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1This page covers tropes found in ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons''.
2
3TheSimpsons/TropesAToB | TheSimpsons/TropesCToD | TheSimpsons/TropesEToH | TheSimpsons/TropesIToM | TheSimpsons/TropesNToR | '''Tropes S To Z''' | [[YMMV/TheSimpsons YMMV]]
4
5----
6
7[[foldercontrol]]
8!!Tropes with their own pages
9[[index]]
10* [[StatusQuoIsGod/TheSimpsons Status Quo Is God]]
11* [[TakeThat/TheSimpsons Take That!]]
12* [[UnexpectedlyDarkEpisode/TheSimpsons Unexpectedly Dark Episode]]
13* [[WhereTheHellIsSpringfield/TheSimpsons Where the Hell Is Springfield?]]
14[[/index]]
15
16!!Other Tropes
17[[folder:S]]
18* SadistTeacher:
19** Bart's kindergarten teacher was a total bitch to him by crushing his self-esteem (which is how Bart became the bad boy he is now). The rest of the school teachers at Springfield Elementary, however, are more apathetic than sadistic (at least Mrs. Krabappel and Miss Hoover are. The other teachers haven't been highlighted as much and are {{living prop}}s, [[OneSceneWonder only on for an episode]], or have been put out of focus).
20** Ms. Cantwell to Lisa on "Black Eyed, Please," though, unlike Bart's kindergarten teacher, she doesn't get away with what she did (as Bart let the classroom go to hell and captured footage of Ms. Cantwell in the bathroom, complaining about Lisa) and she quits rather than apologize.
21** Subverted in "The PTA Disbands!". The teachers go on strike due to Bart's manipulation, and a series of substitutes from the townspeople are introduced and quit one by one. Principal Skinner then introduces a thuggish-looking substitute who immediately starts hurling abuse at the students and terrifies them. He's just there to introduce Marge, the real substitute.
22** If the superintendent of the school is scared of a teacher joining, then it must be bad. Enter Jack Lassen, who was worse than the kindergarten teacher and Cantwell. How worse? Stealing lunch money, insulting students, shaving heads for pranks, shocking them painfully instead of the science level, and outside of school at a vacation, trying to kill Bart over ruining his event.
23* SadisticChoice: Parodied in "Rosebud" with an example more trivial than most. Burns takes over all television networks available to Springfield, telling the whole town that he's not giving them back their television until someone steals Maggie's teddy bear and puts it on his desk. Cut to an angry mob outside the Simpson home stealing the teddy bear from her, only to return it out of regret once they see Maggie, visibly upset, trying to crawl over to take it back.
24* SafeDrivingAesop: One early episode has one of these types of films (It stars Troy [=McClure=] and is part of a series including "Alice's Adventures Through the Windshield Glass" and "The Decapitation of Larry Leadfoot") being shown to Homer after he was caught on a traffic offence, but he thinks it is a comedy show and ends up laughing all the way through it.
25* SafetyWorst: In one episode, Homer becomes so obsessed with child-proofing that everything on the playground is covered in bubble-wrap, and he then regrets it when he learns that [[SpoofAesop children not being injured means doctors make less money and child injury greeting card factories close down.]]
26* SamusIsAGirl:
27** Parodied in "Homer of Seville" when Homer is saved by a motorcyclist opera fan, and TheReveal is overplayed by the woman and by Homer. The former says it too overdramatically, and the latter says it with DullSurprise and with a comparison to ''Franchise/TheTwilightZone''.
28** In "Girls Just Want to Have Sums", Lisa (disguised as a boy named Jake Boyman) reveals that she's actually a girl to the entire school.
29* SanitySlippage: In "Kill the Alligator And Run", Homer takes a longevity quiz on his issue of "Self-Test Monthly" and learns he has three years to live. Fearing he'd die in his sleep, he stays awake and ends up hallucinating that people on TV are threatening to kill him and thinking that he won't die if he becomes a mother.
30-->'''Homer:''' [[MadnessMantra Can't sleep, gonna die. Can't sleep, gonna die.]]
31* SarcasmBlind:
32** Homer, on many an occasion especially when he thinks Chief Wiggum is serious when he tells Homer to wait for a cop who cares after Homer fails to bribe him.
33** Bart, in "Marge Be Not Proud", doesn't understand Comic Book Guy's sarcasm when he tries to buy a new video game for only 99 cents.
34--->'''Comic Book Guy''': [[LetMeGetThisStraight Allow me to summarize the proposed transaction]]: you wish to purchase Bonestorm for 99 cents. Net profit to me, negative $59. Oh, oh please, take my $59. I don't want it. It's yours.\
35[Bart reaches for the money, Comic Book Guy stops him by deflecting his hand with a pen]\
36Eh, eh, eh -- seeing as we are unfamiliar with sarcasm, I shall close the register at this point and state that 99 cents is the ''rental'' price.
37* SawStarWarsTwentySevenTimes: In the episode "Itchy & Scratchy: The Movie," Milhouse brags about seeing the ''Itchy & Scratchy'' movie 15 times and Nelson brags that he saw it 17 times. Bart (who has been grounded from seeing the movie after failing to watch Maggie) tries to joke that the two must have been sick of seeing it. He ends up getting chased by Nelson and Milhouse because nobody who saw the movie would say that.
38* SayMyName:
39** Wolf Raincastle's character has this:
40--->'''[=McBain=]:''' Mendooooozzzaaaaa!
41** This is Superintendent Chalmers' CatchPhrase.
42--->'''Chalmers:''' [[CatchPhrase SKINNER!]]\
43'''Principal Skinner:''' [[PhraseCatcher S-Superintendent Chalmers!]]
44** Pretty much everyone to Bart but especially...
45--->'''Homer and Lisa:''' Barrrrrrttttttttt!!!
46** Marge has a couple of variations:
47--->'''Marge:''' ''[angrily]''' Homer!\
48'''Marge:''' ''[with sentiment]'' Oh, Homey.
49** '''[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS5E3HomerGoestoCollege COREEEEEY!!!]]'''
50* ScaleModelDestruction: Mr. Burns stomps on a model of Springfield Godzilla style in "Who Shot Mr. Burns Part One".
51-->'''Burns:''' Take that, Bowl-o-rama! Take that, convenience mart! Take that, nuclear power plant... oh, fiddlesticks.
52* ScalingTheSummit: "King of the Hill" has a newly-fit Homer trying to climb the Murderhorn as a stunt for Powersauce bars, both to impress Bart and complete his father's climbing mission, where he was betrayed and knocked off by his partner. Homer then becomes disillusioned when he finds the partner's frozen corpse and reads his diary, revealing that Grampa was really the betrayer. In the end, the mountain collapses, and Homer sticks his flag on what's left of the peak.
53%%* ScamReligion: Movementarianism.
54* {{Scandalgate}}: Subverted where Kent Brockman reveals that the trial of Mayor Quimby's nephew for assaulting a waiter is being dubbed by the media as "Beat Up Waiter":
55-->'''Kent Brockman:''' This reporter suggested "Waitergate" but was shouted down at the Press Club.
56%%* ScareChord: The music at the end of "Rosebud".
57* ScaryBlackMan: Former boxing champ Drederick Tatum exemplifies this. And Krusty's short run sidekick Sideshow Raheem also qualifies.
58* SceneryCensor:
59** Demonstrated with Marge's portrait of Mr. Burns, where something thin always obscures his tiny penis.
60** "Natural Born Kissers" features much of this in the final act when Homer and Marge are trying to find cover while naked.
61* SchoolForcedUsTogether: Despite being brother and sister, Bart and Lisa typically don't hang out at school due to their age difference. This changes in an episode where the students of Springfield Elementary must take a standardized test. Lisa does so well she's allowed to skip to the third grade, while Bart does so poorly that he must retake the third grade. Both are placed in the same classroom. [[ExaggeratedTrope On top of this]], their teacher makes the two buddies when the class goes on a field trip.
62* ScienceMarchesOn: In-universe: in "The Secret War of Lisa Simpson", Miss Hoover kills time by showing the class an educational film about going to the moon ''made before the moon landings'' and thus ridiculously speculative; it shows vacationers standing on the lunar surface without space suits, including a man fishing in a crater and catching an alien woman.
63* TheScottishTrope: In "The Regina Monologues", Bart causes horrible things to happen to Sir Creator/IanMcKellen by repeatedly saying, "Theatre/{{Macbeth}}".
64* ScoutOut: The Junior Campers in "Boy Scoutz 'n the Hood".
65* ScrabbleBabble: Provides the page's quote with Bart's use of "kwyjibo"
66-->'''Bart:''' "Kwyjibo": a big, dumb, balding North American ape with no chin
67-->'''Marge:''' ...and a short temper.
68* ScratchyVoicedSenior:
69** Grandpa Simpson has a slightly scratchy voice.
70** Marge, Patty, and Selma's mother Jacqueline has an especially raspy voice.
71* ScreamsLikeALittleGirl: Given he scares easily, Homer does it the most, but Ned's screaming actually sounds like a woman's (his singing as well, which Bart finds disturbing [spoliers because he found it attractive]).
72* ScrewYourself: In "There's Something About Marrying", Homer imagines what it would be like to be married to himself. His mental image involves him passionately making out with his doppleganger, surrounded by mini-Homers.
73* SdrawkcabAlias: Mr. Burns "disguises" himself as "Mr. Snrub" in "Marge vs. the Monorail" in a failed attempt to recover the $3 million fine he had to pay for illegal toxic waste dumping by suggesting it be invested in the power plant. No-one is fooled.
74-->'''Smithers:''' I like the way "Snrub" thinks!
75* SeaAping: In the episode titled "Sideshow Bob's Last Gleaming," there was a couch gag with the family as "Sea Monsters," which are green brine shrimp.
76* SeanConneryIsAboutToShootYou: The Couch Gag for the episode "The Springfield Connection" has Homer parody this.
77* SecondPersonAttack: In "Husbands and Knives", a triple Second-Person Attack is made by Creator/ArtSpiegelman, Daniel Clowes and Creator/AlanMoore, who all simultaneously punch Comic Book Guy when he was trying to destroy a rival comic book store that's ruining his business.
78* SecretIngredient:
79** Marge's secret ingredient for pork chops is salt (even though she put more herbs and spices in there as seen in "Itchy & Scratchy & Marge").
80** The secret ingredient for making a Flaming Homer cocktail is "Krusty Brand Non-Narkotik Kough Syrup". And fire.
81--->'''Homer:''' Fire made it good.
82* SecretRoom: The house of the Simpsons' neighbors the Flanders has a secret room with merchandise related to Music/TheBeatles. Because they were BiggerThanJesus.
83* SecretSanta: In "'Tis the Fifteenth Season", Homer gets an extravagant present from his secret Santa (Carl). Homer forgets to bring something for Lenny, since he's Lenny's secret Santa, so he goes to a snack machine and [[ConvenienceStoreGiftShopping buys him some Certs]].
84* SecurityBlindspot: In "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS21E20ToSurveilWithLove To Surveil, with Love]]", surveillance cameras are installed all over Springfield. Bart discovers that the only spot the cameras can't see is in the Simpsons' backyard, leading to him and Homer starting charging people to come there and do illegal activities.
85* SeekingTheIntangible: Played with in the episode "Bart Sells His Soul"; Bart sells his soul to Milhouse, which he represents with a piece of paper with the words "Bart's Soul" written on it. When Bart notices that certain things in his life seem off (the pets react to him with hostility, an automatic door doesn't open for him, he doesn't find an Itchy & Scratchy cartoon funny, and so on), he tries to recover the piece of paper representing his soul.
