyed Grunt)" there's a Southern colonel who adds "I say" into the middle of every other sentence, for example "Sir, I say Sir, it's time for our duel!" This is of course based on Foghorn Leghorn.
- Don't, er, ah, forget Mayor, er, ah, Quimby. Whose accent and speech patterns were based on the late Senator Ted Kennedy.
- Marge's disapproving "Hmmm..." and Homer's annoyed/despairing "Ohhhh...!" might count as well.
- You Forgot Professor GLAYVEN-MAYVEN Frink? Oh, for Glayven out loud!
- Then there's the security guard from "Marge Be Not Proud", uhuh, he has one of these, that's right. Capice?
- Kevin French from Mission Hill has a tendency to say "bling, blong" whenever he's nervous or trying to concentrate on something.
- The Director from Animaniacs. And all his wacky henchmen with the "HOY-yal!" and of course, "Freunleven!"
- Of course, this is because The Director is a parody of Jerry Lewis.
- Also, more noticeable, Yakko tends to stammer/draw out the word "I" when it begins a sentence to emphasize discomfort or, well, to just sound a little more sarcastic, leading to, "Yaaaaaaaaahhhhh I don't think so," or variations thereof. If the sentence doesn't start with "I" he'll just take on a long "Ahhhh" at the beginning.
- Sort of lampshaded in the Macarena parody, "Macadamia Nut," which ends each verse with a different character's Verbal Tic.
- Ducky, from The Land Before Time, ends most sentences with either "yep, yep, yep" or "nope, nope, nope."
- Phil Ken Sebben from Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law punctuates every other phrase with a "Ha-HA!" followed by a double entendre or non sequitur .
- Likewise, whenever Vulturo speaks, he always goes into hmmooong bleeeaauu tgnnyaaaa.
- In The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron, Sam ends pretty much every statement with "yeah." One time he even did it in song.
- Motor Ed from Kim Possible seriously can't talk two sentences, seriously, without using the word seriously, seriously. Seriously, it's lampshaded every time when someone seriously mimics his seriously expression.
- How do the villains find each other? In Drakken's and Motor Ed's case, they're related:
Kim: Seriously? |
- Wonder what would happen if he met The Joker.
- The Joker, Sirius Black, and Motor Ed. Seriously, that would be beyond words. Seriously.
Motor Ed: Seriously dude, are you Sirius? I mean, seriously. |
- The hick wolf from the Tex Avery cartoon Billy Boy repeated the last word of his sentences three times.
- Butt-head of Beavis and Butthead begins many of his sentences with "Uhhh?", while Beavis laughs before he talks.
- Both boys tend to laugh when they're not talking.
- And David Van Driessen, like Mr. Mackey in South Park, ends sentences with "mkay".
- A sentient galaxy in Futurama that may or may not be God has a habit of ending sentences with "my good chum."
- Morbo the Newsmonster typically begins sentences with variations on "Pathetic humans" and ends them with variants of "I WILL DESTROY YOU!"
- Richard Nixon's head peppers his speech with "Aroo".
- SURELY YOU HAVE NOT FORGOTTEN ABOUT LRRR, RULER OF THE PLANET OMICRON PERSEI 8?!
- Futurama also featureses Sal, who tends to ends randoms wordses with additional esses, evens if theys alreadys gots 'em.
- The giant chicken prosecutor has a tendency to say "Ba-kaw!"
- Hubert Farnsworth not only pronounces the H in "wh" words, but pronounces an H in words that don't have it. Since this hypercorrection is fairly consistent, it's not as readily noticeable as when Stewie does it.
Farnsworth: Whell, let's get started. |
- Zapp Brannigan has a habit of elongating the last syllable of a sentence. Billy West says he does this to imitate radio announcers who love the sound of their own voice.
- Mr. DeMartino of Daria fame, who was even more high-strung than Principal McVicker on Beavis and Butthead, would EMphasize certain WORDS when chastising or complaining about anything or anyone, COMPLETE with his left eye bulging in a Nightmare Fuel fashion.
- Don't forget Jake's angry "GAHHHH!", occasionally emphasized with a "DAMMIT!" There's even a song dedicated to it.
