# 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:** 14
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2025, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-or-nearly-dead-tropes/1014797/261 "2025-02-28T22:17:28Z")
Like Homer pounding on the TV when Garrison Keiler is on: “ **BE MORE FUNNY!**** BE MORE FUNNY!**” ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2025, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-or-nearly-dead-tropes/1014797/262 "2025-02-28T22:37:45Z")
> [@Odesio](#): > > I think the problem here is there’s a disconnect between Hollywood plain and regular real life plain. I don’t think Adrian is really meant to be a beauty in Rocky, but she’s an actress, and many of them are beautiful in real life. FWIW I saw _Rocky_ before I saw _The Godfather_ and I was stunned at how beautiful Talia Shire looked. ---
**Author:** ![gkster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gkster/32/14107_2.png) [@gkster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gkster)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2025, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-or-nearly-dead-tropes/1014797/263 "2025-02-28T23:52:11Z")
I was telling my kids and nephews (all in their 20s) about the [Hot foot - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hot_foot) and how I’d seen it in cartoons and movies as a kid. They found it hard to believe that it was a thing. ---
**Author:** ![dirtball](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dirtball/32/18772_2.png) [@dirtball](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dirtball)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2025, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-or-nearly-dead-tropes/1014797/264 "2025-03-01T00:01:59Z")
Then there’s the one with the middle-aged men reminiscing about their college days and that one time they took the dean’s car apart and reassembled it in his office. ---
**Author:** ![vbob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/vbob/32/4439_2.png) [@vbob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vbob)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2025, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-or-nearly-dead-tropes/1014797/265 "2025-03-01T00:31:58Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > convinces them that these things actually happened back in the day. Neighboring cousins of mine inherited a large farmhouse, and ‘shared’ it for twenty years barely speaking, each keeping to their side of the staircase ascending to bedrooms upstairs. Their mothers were sisters who co-owned one of the tiny gingerbread cottages in Oak Bluffs on Martha’s Vineyard - no room for divided spaces in those buildings, but they had separate sugar bowls and salt shakers on the one small table, and woe to the the guest of one who used the condiments of the other… ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2025, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-or-nearly-dead-tropes/1014797/266 "2025-03-01T01:02:04Z")
> [@solost](#): > > A husband and wife (or sometimes roomies- it probably happened with the Odd Couple and Laverne and Shirley) have a falling-out, so they divide the house / apartment into two separate halves, with a big dividing line down the middle. Hilarity ensues. Herman and Grandpa Munster divided the house up over a falling-out. Lillian explained to Marilyn that they even divided up the family pet Spot (the fire-breathing dragon that lives under the stairs) “and Herman was furious that he got the half that eats”. I remember thinking that would have been preferable to the other half. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2025, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-or-nearly-dead-tropes/1014797/267 "2025-03-01T16:23:36Z")
> [@F.U.Shakespeare](#): > > “and Herman was furious that he got the half that eats”. > > I remember thinking that would have been preferable to the other half. I guess that depends on what the dragon likes to eat, how hungry it is, and how well you get along with it. Not to mention, I hear dragon breath can be unpleasant. It may come steaming out the back end, but the front end… 🔥 ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2025, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-or-nearly-dead-tropes/1014797/268 "2025-03-01T18:23:55Z")
> [@F.U.Shakespeare](#): > > FWIW I saw _Rocky_ before I saw _The Godfather_ and I was stunned at how beautiful Talia Shire looked. Uma Thurman and Janeane Garofalo starred in a movie called _The Truth About Cats and Dogs_ sometime in the late 1990s. In the movie, Garofalo, insecure about her looks, has her model friend played by Thurman meet someone in her stead. No shade on Thurman, but at the time I thought Garofalo was gorgeous and the premise of the movie just didn’t resonate with me. ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2025, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-or-nearly-dead-tropes/1014797/269 "2025-03-01T18:39:56Z")
> [@Odesio](#): > > Uma Thurman and Janeane Garofalo starred in a movie called _The Truth About Cats and Dogs_ sometime in the late 1990s. In the movie, Garofalo, insecure about her looks, has her model friend played by Thurman meet someone in her stead. No shade on Thurman, but at the time I thought Garofalo was gorgeous and the premise of the movie just didn’t resonate with me. Yeah, “Hollywood Ugly”. Tina Fey owes half of her career to it. I’ve wondered whether it’s designed to make guys feel less shallow. “I’m not shallow. I find the _ugly_ woman attractive”. I remember a _Drew Carey Show_ episode where they decided on an ad campaign for their local micro brew Buzz Beer using their pal Kate O’Brian (Krista Miller) as the spokesmodel, comparing her with model Rachel Hunter: “Buzz is the beer of _attainable_ women”. I thought Miller was much more attractive. ---