86* SeeYouInHell:
87** From "Two Dozen and One Greyhounds"
88--->'''Rev. Lovejoy:''' See you in Hell... from Heaven.
89** From "Homer Badman"
90--->'''Homer:''' See you in Hell, candy boys! ''[throws explosive]''
91** From "Mom and Pop Art"
92--->'''Bart:''' See you in Hell, God bless this house.
93** From "The Cartridge Family"
94--->'''Homer:''' See you in Hell, dinner plate.
95** From "Homer the Vigilante"
96--->'''Apu:''' Thank you for coming! I'll see you in Hell!
97** From "Separate Vocations"
98--->'''Snake:''' See you in Hell, punk!
99* SelectiveEnforcement: In one episode, Barney and Lenny play pranks on Moe which involve setting him on fire and setting a cobra on him. Homer, in an attempt to join in the "harmless" fun loosens the lid on a sugar shaker. He gets kicked out of the bar..
100* SelfBotchedCatchPhrase: Featured in an episode where Springfield Elementary got school uniforms, causing the school to become more obedient. This leads Nelson to flub his own SignatureLaugh with "Haw... huh?"
101* SelfMadeMan:
102** Frank Grimes is a [[DeusAngstMachina ridiculously exaggerated example]]. He was abandoned by his parents, worked delivering toys for rich kids which he would never get himself while studying in his free time, then was caught in a silo explosion, after which he had to rehabilitate himself, teaching himself to feel pain and hear again. His story touched Mr. Burns (another [[BlatantLies "self-made man"]]), who summoned him to work as Executive Vice President, only to give the job to a heroic dog at the last minute and send Grimes to sector 7G. Having to work with Homer (who, to put it mildly, doesn't share his work ethic) unhinges him, particularly once he learns of all the amazing things Homer had accomplished despite his laziness (having a big house, hanging out with Presidents, going on tour with the Smashing Pumpkins, going into outer space - would you like to see his Grammy? And the episode only begins to cover it.)
103** Parodied with Mr. Burns, who declares himself a self-made man, but Smithers responds by pointing out that Monty inherited his money. When Burns glares at him, he hastily adds, "NotThatTheresAnythingWrongWithThat." Of course, since Burns wrote on a medical form that the "Cause of Parents' Deaths" was "Got in my way", he [[SelfMadeOrphan still counts]]. He apparently had many older siblings who all died under "unfortunate" circumstances, mostly poisoned potatoes, leaving him the sole heir. He did, however, gain his entire fortune back in the course of one episode after it was taken away from him. He did this, of course, by recycling, which he still managed to make evil.
104** Herb Powell, Homer's illegitimate half-brother, grew up in Shelbyville Orphanage, washed cars for his college classmates to pay for his education and became a car manufacturer, with said classmates being now his board of directors. Homer ruined this, sending Herb to the poorhouse until he invented a device that translated baby talk. Despite the invention being a success back when it was made and the Simpsons having a baby, the device was never seen in any other episode and Herb later mentioned he was poor again.
105* SelfMadeOrphan: Mr. Burns, possibly. In "The Mansion Family", he fills out a form at the doctor's office. He reads out loud, "Cause of parent's death? Got in my way."
106* SelfServingMemory:
107** In "$pringfield", when Homer accuses Marge of being against the casino, flashes back to a very bizarre scene. Also used by Burns and Bart in the trial in "Bart Gets Hit By a Car".
108** In "The Wizard of Evergreen Terrace", Homer claims that Marge told him to quit his job and become an inventor, or she'd torch the house.
109* SelfSurgery: In "Rednecks and Broomsticks", Doctor Hibbert and his nurse go blind during an operation, leaving Hans Moleman to operate on himself.
110* SeniorSleepCycle: Homer's father even falls asleep mid-sentence.
111* SensitiveGuyAndManlyMan: Milhouse is often whiny and Bart boldly leads him on adventures.
112* SequelEpisode: While NegativeContinuity is in play, notable episodes are followed up on in a broad sense, if not directly.
113** "Brawl in the Family", which followed up on Homer's second marriage to Amber from "Viva Ned Flanders".
114** Similarly, "Papa Don't Leach" is a follow-up to "Colonel Homer".
115** "My Mother the Carjacker" and "Mona Leaves-a" both follow up on the "Homer's mother" plot thread started in "Mother Simpson".
116** The earliest example would probably be "Brother, Can You Spare Two Dimes?" being a follow up to "Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?"
117** "The Great Louse Detective" revealed itself to follow-up on "Homer's Enemy"
118** Sideshow Bob-tries-to-kill-Bart episodes happen [[OnceASeason every couple of seasons]], and usually acknowledges how regularly it occurs.
119** Certain FlashForward episodes are spiritually the sequel to the previous one, spaced out every 6 or so years. "Lisa's Wedding" was the first, going on to "Bart to the Future," "Future-Drama," then "Days of Holidays Passed" had a more direct sequel in "Days of Future Future."
120* SequentialSymptomSyndrome: In "One Fish, Two Fish, Blowfish, Blue Fish", Homer eats fugu and thinks he's going to die. He experiences the five stages of grief as quickly as Doctor Hibbert can recite them.
121-->'''Hibbert:''' Mr. Simpson, your progress astounds me.
122* SerenadeYourLover: It happens a lot-- see trope page.
123* SesameStreetCred:
124** Celebrity voices have been rumored to line up for years to get on the show. Even playing themselves.
125** The family appeared on ''Series/SesameStreet'' itself on a celebrity cameo edition of the "Monster in the Mirror" music video.
126* SesquipedalianLoquaciousness: Homer in "Bart's Friend Falls In Love", after getting a subliminal vocabulary-building tape since they were out of weight-loss tapes. It wears off after Homer learns that the alleged weight-loss tapes didn't work as advertised.
127* SeveredHeadSports:
128** The end of the RPGEpisode "Marge Gamer" shows Marge's player character playing with the head of Moe's.
129** Also happens on one of the "WesternAnimation/TreehouseOfHorror" episodes, again with Moe as the victim of a Mayan sacrifice. His head rolls down the stairs and is used by kids as a soccer ball.
130** Yet another "Treehouse of Horror" had the zombified bullies use Zombie!Principal Skinner's head like a hacky sack.
131* SeverelySpecializedStore: A borderline example appears in "When Flanders Failed". Ned Flanders opens The Leftorium, a store with left-handed products for left-handed people; despite having a wide range of products, it initially fails due to interference by Homer.
132* SexyBacklessOutfit:
133** In the "Large Marge" episode (which involved her getting breast implants and becoming a [[SexSells Booth Babe]]), Marge Simpson wears a sexy backless red dress that emphasizes her new "attributes" for a public appearance.
134** The one-episode character Sara Sloane, a hot movie star and Ned's temporary {{Love Interest|s}}, wears a similar dress, during the episode, at a concert (gaining more attention from male people).
135* SexySantaDress: In the Christmas episode "The Nightmare After Krustmas". A scene during the night, in the bedroom, has Marge wear a really revealing Santa costume to surprise Homer.
136* ShaggyDogStory: "Apocalypse Cow" seemed like a huge build up towards [[spoiler:Bart getting an excuse to say, "I had a cow, man"]]. Nonetheless, the episode did get a SequelEpisode called "Moonshine River".
137* ShamedByAMob: Burn in "Who Shot Mr. Burns, Part 1".
138* ShamefulSourceOfKnowledge: One episode has Bart playing truant from school and sneaking into a party for Mayor Quimby's nephew Freddy, during which Bart witnesses one of the waiters having a string of incredibly clumsy accidents, and Freddy is arrested after being accused of beating the waiter up. Bart is then faced with a moral dilemma between letting an innocent man go to jail and testifying on his behalf, giving the school proof that he skipped school.
139* ShameIfSomethingHappened:
140** Parodied when Homer threatens Mr. Burns: "Nice office you have here. It would be a shame if somebody... DIDN'T USE A COASTER!" Mr. Burns [[CoolAndUnusualPunishment appears to be truly shaken]].
141** In another episode, Homer threatens the manager of a beauty salon by hurling a hairnet to the ground and unscrewing the lid off of a jar. The manager is perplexed, especially as it is only after these things have happened that Homer explains his intent: he wants the salon to honor Marge's coupon for two free hair streaks, "or a lot more jars are going to be unscrewed."
142** And again when Homer hires a private investigator, Dexter Colt, to find information about Lisa. Dexter comments that it would be a shame if Principal Skinner's papers were shuffled and does so. Skinner responds that he could easily put them back, to which Dexter staples the now mismatched pile. Cue a BigNo from Skinner.
143* ShamWedding:
144** In "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS22E19TheRealHousewivesOfFatTony The Real Housewives of Fat Tony]]", Selma marries Fat Tony, the local mafia boss. However, it turns out the wedding wasn't real and the ceremony was held in Italian ([[LanguageBarrier which Selma doesn't know]]), and she only agreed to be Tony's house mistress. Fat Tony's real wife laughs at the size of Selma's ring.
145** In "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS15E16TheWanderingJuvie The Wandering Juvie]]", Bart arranges a fake wedding for himself and "Lotta Cooties" (there is no such a girl/woman) so he can return the gifts the invited guests will bring for store credit. He ends up getting busted and sent to juvenile hall.
146* SheetOfGlass:
147** Subverted in "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Marge": Marge's out-of-control car heads towards two workers carrying a giant sheet of glass. However, instead of the car smashing the glass to pieces, she merely knocks the glass down to the ground. The workers pick it up and comment on how sturdy the glass is.
148** Parodied in "Bart's Elephant", in which two workers manage to avoid having their sheet of glass get hit by both Stampy and Bart, then toss it into a recycling bin carelessly.
149* ShippedInShackles:
150** Burns was given the Hannibal Mask treatment once when he was dragged into court for illegally dumping radioactive waste in "Marge vs. the Monorail."
151** Bart, after being falsely assumed to have stolen the church's collection plate money, is given the Hannibal treatment at next week's service.
152--->'''Marge:''' We really shouldn't have let them do this. It can't be helping his self esteem.
153* ShirleyTemplate: "Little" Vicki Valentine is also loosely based on Temple, and is portrayed as a former child star-turned-dance instructor, a reference to Shirley's talent as a tap dancer. Temple herself was offered the role to voice Vicki, but was unable to record her part.
154* ShockAndSwitchEnding:
155** "Two Dozen and One Greyhounds" ends with Marge entering the basement and gasping in shock while we see Homer's shadow suspended above the floor swaying back and forth, implying that he hung himself. We then see that Homer is actually holding onto one of the rafters while swatting at a light bulb.
156** In "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS3E19DogOfDeath Dog of Death]]", Grampa Simpson tells the rest of the family that Santa's Little Helper is dead, and the show goes into a commercial break over a shot of the dog's motionless body as sad music plays. The episode resumes with the exact same shot, except the dog is now breathing and the Simpsons are admonishing Grampa for declaring him dead (though he continues to insist that the dog's dead).
157* ShoehornedAcronym:
158** Krusty once tries to make a comedy show called Krusty's Komedy Klassic. Not only did he spell "comedy" and "classic" wrong, the initials ended up being [[TheKlan KKK]]!
159** In another episode, Marge sets up a group of MoralGuardians which she dubs S.N.U.H., short for Springfieldians for Nonviolence, Understanding and Helping.