- Sandi's disapproving "Gee," followed by uttering the name of whoever she's gee-ing at.
- And, of course, Brittany's perky cheerleader squeak.
- Whenever Donald Duck realizes something he'll shout "Quack!" as an exclamation, instead of humming or grumbling he'll quack instead, and when he's really mad he'll go into a series of furious quacks.
- Ed from Ed, Edd 'n' Eddy sometimes randomly shouts "Buttered Toast!" or "Gravy!", once during an argument between the threesome all Ed was saying was "Buttered Toast!".
- In the same show, there is of course Kevin's "dork!". In the beginning, he only said it to the Ed's faces, but after a while he would find it impossible to stand closer than twenty feet from an Ed without muttering "dork!" all the time.
- Double D also had a habit of saying things three times, especially phrases like "Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear!" and "Messy, messy, messy..."
- Snagglepuss has a number of verbal tics, catchphrases even, along the lines of "Heavens to Murgatroyd" or "Exit stage left," even.
- Skeeter of Doug makes a honking noise occasionally. It's revealed in one episode that he doesn't even realize he's doing it.
- Jacob Two Two earned his nickname because, as the youngest child in his big family, he's used to saying things twice. Twice!
- Also, resident bully Quigley is known for inhaling sharply and suddenly for no apparent reason.
- Toki and Skwissgar from Metalocalypse tends to pluralisings their words unnecessarily, and be havings a bad grasp of English grammars.
- Dildos.
- Pickles sports a number of Wisconsinisms, such as changing "th"s to "t"s, ex: He call Nathan "Natan".
- Dr. Rockzo tends to start random words with "ka-ka-ka". As in "I need your ka-ka-ka help!" or "I do ka-ka-ka COCAINE!"
- The band's manager, while worlds more eloquent than they will ever be, still can't seem to go a sentence without pausing at least once.
- As mentioned...I say, as mentioned before, Foghorn Leghorn is prone to doing this...prone, that is (one short lampshades this with a sleeping Foghorn going "(snore), I say...(snore), that is...). This was borrowed from Senator Claghorn, a character on Fred Allen's hugely popular radio show. Foghorn predated the debut of Claghorn by a few months, but once Claghorn became popular, the Warner staff turned Foghorn into a very blatant Expy of Claghorn. And eclipsed him, eventually.
- Also from Looney Tunes is Daffy Duck who, when irritated, ends almost every sentence with an aggressive "bub!", and Bugs Bunny who seems to believe everyone he talks to has a Doctorate...
- In The Fairly Odd Parents, Mr. Crocker did this in at - FAIRY GODPARENTS!! - least once an episode.
- Does Chet Ubetcha also count? You betcha (but not very often, though).
- Don't forget Doug Dimmadome, who can't just say Doug Dimmadome without mentioning he is in fact the owner of the Dimmsdale Dimmadome.
- Bobby's mother has been known to do this, don'cha know
- Yo! Rocky Ratrock (from The Flintstones Kids) would like to have a word with you.
- Any of Joe E. Ross's animated roles, where he does his trademark "Ooh, Ooh!" Fangface (and his human alter-ego Fangs) also did this, possibly as a tribute to him.
- Like, wow. I'm surprised no one mentioned Shaggy. ZOINKS!.
- In Codename: Kids Next Door, Numbuh 5's father (a parody of Bill Cosby) was like this, with the habit, and the frequency...oh, you know what I'm talkin' about.
- In the Canadian series C.L.Y.D.E., does the head computer bug (colored red) sometimes fall into this? "Yes or no!?"
- Strawberry Shortcake is berry famous for "berry talk", most frequently substituting the word "berry" for "very". In the 1980s animated specials, her nemesis the Purple Pieman is berry annoyed by this, to the point that she can use the tic as a threat. Of course, he can never resist a little scat-singing-and-dancing every time he introduces himself or someone else recognizes him. Also from the '80s specials is Angel Cake in "Pets on Parade": Begging your pardon, she's unfailingly polite to the point that she works the phrases "begging your pardon", "please", and/or "thank you" into her speeches at every opportunity, thank you please.
