# Pop Culture tropes that infuriate you. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 17, 2018, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-culture-tropes-that-infuriate-you/816269 "2018-06-17T17:13:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![tripthicket](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripthicket/32/297_2.png) [@tripthicket](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tripthicket)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2018, 8:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-culture-tropes-that-infuriate-you/816269/141 "2018-06-20T08:13:00Z")
This doesn’t really rise to the level of a trope, but it’s something that I noticed once and now it seems to pop up everywhere. Moreso in TV episodes than movies, but the amount of movies I watch (both time-wise and number-wise) is dwarfed by the TV episodes. Specifically, conversations that are opened with “I, uh (um)…I (rest of statement/conversation)” Is this writing shorthand or an acting affectation? **STOP IT** ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2018, 9:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-culture-tropes-that-infuriate-you/816269/142 "2018-06-20T09:13:13Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > My dad was a pilot. I’ve flown a bit, but I also picked up a lot growing up and talking with him over the years. I don’t know everything about flying, but I know more than lots of people whose dads weren’t pilots. And good for your family, but not every family or every person is good at transmitting that kind of information. I know a lot about reading legalese thanks to my Dad - but I didn’t pick it up over lunch, I picked it up by Dad saying “ok, now that you’ve got your first contract, we’ll read it together…” then making me pick out every other legal document mentioned in the contract, and making me get copies of them (which in turn involved walking me Socratic-style over where to do so) and then both of us reading those documents together. Ask my SiL what did her dad do. She knows he was a cop and that he was in the Underground Brigade for years, but at the time she happened to mention it, our family knew more about the UB than she did. She thought it was a funny name; we knew they actually do go underground (d’uh), mainly into the sewer systems and similar structures (“oooh! so that’s why my dad has those funny big rubber clothes!”), and that their creation was triggered by the murder of Carrero Blanco (the bomb which blew his car up and away was in a sewer). I’ve had coworkers who couldn’t explain what their spouses did beyond “she’s an office worker”. One right now knows what one of her children do, because he’s in her same field; for the other two, she knows the label but when someone asked her what field is the lawyer in she didn’t even know there’s more than one type of legal practice. ---
**Author:** ![amaguri](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/49beb7/32.png) [@amaguri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amaguri)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2018, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-culture-tropes-that-infuriate-you/816269/143 "2018-06-20T14:41:20Z")
> [@Eonwe](#): > > Fat people just go crazy when you take their food away! Har har har! > > I’m watching Brooklyn 99 right now, and find it pretty funny and clever, but the Scully and Hitchcock “fat guys who fight over food and eat scraps off the floor” shtick was dead on arrival. > > It’s practically a rule: if a comedy has an overweight character, they will inevitably do crazy and unrealistic things for food, because OMG fat people can’t resist the shittiest morsel, amirite!? How about the relatively hot/thin woman who is allegedly a food-obsessed glutton? Grace Adler on Will & Grace or even Tina Fey in 30 Rock, not a chance they could eat like that and still look like that. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2018, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-culture-tropes-that-infuriate-you/816269/144 "2018-06-20T14:52:05Z")
– This one seems to have died out, but for years, it seemed like every reference, on a TV show, to someone having breakfast had them eating Froot Loops. Never Cheerios or Frosted Flakes, never generic “corn flakes” or “cereal”, and never anything other than cereal. Always Froot Loops. Argh. – A woman is having a baby, and assuming she gets to the hospital (as opposed to giving birth in a stalled elevator or car stuck in traffic), **the entire cast** shows up, including peripheral characters who might not even have known she was pregnant. Especially egregious if people are running in and out of the delivery room without having scrubbed up. – High school student does something socially toxic, or is wrongly accused of having done so. As a result. **the entire school** shuns hir. IRL, there are bound to be some people who are on hir side, and others who simply don’t care either way. A particularly bad example was one story about a love triangle, two girls and a guy, and the guy and girl who ended up together were universally despised. Even though it was stated at the beginning that none of the three were super popular, and that the “losing” girl was rather abrasive, not the kind of person others were likely to rally around. ---
