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terminology - Is there a term for the science fiction trope where a character lists two historical things and a future thing?



In Babylon 5, for example, a character lists famous bombings like "Hiroshima, Dresden, San Diego" with the first items in the list being real and the last being fictional. This dialog technique of casually tying the past into a fictional future seems to be common in franchises with world-building like Star Trek.


Is there a name for the trope where a character specifically lists two real, historical items and then a third fictional one? That always seems to be the pattern.



Answer



TV Tropes calls it "Famous, Famous, Fictional." The trope description does not cite any other name, which means there almost certainly is not another commonly used term for it. (The trope descriptions are generally quite good about citing more traditional terminology for such things.)


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