I've been thinking about the "As you know, Bob" trope

[conuly]

It's never "As you know" or "As we all know" or anything else like that. It's always referred to as "As you know, Bob".

Are we supposed to think that Bob does not remember his own name? Does he need frequent reminders? Should we be concerned about Bob and his inability to remember things like his name, recent events, and how light switches work? And if that's the case - should we really be making fun of him like this?

Or maybe we should just be glad that Bob gets the support he needs. As you know, that's not always the way it shakes out.

Comments

[alexseanchai]

now curious if there's a specific trope namer. if there is, TV Tropes doesn't identify it; Jeannette Ng says it was popular in golden age SF, which doesn't really narrow it down much

[bibliofile]

My impression is that the Bob version of the phrase was adopted by SF fans as a retro motif, especially on the internet. Maybe on Usenet? And written AsyouknowBob. It wasn't always a thing lots of people said in, say, the 1980s, that I recall personally anyway.