160** In "Marge vs. Singles, [[GrumpyOldMan Seniors]], Childless Couples, and [[TeensAreMonsters Teens]] and Gays", the eponymous group abbreviates themselves to "[=SSCCaTaG=]". Marge forms her own protest group, the even longer [=PPASSCCaTaG=]: "Proud Parents Against Singles, Seniors, Childless Couples, and Teens, and Gays".
161* ShoeShineMister: The creator of ''Itchy & Scratchy'' is a homeless hobo who makes a living in part by shining shoes. After he successfully sues I&S Studios for all their money, he lives in a mansion, where he hangs out in front offering people a shine.
162* ShooOutTheClowns: When Homer was an actor playing Jesus during his crucifixion. To everybody's surprise (specially for Flanders), he performed competently, and did not ruin it with any of his usual nonsense.
163* ShootTheShaggyDog: in "Homer the Moe", Homer throwing his unfinished robot away.
164-->'''Robot:''' Father, give me legs...\
165''[Homer throws it away]''\
166'''Robot:''' Father...\
167''[Homer shakes his head]''\
168''[the robot drags itself off-screen with its "arms"]''
169* ShootingGallery:
170** "The Springfield Connection," with Wiggum pointing out the unarmed victims Marge didn't shoot (the mom with her baby and the blind man in the doorway).
171** In "The Cartridge Family," Homer joins his NRA buddies at a shooting range. We see him make some very clean shots through a series of soda cans. Pull out to reveal that Homer just took out the display at the snack stand.
172* ShotgunWedding:
173** Homer and Marge marry after she gets pregnant, in a chapel appropriately named "Shotgun Pete's".
174** The Tom Sawyer's episode "Simpson Tall Tales" features a literal shotgun wedding, with Marge remembering hers. She asks Abraham Simpson if he is ever going to lower the gun as she and Homer have been married for so long. He concedes the point and she runs away the moment he lowers the gun.
175* ShoutOut: Frequent and unabashed. Listing all the examples would fill a [[ShoutOut/TheSimpsons page]]. Notably, the creators have said that they have parodied ''Film/CitizenKane'' so many times that one could recreate the entire movie just from The Simpsons clips. They have also said the same about the first two ''Film/TheGodfather'' movies.
176* ShowSomeLeg: Marge once distracted Chief Wiggum by flashing her (temporarily surgically enhanced) breasts. Which Krusty referred to as "Mugumbos". Which happened to be the control word for Stampy the Elephant.
177* ShowWithinAShow: ''The Krusty The Klown Show'' is a popular show for Bart and Lisa to watch. It contains variety acts, guest stars, and additional shows.
178** ''JustForFun/TheItchyAndScratchyShow'' is about a cat and mouse.
179** Occasionally, ''Krusty'' airs ''Worker and Parasite'' and ''Trans-Clown O Morphs''.
180* ShowingUpChauvinists: In "The Secret War of Lisa Simpson", Lisa enrolls at Rommelwood Military Academy, and ends up becoming its first female graduate despite sexist bullying from her peers and the StayInTheKitchen attitudes of many of the staff.
181* ShownTheirWork:
182** When Homer was recounting his previous trip to New York City he mentioned that he was traveling to Harrisburg to buy an irregular coat and had to transfer from a bus at the Port Authority Bus Terminal to a train at Penn Station. This is entirely accurate as one would make such a walking transfer when traveling to Harrisburg and the PABT was accurately depicted as well in its pre-rebuild configuration.
183** In "Homer Scissorhands", when Milhouse tells Bart about the [[TearJerker first chapter]] of the ''WesternAnimation/FindingNemo'' DVD that his mother always skipped, the shot of the DVD menu shows the actual chapter titles from the DVD ("New Parents", "First Day of School", "Field Trip", and "The Drop Off"), except with the actual Chapter 2, "Main Titles", skipped.
184* TheShrink: A therapist attempted to cure Homer of his Bart-strangling obsession (or at least make him understand it's not acceptable to strangle children) by having somebody strangle Homer all the time. When Homer was "cured", the therapist said the road of recovery was far from over but had a change of mind when Homer confessed to have lied about having insurance.
185* ShrunkenOrgan: Mr. Burns' heart has been shown as a shriveled black lump that beats every now and again. Additionally, after crawling out from beneath a landslide, Mr. Burns tilted his head and banged his ear in hope of clearing out the gravel from his other ear. The gravel came flying out that ear, along with his walnut-sized brain.
186* ShutUpKiss: Nelson gives one of these to Lisa in "Lisa's Date With Density" when she won't stop talking. However, after a couple seconds, Nelson begins to enjoy the kiss.
187* SickEpisode: None of these occupy the entire episode, but: Lisa gets the mumps in "Bart's Dog Gets an F". Many people get the Osaka Flu in "Marge in Chains". Homer gets food poisoning in "Selma's Choice". Everybody except Lisa gets queasy from eating organic foods in "A Star is Torn". Lisa gets a cold in "Lisa Gets an A".
188* SicklyGreenGlow: Anything radioactive gives off this effect. In "The Springfield Files", Mr. Burns reveals that "a lifetime of working in a nuclear power plant has given me a healthy green glow."
189* SideEffectsInclude: In "Barting Over", Homer appears in an ad for topical treatment for impotence and hair loss:
190-->'''Announcer:''' Possible side effects include loss of scalp and penis.\
191'''Homer:''' What did he say about my scalp?
192* SignatureInstrument: Lisa owns a saxophone which she plays a lot, including in the intro, and is a major plot point in some episodes including "Lisa's Sax" which tells about the origins of it, and "Moaning Lisa" where she plays the saxophone while writing a [[MelancholyMusicalNumber song about her bad mood]].
193* SignificantBirthdate:
194** In Season 10's "Viva Ned Flanders," Homer casually mentions that Barney's birthday is the same as [[UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler Hitler's]] [April 20th] (in syndicated reruns and on the Season 10 DVD version, the date was changed to July 15th, and the celebrity whom Homer knows has that birthday is Lassie the dog).
195** Bart's birthday is [[AprilFoolsDay April 1st]].
196* SignificantMonogram: Subverted/averted with Marge, who in her high school days was a StrawFeminist known as Marge Bouvier; since her marriage to Homer and assumption of the name Marge Simpson, she has been (by and large) rather tolerant of her new position as the [[CloserToEarth voice of reason]] Homer rarely heeds.
197* SingleTargetSexuality: Waylon Smithers, particularly in the early years, is "Burns-sexual;" [[RunningGag Burns never catches on.]] It was decided early on to have Smithers be in love with Burns, but there was a lot of debate about whether it was a matter of Single-Target Sexuality or if he was just gay. The latter seems to have won out in recent years, with Smithers having ex-boyfriends and going to a gay resort on vacation, subverting this trope. However, some writers, like Al Jean, still play this straight with the character.
198* SilenceYouFool:
199** One example near the end of the second act from the episode "Bart Sells His Soul":
200--->'''Homer:''' Bart, you didn't finish your spaghetti and Moe balls!\
201'''[[OrganAutonomy Homer's brain]]:''' Silence, you fool. It can be ours!\
202'''Homer:''' ''[eating]'' Run, boy! Run! Run for your life, boy!
203** Also, Bart says one to Lisa after she teases him about Laura and Bart in the episode "New Kid on the Block":
204--->'''Bart:''' Maybe Laura could watch us.\
205'''Lisa:''' Oh, I get it. ''[seductively]'' Bart, the babysitter's here. Let me tuck you in. ''[making smacking noises]''\
206'''Bart:''' Silence!
207** Again in 'Skinner's Sense of Snow':
208--->'''Skinner:''' All right, that's it. I'm writing all your names on the detention list in my mind.\
209'''Bart:''' Silence, Seymour. We're in charge now.
210** And again in 'Girly Edition'
211--->'''Lisa:''' Bart, get out of my anchorchair.\
212'''Bart:''' Silence, Octopussy.
213** And again in 'Lisa the Skeptic' but from the so-called angel when it's revealed that it's not an apocalypse but instead turns out to be an opening for the Heavenly Hills shopping mall in Springfield:
214--->'''Lisa:''' Well, there you go. I hope you all learned a valuable--\
215'''Angel:''' Silence! Prepare for the end... the end of high prices! Behold, the grand opening of the Heavenly Hills Mall.
216** Also one from Mr. Burns in "Homer's Enemy", as well, when criticizing Frank Grimes in his office.
217** From "Sunday, Bloody Sunday":
218--->'''Wally:''' Well, I'm convinced. Tell you what, Mr. Murdoch. Let's just split the difference. The boys and I will just crouch here quietly, and take it easy on the snacks...\
219'''UsefulNotes/RupertMurdoch:''' Silence! ''[he throws something on the ground, and two puffs of smoke appear, revealing three policemen]'' Seize them!
220** The trope also appears in the Gracie Films logo sequence in this episode, as well.
221** From "New Kids on the Bleech"
222--->'''Skinner:''' Are you adequately prepared to rock?\
223''[the audience cheers wildly]''\
224'''Skinner:''' SILENCE!
225* TheSilentBob: Maggie can't speak due to being a baby but often communicates a lot by pointing and rolling her eyes.
226* SilentOffer: In "Bart Gets Hit By a Car", Homer sues Burns for hitting Bart while in a car. After Burns destroys Homer's credibility in the eyes of the jury, he offers to settle with Homer.
227-->'''Burns:''' I'm going to write a figure on this piece of paper. It's not quite as large as the last one, but I think you'll find it fair.\
228''[Burns draws a giant zero]''\
229'''Hutz:''' I think we should take it.
230* SilentSnarker: Maggie is probably the smartest of the Simpson family considering how much she rolls her eyes at their antics.
231* SillyPrayer:
232** Defied in ''Flanders' Book of Faith'', a licensed book. Ned Flanders considers starting a prayer with "Howdy-doo, lord", but then decides against it.
233** Discussed in the episode "Black-Eyed Please" where Ned Flanders wants to pray for Homer Simpson in the hospital but Homer wants Ned to pray to Franchise/{{Superman}}. Ned refuses.
234** In "Bart vs. Thanksgiving", after Bart gets sent to his room for ruining Lisa's Thanksgiving centerpiece, a sore Homer leads the rest of family in saying grace at the dinner table.
235--->'''Homer:''' And Lord, we're especially thankful for nuclear power, the cleanest, safest energy source there is... except for solar, which is just a pipe dream. Anyway, we'd like to thank you for the occasional moments of peace and love our family's experienced. Well, not today. You saw what happened! Oh, Lord, be honest. Are we the most pathetic family in the universe or what?!
236--->'''All:''' Amen.
237--->'''Selma:''' Worst prayer yet.
238** In "The Wife Aquatic", when Homer and Bart go overboard after the fishing boat they were on capsizes in a ferocious storm.
239--->'''Homer:''' Oh, Mother Sea, giver of fish, taker of boats, toilet to the world. The Greeks call you Poseidon, the Romans... ComicBook/{{Aquaman}}. Look into thy starfish heart and protect our souls so we might live to go tubing on thee again. ''(beat)'' Do you think your mother will ever remarry?
240--->'''Bart:''' In about two seconds.
241--->'''Homer:''' Why you little--?! ''(strangles Bart)''
242** One of the earlier episodes featured Bart giving this little gem in place of grace before dinner:
243---> '''Bart''': Rubba-Dub-Dub, thanks for the grub.
244* SimilarSquad: It's been used several times: a nice version of the family, a cooler version of Bart and Lisa, the inbred version of Springfield in Shelbyville...
