# 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:** 2
**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, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-or-nearly-dead-tropes/1014797/21 "2025-02-26T00:46:53Z")
Foreign oddities: Arabs offering sheep eyeballs in a bed of yogurt Indians offering peace pipes stuffed with horrible contents Eskimos offering their wives Refusal invites death ---
**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:** [February 26, 2025, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-or-nearly-dead-tropes/1014797/22 "2025-02-26T00:46:56Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > “We’re not legally married!” How about a nice gentile couple rushing to get married and all they can find is a rabbi to officiate? I haven’t seen that since one of the Lethal Weapon movies. ---
**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, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-or-nearly-dead-tropes/1014797/23 "2025-02-26T00:56:06Z")
A dog running out of a butcher shop, trailing a string of frankfurters “I’ll just give him a piece of my mind!” -cut to him with a steak on his black eye Bankruptcy = [![](https://shrink4men.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/man-wearing-barrel-and-suspenders-after-divorce1.jpg) ](https://shrink4men.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/man-wearing-barrel-and-suspenders-after-divorce1.jpg) ---
**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, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-or-nearly-dead-tropes/1014797/24 "2025-02-26T00:58:09Z")
> [@Crafter\_Man](#): > > A newly-hired house cleaner or maid who says, “I don’t do windows.” Middle-class families having maids at all. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2025, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-or-nearly-dead-tropes/1014797/25 "2025-02-26T01:02:55Z")
> [@Lucas\_Jackson](#): > > Quicksand And we are the lesser for it. ☹ > [@Crafter\_Man](#): > > Slipping on a banana peel. Rubber chickens being funny. ---
**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, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-or-nearly-dead-tropes/1014797/26 "2025-02-26T01:09:16Z")
You don’t see the old pie in the face gag much anymore, either. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2025, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-or-nearly-dead-tropes/1014797/27 "2025-02-26T01:15:06Z")
Why, this elevator is stuck between floors! And that woman is going into labor! ---
**Author:** ![Ponderoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponderoid/32/19221_2.png) [@Ponderoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponderoid)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2025, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-or-nearly-dead-tropes/1014797/28 "2025-02-26T01:24:54Z")
> [@Crafter\_Man](#): > > Slipping on a banana peel. I know the reason for that one. The [most used cultivar of bananas today](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cavendish_banana) has a peel nowhere near as slippery as the [one in wide use](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gros_Michel) when the trope first originated. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2025, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-or-nearly-dead-tropes/1014797/29 "2025-02-26T01:25:55Z")
> [@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. The DTs still happen- sadly. > [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > Old TV seemed to rely pretty heavily on fistfights (or similar physical unarmed combat) to provide its action climaxes. The still do. Just a little bit ago, they replaced all the 'real" super powers on _Legends of Tomorrow…_ Walker Texas Ranger, Cobra Kai, etc altho Martial arts is now bigger than Boxing. There’s often at least one fight on NCIS and other cop shows. Car chases have declined on TV. _Three’s company_ wouldnt work today. ---
**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, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-or-nearly-dead-tropes/1014797/30 "2025-02-26T01:47:26Z")
Lots of school stuff: Kids running from the “truancy officer,” and adults threatening to send a bad child to “Reform School.” A child having to write an apology over and over on the blackboard. Giving the teacher an apple. Dunking a girl’s hair in ink. ---
**Author:** ![Zyada](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zyada/32/3028_2.png) [@Zyada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zyada)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2025, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-or-nearly-dead-tropes/1014797/31 "2025-02-26T01:52:11Z")
> [@Crafter\_Man](#): > > Giving the teacher an apple. My aunt was a teacher. Mom(her sister) gave her some sort of decorative apple every Christmas > [@Crafter\_Man](#): > > Dunking a girl’s hair in ink. Went the way of inkwells… ---
**Author:** ![Aspenglow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspenglow/32/76_2.png) [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2025, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-or-nearly-dead-tropes/1014797/32 "2025-02-26T01:53:34Z")
Men ordering food for their dates without consulting them first. Good riddance to this one. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2025, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-or-nearly-dead-tropes/1014797/33 "2025-02-26T02:13:01Z")
I feel I’ve still seen “Man joins the military because it was either that or prison” in movies to this day despite that not really being a thing at all since the 1970s. Also people getting stuck in walk-in freezers was a sitcom staple but now I can only remember it last being seen in the 00s. ---
**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, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-or-nearly-dead-tropes/1014797/34 "2025-02-26T02:13:26Z")
> [@needscoffee](#): > > Rubber chickens being funny. Svengoolie and his fans would disagree. ---
**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, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-or-nearly-dead-tropes/1014797/35 "2025-02-26T02:14:13Z")
> [@Crafter\_Man](#): > > A child having to write an apology over and over on the blackboard. Or having to wear a dunce cap. ---
**Author:** ![rippingtons\_fan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rippingtons_fan/32/11767_2.png) [@rippingtons\_fan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rippingtons_fan)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2025, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-or-nearly-dead-tropes/1014797/36 "2025-02-26T02:25:56Z")
How about “reverse the polarity”. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2025, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-or-nearly-dead-tropes/1014797/37 "2025-02-26T02:35:32Z")
> [@Ponderoid](#): > > The [most used cultivar of bananas today](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cavendish_banana) has a peel nowhere near as slippery as the [one in wide use](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gros_Michel) when the trope first originated. I always assumed people slipped on the peel with the outer peel up, inside down. ---
**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:** [February 26, 2025, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-or-nearly-dead-tropes/1014797/38 "2025-02-26T03:08:17Z")
> [@Slithy\_Tove](#): > > > [@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 Although acute alcoholic psychosis is known in the medical literature, it’s far more common for hallucinations to be a result of alcoholic **withdrawal** , _delirium tremens_. I wonder if the trope of hallucinating while drunk dates from a time in which poisonously bad “hooch” was a thing, a holdover from Prohibition. > [@Asuka](#): > > Also people getting stuck in walk-in freezers was a sitcom staple but now I can only remember it last being seen in the 00s. It was done seriously on a 2011 episode of Castle, in which a killer trapped Castle and Beckett in a freezer and they were facing the real prospect of death. ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2025, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-or-nearly-dead-tropes/1014797/39 "2025-02-26T03:17:08Z")
> [@Slithy\_Tove](#): > > Head trauma causing amnesia (or the assumption of a new personality), a second head trauma restoring the subject back to normal There’s a more general head injury trope. Whereby a character receives a head injury, they are momentarily stunned (see stars or circling tweety birds) but then continue on their way without any untoward effects or seeking medical attention. This still comes up occasionally in the recently made cartoons my kids watch, but I think will be viewed as negatively as things like smoking before long. ---
**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:** [February 26, 2025, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-or-nearly-dead-tropes/1014797/40 "2025-02-26T03:19:09Z")
Another dead trope: although people can still be depicted as clueless, moronic or jerkasses, it’s no longer appropriate to make fun of people with true intellectual disability. The Warner cartoons featuring Pete Puma with his slurred speech would not fly today. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-or-nearly-dead-tropes/1014797.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-or-nearly-dead-tropes/1014797.md?page=3)