# 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:** 6
**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 26, 2022, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retired-tropes-of-yesteryear/963324/101 "2022-04-26T17:27:10Z")
One of the interesting things about the Star Trek:TOS episode “By Any Other Name” (The one where Warren Stevens, as the extra=galactic alien hijacks the Enterprise to go back to his own galaxy) is that, when the superfluous members of the crew get turned into polyhedral paperweights, Stevens takes up two in his hands – one that hand been a blonde woman, the other a black man, but now identical geometric forms – and drushes one, effectively killing the crewmember. The other he restores – and it’s the black man, not the blonde woman. Nifty little trope subversion there. ---
**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, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retired-tropes-of-yesteryear/963324/102 "2022-04-26T17:30:15Z")
Actually, I think she was a brunette. But that shocked me too when I first saw it—not because it was a black guy who survived, but because it was a woman who was killed. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2022, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retired-tropes-of-yesteryear/963324/103 "2022-04-26T17:44:11Z")
Yes, that was a delight. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2022, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retired-tropes-of-yesteryear/963324/104 "2022-04-26T17:44:51Z")
Happy Days did that with Ralph and Potsie as roommates. ---
**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 26, 2022, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retired-tropes-of-yesteryear/963324/105 "2022-04-26T17:57:06Z")
The death of Thompson in By Any Other Name always bugged me about how random it was. Sure, you join Starfleet, you expect it to be dangerous, but you expect to be killed by battling with Klingons, or being jettisoned in an ion pod, not crushed to powder to prove a point, without even a say in it, or a chance to defend yourself. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2022, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retired-tropes-of-yesteryear/963324/106 "2022-04-26T18:34:41Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Yes, but one of the problems with the Magic Negro has been that, once he’s exhausted his usefulness, the filmmakers often kill him off, thus giving you a bit of drama over losing what appeared to be a main character. I think it’s more common for a mentor figure (of any type or color) to get killed off than for a “magical negro” to be. > **[Mentor Occupational Hazard - TV Tropes](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MentorOccupationalHazard)** > > A hero's mentor dies, often to further the development of the hero or make the villain appear more despicable and imposing. Being the Mentor is never an easy job. Fighting the Big Bad yourself and stopping The End of the World as We Know It is … ---
**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, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retired-tropes-of-yesteryear/963324/107 "2022-04-26T18:40:48Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > Nerds being the butt of jokes for dressing weird or having a weird laugh. There is also the related: asthma (and specifically asthma medication) as a sign of nerdiness and butt of jokes, that can be discarded at will to show the nerd in question has gained enough self-confidence to not need a crutch like… er… life saving respiratory medication ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2022, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retired-tropes-of-yesteryear/963324/108 "2022-04-26T18:50:06Z")
The asthma medicine bit was used as recently as The Big Bang Theory (Leonard used an inhaler) ---
**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, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retired-tropes-of-yesteryear/963324/109 "2022-04-26T19:25:02Z")
Another family sitcom trope that was all over the place in the 80s and 90s. There’s a “School Aptitude Test” that will apparently determine your future career. Almost every character will be given a career that is 100% contrary to their personality (in the Simpsons episode Brat Bart becomes a cop and brainy Lisa becomes a housewife) or interests but then be forced to spend the remainder of the episode trying to practice for their job because they’re resigned to their fate. Then at the end of the episode they either learn that fate isn’t immobile and that they can choose a different career if they really want, or that there was an “error” in the process and the test results got mixed up and the students are given results that actually match them. Nobody ever actually questions how a multiple choice test with less than 100 questions will actually determine what your occupation is when there’s more than 100 career paths in the world, or that the idea of a career test in general is stupid. ---
**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:** [April 26, 2022, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retired-tropes-of-yesteryear/963324/110 "2022-04-26T20:18:06Z")
> [@Asuka](#): > > Nobody ever actually questions how a multiple choice test with less than 100 questions will actually determine what your occupation is when there’s more than 100 career paths in the world, I mean, mathematically speaking, if the test is calculated as a whole (and not each question referring to a specific career path), there are more possible results than there are hydrogen atoms in the Sun, so… ---
**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:** [April 27, 2022, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retired-tropes-of-yesteryear/963324/111 "2022-04-27T02:32:07Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > I’m not sure how naming movies from the 21st century, or the 1960s, really pushes back against the claim that movies from the '80s and '90s tended to kill of Black characters. > > That being said, _Blade._ _Predator 2_. “Who’s next?” ---
**Author:** ![Hatchie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hatchie/32/3983_2.png) [@Hatchie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hatchie)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2022, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retired-tropes-of-yesteryear/963324/112 "2022-04-27T16:45:21Z")
Tapping on the phone cradle when someone hangs up on you. “Hello? (tap tap tap) hello?” ---
**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 27, 2022, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retired-tropes-of-yesteryear/963324/113 "2022-04-27T16:56:59Z")
Heads of households (e.g., Ward Cleaver, Ozzie Nelson, Rob Petrie) wearing dress shirts, neckties, and sports jackets while home, even on the weekends. Did anyone ever do this IRL? ---
**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 27, 2022, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retired-tropes-of-yesteryear/963324/114 "2022-04-27T17:10:28Z")
H.P. Lovecraft did. ---
**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 27, 2022, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retired-tropes-of-yesteryear/963324/115 "2022-04-27T17:19:09Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Heads of households (e.g., Ward Cleaver, Ozzie Nelson, Rob Petrie) wearing dress shirts, neckties, and sports jackets while home, even on the weekends. And of course, the counterpart-- June Cleaver doing housework in pearls and a dress. ---
**Author:** ![MrAtoz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MrAtoz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrAtoz)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2022, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retired-tropes-of-yesteryear/963324/116 "2022-04-27T17:22:19Z")
Every once in awhile, when Rob was really loafing around the house, he might wear a cardigan instead! ---
**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 27, 2022, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retired-tropes-of-yesteryear/963324/117 "2022-04-27T17:24:21Z")
But always with a tie! ---
**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 27, 2022, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retired-tropes-of-yesteryear/963324/118 "2022-04-27T17:28:49Z")
According to Jerry “The Beav” Mathers, she wore those pearls to cover up what looked like a tracheotomy. (Barbara Billingsley was extremely thin.) ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2022, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retired-tropes-of-yesteryear/963324/119 "2022-04-27T17:33:22Z")
> [@Asuka](#): > > 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 . Wanted to respond to this when I first saw it, but I forgot to come back around. Not sure about Pizza Hut locations in the U.S., but Domino’s locations in the U.S. are franchised. That could account for varying availability of anchovies – sometimes available in one location but then not in another one. I worked at Domino’s in college (early 1990s) at two locations in SE Louisiana. Both offered anchovies as a topping. It was rarely ordered. ---
**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 27, 2022, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retired-tropes-of-yesteryear/963324/120 "2022-04-27T17:52:52Z")
Has there ever been an instance of a big tough guy using a respirator? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retired-tropes-of-yesteryear/963324.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retired-tropes-of-yesteryear/963324.md?page=7)