# Dead or nearly dead tropes? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 25, 2025, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-or-nearly-dead-tropes/1014797 "2025-02-25T23:14:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2025, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-or-nearly-dead-tropes/1014797/1 "2025-02-25T23:14:47Z")
I’ve been binging a lot of older TV series lately, and occasionally notice tropes/memes/gags that used to turn up pretty regularly and familiarly in decades past that seem to have nearly or completely died out today. A few off the top of my head include: - Swimmers drowning after “going down for 3rd time”. - An ostrich burying it’s head in the ground. - Someone cautioning that noise will cause their cooking souffle to collapse. - Taking about/showing “blowing in someone’s ear” as a form of flirting/making out. Other examples? I’m looking for things that can _not_ be explained to have disappeared because of technology changes. For example, it makes perfect sense that people no longer mention “the rabbit dying” because it has been a long time since rabbits have been used in pregnancy tests. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2025, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-or-nearly-dead-tropes/1014797/2 "2025-02-25T23:33:26Z")
The boss is coming over for dinner tonight! An old army buddy of mine is coming to visit. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2025, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-or-nearly-dead-tropes/1014797/3 "2025-02-25T23:35:29Z")
Head trauma causing amnesia (or the assumption of a new personality), a second head trauma restoring the subject back to normal Housewives stuck with their arms down the sink all day until the husbands return home from work because they dropped their wedding rings down the drain Housewives beating drunken husbands with rolling pins, or smashing the dishes. Mother in law jokes ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2025, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-or-nearly-dead-tropes/1014797/4 "2025-02-25T23:43:44Z")
Old TV seemed to rely pretty heavily on fistfights (or similar physical unarmed combat) to provide its action climaxes. (Think, for example, of the 1960s _Batman_, with its onscreen comic-book “sound effects”: POW! BAM!) I don’t know how long ago that died out, but it’s been awhile. ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2025, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-or-nearly-dead-tropes/1014797/5 "2025-02-25T23:53:51Z")
A woman being hysterical and a man slapping her out of it. Quicksand Girls (or guys) with glasses shorthand for nerd > [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > For example, it makes perfect sense that people no longer mention “the rabbit dying” because it has been a long time since rabbits have been used in pregnancy tests. African clawed frog just doesn’t have the same ring to it, does it? ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2025, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-or-nearly-dead-tropes/1014797/6 "2025-02-25T23:54:04Z")
Thought of another one: drunk person having odd hallucinations or seeing something real that is odd and thinking that it is an alcohol-induced hallucination. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2025, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-or-nearly-dead-tropes/1014797/7 "2025-02-25T23:58:50Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > Old TV seemed to rely pretty heavily on fistfights (or similar physical unarmed combat) to provide its action climaxes. (Think, for example, of the 1960s _Batman_, with its onscreen comic-book “sound effects”: POW! BAM!) I don’t know how long ago that died out, but it’s been awhile. I don’t know… have you seen _Reacher_? Unarmed combat is alive and well, at least in “genre” (action, crime, superhero, SF) shows. ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2025, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-or-nearly-dead-tropes/1014797/8 "2025-02-26T00:00:17Z")
I think in general the lovable comedic town drunk character is pretty much dead. Even Barney on The Simpsons is apparently sober now. Another old trope you don’t see anymore: Character gets invited to dinner at a fancy restaurant and the entire menu is in French. He can’t read French but is embarrassed to admit it, so he just orders by pointing to a random menu item (which usually turns out to be escargot). I think this trope declined as French food itself fell out of fashion at fine dining restaurants. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2025, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-or-nearly-dead-tropes/1014797/9 "2025-02-26T00:01:20Z")
Young children having to be told to wash behind their ears. Asking someone who’s spending a long time in the bathroom “Did you fall in?” ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2025, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-or-nearly-dead-tropes/1014797/10 "2025-02-26T00:04:57Z")
“We’re not legally married!” ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2025, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-or-nearly-dead-tropes/1014797/11 "2025-02-26T00:05:16Z")
Summoning the waiter at a restaurant by shouting “WAITER!” ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2025, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-or-nearly-dead-tropes/1014797/12 "2025-02-26T00:10:52Z")
> [@WildaBeast](#): > > Another old trope you don’t see anymore: Character gets invited to dinner at a fancy restaurant and the entire menu is in French. He can’t read French but is embarrassed to admit it, so he just orders by pointing to a random menu item (which usually turns out to be escargot). I think this trope declined as French food itself fell out of fashion at fine dining restaurants. That reminds me of plots involving the horror of being presented with weird foreign foods. Like sushi. ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2025, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-or-nearly-dead-tropes/1014797/13 "2025-02-26T00:18:59Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > Old TV seemed to rely pretty heavily on fistfights (or similar physical unarmed combat) to provide its action climaxes. And perhaps a subcategory of this one, the man defending his date by punching the guy who’s harassing her. The woman, of course, is impressed by this. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2025, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-or-nearly-dead-tropes/1014797/14 "2025-02-26T00:20:06Z")
Male character shows up wearing too-tight pants… “I didn’t know he was Jewish!” ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2025, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-or-nearly-dead-tropes/1014797/15 "2025-02-26T00:26:43Z")
> [@hogarth](#): > > An old army buddy of mine is coming to visit. Yeah, in the 50s and 60s (snd eve the 70s) characters who were veterans were common, and so you had to describe actual characteristics of these folks (other than just _veteran_) so you could distinguish Barney Fife, from Jim Anderson, Archie Bunker, Felix Unger, Rob Petrie, and Captain Peacock. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2025, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-or-nearly-dead-tropes/1014797/16 "2025-02-26T00:29:45Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > Thought of another one: drunk person having odd hallucinations or seeing something real that is odd and thinking that it is an alcohol-induced hallucination. There was an oddly specific trope for this [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/jcZUPDMXzJ8/maxresdefault.jpg "Dumbo Pink Elephants on Parade HD") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jcZUPDMXzJ8) ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2025, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-or-nearly-dead-tropes/1014797/17 "2025-02-26T00:32:01Z")
I have to be two places at once (perhaps two dates)…luckily they are in the same restaurant or adjoining rooms. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2025, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-or-nearly-dead-tropes/1014797/18 "2025-02-26T00:36:37Z")
A man (usually Tony Curtis) dating two women. Oh no! They’re both stewardesses, nurses, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2025, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-or-nearly-dead-tropes/1014797/19 "2025-02-26T00:39:28Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > I have to be two places at once (perhaps two dates)…luckily they are in the same restaurant or adjoining rooms. Malcolm on _Malcolm in the Middle_, finding himself in that situation: “This is just like that episode of…well, everything.” ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2025, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-or-nearly-dead-tropes/1014797/20 "2025-02-26T00:45:33Z")
Slipping on a banana peel. A newly-hired house cleaner or maid who says, “I don’t do windows.” Hypnotizing someone with a swinging watch/pendulum. Indian (Native American) holding up his hand and saying, “How.” At at fancy restaurant, a woman going to the “powder room” to “freshen up.” Man giving out cigars after his wife gives birth. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-or-nearly-dead-tropes/1014797.md?page=2)