**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:** [March 1, 2025, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-or-nearly-dead-tropes/1014797/270 "2025-03-01T19:19:16Z")
> [@F.U.Shakespeare](#): > > “Buzz is the beer of _attainable_ women”. I thought Miller was much more attractive. In the same category is the supposedly “ugly, lazy, and talentless” Sweet Dee character in _Its Always Sunny in Philadelphia_ played by the drop dead gorgeous Kaitlin Olson. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2025, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-or-nearly-dead-tropes/1014797/271 "2025-03-02T02:02:12Z")
I adored the late Terri Garr when I was a teenager (still do, really). One of her first roles was a cute airline stewardess who met Al Mundy (Robert Wagner) on a flight in _ **It Takes A Thief** _. Al agreed to meet with her for a drink sometime, but he was really interested in pursuing the more “mature and sophisticated” (and “rich”) Dana Wynter. Nothing against the beautiful and talented Ms Wynter, but if I had to choose between the two women, I’d have gone after Terri like a shot. I was watching this episode with my mother, who (with the exception of Elizabeth Taylor) almost never complimented another woman about anything. She reproached me by saying Ms Wynter had “class” and called Terri a “thing.” (That was precisely the word she used.) By the way, the episode ended with both women offended because Al’s duties as a secret agent kept him from rendezvousing with either. In the final scene, Terri pushed him off a dock into the Mediterranean as she vented her frustration. (My mother also said “I bet she has skinny legs” after she met my high school girlfriend for the first time. She didn’t; her legs were as beautiful as the rest of her. My mother was a real piece of work!) ---
**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:** [March 2, 2025, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-or-nearly-dead-tropes/1014797/272 "2025-03-02T02:09:23Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > One of her first roles was a cute airline stewardess That reminds me of another trope that is probably entirely dead: a joke about a stewardess saying “Coffee, tea, or me?”. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2025, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-or-nearly-dead-tropes/1014797/273 "2025-03-02T02:11:15Z")
Terri would never have stooped so low! 🥰 ---
**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:** [March 2, 2025, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-or-nearly-dead-tropes/1014797/274 "2025-03-02T02:15:53Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > a joke about a stewardess saying “Coffee, tea, or me?”. That’s just a book title, isn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2025, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-or-nearly-dead-tropes/1014797/275 "2025-03-02T02:33:58Z")
My dad told me that jet planes had taken all romance out of air travel because now there’s never any time to flirt with the, uh, “flight attendants.” 🙁 ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2025, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-or-nearly-dead-tropes/1014797/276 "2025-03-02T21:24:45Z")
Hot debutantes enrolling in college or going on an ocean cruise to snare a man. I’m watching _ **Carry on Cruising** _ (1962) at the moment, and the main plot is the latter. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2025, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-or-nearly-dead-tropes/1014797/277 "2025-03-02T22:25:07Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Hot debutantes enrolling in college … to snare a man. The old MRS degree. ---
**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:** [March 3, 2025, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-or-nearly-dead-tropes/1014797/278 "2025-03-03T03:09:57Z")
Rayon was called “mother-in-law silk” because it caught fire so easily Equally a disparagement of both mothers-in-law and the burgeoning synthetic fabric industry. Everything women were obliged by convention to wear had that hazard. Oscar Wilde’s two half-sisters (equal to one full sister?) were killed when an unscreened fireplace ignited their crinoline. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2025, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-or-nearly-dead-tropes/1014797/279 "2025-03-03T04:24:28Z")
Are you sure you aren’t conflating rayon with celluloid? Celluloid is nitrated, making it VERY flammable; while rayon iirc is basically heavily reprocessed cellulose. ETA: from what I can research online, the main problem was the airy puffy design of crinolines, not necessarily what they were made of. ---
**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:** [March 3, 2025, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-or-nearly-dead-tropes/1014797/280 "2025-03-03T04:59:33Z")
Maybe I am. Wasn’t Rayon originally called “Duparu” by DuPont? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-or-nearly-dead-tropes/1014797.md?page=13) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-or-nearly-dead-tropes/1014797.md?page=15)