History Administrivia / PeopleSitOnChairs

No [[TropesThatWillNeverHappen/TooUniversal examples]] here, please. They're not necessary.[[labelnote:*]][[JustForFun/PeopleSitOnChairs Psst!]][[/labelnote]]

{{Trope}}s are conventions used in storytelling to convey some sort of information to the audience. But when a character does something as trivial as sit on a chair, that's just something that happens normally or incidentally during the storytelling. Sitting in a chair isn't meant to convey meaning -- it's not a storytelling convention. It's Administrivia/NotATrope.

Unfortunately, here at Wiki/TVTropes, we occasionally get suggestions in the TropeLaunchPad to add a trope along these lines, and we have to tell them no. This page is a handy and evocative way to do that; it's saying that the proposed trope is no better than pointing out that occasionally, [[TitleDrop people sit on chairs]]. So if someone is calling your idea a "chair"/"chairs" or "PSOC", this is what they mean.

Note that the criticism here isn't simply that the idea is "too common" or "too broad". Administrivia/NoTropeIsTooCommon; there are some extremely common {{cliche}}s and OmnipresentTropes that appear very often in fiction -- maybe as often as chairs -- but these are still storytelling devices. For instance, there is TheCouch, which is something characters sit on, but it has a purpose that correlates with [[StandardizedSitcomHousing the visual layout of house floorplans on TV]]. Conversely, an idea can still be "sitting in a chair" even if it [[Administrivia/TooRareToTrope rarely happens at all]]; for example, there may be only three works of fiction in which a person walks down a street called Jameson Street, but unless that name has some relevance to the storytelling beyond just being a street name, it's still a "chair"; there's no meaningful pattern or connection between these works.

Indeed, people sitting in chairs ''can'' be a trope if there's that added element of a meaningful connection or pattern to recognize. For instance, the chair may be [[CoolChair impossibly awesome]], which gives you an idea of who might be sitting in it. Or the chair might be a more functional SuperWheelchair. Or the first time we encounter the character, their back may be to the audience until they [[ChairReveal swivel around in their chair]]. Or they may be sitting in a chair that's [[ThisIsMyChair claimed by someone else]]. Or the BigBad might be [[SlouchOfVillainy slouching in the chair]] and showing off their badness. Or the chair might be [[EmptyChairMemorial conspicuous by its emptiness]]. These are all real tropes involving sitting in a chair, but what makes them tropes is that there's something ''meaningful'' to the character using the chair in that way.

-->-- '''Example from the now-deleted page "Everyone Is Right-Handed"'''

Indeed, people sitting in chairs ''can'' be a trope if there's that added element of a meaningful connection or pattern to recognize. For instance, the chair may be [[CoolChair impossibly awesome]], which gives you an idea of who might be sitting in it. Or the chair might be a more functional SuperWheelchair. Or the first time we encounter the character, their back may be to the audience until they [[ChairReveal swivel around in their chair]]. Or the BigBad might be [[SlouchOfVillainy slouching in the chair]] and showing off their badness. Or the chair might be [[EmptyChairMemorial conspicuous by its emptiness]]. These are all real tropes involving sitting in a chair, but what makes them tropes is that there's something ''meaningful'' to the character using the chair in that way.

Unfortunately, here at Wiki/TVTropes, we occasionally get suggestions in the TropeLaunchPad to add a trope along these lines, and we have to tell them no. This page is a handy and evocative way to do that; it's saying that the proposed trope is no better than pointing out that occasionally, [[TitleDrop people sit on chairs]]. So if someone is calling your idea a "chair" or "PSOC", this is what they mean.

Note that the criticism here isn't simply that the idea is "too common" or "too broad". Administrivia/NoTropeIsTooCommon; there are some extremely common {{cliche}}s and OmnipresentTropes that appear very often in fiction -- maybe as often as chairs -- but these are still storytelling devices. For instance, there is TheCouch, which is something characters sit on, but it has a purpose that correlates with [[StandardizedSitcomHousing the visual layout of house floorplans on TV]]. Conversely, an idea can still be "sitting in a chair" even if it [[Administrivia/TooRareToTrope rarely happens at al]]; for example, there may be only three works of fiction in which a person walks down a street called Jameson Street, but unless that name has some relevance to the storytelling beyond just being a street name, it's still a "chair"; there's no meaningful pattern or connection between these works.

