Have you ever noticed?

[redbetta]

Has anyone else ever noticed how often villains in popular media say, “How quaint?” I read the word in a boo the other day and it instantly brought to mind villains even though it came from a protagonist in the book. The last time I heard that phrase, it was in the movie Maleficent coming from Maleficent. I can’t think of any other examples off the top of my head as I don’t indulge in fiction too often, but, I know I have heard that so many times. Now that I think of it, I wonder what other phrases or other cliches are staples in popular media. I’m wondering about small things, not archetypes like the underdog that gets the girl or the damsel in distress. It also seems to me that villains are more prone to these things than heros. I mean, I can’t count how many times I’ve seen a villain with a twisted beard or mustache, a menacing looking scar, or a mechanical limb. Eye-patches are also over-done.**

 

[Mintaka]

“How quaint!” is no longer “Ooh, that’s old-fashioned and cute!” It’s now usually shorthand in fiction for “I’m snooty.” And villains are often snooty.

But yeah, a brief Google search reveals that it seems to have gotten big in the last ten years or so.

 

[BartholomewB]

In any movie made in the last twenty years or so, if you see a character smoking, he or she is the villain.

 

[redbetta]

“How quaint!” is no longer “Ooh, that’s old-fashioned and cute!” It’s now usually shorthand in fiction for “I’m snooty.” And villains are often snooty.

But yeah, a brief Google search reveals that it seems to have gotten big in the last ten years or so.

Funny thing is, it has never occurred to me until yesterday when I encountered the word yet again to look up what it actually means. Given its usual context in contemporary fiction, I would have never have guessed that it really meant attractively unusual or old- fashioned.

 

[Exiled_Child]

Ron Weasley says something like, “How quaint” when he and Harry and Hermione walk into the Hog’s Head Inn in Order of the Phoenix and see a goat saunter past. Please have mercy Harry Potter fans, in case I mangled that quote. I’ve never read any of the books, but I’ve seen the films, and I thought they were extremely, extremely well done. I can definitely grok how Harry Potter is this generation’s Star Wars…