# 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:** 4
**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, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retired-tropes-of-yesteryear/963324/61 "2022-04-25T23:33:12Z")
I saw this on _ **Dick van Dyke** _ this afternoon. Rob overheard Laura planning a surprise birthday party for him and thought she was having an affair. Hilarity ensued. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2022, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retired-tropes-of-yesteryear/963324/62 "2022-04-26T00:18:16Z")
> [@Love\_Rhombus](#): > > > [@snowthx](#): > > > > Men standing up when a woman enters the room. > > Men pulling out a chair for a lady. (Except in old-timey shows of course). I dunno… can we really say that merely depicting a common everyday conduct is “a trope”, unless it’s something that actually has relevance to the story? So “person X is unreachable until they get to the office or back home” and therefore things happen he could have prevented, is a trope that goes extinct due to cellular phones; but standing for a lady, or going to the ballgame in a suit and fedora hat, was just a depiction of the world as was. ---
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2022, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retired-tropes-of-yesteryear/963324/63 "2022-04-26T00:38:11Z")
Somebody ordering a delivery pizza and accidentally getting one with anchovies. Maybe it was far more common in the 1980s but Dominos and Pizza Hut have never had anchovies for as long as I’ve visited them. ---
**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:** [April 26, 2022, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retired-tropes-of-yesteryear/963324/64 "2022-04-26T00:42:56Z")
> [@Asuka](#): > > Somebody ordering a delivery pizza and accidentally getting one with anchovies. Or, while ordering, they specify “no anchovies.” ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2022, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retired-tropes-of-yesteryear/963324/65 "2022-04-26T00:53:31Z")
The smoking cigarettes in bed to indicate the characters just had sex. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2022, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retired-tropes-of-yesteryear/963324/66 "2022-04-26T01:19:57Z")
> [@WildaBeast](#): > > One I don’t think I’ve seen since I was a kid is the one where the characters go to a fancy restaurant, and discover the menu is written entirely in French. One character is too embarrassed to admit they can’t read French, so they just point to a random item on the menu… There was a jokes thread here where someone remembered one of my favorite cartoons: A snooty waiter is whipping off the lid to a fancy tray and announces, “It’s a fried telephone book! We gave it a fancy French name and you ordered 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:** [April 26, 2022, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retired-tropes-of-yesteryear/963324/67 "2022-04-26T01:23:10Z")
Married couples sleeping in double beds. Does anybody really believe that Rob Petrie didn’t bang Laura as soon as Ritchie was in bed? 🤨 ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2022, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retired-tropes-of-yesteryear/963324/68 "2022-04-26T01:26:36Z")
One that you still see for now but I’m sure is on its way out (given the focus on concussion, traumatic brain injury, etc.) is the comedy “knocked out” cartoon routine. Where a character gets hit on the head, is momentarily knocked out and gets up with birds singing around their head (or some similar comedy device) and then continues on like nothing has happened. Its not a just a thing from old Hanna Barbera cartoons, I’ve seen it in recently made cartoons my kid watches. I’m a bit “err that doesn’t seem like something we should be teaching kids about handling head injuries” ---
**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 26, 2022, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retired-tropes-of-yesteryear/963324/69 "2022-04-26T01:33:21Z")
From the episodes of _ **Bonanza** _ I’ve been watching, it seems someone is whacked over the head with a pistol butt at least once every day. Either that or there’s a fistfight with bone-crunching blows to the face that would snap a man’s neck IRL. ---
**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 26, 2022, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retired-tropes-of-yesteryear/963324/70 "2022-04-26T02:04:01Z")
> [@Shalmanese](#): > > 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. Yes, it does: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/tWlMNltHIYI/hqdefault.jpg "itdoesntdoanything") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWlMNltHIYI&t=2s) From _Burke’s Law_ ---
**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 26, 2022, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retired-tropes-of-yesteryear/963324/71 "2022-04-26T02:08:06Z")
Twin, not double. ---
**Author:** ![Peanuthead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peanuthead/32/360_2.png) [@Peanuthead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peanuthead)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2022, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retired-tropes-of-yesteryear/963324/72 "2022-04-26T02:28:22Z")
Husbands spanking their wives. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2022, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retired-tropes-of-yesteryear/963324/73 "2022-04-26T03:07:39Z")
Oh my god! That bowling ball ! It’s my WIFE ! ---
**Author:** ![Pork\_Rind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pork_rind/32/111_2.png) [@Pork\_Rind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pork_Rind)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2022, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retired-tropes-of-yesteryear/963324/74 "2022-04-26T03:24:26Z")
I am 100% jealous of you for getting to post that before me. ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2022, 7:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retired-tropes-of-yesteryear/963324/75 "2022-04-26T07:44:48Z")
> [@WildaBeast](#): > > . . .I’m told this is what happens when someone uses something like Dawn dishwashing liquid in a dishwasher. . . Someone did this once at a place where I worked. They had to run the dishwasher several times while empty before it stopped filling up with suds. It was in the 1990s (I don’t remember exactly when), and just about every household had a dishwasher by then. So this sitcom trope happened in real life at least once. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2022, 7:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retired-tropes-of-yesteryear/963324/76 "2022-04-26T07:52:14Z")