Note that the criticism here isn't simply that the idea is "too common" or "too broad". Administrivia/NoTropeIsTooCommon; there are some extremely common {{cliche}}s and OmnipresentTropes that appear very often in fiction -- maybe as often as chairs -- but these are still storytelling devices. For instance, there is TheCouch, which is something characters sit on, but it has a purpose that correlates with [[StandardizedSitcomHousing the visual layout of house floorplans on TV]]. Conversely, an idea can still be "sitting in a chair" even if it rarely happens at all; for example, there may be only three works of fiction in which a person walks down a street called Jameson Street, but unless that name has some relevance to the storytelling beyond just being a street name, it's still a "chair"; there's no meaningful pattern or connection between these works.

->''"While this has no plot bearing, Nanoha from ''Lyrical Nanoha'' is left-handed."''
-->-- '''Example from the now-deleted page "Everyone Is Right Handed" about ''Franchise/LyricalNanoha'''''

{{Trope}}s are conventions used in storytelling to convey some sort of information to the audience. People Sit On Chairs don't convey any meaning--they aren't storytelling conventions at all, they're just things that happen normally or incidentally during the storytelling. So if somebody is calling your idea on the Trope Launch Pad a "chair" or "PSOC", this means they think your idea is about as meaningful as the discovery that various different shows portray [[TitleDrop people sitting on chairs]]: It doesn't matter how commonly it occurs, this is something that never carried any meaning to begin with, making it Administrivia/NotATrope.

The whole point of a chair is to give people something to sit on, but this by itself doesn't convey meaning. On the other hand, there '''are''' ways in which chairs can be used for a trope; perhaps we're talking about an [[CoolChair impossibly awesome-looking chair]] (or a more functional SuperWheelchair); maybe it gets used for a ChairReveal, or for the BigBad to express their SlouchOfVillainy. And maybe the chair is [[EmptyChairMemorial conspicuous by its emptiness]]. All these add some sort of meaning to the "chair" in question, which makes them legitimate tropes.

Note that the criticism here isn't simply that the trope in question is "too common" or "too broad", as Administrivia/NoTropeIsTooCommon. There are some extremely common {{cliche}}s, and OmnipresentTropes, that appear in fiction maybe even as frequently as chairs, but these are still storytelling devices. For instance, there is TheCouch, another item people sit on, but given a purpose that correlates with [[StandardizedSitcomHousing the visual layout of house floorplans]].

Conversely, a trope suggestion can still be guilty of People Sit On Chairs even if it doesn't literally appear all the time. Even if it is relatively rare, it can still be used without a narrative purpose. For example, there may be only three works of fiction in which a person walks down a street called Jameson Street, but unless that name has some relevance to the storytelling beyond just being a street name, it is People Sit On Chairs: there is no meaningful pattern or connection between these works.

Note that for purposes of this page, it is assumed that all humans ''do'' sit on chairs, making this page itself an example of SmallReferencePools. In RealLife, one of the Basic Anthropological Divides is between people who sit at ground level--carpet, tatami, cushion, the ground itself--and people who sit above ground level--chair, bench, snow-house shelf. If a character of the ground-sitter class doesn't [[Literature/StrangerInAStrangeLand grok]] chairs--not understanding what they're for, perhaps, or adopting a peculiar sitting position in them because they get the idea of what a chair is for but haven't got the practice of using them down--and the failure to grok carries meaning within the story, ''and'' this motif becomes widely--and consistently-used enough that sufficient examples can be enumerated, then ''perhaps'' the naming of a trope like '''Doesn't Grok Chairs''' could be justified. Please note the important point that such a hypothetical trope would be focused on a ''meaningful deviation'' from the universally standard behavior rather than the universally standard behavior itself.

