# Retired tropes of yesteryear **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 23, 2022, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retired-tropes-of-yesteryear/963324 "2022-04-23T18:11:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2022, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retired-tropes-of-yesteryear/963324/41 "2022-04-25T16:51:27Z")
> [@WildaBeast](#): > > Inevitably, they end up ordering escargot. Speaking of escargot, I feel like for a long time there was a specific “weird food” joke that was meant to A) show the character who eats it being out of touch and B) gross the other characters out. Escargot was one, sushi was the other (think the lunch scene in Breakfast Club). No one really does that anymore, and if they do, they flip the joke to make fun of the person who doesn’t like the food, like Michael being grossed out by samosas on the Office. ---
**Author:** ![Crane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crane/32/3495_2.png) [@Crane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crane)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2022, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retired-tropes-of-yesteryear/963324/42 "2022-04-25T16:58:59Z")
Then there’s the guy who pulls the table cloth out from under the table setting. ---
**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:** [April 25, 2022, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retired-tropes-of-yesteryear/963324/43 "2022-04-25T17:09:38Z")
> [@AlsoNamedBort](#): > > I feel like for a long time there was a specific “weird food” joke that was meant to A) show the character who eats it being out of touch and B) gross the other characters out. On _Brooklyn 99_ Detective Boyle was a hardcore foodie who was obsessed with weird foreign foods, who just couldn’t understand why his coworkers didn’t appreciate the Afghani goat stew he brought for them (Or whatever food it might be in a particular episode). And the other characters were often grossed out by his food choices. But it wasn’t one specific food; it was always something different in every episode. Boyle was probably meant to be someone who was a huge fan Anthony Bourdain’s _No Reservations_ and similar shows and embraced the idea of exploring other cultures through their food. That might be the closest we have today to the “weird food” joke. ---
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2022, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retired-tropes-of-yesteryear/963324/44 "2022-04-25T17:35:15Z")
Oh that brings me back, theres also the sister plotline where a character and friends go to a fancy restaurant, order a bunch of expensive food, and then when it’s time to pay the bill either the character has forgotten their wallet, or their intended method of payment gets denied (either they knew someone on the inside who said they would comp them, or they had a coupon that expired). So in order to pay for all the food the restaurant FORCES them to all work in the kitchen for the rest of the night. Those were both all over sitcoms but I haven’t seen them since the late 90s where there was an episode of Hey Arnold! that featured both scenarios in the same episode. ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2022, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retired-tropes-of-yesteryear/963324/45 "2022-04-25T17:37:05Z")
> [@Asuka](#): > > I haven’t seen them since the late 90s where there was an episode of Hey Arnold! that featured both scenarios in the same episode. I feel like a lot of the “retired” tropes still get used in kid shows, because the kids don’t know about tropes yet and they’ve got a million episodes to churn out. ---
**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:** [April 25, 2022, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retired-tropes-of-yesteryear/963324/46 "2022-04-25T18:28:28Z")
> [@solost](#): > > Another one that was used very often in old TV dramas-- a main character is in an accident and loses the ability to walk. At one point the person seems like they will succumb to sheer despair. But, through hard work and sheer determination, they finally regain the ability to walk! Usually within a single episode. It was a subplot of _Downton Abbey,_ though it took a season or two to fix it. ---
**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:** [April 25, 2022, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retired-tropes-of-yesteryear/963324/47 "2022-04-25T18:29:37Z")
> [@Asuka](#): > > So in order to pay for all the food the restaurant FORCES them to all work in the kitchen for the rest of the night. By having them wash dishes. Which probably can’t be done these days due to health regulations. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2022, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retired-tropes-of-yesteryear/963324/48 "2022-04-25T19:10:19Z")
Then there’s the **Man who Came to Dinner** plot, based on the Kaufman-Hart play (and later movie) of the same name ( [The Man Who Came to Dinner - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Man_Who_Came_to_Dinner) ) And the “You Saved my Life, now I’m your Slave Forever” plot, in which Our Hero tries to get rid of his unwanted admirer. Haven’t seen those in a long time, thank Og. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2022, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retired-tropes-of-yesteryear/963324/49 "2022-04-25T19:30:38Z")
> [@solost](#): > > > [@Crane](#): > > > > And Hank Schrader in Breaking Bad. > > Oh right, I completely forgot about that. Maybe I blocked it out of my memory because it was disappointing, an unfortunate old standard trope on a show that was normally great at avoiding or subverting tropes. How so? Hank’s recovery was a long, tedious, painful ordeal with lots of physical therapy. He was never paralyzed and it wasn’t something that he recovered from quickly. It took half of season 3 and basically all of season 4. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2022, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retired-tropes-of-yesteryear/963324/50 "2022-04-25T19:32:25Z")
> [@Cardigan](#): > > How about the trope where male and female family members decide to reverse household roles, so the females end up doing all the repairs and the males end up cooking and cleaning (usually with disastrous results). > [@JohnnyEcks](#): > > Bubbles. Sitcoms used to have a standard episode where someone uses too much soap and the house fills with suds Both used in Mr. Mom. A movie I enjoy, except boy they played up the stereotype. Mrs. Mom gets a job and becomes a successful ad, er, man, but a college educated engineer, who probably did his own laundry in college, can’t even run a load through without flooding the house. “Read the directions? Pshaw!” Leave it to Beeaver had a great one of that, where Beaver and one of his friends create a sudsy mess, but clean it up leaving no trace. June knows something happened, because the place is _too_ clean, but Ward says let it be. Whatever they did, they fixed it, and they should be left alone. ’ I liked that. > [@WildaBeast](#): > > Inevitably, they end up ordering escargot. Isn’t “escargot” the same in English as well as French? ---