- A lot of animated shows involving a vampire will have the lead vampire say "Bluh! Bluh!" either at the beginning or end of their sentences.
- Word Girl villain the Whammer tends to replace random words in his sentences with the word "wham" or "whammer." So he often says things like "this is gonna be whammer" or "let's wham this thing" or "are you whamming to me?" He also ends pretty much every sentence with the phrase "yeah!"
- Phineas and Ferb has Bob Webber, okay? *finger snap* "Okaaaay!"
- Meap!
- Khaka Peu Peu finishes practically every sentence with the phrase "Thank you very much," thank you very much.
- Probably not the Ur Example, but still older than most or all other examples in this section are The Smurfs who like to replace random words in their sentences with "SMURFING"
- Oh Freaky Fred, never haughty, has a verbal tic that's quite...Nauuughty.
- In Regular Show, Mordecai and Rigby repeat a "Hm! Hm! Hm!" tic, which seems to state agreement and/or amusement.
- Dagget from The Angry Beavers tends to inject "Eh" into his sentences when confused or angry.
Dagget: Stupid EH! Stupid EH! Stupid EH! |
- Invader Zim, also voiced by Richard Horovitz, does the same thing.
- Snap from Chalk Zone often puts the word "bucko" into his sentences.
- Vince from Recess, man.
- Cow from Cow and Chicken, moooo!
- In Hey Arnold, Lila is ever so prone to insert the words "ever so" into her sentences ever so often.
- Monkeyman has been known to, Monkeyman, use his, Monkeyman, name in his, Monkeyman, sentences.
- The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack has Doctor Barber... Hmmm?... Yes?
- Uncle from Jackie Chan Adventures whenever he was annoyed or agitated he would shout "Aieyaah!" and when notifying others he would say "Hacha!", in one episode Jade absorbs Uncle's chi to save her from the Chi Vampire and she starts using his tics.
Real Life[]
- Tourettes Syndrome. Of course in that case it really is an unavoidable compulsion.
- Even more realistic Tourette syndrome people have at least some verbal tics. They just aren't necessarily cursing — they may be saying things like "kitty" instead.
- It's not just Tourettes either. Some people with Aspergers will do this as a form of "stimming."
- Oh the ehh, subject of, ehh, comedians, ehh... Dara, ehh, Ó Briain, eeehhh... Probably fits this trope-ehhhh...
- Aspergian Author John Elder Robinson tends to say "Woof!" a lot.
- Like whatever.
- Scotty Nguyen, baby!
- Jive Turkey has "yunno whaddam sayin'?".
- Gnome sane?
- Québecois French qualifies as tic, as some locals have the habit of saying "là" ("there") at the end of each sentence. "Alors" ("so") also sometimes fills this role, as does "genre" (similar to "like") and "moi" ("me") and "lui" ("him") are often thrown in where an English speaker would consider the sentence complete without them. Eg, "Il est tropeur, lui" would be "he is a troper, him".
- Those constructions - for example, "He's a troper, him" or "I like beer, me" - are also associated with certain English dialects, particularly Geordie / those from the North East.
- Canadian English speakers often do the same thing with "eh". This tends to be exaggerated in American depictions of Canadians in general - and mind you, that usually means grossly, horrendously exaggerated, eh.
- Newfies (Newfoundlanders) are typically incomprehensible to most 'Mainlanders' (people not from Newfoundland), but it gets worse when they pepper their sentences with innumerable "yes b'y"-s.
- From French French, you also have "tu vois" ("you see") at the end of a sentence, and its suburban counterpart "t'as vu" (roughly "you've seen"), although the media mainly use them as a parody of celebrity speech these days. Like all speech filler, it is still in use by some people, however.
- Also from French French, also at the end of a sentence and also supposedly discredited, there's "quoi" (word-for-word "what"). Unlike "tu vois", though, it also gives the sentence a very particular tone, and has no real equivalent in English or, indeed, any other language. It is therefore extremely difficult to translate.