One good sign of a People Sit On Chairs idea is if you can't think of any examples that have [[Administrivia/ZeroContextExample meaningful context]]. PersonalAppearanceTropes in particular are a constant source of this problem, connecting two things that are only coincidentally important or identifying a pattern that has no clear or consistent meaning or purpose. For this reason, [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=13545690040A55560100 we've been trying to clean them up.]]

If you are really, really, ''really'' sure that we need this one, try to connect it to something meaningful (which doesn't necessarily have to be an element of the plot; it can work if the trope counts as NarrativeFiligree or GarnishingTheStory). Or if you can identify several narrative purposes for an element, you can propose it as an index. If not, you just need to accept that [[TropesThatWillNeverHappen/TooUniversal this trope page will never happen]].

If you're really not sure whether or not your idea on the Trope Launch Pad is People Sitting On Chairs, try asking "Administrivia/IsThisTropable"

See also {{Consistency}} (for the other aspect of defining a trope), Administrivia/SquarePegRoundTrope (when something is not an example of an otherwise real trope).

[[JustForFun/IThoughtItMeant Do not confuse with]] SeatedTropes (a list of legitimate tropes that just happen to involve sitting), or AvertedTrope (there is an actual trope; it just doesn't show up in a particular work).

No [[TropesThatWillNeverHappen/TooUniversal examples]] here, please. They're not necessary.

%%Do not add "Contrast with Chairs Sit On People" or its new name Too Rare To Trope. 'Contrast' is used when the two items mentioned are opposites. Chairs Sit On People is not the opposite trope to People Sit On Chairs, even though the names were opposite.

Do not confuse with SeatedTropes (a list of legitimate tropes that just happen to involve sitting), or AvertedTrope (there is an actual trope; it just doesn't show up in a particular work).

%% Image and caption selected per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=s1y5yzte8kpngpjpphiv6p9k

'''Not a trope''': Sitting on a Chair-] ]]

{{Trope}}s are conventions used in storytelling to convey some sort of information to the audience. People Sit On Chairs don't convey any meaning -- they aren't storytelling conventions at all, they're just things that happen normally or incidentally during the storytelling. So if somebody is calling your idea on the Trope Launch Pad a "chair" or "PSOC", this means they think your idea is about as meaningful as the discovery that various different shows portray [[TitleDrop people sitting on chairs]]: It doesn't matter how commonly it occurs, this is something that never carried any meaning to begin with, making it Administrivia/NotATrope.

Note that for purposes of this page, it is assumed that all humans ''do'' sit on chairs, making this page itself an example of SmallReferencePools. In RealLife, one of the Basic Anthropological Divides is between people who sit at ground level-- carpet, tatami, cushion, the ground itself-- and people who sit above ground level-- chair, bench, snow-house shelf. If a character of the ground-sitter class doesn't [[Literature/StrangerInAStrangeLand grok]] chairs — not understanding what they're for, perhaps, or adopting a peculiar sitting position in them because they get the idea of what a chair is for but haven't got the practice of using them down — and the failure to grok carries meaning within the story, ''and'' this motif becomes widely- and consistently-used enough that sufficient examples can be enumerated, then ''perhaps'' the naming of a trope like '''Doesn't Grok Chairs''' could be justified. (Please note the important point that such a hypothetical trope would be focussed on a ''meaningful deviation'' from the universally standard behaviour rather than the universally standard behaviour itself.)

No [[TropesThatWillNeverHappen/TooUniversal examples]] here, please. No, really, they're not necessary.

The whole point of a chair, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujDeS2URgj0 as Facebook so eloquently explains,]] is to give people something to sit on, but this by itself doesn't convey meaning. On the other hand, there '''are''' ways in which chairs can be used for a trope; perhaps we're talking about an [[CoolChair impossibly awesome-looking chair]] (or a more functional SuperWheelchair); maybe it gets used for a ChairReveal, or for the BigBad to express their SlouchOfVillainy. And maybe the chair is [[EmptyChairMemorial conspicuous by its emptiness]]. All these add some sort of meaning to the "chair" in question, which makes them legitimate tropes.