245* SimpleCountryLawyer:
246** When Homer addresses the church congregation about Ned's age in "Viva Ned Flanders", Homer admits he's not a "fancy big city lawyer", to which the congregation gasps.
247** When ranting against the recent area code changes in "A Tale of Two Springfields," Homer takes on the mannerisms of and sticks his thumbs under dynamite straps, as though they were suspenders, like a country lawyer.
248** The lawyer from "The Monkey Suit" falls into this trope as well.
249--->'''Lawyer:''' As the chick said to her mama, "I hope I don't cluck up!" (audience says "Awwwww")
250%%* SimultaneousArcs: "Trilogy of Error".
251* SistineSteal:
252** Homer manages to paint the Art/SistineChapel's [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Simpsons-michaelangelo.jpg ceiling piece]] with him in the place of Adam and Marge in the place of God, while Bart and Lisa emerge from Marge's dress.
253** Mr. Burns invokes this trope in his own short film, in which his own face replaces that of Adam in an ultimate show of arrogance.
254* SitcomArchNemesis: Homer has Ned Flanders, Bart has Sideshow Bob (and for some reason, Dr. Demento), while Maggie has Gerald (the baby with the unibrow).
255* SkeletonMotif: Bully Jimbo Jones wears a skull t-shirt.
256* SkewedPriorities: Agent Mulder ({{Expy}} from ''Series/TheXFiles'') in "The Springfield Files". A shipment of drugs and illegal weapons is coming into New Jersey that night, but Mulder thinks investigating an unsubstantiated UFO sighting is more important.
257* SkinnyDipping:
258** In "500 Keys", Homer remembers going skinny dipping with Duff Man. This might be how he ended up with the key to the Duff brewery.
259** Lisa was arrested for skinny-dipping in the Fermentarium at Duffworld (admittedly, she was stoned after drinking the water in the boat ride for a dare) while crying "I am the Lizard Queen!"
260* SkywardScream:
261** [=McBain=], during one of his movies, after his partner is fatally shot:
262--->'''[=McBain=]:''' MENDOZAAA!!!
263** An example from "Bart Gets Famous", after Homer thinks Bart turned into a box:
264--->'''Homer:''' DAMN YOU! A BOX!!!
265** When Bart and his elephant are missing. Homer had made a deal to sell the elephant, prompting:
266--->'''Homer:''' He took Bart too? That wasn't part of the deal blackheart! THAT WASN'T PARRRRT!
267* SlapYourselfAwake: Bart smacks himself to stay awake studying in the episode where he actually buckles down and tries to get a passing grade.
268* SleazyPolitician: The illiterate, tax-cheating, wife-swapping, pot-smoking spendocrat, (Mayor) Diamond Joe Quimby. [[ITakeOffenseToThatLastOne Quimby responds he is no longer illiterate]].
269* SleepDeprivation:
270** Homer gets a second job in the episode where Lisa gets a pony. He works days (his old power plant job) and nights (his new job in the Kwik-E-Mart). He gets no sleep and is absolutely exhausted.
271** In one "WesternAnimation/TreehouseOfHorror" segment, the kids try to stay awake as long as possible. If they fall asleep, Willy [[Franchise/ANightmareOnElmStreet kills them]]. They're exhausted, but it's a rather desperate attempt because they know they can't stay awake forever.
272** In one episode, the flight patterns are changed so planes fly over Evergreen Terrace. The whole family can't sleep and are in poor shape physically as a result.
273** Marge can't sleep well when Homer starts snoring.
274** Maggie is crying non-stop in one episode when they try to take away her dummy. Cue the whole family looking like zombies without their sleep.
275** In "Homer And Apu", Apu once works a 96 hour shift at the Kwik-E-Mart. By the end of it, he's hallucinating that he's a hummingbird.
276** In the episode "Little Girl In The Big Ten", when Lisa befriends and spends time with two college girls, she attends a poetry reading session with them in the evening. She forgot to do a project for her class and has to do it at night. She falls asleep in class the next day and destroys her model. It's still the best work in her class and she gets an A minus.
277* SleepingSingle: One of the first clues that Luann and Kirk Van Houten might have a troubled marriage was Kirk's proposal to "push the twin beds together" after he procured a sex tonic. Later seasons saw them get divorced, though as of present they're back together.
278* SlidingScaleOfContinuity: Level 2 (StatusQuoIsGod). They're always the same family with kids of the same ages that have the same neighbors, etc. Lisa ''did'' permanently become a vegetarian, though, and some such minor happenings.
279* SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism: In the middle. The sense of humor is mainly more cynical and have a few mean-spirited characters but there are a lot of feel-good, heartfelt moments and a genuine feeling of love between family and friends that it makes the show more balanced on the scale.
280* SlowLoadingInternetImage: Comic Book Guy is seen downloading a nude image of Captain Janeway. Just as it gets revealing, a popup for Homer's Internet service appears, leading Comic Book Guy to remark "Hmm... the Internet King. [[TheInternetIsForPorn Perhaps he can provide faster nudity."]]
281* SmallNameBigEgo: The town of Springfield itself. Listing everything with "Springfield" in the name would be a fruitless endeavor. Hell, they even have the Hollywood sign-style "SPRINGFIELD" spelled out on the mountainside!
282* SmallTownRivalry: Between Springfield and Shelbyville.
283* SmartPeopleKnowLatin: To cover going on a road trip, Bart tells his family he's going to the National Grammar Rodeo.
284-->'''Lisa:''' I'm the best student in school, how come I never heard about this competition?\
285'''Bart:''' Maybe because you are, as we say in Latin, a "dorkus malorkus."\
286'''Lisa:''' That's not Latin. Mom, Bart's faking it.\
287'''Marge:''' Lisa, you've had your glory. Now it's Bart's turn.
288* SmartPeopleWearGlasses: Homer finds glasses in one episode and immediately starts acting smart, even though the math he starts reciting is nonsense. His screw-up itself was a ShoutOut to ''Film/TheWizardOfOz'', where the Scarecrow makes the same mistake (uncorrected).
289* SmellySkunk:
290** Homer's sprayed by some skunks after his panda rape in "Homer vs. Dignity".
291** "Sleeping With The Enemy": In revenge for teasing her, Lisa gets Nelson to play a prank on Terri and Sherri by giving them a present with a skunk inside which sprays them both.
292** Used in "Thirty Minutes Over Tokyo" as punishment for Marge [[AccidentalMisnaming getting the host's name wrong]] on a Japanese game show.
293* SmokingHotSex:
294** Season 15 episode, "The Ziff Who Came to Dinner", has this trope in one scene with Artie Ziff and Selma after they had quick sex with Selma smoking.
295** "Regarding Margie": Happens near the end of the second act [[SexDressed with Skinner and Edna seen with their ragged clothes on after sex]] and Edna smoking a cigarette afterwards.
296--->'''Skinner:''' You know, I think about you all the time.\
297'''Edna:''' Birthday's over, Seymour.
298* SmokingIsEdgy: Krusty the Clown regularly smokes off stage to show that he is a DepravedKidsShowHost who HatesTheJobLovesTheLimelight. The episode "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS9E15TheLastTemptationOfKrust The Last Temptation of Krust]]" shows him smoking on stage as well after reinventing himself as an edgier, anti-establishment stand up comedian.
299* SmorgasbordTest: In "A Tale of Two Springfields", a badger takes up residence in the Simpsons' doghouse, and Lisa looks up what it eats on [=WhatBadgersEat.com=]. She tells Bart they subsist on a diet of stoats, voles, and marmots, and have been also known to eat woodpeckers, prompting him to try and feed it Rod and Todd's pet woodpecker.
300* SmugSnake: Mr. Burns sometimes takes this trope to ridiculous extremes. For example, one episode involved a plan on Burns' part to [[KickTheDog block sunlight from reaching Springfield]], and a town hall meeting was held about it. During the meeting, the town was being shown what Burns' oil drilling operation did to Bart's pet dog, who was shown needing to use wheels just to walk down the hallway. Burns walks in at EXACTLY this moment, and, with a big smirk on his face, says this:
301-->'''Burns:''' Oh those wheels are squeaking a bit. Perhaps I could sell him a little oil.
302* SnakeCharmer: Parodied in the episode "Kiss Kiss, Bang Bangalore" when Mr. Burns introduces himself to his outsourced employees in India by emerging, snake-like, from a wicker basket as Smithers plays the pungi.
303* SnubByOmission: The show has done this to Homer twice, with the Employee of the Week awards (which he loses to an inanimate carbon rod), as well as the Town Pride Awards (which everyone gets but him).
304* SoapboxSadie: Lisa, with the given soapbox being whatever the writers feel like using (usually Lisa prefers a Liberal stance).
305* SoapboxSquare: The park with [[OurFounder the statue]] of Jebediah Springfield is a common location for big speeches.
306%%* SoapWithinAShow: "Search For the Sun", which was featured in numerous episodes.
307%%** Also "It Never Ends."
308* SockItToThem: When Homer and his buddies become a vigilante force because the police can't catch the ClassyCatBurglar stalking the neighborhood, Jimbo joins. He's told that his weapon should be sack full of doorknobs. A news anchor interviewing Homer later mentions that beatings with such a weapon have skyrocketted.
309* SoccerHatingAmericans: ''The Simpsons'' provides what may be the definitive example:
310-->'''Announcer:''' Fast-kickin', low-scorin'. And ties? You bet!
311* SodaCandySplosion:
312** "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS6E9HomerBadman Homer Badman]]" has Homer improvising a grenade out of a can of cola and a bag of pop-rocks to cover his escape after he steals the Gummi Venus di Milo.
313** "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS19E3MidnightTowboy Midnight Towboy]]" has an odd variant. When Homer rushes to the Kwik-E-Mart to purchase more milk for Maggie, he discovers that all the milk has been purchased. Apu tells him that he sold it all to the teenagers, as there is a rumor that mixing milk, Mentos, and lottery ticket scrapings to [[ImprovisedJetPack make jet pack fuel]].
314--->'''Homer:''' Does it work?\
315'''Jimbo:''' ''[floating a foot off the ground with a jetpack strapped to his back]'' Kinda.
316** In "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS19E13TheDebarted The Debarted]]", after learning their new friend Donny is an accomplice of Skinner, Bart and Nelson intend to punish him by giving him crates of Diet Coke and Mentos. Skinner stops them before they can do so, however Donny ultimately pushes the crates together and creates a foamy explosion to help the boys escape.
317* SolarPoweredMagnifyingGlass: Referenced in Marge's monologue at the end of "Marge vs. the Monorail".
318-->'''Marge:''' And that was the only folly the people of Springfield ever embarked upon. Except for the Popsicle stick skyscraper. And the 50-foot magnifying glass. ''[the sun focused through the magnifying glass sets the Popsicle stick skyscraper on fire]'' And that escalator to nowhere.
319* SoldHisSoulForADonut:
320** "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS5E5TreehouseOfHorrorIV Treehouse of Horror IV]]" is the {{Trope Namer|s}}. Homer sells his soul to the Devil (played by Ned Flanders, of all people) for a donut. He tries to cheat the devil by not finishing it.
321** "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS7E4BartSellsHisSoul Bart Sells His Soul]]": [[JustifiedTrope In an attempt to prove the soul doesn't exist]], Bart writes "Bart Simpson's Soul" on a piece of paper and sells it to Milhouse for $5. Milhouse in turn trades it to the Comic Book Guy for Alf pogs. Bart, meanwhile, experiences some unusual happenings, apparently due to now being soulless, and spends the episode trying to retrieve the piece of paper.