**Author:** ![Tzigone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Tzigone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tzigone)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2018, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-culture-tropes-that-infuriate-you/816269/145 "2018-06-20T15:09:52Z")
Here’s one I hate - the last scene doppelganger. Loathe it. Seen it in a couple kid/tween sci-fi movies, but also in action flicks (The One with Jet Li is one of them, as I recall). What happens is a guy/girl has a love interest and cannot be with him/her at the end of the movie. Love interest was a ghost who moved or got erased from the timeline or just someone who died. At the end of the movie, the actor appears as a different character and the main character is ready to pursue a romance with their lost lover’s doppelganger. People are not interchangeable. Not even identical twins of or versions of alternate versions of people from parallel universes. They have different experiences and memories and personalities and don’t have the same shared history with the main character, so why should I be happy about him/her being there? If it’s just the main character finding love again, it’d be a lot less creepy with a non-identical person. It’s just disturbing, like Job’s replacement kids. ---
**Author:** ![Jennshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Jennshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jennshark)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2018, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-culture-tropes-that-infuriate-you/816269/146 "2018-06-20T15:43:57Z")
> [@Riemann](#): > > In all the Law and Order series, whenever two cops show up to interview a witness at work, the interviewee always continues doing what they were doing (mechanic tinkers with car, restaurant worker wipes down tables, etc.) while talking to the cops. Makes me laugh every time it happens, and it happens _every single time_. Obviously it makes for better visuals, but when you think about it it’s just so silly. I’ve posted this same thing over my Dope tenure. If cops came to talk to me I’d immediately drop everything (and probably faint in terror). ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2018, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-culture-tropes-that-infuriate-you/816269/147 "2018-06-20T16:05:25Z")
> [@Jennshark](#): > > I’ve posted this same thing over my Dope tenure. If cops came to talk to me I’d immediately drop everything (and probably faint in terror). Heh, I’ve posted the same so “Me too!” “Sir, we need to ask you a few questions about where you were the night your boss was murdered…” “Huh, that sound important but not quite as important as painting this fence. Tell you what, I’ll give this fence 80% of my attention and your murder investigation in which I’m a person of interest 20%” ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2018, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-culture-tropes-that-infuriate-you/816269/148 "2018-06-20T17:36:19Z")
> [@Tzigone](#): > > Here’s one I hate - the last scene doppelganger. Loathe it. Seen it in a couple kid/tween sci-fi movies, but also in action flicks (The One with Jet Li is one of them, as I recall). > > What happens is a guy/girl has a love interest and cannot be with him/her at the end of the movie. Love interest was a ghost who moved or got erased from the timeline or just someone who died. At the end of the movie, the actor appears as a different character and the main character is ready to pursue a romance with their lost lover’s doppelganger. People are not interchangeable. Not even identical twins of or versions of alternate versions of people from parallel universes. They have different experiences and memories and personalities and don’t have the same shared history with the main character, so why should I be happy about him/her being there? If it’s just the main character finding love again, it’d be a lot less creepy with a non-identical person. > > It’s just disturbing, like Job’s replacement kids. The soap opera “All My Children” did this one time, sort of. They had a very popular couple, and the show had the female character murdered (I’m not sure if it was the actress’s decision to leave, or the show’s). Then they hired another actress to play a look-alike character who the male version of the supercouple was supposed to fall in love with. The problem was that the new actress was a HORRIBLE actress. They finally decided she wasn’t going to work, and they got rid of her and changed the story. ---