- A substantial portion of the Québecois population uses sacre (comparable to "Holy...") as a Verbal Tic, which basically results in a Cluster F-Bomb.
- Which comes off as Gosh Dang It to Heck to the French French.
- Some Taiwanese speakers will end sentences with "ho" ("good"). This editor saw a restaurant owner talking about her restaurant use it as the end of every declarative sentence.
- Taiwanese young people litter their Chinese sentences with "jiu shi" ("it's just..."/"it's like..."), which has just about as much meaning as the American use of "like".
- Mexican people, especially those from Mexico City, often append "güey" (alternatively a friendly word, kind like "dude", or a serious insult equal to "fool") at the end of their sentences; Northerners and Mexican-Americans, meanwhile, often do the same with "ese" ("homeboy").
- People from Mexico City also tend to start their sentences will "Pues..." (which can be translated as "Well...") and end them with the same "eh?" as Canadians do.
- Argentines often start their phrases with "che"; the rebel leader Ernesto "Che" Guevara de la Serna gained his nickname because of this habit.
- Similarly, in southern Brazil, "tchê" is often used as a way of saying "dude" or "man".
- It's also very common, especially in and around the Buenos Aires province, to append a "viteh" to the end of almost any declaratory statement. It's basically "¿viste?" in heavily accented Buenos Aires Spanish; literally, it means "did you see?", but is used colloquially as the Minnesotan "doncha know?".
- When an Argentine stumbles over his words due to talking faster than he thinks, instead of stammering or going "uh" for a moment while the brain catches up, he'll invariably say "este, como es?" which is somewhat difficult to give a real translation to. Formal: "This, how is it?" Dynamic: "How's it go?", "It's like..."
- Singaporeans and Malaysians often use "lah" at the end of sentences, to soften the impact of the message. Eg. "Take out the trash," carries more emphasis than "Take out the trash, lah." In Ghanaian and Nigerian English "la" has the opposite effect, so "Take out the trash la" would be roughly equivalent to "Take the trash out already!" Singaporeans and Malaysians beware.
- Also, in the drinking game Kings (or Circle of Death), one card allows the person who picked it to make up a rule, the penalty of breaking which is to drink. A very common rule in some places is to add the "In my pants" rule mentioned below, making for interesting conversation.
- Not all Minnesotans end every sentence with "doncha know," but yeah, a few of us do, doncha know?
- And the British Upperclass Twit, as parodied on Have I Got News for You by Paul Merton.
- Actually, there are some remnants of the stereotyped phrases in Minnesotan speech, as we sometimes have a tendency to end sentences in "y'know?". The other phrase of "Ya sure, you betcha" (Which is only ever used by the elderly) is now two separate phrases used when agreeing with something: "Yeah, sure" and "You bet." The heavy Fargo accent is mostly a myth. Mostly. The rare person who does have that accent is usually from the far north. Usually.
- The stereotypical Pittsburgh "Yinzer" is someone who, among other verbal quirks, ends most sentences with "annat" (short for "and all that"), annat.
- Not to mention that the name comes from their use of "yinz", as opposed to "y'all", as a second-person plural — and as with "y'all", it's frequently misused as a singular pronoun.
- Another shock, on moving to southwestern Pennsylvania, is the use of the phrase "H'ainnit?" (Meaning "ain't it?") as punctuation.
- This trope is a sign of respect and in the Philippines and familiarity if it's lacking. In the regions where Filipino (the Tagalog-based national language) is mostly used, when you have someone who is new to a place (like a new employee in a room full of veteran workers) the newbie would end their sentences with po. The po is a generless sign of respect, in the most basic sense used for someone older than you. The sentences would usually translate accurately by adding 'sir/ma'am.' (Order nyo po? = "What's your order, sir/ma'am?" Ewan ko po. = "I don't know, sir/ma'am.") You can tell a person has been at a job or has been doing something for a while if they talk without the po.
- Italians speaking English tenda to put As where they don't-a-belong.
- More-a-like Italian-a-plumbers.