322** "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS7E10TheSimpsons138thEpisodeSpectacular The Simpsons 138th Episode Spectacular]]" contains a clip cut from "Treehouse of Horror IV" where Bart says he'd sell his soul for a Formula 1 racecar. The Devil immediately appears and says he can arrange that, but Bart changes his mind.
323* SoldiersAtTheRear: In "Simpson Tide", Homer joined the US Naval Reserve expecting it to be like this. It doesn't quite go according to plan.
324%%* SolemnEndingTheme: "Mother Simpson".
325* SolidCartoonFacialStubble: Characters like Homer and Lenny who have brown mouths are suggested as actually having stubbly beards (Homer is explicitly shown shaving it at one point, though it grows back within seconds).
326* SorryOciffer: Homer and Barney get stopped by Chief Wiggum because he thinks they're both drunk (he's right). Then he asks Homer to dance and he does pretty well... Until Barney asks Wiggum to use the Breathalyzer.
327* SorryToInterrupt: Played with in "The Great Money Caper":
328-->'''Marge:''' [''enters the kitchen]'' Why are you frosting that old throw pillow?\
329'''Homer:''' I could ask ''you'' the very same question!\
330'''Marge:''' Uh... should I just back out of the room?\
331'''Homer:''' Would you? ''[Marge leaves]''
332* SoulCrushingDeskJob: Homer Simpsons is well established as hating his job as a security director at the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant. In a flashback episode, when he and Marge only have two children, he figures a way to support his family with a job he will enjoy more — he wants to work in a bowling alley. Funny that Homer happily trades his cushy job with a place where he has to work manually or deal with dirty shoes. Homer ecstatically quits, making sure Mr. Burns, the owner of the plant, knows how much Homer hated it. Then Marge realizes she's pregnant and Homer has to beg for his old, higher-paying job back. Mr. Burns re-hires him, but has a plaque mounted in Homer's small office that reads "Don't forget: You're here forever." Homer uses pictures of Maggie to cover letters in such a way that the plaque now reads: "Do it for her."
333* SoundEffectBleep:
334** "Guess Who's Coming to Criticize Dinner?" has Homer is driving and swearing (covered by sound effects) at other drivers. Even worse, there are impressionable kids with him. Worse still, he's swearing at an ''ambulance''.
335** Also present in other episodes like "Flaming Moe's" (on a TV program Homer was watching), "Homer and Apu" (in one of the scenes with James Woods), and "Treehouse of Horror IX" (the fact that one of the shorts features ''Series/TheJerrySpringerShow'' says it all).
336* SparklingStreamOfTears: Parodied when Lisa makes Music/LadyGaga cry.
337-->'''Lisa:''' ...Are you crying glitter?\
338'''Lady Gaga:''' Tiny diamonds. [[EyeScream Hurts like hell]].
339* SpecialGuest: The show holds the Guinness World Record for Most Guest Stars Featured in a TV Series. They even got UsefulNotes/TonyBlair (when he was still Prime Minister) and ReclusiveArtist Creator/ThomasPynchon, which was the only time his voice has been broadcast in the media.
340* SpeedDating: When Marge develops amnesia in "Regarding Margie", Patty and Selma take her to a speed dating event so she can meet a man who is not Homer.
341* SpellingForEmphasis: When Homer is admitted to college, he tries to brag about his smarts by spelling "smart", but messes it up.
342-->'''Homer''': "I am so smart! I am so smart! S-M-R-T! I mean S-M-A-R-T!"
343* SpellMyNameWithAnS:
344** Frequently in the subtitles -- "Crusty the Clown" instead of "Krusty the Klown", "Mo" instead of "Moe", and most egregiously, "Crabapple" instead of "Krabappel".
345** This also happens in the show itself with Itchy & Scratchy CEO Roger Meyers, whose surname has been inconsistently spelled as both "Meyers" and "Myers" over the course of the series.
346* SpermAsPeople:
347** In the episode "And Maggie Makes Three", Maggie's conception is portrayed with a bunch of clumsy, Homer-headed sperm.
348** In the episode "Brother, Can You Spare Two Dimes?", Homer's and Smithers's sperm samples are seen with the faces of their respective owners. Homer's sperm cells once again bump into one another.
349* SphereEyes: A majority of characters.
350* SpinOff: Of ''Series/TheTraceyUllmanShow''. And the whole concept is spoofed in the episode "The Simpsons Spin-Off Showcase".
351* SpinTheBottle:
352** The beginning of "The Way We Weren't" has Bart, Milhouse, Terri and Sherri (along with their cousin who has a crush on Bart) play this game in Bart's Treehouse. Milhouse spins the bottle and stops at Terri/Sherri's cousin. When Milhouse attempts to kiss her, he [[AccidentalKiss accidentally kisses Homer]] instead when he climbed Bart's Treehouse.
353** In "Colonel Homer", after being locked in the room with Lurleen Lumpkin and being kissed by her, flashbacks of Homer's kissing attempts is seen, when in his childhood, he is seen playing this game only to get slapped by the girl who the bottle is stopped at.
354* SpinningPaper: Used all the time. One time, this was lampshaded with the headline: "Spinning newspaper injures printer."
355* SpitTake:
356** In "Lisa's Date With Density", Milhouse interrupts Lisa's confession on her crush on Nelson by taking a suave drink of milk. When she finishes, he spits it back into his straw, causing the carton to explode.
357** {{Invoked|Trope}} by Homer in "The Computer Wore Menace Shoes" when he sees the price of a top-of-the-budget computer and reacts by grabbing a cup of coffee, drinking it, and spitting it out.
358* SplitScreenPhoneCall: Used multiple times including in "Mother Simpson" and "Burns Baby Burns".
359* TheSponsor: In the Season 4 episode "Marge in Chains", Lionel Hutz calls upon David Crosby when he's tempted by "...that bottle of delicious bourbon. Brownest of the brown liquors..."
360* SpontaneousMustache: In a few episodes of we see Homer shave, be clean-shaven for a moment, and then spontaneously develop his PermaStubble.
361* SpoofAesop:
362** The end of "Blood Feud" has the family debating on what the moral of the story is, and eventually giving up by saying it was just a bunch of stuff that happened.
363** "Tennis the Menace" has one delivered by Homer, after all four have been replaced by professional tennis players on the court: "It's better to watch stuff than to do stuff."
364** "Homer Badman": Marge's moral: "As long as everyone keeps filming one another justice will be done."
365* SpoofingInTheRain:
366** In "Who Shot Mr. Burns, Part One" Mr. Burns climbs a lamp post in the same way Creator/GeneKelly did.
367** In "Brawl in the Family" Groundskeeper Willie sings and dances around in acid rain.
368* SpookyAnimalSounds: A cawing crow is often heard in establishing shots of the Springfield nuclear plant, as a sign of the ominous and unsafe doings that often occur therein.
369* SpotlightStealingSquad:
370** Many of the celebrity cameos, but Lady Gaga in "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS23E22LisaGoesGaga Lisa Goes Gaga]]" stands out.
371** Homer in the Scully-era episodes, especially during the 9th, 10th, and 11th seasons, which wore on fans' nerves and is cited as one of the reasons why the show's quality is in the toilet. The show is meant to have an ensemble cast, but more than '''half''' the episodes from Season 10 focus on Homer finding a new job or hobby.
372** Lisa gets this in the more recent seasons, with many episodes focusing on her cause of the week or feeling out of place at home or school.
373* SprayingDrinkFromNose: In a flashback episode, Bart finds his niche as ClassClown when he makes Milhouse squirt milk out of his nose from laughing.
374* SpyCam:
375** In one episode, Maggie is placed on a day-care center where the other babies bully her. Homer and Marge decide after some time of this happening (but not really knowing why Maggie is acting so sullen other than it has to do with the center) to get a nanny-cam which is concealed on her hair bow.
376** In "Homer and Apu", Homer is given a giant novelty hat with a loudly whirring camera inside to get evidence of Apu's unhygienic food selling practices. When Apu confuses the whirring of the camera's focusing motor with the buzzing of a bee, he tells it to Homer -- who instantly freaks out about having a bee on his hat and stomps said hat (and the camera) flat.
377* SqueamishAboutSlaughter: Lisa's class is shown [[https://youtu.be/zR_4h5A5z_A?t=60 an educational film]] about the food chain. In the film, a student becomes visibly distraught after being taken on a tour of a meat packing plant by the host.
378-->'''Cowboy:''' Come on Jimmy, lets take a look at the killing floor.
379-->'''Jimmy:''' ''gasp!''
380-->'''Cowboy:''' Don't let the name throw you Jimmy. [[BaitAndSwitchComment It's not really a floor, it's more of a steel grating]].
381* StabTheSalad: Several times, memorably in Sideshow Bob's first escape, Homer kept scaring Bart by wielding large deadly implements for innocent things.
382* StagingAnIntervention: Homer recalls playing ''TabletopGame/{{Pictionary}}''earlier in the week. It was really an intervention.
383-->'''Homer:''' I hope it's as fun as ''Pictionary'' was last week!\
384'''Bart:''' Dad, we weren't playing ''Pictionary''. That was an intervention to stop your drinking.
385* StalkerShot:
386** In Season 4 "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS4E17LastExitToSpringfield Last Exit to Springfield]]", in a union meeting, after Carl tells everyone their new contract makes them give up their dental plan in exchange for a free keg of beer, Homer slowly realizes that he has to pay for Lisa's braces and rejects the contract and convinces everyone to reject it too. The camera cuts to the keg to reveal the beer tap has a hidden camera inside and Mr. Burns watching them through the monitor.
387** In Season 6 "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS6E18AStarIsBurns A Star is Burns]]", when the film festival judges are voting on which film should win, Mayor Quimby and Krusty votes for Mr. Burn's film. The camera then pans to a sandwich where it's revealed that the olive on the sandwich is actually a camera and then the scene cuts to Mr. Burns who is watching the judges on the monitor to see if they're voting for him.
388* StalkerWithoutACrush: "The Old Man and Lisa" has Burns going broke because of his YesMan underlings, and feeling convinced that hiring Lisa would get him back on track what with her integrity. However, Lisa refuses to work for him, because she is convinced he does not deserve to be helped. Burns, in turn, follows her around in a very stalkerish manner, begging that she take the job.
389* StampOfRejection: In "Homer vs Patty and Selma", Homer applies for a chauffeur's license and, much to his chagrin, is forced to take his driving test under the guidance of his hated sisters-in-law, Patty and Selma. When he fails the scantron part of the test because he didn't fill in completely fill in one of the circles, both of them gleefully stamp his test with a red FAIL stamp.
390* StartMyOwn:
391** Bart starts his own casino after getting kicked out of Burns's casino in "$pringfield", putting Squeaky Voiced Teen in his place.
392** In "The Joy of Sect", Mr. Burns attempts to create his own religion after he hears that the Movementarian's leader has tax-exempt status. The unveiling ceremony [[GoneHorriblyWrong went horribly wrong]], however, as a wayward spark from a firework destroyed his costume, and he fell from the balcony trying to put himself out.
393--->'''Lenny:''' Meh. He's alright, but he's no bowl of Special K!
394* StarterMarriage: Lampshaded in an episode, which shows Bart (now a teenager) in a relationship with a [[HighSchoolSweethearts high school girlfriend]], who mentions that they're supposed to vow to be together forever and get divorced within five years.