-->-- '''Example from the now-deleted page "Everyone Is Right Handed" about ''Franchise/LyricalNanoha'''''[[note]]which doesn't even have enough meaning to be TheSouthPaw.[[/note]]

[[quoteright:350:[[Film/TheGodfather https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/psoc_godfather_8458.jpg]]]]

-->--'''Example from the now-deleted page "Everyone Is Right Handed" about ''Franchise/LyricalNanoha'''''[[note]]which doesn't even have enough meaning to be TheSouthPaw.[[/note]]

One good sign of a People Sit On Chairs idea is if you can't think of any examples that have [[Administrivia/ZeroContextExample meaningful context]]. PersonalAppearanceTropes in particular are a constant source of this problem, connecting two things that are only coincidentally important or identifying a pattern that has no clear or consistent meaning or purpose. For this reason, [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=13545690040A55560100 we've been trying to clean them up]].

See also {{Consistency}} (for the other aspect of defining a trope), SquarePegRoundTrope (when something is not an example of an otherwise real trope).

The whole point of a chair, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujDeS2URgj0 as Facebook so eloquently explains,]] is to give people something to sit on, but this by itself doesn't convey meaning. On the other hand, there '''are''' ways in which chairs can be used for a trope; perhaps we're talking about an [[CoolChair impossibly awesome-looking chair]] (or a more functional SuperWheelchair); maybe it gets used for a ChairReveal, or for the BigBad to express his SlouchOfVillainy. And maybe the chair is [[EmptyChairMemorial conspicuous by its emptiness]]. All these add some sort of meaning to the "chair" in question, which makes them legitimate tropes.

Note that for purposes of this page, it is assumed that all humans ''do'' sit on chairs, making this page itself an example of SmallReferencePools. In RealLife, one of the Basic Anthropological Divides is between people who sit at ground level-- carpet, tatami, cushion, the ground itself-- and people who sit above ground level-- chair, bench, snow-house shelf. If a character of the ground-sitter class doesn't grok chairs — not understanding what they're for, perhaps, or adopting a peculiar sitting position in them because they get the idea of what a chair is for but haven't got the practice of using them down — and the failure to grok carries meaning within the story, ''and'' this motif becomes widely- and consistently-used enough that sufficient examples can be enumerated, then ''perhaps'' the naming of a trope like '''Doesn't Grok Chairs''' could be justified. (Please note the important point that such a hypothetical trope would be focussed on a ''meaningful deviation'' from the universally standard behaviour rather than the universally standard behaviour itself.)

If you are really, really, ''really'' sure that we need this one, try to connect it to something meaningful (which doesn't necessarily have to be an element of the plot; it can work if the trope counts as NarrativeFiligree or GarnishingTheStory). Or if you can identify several narrative purposes for an element, you can propose it as an index. If not, you just need to accept that [[TropesThatWillNeverHappen/TooUniversal this trope page will never happen.]]

See also {{Consistency}} for the other aspect of defining a trope.

If you are really, really, ''really'' sure that we need this one, try to connect it to something meaningful (which doesn't necessarily have to be an element of the plot; it can work if the trope counts as NarrativeFiligree or GarnishingTheStory). Or if you can identify several narrative purposes for an element, you can propose it as an index, like SeatedTropes. If not, you just need to accept that [[TropesThatWillNeverHappen/TooUniversal this trope page will never happen.]]

{{Trope}}s are conventions used in storytelling to convey some sort of information to the audience. People Sit On Chairs don't convey any meaning -- they aren't storytelling conventions at all, they're just things that happen normally or incidentally during the storytelling. So if somebody is calling your idea on the Trope Launch Pad "Chairs" or "PSOC", this means they think your idea is about as meaningful as the discovery that various different shows portray [[TitleDrop people sitting on chairs]]: It doesn't matter how commonly it occurs, this is something that never carried any meaning to begin with, making it Administrivia/NotATrope.