- Among Italians, for a skilled listener, it's usually incredibly easy to tell from which region, province, sometimes even city someone hails from: regional accents and dialects are both incredibly numerous (Wikipedia lists about 200 of them) and often quite different from one another. Tuscans use "but huat you doin?" instead of "what are you doing?" ("ma he tu fai?" instead of "cosa stai facendo?") and cut the "doing" and "going" verbs, Romans change "l"s into "r"s, double "rr"s into single "r"s, and are fond of using and abusing "Aoh!" (roughly "Hey!"), while Neapolitan is practically a different language with a different vocabulary, among other things. Piedmontese speakers, especially those from Turin, are often parodied for their stereotypical use of "neh?" (roughly "isn't it?" or an emphatic expression depending on context) at the end of each sentence.
- Inner-city dwellers in Britain sometimes end every other sentence with the word "though". Some people make fun of them mercilessly ("I know, though - innit, though! What, though? You know, though!"). Depending on which city we're talking about, "innit" or "like" may be used instead. Or even both, innit like?
- Like, how has stereotypical Valley Girl speak not ended up on here, or whatever? It's like, unbelievable, and stuff?
- The equivalent in Mexico and Venezuela, the "Niñas fresas" and "sifrinas" liked to pepper their speech with "O sea" and "¿vez?".
- German teenagers (regardless of gender) often use "halt" in a similar manner.
- In a similar vein, it is becoming more and more common for American teenagers to add "like" every third or fourth word of a sentence, particularly in place of just pausing to pick a word.
- Same for teenagers here in Australia as well.
- Italian teenagers use "tipo", which is the exact equivalent of "like", or "cioè" ("that is").
- King George III of the UK was famous for involuntarily adding "what what" to most things he said. Yes, it was just him.
- Once, he reportedly added "peacock" to all his sentences.
- Dominican people have a habit of adding the phrase "Tu sabe" to just about any sentence in just about any place in the sentence, being middle, beginning, or end of the sentence. It's equivalent to people saying "You know what I'm sayin?"
- Some Cajuns begin or end sentences with "Mais" (pronounced "meh"), like "well" but more involuntary.
- And of course, almost everyone you talk to says "uh" at least once in conversation.
- Mark Twain, world traveller, in his writings on the German language, asserts that "Also!" ("thus"/"so") can be thrown in anywhere, and is properly interjected multiple times into each sentence. Of course, he also intentionally retranslated one of his short stories back from the French without adjusting for syntax, so he's not the most reliable.
- Though people from different countries pronounce and spell it differently. The American "uh..." is equivalent to the British "er..." which is equivalent to the Irish "em..." which is equivalent to the French "euh..." which...
- In linguistics, such exclamations are called filler. The Dutch word for them is "stopwoord"; this should not be confused with the English term stop word, which is a computational linguistics term.
- Caroline Kennedy's attempt at being taken seriously was embarrassed by revelations that she used 'y'know' 30 times in a two-minute interview, and over 140 times in another.
- Sometimes the Welsh do this, Boyo! I've lived in Cardiff for years and I'm glad it hasn't rubbed off on me, lovely.
- And the Cornish do it dreckley!
- Faith and begohra, neouw, are ye be sayin' the Irish don't have that stereotype, me fine young Troper?
- Ach, themmuns in Stroke Country have a few of thon wee tics as well, so they do!
- According to stereotype, people from Liverpool have a tendency to end their sentences with 'la', as in the typical Scouse greeting 'alright, la'.
- Stereotypically, Glaswegians end every sentence with "jim" or "jimmy" (and according to Billy Connolly, the drunker they are the longer it takes for the meandering sentence to reach that point), while Yorkshiremen often end sentences with "tha knows" (informal dialect form of "you know?")
- The stereotypical Yorkshire accent also includes the replacement of "the" or "to the" with a weird glottal sound usually written as "t'" as in "Going t'shops".
- The same goes for Lancashire. It can be heard in the works of Peter Kay: he talks like that normally, but often exaggerates it for comic effect.
- A variation of a sort: in Poland, there are numerous self-deprecating jokes about such usage of the local equivalent of the eff-word.
- A clever Bilingual Bonus in this Penny Arcade strip, as the word in question ("kurwa") does literally mean "whore" and indeed tends to be one of the first words foreigners pick up, to the chagrin of some Poles and the amusement of others.