395* StationIdent: For [[Creator/Channel4 Channel 4]]. Homer manages to get a six-pack of Duff on a power line, [[HilarityEnsues then tries to grab it off again before resorting to]] [[TooDumbToLive just drinking it off the line itself.]]
396* StatusQuoIsGod: There are numerous aspects of the setting that are immoveable, and almost any changes are either reverted by the end or ignored as the next episode just continues like nothing happened. This is occasionally subverted, usually in regards to the introduction of new characters.
397** Among the standard parts of the show: Homer gets fired [[GeorgeJetsonJobSecurity on a regular basis]] and/or gets a new job but will be at the plant in the next episode, Lisa meets a new best friend but will have some sort of fallout, Bart learns to better behave and start doing his schoolwork but is back to being a troublemaker, Homer and Flanders become best friends only to be enemies again in the next episode, Moe finds some shred of happiness only to be miserable and suicidal again, Barney gets into rehab but is always seen at Moes, etc.
398** Got a big LampshadeHanging in "Pygmoelian", where Moe's face is crushed by a falling backdrop, undoing the MagicPlasticSurgery that made him handsome and [[SnapBack reverting him to normal]]. The last scene has Moe asking why he got his old face back instead of being deformed; the episode ends before he can say "It makes no sense."
399** From "Bart vs. Lisa vs. the Third Grade"
400--->'''Skinner:''' Well, if this episode has taught us anything, it's that nothing works better than the status quo. Bart, you're promoted back to the fourth grade.\
401'''Bart:''' Yay!\
402'''Skinner:''' And Lisa, you have a choice. You may continue to be challenged in third grade or return to second grade and be merely a big fish in a small pond.\
403'''Lisa:''' Big fish! Big fish!\
404'''Homer:''' ''[satisfied]'' The status quo.
405** "The Principal and the Pauper", anyone? The episode ends with the town agreeing that they should ignore the new real Seymour Skinner and stick with the fake one that they've known for years, including his own mother.
406** Worse with "Donnie Fatso". After killing Fat Tony off his cousin Fit Tony takes over, puts on weight, and becomes known as Fit Fat Tony, or Fat Tony for short.
407** A similar (more minor) case with the death of Snowball II. Lisa finds replacement cats and eventually came upon an identical cat who she calls her "Snowball II" rather than "Snowball V" (to save money on a new dish). Lampshaded when Principal Skinner overhears this and Lisa replies with his real name mentioned above.
408** The Season 22 episode "The Blue and the Gray". Marge stops dying her hair and lets it revert to a natural gray color. This causes an uproar throughout the family and the town residents, and makes Marge the subject of many stereotypes about seniors. [[spoiler:As it turns out, her sisters, Patty and Selma, have been dyeing their hair too.]] At the end, Marge goes back to blue, and everyone [[spoiler:except Homer, in an interesting blue twist, he dyes what's left of his hair blue]] laughs it off and life in Springfield goes on as normal.
409* StealingFromTheHotel: In the fifth season episode "The Boy Who Knew Too Much", we get this hilarious piece of conversation:
410-->'''Principal Skinner:''' You're stealing a table?\
411'''Homer:''' I'm not stealing it. Hotels expect you to take a few things. It's a souvenir!\
412'''Principal Skinner:''' Ah. Is that my necktie you're wearing?\
413'''Homer:''' Souvenir.
414* StealingTheCredit: A few times, but most memorable in the case of Moe stealing Homer's "Flaming Homer" drink and renaming it the "Flaming Moe", ''seconds'' after Homer had shown him how to make it.
415* StealthPun:
416** Any title with "Annoyed Grunt" in the title.
417** The captain's name in "Simpson Tide" is Tenille.
418* {{Sting}}: Used many, many times in the show by composer Alf Clausen.
419* StinkyFlower: In "Moe Baby Blues", the Springfield residents come to see the blooming of the Sumatran Century Flower. Its stench is so noxious that it [[WiltingOdor immediately kills nearby flowers]] and everyone runs back into their cars for cover, causing a massive traffic jam in the process.
420* StockAudioClip: Several of them.
421** Bart's catchphrase "Ay carumba!" One that was used in the early 1990s (mostly in seasons 2 and 3), and one that has been used since the late 2000s.
422** A version of Homer's annoyed grunt, originally debuted in the revised version of the pilot "Some Enchanted Evening", and was used sparingly in a few episodes (such as, for a example: "Marge in Chains" by his brain after he introduces himself as Mr. Burns.
423** Sideshow Bob's distinct shudder has been in use since its debut in "Cape Feare"
424** A recording Nelson's laugh has been re-used on occasion. (Such as "Bart Gets Famous")
425** Barney's belch (However, this is a much older sound effect that dates all the way back to the Tracey Ullman short "Burping Contest", by Bart).
426* StockFoodDepictions: Donuts are always beige with pink frosting, topped by multicolored sprinkles. The real-life Krispy Kreme even sells these!
427* StockFootage:
428** "Another Simpsons Clip Show" not only is a ClipShow, but also re-uses old animation in new contexts and with new dialog. Only a few short scenes were animated specifically for this episode.
429** Aside from that, the earlier seasons had a few scenes reused. For instance, footage of Homer comforting a concerned Marge from the end of "Lisa's Substitute" was later reused in "Bart the Murderer". And "Marge on the Lam" has a brief scene of Bart saying "We don't need a babysitter." that is clearly from Season 2. A list of reused animation can be found [[http://www.simpsoncrazy.com/lists/recycled here.]]
430* StockLateralThinkingPuzzle: From "The Simpsons 138th Spectacular":
431-->'''Announcer:''' Which popular Simpsons characters have died in the past year? If you guessed Bleeding Gums Murphy and Dr. Marvin Monroe, you are wrong. They were ''never'' popular.
432* StockNinjaWeaponry: The Comic Book Guy tries to win back his clients by offering them "Ninja Weapons" to buy. We get glimpses of a katana, kusarigama and shuriken among other things.
433* StockScream: In "Million Dollar Maybe", there's a video game on the fictitious Funtendo Zii console where every enemy kill would result in the WilhelmScream.
434* StolenCreditBackfire:
435** "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS3E5HomerDefined Homer Defined]]" presents an AccidentalHero variation of the trope, where Homer indeed saved the power plant from annihilation by himself, but did so through [[AchievementsInIgnorance sheer luck]]. He's lauded for his actions and is unwilling to admit it was all a fluke (though he suffers from depression over his secret), but things fall apart when he's called to give a talk to another plant, only for the same problem to happen again for real. Homer again succeeds by chance, this time with witnesses. He's subsequently subjected to the (relatively minor) humiliation of "[[PersonAsVerb pulling a Homer]]" ("to succeed at something despite idiocy") becoming a popular phrase.
436** In "Bart Gets an 'F'", Bart fakes being sick to get out of taking a test, then calls Milhouse for the answers. When Bart takes the test the next morning, Ms. Krabappel gives him an F, noting that he scored even worse than Milhouse.
437* StoppedCaring: Reverend Lovejoy at his worst will try to inspire the people of Springfield through God but doesn't really try hard sometimes. He said that he lost his passion when he encountered Ned Flanders.
438* StoppedDeadInTheirTracks:
439** Marge, who throughout "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS7E14ScenesFromTheClassStruggleInSpringfield Scenes from the Class Struggle in Springfield]]" was obsessed with hiding her family's "lower-class" nature in order to get in with the elite of Springfield, [[RuleOfSymbolism almost leaves her family behind her in an act of choosing class over them]]. However, she soon stops, hearing Homer say that now she's a better person, the family can see how awful they really are. She turns around and runs back to take her baby in her arms, choosing her family.
440** In "Hurricane Neddy", the people of Springfield volunteer to rebuild the Flanders' home after it got destroyed by a hurricane. However, [[TheAllegedHouse they do such a terrible job that it immediately collapses from a slight touch]]. As Ned tries to step away and wipe his glasses, one lens slips out and shatters, and Ned stops in his tracks and says:
441--->'''Ned:''' Now, calm down, Neddly-diddly-diddly-diddly-diddly. They did their best, shoddily-iddly-iddly-diddly. Gotta be nice, hostiddly-diddly-diddly-diddly-ah-[[PrecisionFStrike HELL]]-[[SuddenlyShouting diddly ding-dong-CRAP]]! [[RageBreakingPoint Can't you morons do anything RIGHT?!]]
442* StraightGay: Waylon Smithers doesn't portray, and is embarrassed by, stereotypical behavior but is still deeply attracted to Mr. Burns.
443* StrangeMindsThinkAlike:
444** In the episode "Replaceable You", where Homer gets a new assistant who turns on him and takes his job, he uses a secret Flanders told him to turn the tables. When asked where he learnt the secret, he declines to say, but states the initials are S.F. She immediately recognizes this as Stupid Flanders.
445** In "Marge On The Lam", Marge asks Homer to take her to the ballet. Homer agrees while we see his thought as to what ballet is - a bear in a Shriners-style fez and go-cart at the circus. Later, he tells Lenny that he's taking Marge to the ballet. Lenny replies " Going to see the bear in the little car, huh?"
446* StrangelySpecificHoroscope:
447** Segment "G-G-Ghost D-D-Dad" of "Treehouse of Horror XI" involves Homer's horoscope saying that he will die today. Lisa lampshades the trope by saying it's unusually specific. Worried, Marge looks at her horoscope, which says that her husband will die! Oddly, Homer focuses on the second part of his horoscope which says that an attractive coworker may compliment him, and he immediately thinks of his friend Lenny.
448** Subverted in "Skinner's Sense of Snow". When Homer and Ned crash Ned's car with his rooftop attached inside a crackers factory into a salt silo, a security guard says that his horoscope was right, but when he takes the paper out, it only says: "You will face challenges today."
449* StrawFan: Comic Book Guy is used to represent the worst of whatever nerd culture is needed at the time.
450* StrawVegetarian: Lisa tries to convince everyone not to eat meat at Homer's barbeque and eventually throws away the roasted pig. At the end of that episode, Lisa learns from Paul and Linda [=McCartney=] not to be judgemental about non-vegetarians, after which she mostly settles down — but it [[AesopAmnesia doesn't stop her occasionally lapsing into aggression in later episodes]], [[RuleOfFunny mostly as jokes.]]
451* StripperCopConfusion: Chief Wiggum, but he goes along with the assumption for the money.
452* StuckOnASkiLift: This happens to Homer. He tries to get off but ends up hanging upside down. ("Come on, gravity! You used to be cool!")
453* StudentsPlayingMatchmaker:
454** Bart is bribed into facilitating Principal Skinner and Mrs. Krabappel's relationship in "Grade School Confidential" after catching them making out in Martin Prince's playhouse.
455** In "Bart the Lover," Bart snoops through Ms. Krabappel's drawers in detention. Finding all her personal newspaper ads, he realizes how lonely she is and writes her a series of love letters under a pseudonym.
456* StuffedIntoATrashcan: Bart in "Bart the General"; Milhouse and Homer in "24 Minutes" (though in the latter's case, it's actually a dumpster).
457* StupidCrooks: In "Dumbbell Indemnity", Moe spends so much money on things for his new girlfriend that he decides to come up with a plan with Homer to steal his car, have it destroyed, and collect the insurance money. Homer steals Moe's car and is supposed to leave it on the train tracks, but he gets sidetracked by a showing at a drive-in theater for a movie about a monkey who is president. Having missed the train, Homer decides to drive the car off a cliff in plain view of everyone, including the police, which gets himself arrested.
458-->'''Moe:''' Homer, you moron.\
459'''Homer:''' Homer, you ''genius!''