**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:** [June 20, 2018, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-culture-tropes-that-infuriate-you/816269/149 "2018-06-20T17:55:27Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > Heh, I’ve posted the same so “Me too!” > > “Sir, we need to ask you a few questions about where you were the night your boss was murdered…” > “Huh, that sound important but not quite as important as painting this fence. Tell you what, I’ll give this fence 80% of my attention and your murder investigation in which I’m a person of interest 20%” It’s a New York thing. Fuggedaboutit. ---
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2018, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-culture-tropes-that-infuriate-you/816269/150 "2018-06-20T18:09:25Z")
I saw a new trope the other day that I hope I never see again. The ballet teacher was teaching the kids a ballet move wrong. [Cough] Cloak and Dagger [/cough] ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2018, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-culture-tropes-that-infuriate-you/816269/151 "2018-06-20T18:33:01Z")
> [@The\_Peyote\_Coyote](#): > > World-class assassins who can’t shoot a rifle any better than I can. You can’t have the protagonist standing in the window and then get plugged between the eyes by an assassin. The assassin always has to miss the first shot, and then spray the house with automatic fire while the protagonist ducks behind the couch. Only secondary characters get the one shot-one kill trope. The other one that drives me crazy is the informant who can’t inform. OK, we’re in touch with Bob the Informant. But does Bob just say “It was Steve. He did that thing with the thing.”? Nope, he has to be all cryptic and shit. “This is deadly important. I have information that can blow this case wide open. Check the files on left-handed accountants who made phone calls that night. You’ll find something interesting.” Either that or “I’m going to tell you who did the thing. It was…” Ka-blammo, plugged right between the eyes by a world-class assassin. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2018, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-culture-tropes-that-infuriate-you/816269/152 "2018-06-20T18:39:22Z")
> [@furryman](#): > > I saw a new trope the other day that I hope I never see again. The ballet teacher was teaching the kids a ballet move wrong. [Cough] Cloak and Dagger [/cough] Something doesn’t become a trope until it’s repeated many times. So if you never see it again, it wasn’t a trope.😉 ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2018, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-culture-tropes-that-infuriate-you/816269/153 "2018-06-20T18:47:25Z")
Right, this is just “When characters do things I’m not familiar with, it seems OK. But when they do stuff I’m familiar with, it’s all wrong.” If you’re a paleontologist, the paleontology is all wrong. If you’re a soldier, the military details are all wrong. If you’re an airplane pilot, the flying is all wrong. If you’re a reporter, the reporting is all wrong. If you know anything about computers, the computer shit is all wrong. If you know anything about accounting, the accounting is all wrong. If you know anything about stamp collecting, the stamp collecting is all wrong. Fuck, they usually can’t even get details about show business correct. ---
**Author:** ![CaptMurdock](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/captmurdock/32/11736_2.png) [@CaptMurdock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaptMurdock)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2018, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-culture-tropes-that-infuriate-you/816269/154 "2018-06-20T21:10:56Z")
> [@DoctorJ](#): > > Oh, the bartender always explains that they’re just so busy and he can’t be expected to remember faces. Then he looks at the picture and remembers the name, date of birth, address, social security number, and mother’s maiden name. I remember an old TV show that tried to stand this one on its head: a bartender comes to court as a witness that the defendant was in his bar on the night of the murder. Prosecutor: Couldn’t it have been another night? Bartender: How many nights does my granddaughter have a birthday? Prosecutor: So you remember ONE GUY after all this time? Bartender: I remember the ONE GUY who gave me back ten dollars to put in the charity box I keep on the bar. NOBODY’s ever done that before. That makes me remember him. P: If your bar was busy, you may not have noticed what time he left. B: I leave at 11:00 PM on the dot to get the paper from the newstand every night. We both left together. > [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > The “turn on the radio or TV to the story that is just starting and is applicable to the situation” has been replaced by “goggle the most outlandish things and get the exact sight you need the first try.” > > I wish I had their search engines. That’s progress for you. > [@SmartAleq](#): > > Every goddamned time someone sheaths or unsheaths a sword or dagger or hunting knife it makes that metal on metal _ssshhhhhIIINNNG!