I can confirm this, I did it once myself. About 25 years ago, I was in a hospital, and every week one patient was picked for kitchen service for the station’s coffee kitchen. Part of the service was filling and running the dishwasher. When it was my turn, never having owned or operated a dishwasher, I put in regular dish soap, and within a few minutes the not very big kitchen was half-filled with suds. I was very embarrassed and had to clean the kitchen to boot. The staff consoled me by telling me that I hadn’t been the first one to let that happen. ---
**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 26, 2022, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retired-tropes-of-yesteryear/963324/77 "2022-04-26T12:40:09Z")
> [@Shalmanese](#): > > > [@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. The “[Dead Horse Trope](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/DeadHorseTrope)” link that @NDP posted upthread is a fascinating rabbit hole with a number of side tunnels, such as the “[Dead Unicorn Trope](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/DeadUnicornTrope)”, which is a trope that was seldom or never played straight before it came to be played much more often and exclusively as parody. The “needle scratch effect” is included in that list, as well as a few other interesting examples: > - [Black Dude Dies First](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BlackDudeDiesFirst): This trope is far more often parodied and lampshaded than it is played straight. A review of all the major horror movie franchises will show that if there’s a black guy at all, he’s usually either one of the last to die, or even one of the few survivors. > - Likewise, the horror trope that the [Final Girl](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/FinalGirl) is always [chaste and virginal](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/DeathBySex) and utterly virtuous is, if not wholly untrue, certainly not the hard-and-fast Rule of Horror it’s often presented as in more “self-aware” horror movies. Classic Final Girls of the slashers of the '70s and '80s could have boyfriends, smoke pot, and, yes, have sex, and still survive the movie. > - [Brain Food](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BrainFood): The idea of zombies eating brains is commonly believed to come from the 1968 film _[Night of the Living Dead](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Film/NightOfTheLivingDead1968)_ or one of the many zombie films that followed it immediately afterward. It doesn’t; in fact, it comes from _[The Return of the Living Dead](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Film/TheReturnOfTheLivingDead)_ , [which was released in 1985](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/NewerThanTheyThink). And that film is a much more comedic and less serious take on the zombie movie genre than most other zombie movies… > - [Timmy in a Well](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TimmyInAWell): While the trope in general is not a dead unicorn and is closer to a [Discredited Trope](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/DiscreditedTrope), the often parodied version of the trope that it is named for is a dead unicorn. [Timmy never actually fell down a well](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BeamMeUpScotty) in _[Lassie](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Series/Lassie)_ even though he did get into all kinds of other crazy situations that his [Heroic Dog](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/HeroicDog) saved him from by getting help. I could have sworn the ‘black dude dies first’ was an often played straight trope before it became a parody, and also the “chaste, virginal final girl”. I saw a lot of bad late 70s-80s horror movies, and the final girl in Friday the 13th fit the bill, as well as a classic of the genre, “Chopping Mall” in which, out of 3 couples, only the nerdy couple who choose not to fool around survive. That’s two right there just off the top of my head. "Brain Food’, on the other hand, I _ **was** _ aware that it was never played straight, also having seen a lot of bad zombie movies, and I remember _[The Return of the Living Dead](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Film/TheReturnOfTheLivingDead)_ as the first and as far as I know, the only zombie movie where the zombies exclusively want ‘braaaaiiiiins’. Also it was one of a very few instances where I’ve ever seen zombies that are able to speak at all, and it was definitely a comedic take (at one point, zombies overrun an ambulance, kill and eat the drivers’ brains, and one zombie gets on the CB radio and says “sennnnnd mooorrre ambulances…”. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2022, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retired-tropes-of-yesteryear/963324/78 "2022-04-26T12:59:50Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > > [@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://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jP51U\_QBx48&ab\_channel=AmyNicole](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jP51U_QBx48&ab_channel=AmyNicole) > > “Look at that S car go!” > > [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9B3TN2rEckQ&ab\_channel=Movieclips](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9B3TN2rEckQ&ab_channel=Movieclips) [Nissan S-Cargo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ee8-6DfMEGE) ---
**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 26, 2022, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retired-tropes-of-yesteryear/963324/79 "2022-04-26T14:12:15Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > Nissan S-Cargo That vehicle is too slow, no acceleration whatsoever 😜 ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2022, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retired-tropes-of-yesteryear/963324/80 "2022-04-26T14:22:42Z")
The idiot husband who keeps squeezing the metal charcoal starting fluid can, with the resultant mushroom cloud. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retired-tropes-of-yesteryear/963324.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retired-tropes-of-yesteryear/963324.md?page=5)