460* StupidQuestionBait:
461** In "Marge vs. the Monorail" when Lyle Lanley is doing a presentation in Lisa's class.
462--->'''Lyle Lanley:''' Now, I'm here to answer any questions you children may have about the monorail.\
463'''Kid:''' Can it outrun The Flash?\
464'''Lyle Lanley:''' You bet.\
465'''Kid:''' Can Superman outrun The Flash?\
466'''Lyle Lanley:''' Eh, sure, why not.
467** When ex-president UsefulNotes/GeorgeHWBush moves to the neighbourhood, Homer pulls a prank on him, gluing a clown wig to his head before he has to give a speech:
468--->'''Bush:''' ...and that's why I will continue to oppose teen alcoholism. Any questions?\
469''[Everyone in the room raises their hand]''\
470'''Bush:''' Bearing in mind, I already explained about the wig...\
471''[Everyone lowers their hand]''
472* SubvertedPunchline: Channel 6's traffic reporter is Arnie Pie. His news report, done while reporting from a helicopter over the traffic, is called "Arnie in the Sky" (instead of "Pie in the Sky").
473%%* SubvertedTrope: The show subverted most of these tropes at one point or another. (this entry doesn't explain how anything actually gets subverted)
474* SubwaysSuck: In "The City of New York vs. Homer Simpson" Bart attempts to scam a bunch of indifferent New Yorkers while riding the subway. After licking a pole, he admits defeat.
475%%* SuckECheeses: Wall E. Weasel's.
476* SuckySchool: Springfield Elementary has apathetic or psychopathic teachers and staff and can be shown to be falling apart at any given time if it's funny.
477* SuddenAnatomy: When a subplot hinges on Homer not remembering Marge's eye color, a ''Simpsons'' character is drawn with irises for the first time.
478* SuddenlyBilingual: Despite his general lack of intelligence, several episodes have Homer suddenly demonstrating fluency in a foreign language with little to no explanation. In one case even speaking ''Penguin''.
479%%* SuddenSchoolUniform
480* SuicideBySea: "Homer the Moe" has Moe's bartending professor die this way.
481%%* SummerCampy: "Kamp Krusty".
482* SuperBowlSpecial: In the 2010 Super Bowl, there's the Coca-Cola commercial featuring Mr. Burns losing his money, followed by Apu giving him a Coke.
483* SuperFunHappyThingOfDoom: Homer is a sucker for this.
484-->'''Homer:''' [[SchmuckBait Ooh! Super Fun Happy Slide!]]
485* SureLetsGoWithThat:
486** In "Homie The Clown" Homer is being held at gunpoint by the local crime ring [[TotallyNotACriminalFront with a legitimate business façade]], who believe him to be Krusty the Klown, when the real Krusty bursts in.
487--->'''Homer:''' Krusty! You came to save me!\
488'''Krusty:''' Yeah... ''that's'' what I did.
489** In the episode "Last Exit to Springfield", Homer has to excuse himself during a union negotiation with Burns to use the bathroom. This leads to an OverlyLongGag of Homer looking through doors to find the bathroom, which cuts back to Burns discussing how the negotiation is going with Smithers. When Homer comes back:
490--->'''Burns:''' I take it you found the bathroom?\
491'''Homer:''' ''[guiltily]'' Uh...yeah.
492* SurpriseIncest: An episode has Mayor Quimby telling his date at a wedding to say she's his niece if anyone asks. She responds "I ''am'' your niece, Uncle Joe!", and Quimby mutters "Dear God, I'm an abomination!".
493* SurpriseMultipleBirth: Exaggerated and PlayedForLaughs in "Eight Misbehavin". Apu believes Manjula has given birth to one child, only for it to be revealed they have octuplets, much to his shock. It's explained that Manjula secretly took fertility drugs because they were struggling to conceive and that other characters also slipped her fertility drugs in an attempt to help. The rest of the episode focuses on the couple trying to cope with caring for eight babies when they only expected one.
494-->'''Manjula:''' Oh, my sweet husband, say hello to your firstborn child.
495-->'''Apu:''' You shall be the jewel of our lives.
496-->'''Dr Hibbert:''' Aww. Now say hello to your other seven children! [''opens doctor's coat to reveal more babies'']
497-->'''Apu:''' My... whaaa?!
498* SuspiciouslySpecificDenial:
499** In "Behind the Laughter", after Lisa reveals that Homer gave her anti-growth hormones:
500--->'''Homer:''' That's ridiculous. How could I even get all five necessary drops into her cereal? ''[beat]'' What?
501** In "The Great Money Caper":
502--->'''Blue-haired lawyer:''' Will you tell the court your whereabouts at the time of the carjacking?\
503'''Willie:''' I was alone in me Unabomber-style shack. I had nothing to do with that carjacking.\
504'''Blue-haired lawyer:''' ''Carjacking''? Who said anything about a ''carjacking''?!
505* SuspiciouslySpecificSermon: In "The Telltale Head", Reverend Lovejoy's sermon was about gambling and watching pro football on Sundays instead of attending church; cut to Homer, who is listening to headphones broadcasting a football game he's betting on.
506* SustainedMisunderstanding:
507** From "Marge vs. The Monorail":
508--->'''Marge:''' Homer, there's someone here who can help you!\
509'''Homer:''' Is it Batman?\
510'''Marge:''' No, he's a scientist.\
511'''Homer:''' Batman's a scientist.\
512'''Marge:''' ''It's not Batman''!
513** In "Bart After Dark":
514--->'''Marge:''' I'm here to share my moral outrage. But this time it's not about that giant inflatable "Dos Equis" bottle. It's about a certain house in our town.\
515'''Moe:''' Yeah, well what's wrong with this house? Is it the plumbing?\
516'''Marge:''' No. It's a house of ill fame. A house of loose ethics.\
517'''Kent Brockman:''' Is there a building code violation? A drainage issue? A surveying error?\
518'''Marge:''' ''[annoyed]'' The house is perfectly fine!\
519'''Chief Wiggum:''' Well, then quit bad-mouthing the house!\
520'''Otto:''' Yeah, leave the house alone!
521** From "Much Apu About Nothing":
522--->'''Lisa:''' You know, in a way, all Americans are immigrants. Except, of course Native Americans.\
523'''Homer:''' Yeah, Native Americans like us.\
524'''Lisa:''' No, I mean American Indians.\
525'''Apu:''' Like me.\
526'''Lisa:''' No, I mean...
527* SurvivalThroughSelfSacrifice: In the episode "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS6E14BartsComet Bart's Comet]]", a comet is heading straight for the town of Springfield and the people can't be evacuated due to events of the episode. The only possible chance for survival is a bomb shelter belonging Ned Flanders, but the shelter rapidly runs out of space when the entire town piles in. After a bit Ned is voted out of his own bomb shelter to free up more space, but his bravery in facing certain death causes everyone else to have a HeelRealization, and they leave the bunker to join him. Fortunately most of the comet is broken up by the atmosphere, resulting in it being reduced to a small size... and striking directly on the Flanders bomb shelter, which immediately collapses from the impact. This means that only those who left the bunker, fully intending to die, lived, while anyone who might have theoretically stayed behind would have been killed during the collapse of the bunker.
528* SwallowTheKey: In "On a Clear Day I Can't See My Sister", the manager of the Sprawl Mart locks his employees inside the store, and then taunts them by swallowing the bathroom key.
529* TheSwearJar: Homer having to deal with one of these whilst he's building a doghouse for Santa's Little Helper. He ends up shouting things like "Fiddle-dee-dee!" after stepping on rusty nails, and puts enough money into the jar to enable the purchase of a rather large and cosy doghouse — which is good, since the one Homer built sucked.
530* SymbolicDistance:
531** In "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS7E14ScenesFromTheClassStruggleInSpringfield Scenes from the Class Struggle in Springfield]]", Marge, at her last straw, snaps at her family and storms away from them up the hill towards the elite club she so desperately wants to join. The camera pans to show the others staying behind as she looks back at them, symbolising the divide that has grown between them throughout the episode. Soon after, she runs back and takes Maggie in her arms, choosing her family over superficial status.
532** In "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS10E16MakeRoomForLisa Make Room For Lisa]]", Homer and Lisa's relationship with each other goes through a rough patch, and Lisa tells Homer that she knows they love each other, but they're also two very different people and she expects them to drift further apart as time passes. Homer tells her he'll never let that happen... before the shot pans back to show [[PlayedForLaughs he's standing on a down-escalator that is literally moving him further away from her.]]
533[[/folder]]
534
535[[folder:T]]
536%%* TheTag: Seen in some of the newer episodes.
537* TagAlongActor:
538** In one episode, Creator/JamesWoods researches the job of a Kwik-E-Mart employee as a reference to ''Film/TheHardWay''. He mentions how he previously worked in a law firm for two months before his role in ''Film/TrueBeliever'' and for ''Film/{{Chaplin}}'' he actually traveled back in time.
539** Another episode had Mr. Burns hire Creator/MichaelCaine to impersonate Homer in order to convince Bart that he (Homer) didn't love him (Bart) anymore. Later in the episode Homer [[BrickJoke mentions]] that Caine had followed him around trying to get a handle on his character.
540* TakeThat: Several different targets, frequently for unknown reasons. For example, Arby's must have pissed some of the writers off really good, being the recipient of at least 4 cheap shots.
541** Even Christianity gets a big-time TakeThat in the form of an [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything apparent reference to it]] in "Don't Have A Cow, Mankind"
542--->'''Marge:''' We have the chosen one!\
543'''Soldier:''' Welcome, son! To survive, all we must do is eat your flesh.\
544'''Marge:''' Hold it right there, bub! What kind of civilized people eat the body and blood of their saviour?\
545''[Cue Reverend Lovejoy looking visibly awkward]''
546** There are also some more minor ones in other episodes, although generally mild.
547** The ''Amendment to Be'' cartoon details how if the amendment does not get through they'll sue Ted Kennedy, and claim he's gay if he fights back. This sounds suspiciously like the grubby tactics used by Senator UsefulNotes/JosephMcCarthy.
548** On one occasion the show even took a shot at its origins:
549--->'''Homer:''' It all happened in 1990! Creator/TraceyUllman was entertaining America [[Series/TheTraceyUllmanShow with songs, sketches, and crudely drawn filler material]].
550** Writer Bill Oakley insists that the episode "Two Bad Neighbors" is not a political attack on George Bush. "It's a ''personal'' attack on George Bush."
551** They're not too fond of the MediaNotes/{{Grammy|Award}}s, either. In one episode, Homer compliments Music/EltonJohn, and Elton John gives him a Grammy for it. Homer throws it into a trash can almost immediately.
552*** Another episode has Homer winning a Grammy with multiple characters treating it as junk.
553---->'''Homer:''' Here...[''Homer gives the busboy his Grammy as he has no money to give a tip'']\
554'''Busboy:''' Wow an award statue!...Oh, it's a Grammy...[''throws the Grammy off the balcony'']\
555'''Man Below:''' Hey! Don't throw your garbage down here!
556*** In another episode, Homer says there are no good awards and insists on it when Lisa tells him there's the Grammys. And to nail it home, [[OurLawyersAdvisedThisTrope a disclaimer rolls at that moment]] in which the writers say that they don't believe the Grammys are an award ''at all''.
557** In an episode where Abe is revealed to have been a 1950s wrestler and a heel, Homer tell him he wasn't a winner because he had to cheat at a fake sport. Burns replies (in a fourth wall joke) "Wrestling is fake? Why if that were true, (turns to face the camera directly) that would make every fan in the history of the sport a complete moron."