**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:** [April 25, 2022, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retired-tropes-of-yesteryear/963324/51 "2022-04-25T19:36:46Z")
> [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#): > > How so? Hank’s recovery was a long, tedious, painful ordeal with lots of physical therapy. He was never paralyzed and it wasn’t something that he recovered from quickly. It took half of season 3 and basically all of season 4. OK, honestly, I remember that Hank was injured to the point he couldn’t walk but I don’t remember the details of the injury and recovery. ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2022, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retired-tropes-of-yesteryear/963324/52 "2022-04-25T19:45:34Z")
> [@Pork\_Rind](#): > > God help me, as I occasionally fall into the abyss that is TikTok. One of the more popular audio memes that gets used is the record scratch effect followed by the, “ Yep, that’s me. You’re probably wondering how I got into this situation…”. Which everyone adamantly believes they have a crystal clear memory of the 80s/90s tv show/movie this came from yet to date, nobody has managed to find any extant examples of. It’s one of my favorite movie quote Mandela Effects alongside “What does it do?” "Do? It doesn’t DO anything. That’s the beauty of it.” which also has no attributable source. ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2022, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retired-tropes-of-yesteryear/963324/53 "2022-04-25T20:00:29Z")
> [@Shalmanese](#): > > Which everyone adamantly believes they have a crystal clear memory of the 80s/90s tv show/movie this came from yet to date, nobody has managed to find any extant examples of. “Angels Revenge” (AKA “Angels Brigade”) did this in 1979. Without the record scratch, just a freeze frame. ---
**Author:** ![anny\_m](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@anny\_m](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anny_m)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2022, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retired-tropes-of-yesteryear/963324/54 "2022-04-25T20:01:52Z")
One of the 2019 Academy Award nominated Short Live Action films included quicksand. It was called Fauve and was not at all a comedy. ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2022, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retired-tropes-of-yesteryear/963324/55 "2022-04-25T20:01:58Z")
It’s not that “escargot” is the same in English as in French exactly. It’s that it is one of a very few dishes where even the English description will use the French ( or other language) word. For example, a menu description might read > ESCARGOT BOURGUIGNONNE > Escargots, Garlic Herb Butter never using the word “snail”, while the same menu also has > COQUILLES ST. JACQUES PROVENCAL > Seared Scallops, Eggplant, Tomato, Pine Nuts, Olive Oil and > \*CARRE D´AGNEAU ROTIS > Roast Rack of Lamb, Artichokes, Blistered Tomatoes, Zucchini, > Green Olive Sauce using the English words “scallops” and “lamb” in the description. But if you don’t speak French and aren’t into French food, you very possibly wouldn’t know what “escargot” is. ---
**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:** [April 25, 2022, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retired-tropes-of-yesteryear/963324/56 "2022-04-25T20:03:21Z")
If the characters are eating at an Italian restaurant, the “weird food” is inevitably octopus (which is delicious, BTW). In the show I’m watching right now, it’s eels (which really are ghastly). ---
**Author:** ![BrickBat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac91a4/32.png) [@BrickBat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrickBat)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2022, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retired-tropes-of-yesteryear/963324/57 "2022-04-25T20:11:04Z")
> [@JohnnyEcks](#): > > Bubbles. Sitcoms used to have a standard episode where someone uses too much soap and the house fills with suds. Yeah, that one sure was popular. Clueless protagonist asks his friend, “_How much detergent do we use?_”. Friend answers: “_Well, they’re pretty dirty…better use the whole box._” That trope’s relative is the one where dunce husband wonders how much rice to out in the pot. “_Well, we’re having company over…I better use the whole box_” followed by startled dismay to the rice avalanche that ensues. ---
**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:** [April 25, 2022, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retired-tropes-of-yesteryear/963324/58 "2022-04-25T20:28:39Z")
> [@JohnnyEcks](#): > > Bubbles. Sitcoms used to have a standard episode where someone uses too much soap and the house fills with suds. I’ve never done it myself, but I’m told this is what happens when someone uses something like Dawn dishwashing liquid in a dishwasher, rather than the correct dishwasher detergent. Well, not the whole house, but the whole dishwasher fills with suds. It seems plausible some people did that back when dishwashers were less common; someone doesn’t read the instructions and just dumps some of the same soap they use for handwashing dishes into the dishwasher. ---
**Author:** ![Wallaby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/dc4da7/32.png) [@Wallaby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallaby)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2022, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retired-tropes-of-yesteryear/963324/59 "2022-04-25T20:34:33Z")
How about the ‘misheard’ conversation. eg: Mum & Dad are having a discussion about the old washing machine ‘I just don’t know if I want it around the house any more’ - ‘maybe we could go somewhere and organise a trade-in’ - ‘Let’s just get a new one’ etc. Junior (in next room) thinks the discussion is about him/her and runs away (for half-an hour, less ads). Other options for confusion are: Cooking instructions = dating instructions (teen sit-coms). Misfortunes of local sports team = Dad’s getting fired and needs new job. Mum’s phone conversation about new hairstyle = divorce. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2022, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retired-tropes-of-yesteryear/963324/60 "2022-04-25T20:39:59Z")
> [@doreen](#): > > But if you don’t speak French and aren’t into French food, you very possibly wouldn’t know what “escargot” is. You’d have to be a real jerk not to know what escargot is. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/jP51U_QBx48/maxresdefault.jpg "The Jerk Resturant Scene") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jP51U_QBx48) “Look at that S car go!” [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/9B3TN2rEckQ/maxresdefault.jpg "Trading Places (6/10) Movie CLIP - The S-Car Go (1983) HD") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9B3TN2rEckQ) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retired-tropes-of-yesteryear/963324.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retired-tropes-of-yesteryear/963324.md?page=4)