Note that the criticism here isn't simply that the trope in question is "too common" or "too broad", as Administrivia/NoTropeIsTooCommon. There are some extremely common {{cliche}}s, and OmnipresentTropes, that appear in fiction maybe even as frequently as chairs, but these are still storytelling devices. For instance there is TheCouch, another item people sit on, but given a purpose that correlates with [[StandardizedSitcomHousing the visual layout of house floorplans]].

Note that for purposes of this page, it is assumed that all humans ''do'' sit on chairs, making this page itself an example of SmallReferencePools. In RealLife, one of the Basic Anthropological Divides is between people who sit at ground level-- carpet, tatami, cushion, the ground itself-- and people who sit above ground level-- chair, bench, snow-house shelf. If a character of the ground-sitter class doesn't grok chairs — not understanding what they're for, perhaps, or adopting a peculiar sitting position in them because they get the idea of what a chair is for but haven't got the practise of using them down — and the failure to grok carries meaning within the story, ''and'' this motif becomes widely- and consistently-used enough that sufficient examples can be enumerated, then ''perhaps'' the naming of a trope like '''Doesn't Grok Chairs''' could be justified. (Please note the important point that such a hypothetical trope would be focussed on a ''meaningful deviation'' from the universally standard behaviour rather than the universally standard behaviour itself.)

[[caption-width-right:350:[-'''Tropes''': SlouchOfVillainy, SharpDressedMan, DarkIsEvil, DamnItFeelsGoodToBeAGangster\\

The inverse
Note that for purposes of this page, it is assumed that all humans ''do'' sit on chairs, making this page itself an example of SmallReferencePools. In RealLife, one of the Basic Anthropological Divides is between people who sit at ground level-- carpet, tatami, cushion, the ground itself-- and people who sit above ground level-- chair, bench, snow-house shelf.

If a character of the ground-sitter class doesn't grok chairs — not understanding what they're for, perhaps, or adopting a peculiar sitting position in them because they get the idea of what a chair is for but haven't got the practise of using them down — and the failure to grok carries meaning within the story, ''and'' this motif becomes widely- and consistently-used enough that sufficient examples can be enumerated, then ''perhaps'' the naming of a trope like '''Doesn't Grok Chairs''' could be justified. (Please note the important point that such a hypothetical trope would be focussed on a ''meaningful deviation'' from the universally standard behaviour rather than the universally standard behaviour itself.)

But this comes under the heading of ''Bridges We'll Cross When And If We Ever Get To Them''. Yes, this is relevant to ''The Gods Must Be Crazy''; but employment in one work does not a trope make.

If a character of the ground-sitter class doesn't grok chairs — not understanding what they're for, perhaps, or adopting a peculiar sitting position in them because they get the idea of what a chair is for but haven't got the practise of using them down — ''and'' the failure to grok carries meaning within the story, ''and'' this motif becomes widely- and consistently-used enough that sufficient examples can be enumerated, then ''perhaps'' the naming of a trope like '''Doesn't Grok Chairs''' could be justified. (Please note the important point that such a hypothetical trope would be focussed on a ''meaningful deviation'' from the universally standard behaviour rather than the universally standard behaviour itself.)

->''While this has no plot bearing, Nanoha from ''Lyrical Nanoha'' is left-handed.''
-->'''Example from the now-deleted page "Everyone Is Right Handed" about ''Franchise/LyricalNanoha'''''[[note]]which doesn't even have enough meaning to be TheSouthPaw.[[/note]]

If you're really not sure whether or not your YKTTW is People Sitting On Chairs, try asking "Administrivia/IsThisTropable"

{{Trope}}s are conventions used in storytelling to convey some sort of information to the audience. People Sit On Chairs don't convey any meaning -- they aren't storytelling conventions at all, they're just things that happen normally or incidentally during the storytelling. So if somebody is calling your YKTTW "Chairs" or "PSOC", this means they think your idea is about as meaningful as the discovery that various different shows portray [[TitleDrop people sitting on chairs]]: It doesn't matter how commonly it occurs, this is something that never carried any meaning to begin with, making it Administrivia/NotATrope.

The inverse of this is TooRareToTrope where something just doesn't happen frequently enough to form a pattern that can be described by a trope.