- Brazilians often tag their phrase starts with "então" and "daí" ("then") and phrase ends with "né?" ("isn't it?")
- In the Brazilian equivalent of Tennessee (Minas Gerais), there are several dozen verbal tics, the most (in)famous being adding "uai" to the end of sentences, or not pronouncing soft Ls that follow an A (so "wall" would become "wah"). The younger crowd refer to each other as "vei" (a mispronounced slang term for "velho", meaning old).
- People who speak Swedish with a strong Stockholm accent tend to pepper their speech with "dårå" (literally "then then" but used more as "you see") and "va" ("what"). Then there's Rinkebysvenska (sort of a Swedish dialect spoken primarily by immigrants from the Middle East) where the Arabian word 'jalla' is used in all kinds of totally random ways, like 'jalla hejdå' (jalla goodbye), 'jalla godnatt' (jalla goodnight). The tendency of some Swedish-speakers to use "asså", "liksom" and "typ" is pretty common as well, as is "ba".
- Swedes listen or react to what someone else is saying to them with a very pronounced verbal tic. In place of what for English speakers might be a "mhmm," they do a combination of "jah" and a sharp intake of breath. Alot. Sometimes punctuated with a following (often nasal) "prrre-ciiis" or "absolut."
- not to forget the ubiquitous jahå, jaja mensan and åh
- Australians, along with a tendency to swear incredibly often, quite usually make heavy use of the words 'bloody' (the great Australian adjective) and 'bastard'. This Australian finds it hilarious when people from other cultures use it as a full blown insult, quoth his father on the complete lack of impact: "Well, that just means he's practically your cousin, doesnit?"
- When angry, girls from NJ and NY in the US add an A to the end of words. Like "Stopa!" "Knock it offa!"
- It's actually fairly common with teenage girls across the US. When girls do it, they often extend the vowel before the "a" in their aggression. So when they say "No!", it sounds more like "Noah!"
- Some people from Galicia (an autonomous community in northwestern Spain) add "hom", "ho" or "oh" at the end of some sentences (usually questions or exclamations)
- In Russian language: "-s" (as in "spy") added at the end of a sentence or just at the end of any word whatsoever. It's not quite that common nowadays. It still exists. It was much more widespread in the 19th century, though it was already considered something of a quirk in high society. Porfiry Petrovich from Crime and Punishment had this, in particular.
- The "-s" ending is called slovoyers and originally was a polite, respectful form of speaking (it is a shortening of sudar "sir" or sudarinya "madam"). The usage of the slovoyers discontinued after the Red October. Now used mostly in irony and sarcasm.
- The Filipino people use the word 'po', which is used to show respect to someone. Sometimes, however, some people can use it so much that they start using it in sentences unconsciously, even when highly inappropriate. Of course, po, since 'po' can be added into sentences so easily, po, and can be repeated many times, po, ending up with sentences like this, po, it's hard to tell whether the person saying it is being respectful, has a tic, or is just trying to be annoying, po.
- Also, Cebuanos and Ilocanos often pronounce their 'e's (Pronounced 'eh') as 'i's (Pronounced 'ee'). Exaggerated in the media, but sometimes hilarious none the less.
- There's also the frequent use of kuwa/thing as a pronoun. "It's in the thing".
- As Bill Engvall points out, "I tell you what" is a complete sentence in Texas. ("Well, what??" "I just told you!")
- The 14th Dalai Lama, when publicly speaking in English, often finishes a long sentence with "like that?" As English is not his first language, he's checking with his interpreter to make sure his grammar is correct.
- Alaska governor Sarah Palin, "Also..." in sentence constructions where it makes no sense and "you betcha!".
- "Ooh, ooh!" Joe E. Ross even did it in some of his animation roles.
- In Afrikaans, many people end their sentences with 'ne'. Coincidentally, it means more or less the same as the Japanese 'ne', as well as being pronounced the same.
- As well in Sinhalese (the language of Sri Lanka), 'ne' serves the same function as the Japanese 'ne'.