_ noise. WTF would you have anything inside a sheath that’s gonna wreck your edge? So fucking annoying. Also people who stick their sword through some dude’s guts then sheath it all covered in blood. If you ever get the fucking thing OUT of that scabbard again you’re gonna be lucky, and then you’re gonna have to replace the scabbard because it’s gonna smell awful in a couple days. Have some respect for weapons, sheesh. I’ve heard literally hundreds of live steel swords come out of their scabbards and they make NO noise, and only a final “clack” when you put them away, if that. OMG, _Scream_ did this **constantly.** Every time the masked killer pulls out his hunting knife (from a sheath? His pocket? His ass?) you hear a SHIINGGG! :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Mapp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miss_mapp/32/369_2.png) [@Miss\_Mapp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Mapp)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2018, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-culture-tropes-that-infuriate-you/816269/155 "2018-06-20T21:57:46Z")
> [@CaptMurdock](#): > > I remember an old TV show that tried to stand this one on its head: a bartender comes to court as a witness that the defendant was in his bar on the night of the murder. > > Prosecutor: Couldn’t it have been another night? > Bartender: How many nights does my granddaughter have a birthday? > Prosecutor: So you remember ONE GUY after all this time? > Bartender: I remember the ONE GUY who gave me back ten dollars to put in the charity box I keep on the bar. NOBODY’s ever done that before. That makes me remember him. > P: If your bar was busy, you may not have noticed what time he left. > B: I leave at 11:00 PM on the dot to get the paper from the newstand every night. We both left together. That was an NBC Mystery Movie, the pilot for the Jim Hutton _Ellery Queen_ series. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2018, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-culture-tropes-that-infuriate-you/816269/156 "2018-06-20T22:25:33Z")
> [@Lemur866](#): > > If you’re a paleontologist, the paleontology is all wrong. If you’re a soldier, the military details are all wrong. If you’re an airplane pilot, the flying is all wrong. If you’re a reporter, the reporting is all wrong. If you know anything about computers, the computer shit is all wrong. If you know anything about accounting, the accounting is all wrong. If you know anything about stamp collecting, the stamp collecting is all wrong. I find it entertaining to try to identify the out-of-range birds calling in the background of movies. (Actually, it’s generally pretty easy, since there are few stock calls that everyone uses, like Laughing Kookaburra and Red-tailed Hawk.) One of the bird clubs used to have an annual feature on the greatest range extensions documented by a movie or TV show. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2018, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-culture-tropes-that-infuriate-you/816269/157 "2018-06-20T22:30:11Z")
> [@CaptMurdock](#): > > \ OMG, _Scream_ did this **constantly.** Every time the masked killer pulls out his hunting knife (from a sheath? His pocket? His ass?) you hear a SHIINGGG! :smack: I saw something recently where a guy picks up a battle axe off a wooden table and SHIINGGG! ---
**Author:** ![SmartAleq](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smartaleq/32/163_2.png) [@SmartAleq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmartAleq)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2018, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-culture-tropes-that-infuriate-you/816269/158 "2018-06-20T22:43:30Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > I saw something recently where a guy picks up a battle axe off a wooden table and SHIINGGG! I swear by all the gods past and present if I saw/heard this I would have an aneurysm right on the spot. **tears hair out** ---
**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:** [June 20, 2018, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-culture-tropes-that-infuriate-you/816269/159 "2018-06-20T23:19:05Z")
“But didn’t you serve five years for armed robbery?” “OBJECTION!” “Withdrawn.” [/takes a step back, holding up two palms] It’s cool, everybody; he made the gesture while cheerily saying the word. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2018, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-culture-tropes-that-infuriate-you/816269/160 "2018-06-20T23:29:34Z")
> [@Riemann](#): > > In all the Law and Order series, whenever two cops show up to interview a witness at work, the interviewee always continues doing what they were doing (mechanic tinkers with car, restaurant worker wipes down tables, etc.) while talking to the cops. Makes me laugh every time it happens, and it happens every single time. Obviously it makes for better visuals, but when you think about it it’s just so silly. What about when the cops show up to some nightclub or bar the suspect frequents? Like the dude has one bar that he is at so regularly it’s a reliable spot to pick him up? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-culture-tropes-that-infuriate-you/816269.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-culture-tropes-that-infuriate-you/816269.md?page=9)