- Or, for that matter, the conversational shortening of the French "n'est-ce pas?", literally "isn't it so?"
- Also the Portuguese 'né?', shortening of 'não é?'(lit "is not"; meaning "isn't it?")
- The word is indeed spelled 'né' in written Afrikaans. And Portuguese ancestry is very common among Afrikaners.
- Same for the "neh?" used by Italians living in Piedmont
- Afrikaans also has "hê?", which is probably derived from French "hein?" via the Huguenots. South African English speakers do the same with "hey?". It's also often combined with "y'know", leading to just about every sentence ending with "y'know hey?" (as well as "y'know hey" being a complete sentence in itself).
- South African English also uses "no" as a catch-all interjection, which sometimes becomes confusing to those unfamiliar with it. "No, I agree", "No, that's right", "Ja, no" (from Afrikaans "ja-nee"), all of these sentences and more can form without expressing any disagreement or reservedness. (And not even necessarily in answer to a "I'm probably wrong, but..." or an open-ended question.)
- Another verbal tic that's catching-on amongst South African English speakers at the moment is the British expression "innit?" - which means basically exactly the same as "ne" in Afrikaans.
- Zimbabweans seem to do the same with "isn't it?" Not quite "innit"... more like "iznit" or "izzenit".
- John Caparulo tends to end his sentences as if he had a verbal tic, all right?
- Yah der hey, dose folks from 'Scansin have way too many ta list here, you betcha!
- U.S. Senator and 2008 presidential candidate John McCain often addresses crowds as "my friends".
- The swear word putain is something very common in some French dialects. That must do them wonders during diplomacy with the Russians.
- In the south of France it's known as the "virgule toulousaine/marseillaise" (the Toulouse / Marseille comma), given how often it shows up.
- Lesson #1 in How to Sound like Tina Fey: Replace the words "man" and "woman" with "gentleman" and "lady", but make no effort to sound formal. Also try to fit the word "this" in before them, resulting in comments like "so this lady was crazy."
- People in Baltimore tend to refer to other people as "hon".
- People adding an upward tilt? at the end of their sentences? that makes it sound like a question? No matter what they're saying?
- People from Cork in Ireland, have a tendency to add "like", "boy" and "girl" into their sentences, among other things. D'you know what I mean, like? Serious boy, I'm telling ya. It should be noted that "boy" is pronounced "b-eye".
- Certain parts of Scotland do the same thing but with 'lad' and 'lass' instead of 'boy' and 'girl'.
- Whitney Houston popularized the phrase "Hell to the no!", being used instead of the plain "Hell no!"
- Upper Midwesterners of Scandinavian roots have an interesting little interjection, uff da!, which expresses a standard response to just about any form of excessive sensory or emotional input.
- Some Californians, particularly those in the San Francisco Bay Area or Central Valley(or if they're filming a Coen Brothers movie), use "dude" as both an expression of joy/anger/exasperation/WTF and an informal address between friends. There is heavy reliance on intonation for the exact meaning, and that makes it insanely hard to explain in text, dude. It's interchangeable with "man" for the most part, although the former is between peers while the latter is mostly used when talking with/to an older person.
- Additionally, the word "Hella" is used even more frequently as a replacement for 'really' or 'very' and is often used in conjunction with "Dude" ie; "Dude, that looked hella dope" The longer the last syllable is drug out, the more disproportionate the disbelief becomes.
- The word "Damn" is often pronounced "Day-uhm" This, in of itself has multiple enunciations, ranging from 'barely noticeable tic' to 'wannabe gangsta' if the word develops a second syllable.
- Some people unconsciously (and much to their own annoyance) mimic the speech mannerisms of those around them, whether it be mimicking another person's verbal tics or even unconsciously adopting foreign accents of those around them. The people who have this condition find it incredibly annoying, and have a very hard time overcoming it.
- Especially because people can think you're deliberately mocking them.
- Very, very common in people from certain areas of the American Midwest, for some reason.
- People in eastern Pennsylvania whose families identify themselves as Pennsylvania Dutch have some interesting tics. They're not Dutch, but German, and some of their sentences are quite literally exact translations from the original German. Thus you will hear things like "Throw the cow over the fence some hay" and "The coffee's all" (meaning 'all gone'). The regional Amish have very similar tics.
- While over in Cincinnati, also German settled, "Please?" replaces "huh?" or "what?".
- Some Spanish speakers begin every statement with "Sabes Que?" Which basically means "You know what?" George Lopez pokes fun at this A LOT.
- Ernesto "Che" Guevera earned his nickname from his Argentinian habit of using the slang word "che," which is similar to "hey" or the Canadian "eh."
- Keith Olbermann would sometimes be given to wondering aloud "HOW DARE YOU, SIR?"
- Danny Wallace, in his autobiographical book Yes Man, talks about going to a party at which he met a man who ended every sentence with "do you know what I mean?"
- Now, the most important part, ah... of doing a Jeff Goldblum impersonation is to, accelerate and ACCENT your speech, ah, in um, places where it would. Not benaturaltoaccent, or pause.
- We Canadians sure love saying eh, eh?
- In Germany the stereotype for Swiss people consists of them being slow and ending every sentence with the words "oder?", making every statement a question. Truth in Television to a certain extent.
- Australians use "Mate" in very much the same way as "Dude" or "Man", but it's usually in reference to a friend. Similarly, New Zealanders say "Bro", even to females.
- In urban Philadelphia, the term "jawn" is used as a substitute for literally any noun with black residents. "Can I get that jawn over there?" "I'll have a large jawn, thanks." "You gonna take the jawn to Center City?" Even natives need clarification sometimes on what exactly the jawn being referred to is.
- In Greece many people use "ξέρω 'γω" which translates into "do I know?" and is apparently related to the English "y'know". There is also the word "μαλάκα" which translates to "wanker" but is used to same way as "dude" or "man". Usually males use this when they to talk to each other, but it's so popular that even girls use it.
- People from Brooklyn often call everybody "son", for example "I can't believe you would say that, son".
- Guyanese often say "na man" when they are asking someone something repeatedly. "Get de ting deh, na man." (get the thing there).
- In Chile, "sí po" and "no po" are more common than just a plain old "sí" or "no". "Po" doesn't really mean much of anything, but it's a shortened form of the more widespread Spanish word "pues", which also generally doesn't mean much of anything. In Santiago, there's a weekly party for study-abroad types and other similar foreigners which is called "Miércoles Po" ("miércoles" = "Wednesday") as a sort of play on this.[5]
- Czechs, particularly men, and particularly if they're from Bohemia, tend to use the word "vole" or "ty vole" the same way some Americans use "dude" — to address someone informally, to express some kind of emotion, to fill spaces between words, etc. This expression takes a little explaining, because it's the vocative form of the word "vůl" — which means "ox", so it's basically saying to someone "Hey, you ox". Originally this was an insult, but it's evolved.
- Oy-vey, I daresay it be Wednesday.
- It can be heard in many different areas, but there's a tendency for some to pronounce "sorry" as "sorey."
- In Austria, some people are prone to adding "ur" in front of adjectives, which basically translates to "really", meaning very. For example, ur alt = really/very old.
- They always add this word to the end of their sentences in Canada, eh?
- Some not-very-cultured Russians tend to use the word "бля" (blya, short for whore) as an interjection, like in "Я, бля, ну конкретно бля, этому бля, мудаку всю рожу бля разъебал нахуй бля." It sometimes reaches truly ridiculous levels, like in gopniks (Russian street thugs) who literally can't utter a sentence without saying it at least thrice.
- Some people on the Internet have a habit of doing this lol.
- John Carmack has an unique speech habit: He adds a "hmmm" to every sentence, at least when he was younger. This is mentioned in the book "Masters of Doom", telling the story of id Software and how they became one of the biggest names in the games industry.
- ↑ Japanese for tilde (~)
- ↑ May he live forever.
- ↑ [sic] no, that's not a typo; he's a separate character from Bowser. A giant bow, in fact
- ↑ What, never? Well, hardly ever.
- ↑ No points for guessing which day it's on.