558** The episode "Apocalypse Cow" has a short segment of Bart driving a combine with funny results. For instance, he drives it over some clothes and they come out neatly folded. He drives it through a river and makes a literal cube of water. Then he goes over a pile of manure with it. The result? ''[[Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanAtWorldsEnd Pirates of the Caribbean 3]]'' [=DVDs=].
559* TakeThatAudience: "Bye Bye Nerdie" ends this way.
560* TakeThisJobAndShoveIt: "Apu, you can take this job and re-staff it!"
561* TakingTheBullet:
562** Apu takes a bullet for James Woods in "Homer and Apu".
563** In a parody of the trope, Homer jumps in front of Bart to get hit with the baptismal water in "Home Sweet Homediddly-Dum-Doodily."
564** Homer also practices taking a bullet while in bodyguard training in "Mayored to the Mob".
565* TakingYouWithMe: In "Deep Space Homer", one of the astronauts says that if he dies, he's taking Homer to hell with him.
566* TheTalk: In the episode, "All's Fair in Oven War", Homer gives one to Bart, traumatizing him and the rest of the Springfieldian children when it spreads like a virus.
567* TalkingHeads: A lot of the traditionally animated episodes of the Simpsons tended to have frequent 'zoom in' shots of a characters face when a character started to talk. Given the LimitedAnimation of some of the traditional episodes, it was likely a case to save time and resources.
568* TalkShowAppearance:
569** Happens twice in the episode "Homer Badman." After Homer is publicly accused of sexual harassment a TV tabloid program called "Rock Bottom" invites him on their show by promising him a chance to tell his side of the story. When the segment airs on TV they blatantly edit and manipulate the interview footage to make him seem like a pervert (and that he loses his temper and attacks the host), which only makes his situation worse. Later he tries to tell his side of the story again on a public access talk show, but since it airs in a graveyard timeslot no one sees it... except Groundskeeper Willie, who shows up to the Simpsons' home with evidence exonerating Homer.
570** In the "Treehouse of Horror IX" story "Starship Poopers", after Kang and Homer get into an argument after learning that the former is Maggie's real father, Bart suggests that they settle their differences on Jerry Springer. The appearance ends with Kang vaporizing everyone in the audience and killing Jerry himself.
571* TheTapeKnewYouWouldSayThat:
572** Subverted in "I'm Goin' to Praiseland": While on a rollercoaster ride, the coaster stops and a King David animatronic asks the kids in the coaster who disturbs King David. Nobody responds and a couple seconds later, King David says, "...Silence!"
573** The foundation repair instructional video from "Marge Gets a Job":
574--->'''Troy [=McClure=]:''' Now, do you have extruded poly-vinyl foam insulation?\
575'''Homer:''' No.\
576'''Troy [=McClure=]:''' Good.
577* TarAndFeathers:
578** Happens to Homer in "At Long Last Leave".
579** Also to Grandpa in "Bart of Darkness".
580--->'''Marge''': Remember how you got Grampa tarred and feathered?\
581'''Bart''': Sure, that was twenty minutes ago.\
582'''Grandpa:''' ''[appearing in doorway]'' Gonna be in the tub for a while.
583* TattooSharpie: An episode had Homer sent to mental institution and marked with an "INSANE" stamp on his right hand. Once he is declared sane, he has a very difficult time taking it off.
584* TaxmanTakesTheWinnings: Homer wins the lottery but for plot-relevant reasons has Barney turn in the ticket for the winnings. Barney gets a GiantNoveltyCheck, and the IRS guys get an even bigger GiantNoveltyCheck for their portion.
585* TeachersOutOfSchool: A number of episodes focused on things like Seymour Skinner's past as a Vietnam veteran, or Edna Krabappel's relationships.
586%%* TheTeamWannabe
587* TeamHandStack: In one episode Homer, Moe, Apu and Barney Whoa Bundied when deciding upon the name of their barbershop quartet, minus the hand raising/lowering. [[ThePeteBest Chief Wiggum]] wanted to join in ("You can't blame a guy for trying."), but he just gets glared at.
588* TheTeapotPose: Ned Flanders frequently takes this pose, in the form of placing one hand on his hip while waving with the other.
589* TechnicalEuphemism: In "In Marge We Trust", a younger Ned Flanders is coy about mentioning [[JokeOfTheButt his butt]], so he pauses shyly and then says, "buttocks".
590* TechnicalVirgin: In "Lisa's Wedding", Lisa wonders if she should wear white for her wedding as she had been with Milhouse previously. She and Marge then agree that Milhouse doesn't count.
591* TeenageWasteland: "Das Bus", which was a parody of ''Literature/LordOfTheFlies''.
592* TelecomTree: In [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS18E5GIAnnoyedGrunt "G.I. (Annoyed Grunt)"]], Marge Simpson rallies everyone in Springfield for her plan to get rid of the U.S. army's occupation of Springfield. She even has a diagram of this, which starts with her calling Ned Flanders and Helen Lovejoy, who call two more people[[note]]Selma and Lenny for Ned, Patty and Carl for Helen[[/note]], who each call two more people[[note]]identities unknown[[/note]], and from that point forward it's eight solid chains, which includes Nelson Muntz calling Mr. Burns, and Krusty the Clown calling Ralph Wiggum and telling him to call Lindsay Naegle, who didn't get the message as Ralph had put the phone down and she wasn't present at the reservoir to put [[TamperingWithFoodAndDrink Marge's plan]] into action.
593* TelegraphGagSTOP: In "Lisa vs. Malibu Stacey":
594-->Western Union X) SPR CGN PO=SPRINGFIELD 1 935= OCT 11 PM 6\
595Mr. Simpson STOP Your constant letters are becoming a nuisance STOP\
596If you do not cease I will be forced to pursue legal action STOP\
597Creator/BorisKarloff Hollywood CALF.
598* {{Telethon}}: The set-up to "Missionary: Impossible"
599-->'''UsefulNotes/RupertMurdoch:''' You just saved my network!\
600'''Bart:''' Wouldn't be the first time!
601* TellHimImNotSpeakingToHim: In "Lisa the Vegetarian", Homer and Lisa engage in this, and quickly drag Marge and Bart into it.
602-->'''Homer:''' Marge? Since I'm not talking to ''Lisa'', would you please ask her to pass me the syrup?\
603'''Marge:''' Dear, please pass your father the syrup, Lisa.\
604'''Lisa:''' Bart, tell Dad I will only pass the syrup if it won't be used on any meat product.\
605'''Bart:''' You dunkin' your sausages in that syrup homeboy?\
606'''Homer:''' Marge, tell ''Bart I'' just want to drink a nice glass of syrup like I do every morning.\
607'''Marge:''' Tell him yourself, you're ignoring Lisa, not Bart.\
608'''Homer:''' Bart, thank your mother for pointing that out.\
609'''Marge:''' Homer, you're not, not talking to me, and secondly, I heard what you said.\
610'''Homer:''' Lisa, tell your mother to get off my case!\
611'''Bart:''' Uhhh, Dad. Lisa's the one you're not talking to.\
612'''Homer:''' Bart! Go to your room.\
613'''Lisa:''' Why don't you just eat him, Dad?!
614* TemporaryBlindness: Marge gets this in "Gone Maggie Gone" after looking at the sun during a solar eclipse and burning her retinas.
615* TemporaryScrappy: In [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS8E14TheItchyAndScratchyAndPoochieShow "The Itchy & Scratchy & Poochie Show"]], ''[[ShowWithinAShow Itchy & Scratchy]]'' introduces a dog named Poochie, who is hated by the InUniverse audience of that cartoon. This leads the producers to ShooOutTheNewGuy. Later in the episode, a {{parody}} of Scrappys everywhere appears --a teenager named Roy who is inexplicably shown to be living with the Simpson family. However, all Roy does is [[LampshadeHanging lampshade]] the concept of a Scrappy.
616* TemptingFate:
617** Mr. Burns in "Homer at the Bat", before eight of his superstar baseball players are rendered unable to play.
618--->'''Mr. Burns:''' There's no way I can lose this bet. Unless, of course, my nine all-stars fall victim to nine separate misfortunes and are unable to play tomorrow. But that will never happen. Three misfortunes, that's possible. Seven misfortunes, there's an outside chance. But ''nine'' misfortunes? I'd like to see that!
619** Played with in "Brother, Can You Spare Two Dimes?". After Homer complains about his destroyed couch at work, he remarks that things can't get any worse. Then Homer, Lenny, and Carl all stand around for a few seconds, as if to expecting something bad to happen, and when nothing bad happens, Homer repeats that things can't possibly get any worse. They then stand there for a few (though less than before) seconds before Smithers calls Homer to Mr. Burns' office (D'oh!). Though [[DramaticIrony as viewers already knew]], it was to give Homer two thousand dollars.
620* TenPacesAndTurn: In "E-I-E-I-(Annoyed Grunt)", Homer takes to slapping in the face with a glove and challenging them to duels to intimidate them into giving him whatever he wants. However, when he does it to a SouthernGentleman, the gentleman accepts his challenge. After spending most of the episode living on a farm to avoid the duel, Homer returns home and has to fight it. He gets shot in the arm.
621* TerminatorImpersonator: The series loves making Terminator references, with several of them being characters directly impersonating the Terminator.
622** Rainier Wolfcastle isn't so much a Terminator expy as he is TheAhnold, but nonetheless has directly referenced the character the actor plays, such as in "Don't Have a Cow Humanity" where he bursts into the Simpsons house with the iconic line "Come with me if you want to live!"
623** Multiple Terminator endoskeletons have appeared throughout the series usually in throwaway cameos.
624** "Itchy & Scratchy Land" had the Itchy and Scratchy Robots possessing RoboCam, and wind up rebelling against their programming to attack humans.
625** In "The Simpsons 138th Episode Spectacular", a deleted scene from "Burns' Heir" has Mr. Burns summoning a Robotic Richard Simmons. When it goes out of control, Smithers shoots it in the head, only for it to heal up the wound T-1000 style.
626** "The Falcon and the D'ohman" straight out has Homer envisioning a Terminator apocalypse, where a Terminator endoskeleton has overtaken his and several other people's jobs before killing Homer himself.
627* TheTetrisEffect:
628** When the family buys too much stuff at Rainier Wolfcastle's yard sale, and Homer goes through a Tetris sequence (complete with the 8-bit ''Korobeiniki'' theme lifted directly from the Game Boy version of the game) to fit everything inside the car... except himself.
629** When Lisa became a CrosswordPuzzle addict, she started to see crosswords in everything.
630** Apu sometimes answers with his trademark quote outside of work.
631--->''"Thank you, come again.''"
632** In one episode, Homer attempts to jam Lenny's head into a jigsaw puzzle while trying to complete it, hallucinating he fits the spaces perfectly. Lenny ends up with [[EyeScream several jigsaw pieces in his eye]], [[ButtMonkey as is usual for him.]]
633* ThanatosGambit:
634** Homer spreads his mother's ashes, sabotaging Mr. Burns's missile launch.
635** There's Sideshow Bob's fake funeral, a ploy to kill Bart when he's saying goodbye to his old nemesis.
636* ThatDidntHappen: From "Bart the Mother":
637-->'''Homer:''' ''[watching Bart's bird eggs hatch]'' Oh man, this is the most exciting thing I've ever seen since Halley's Comet collided with the moon.\
638'''Lisa:''' That never happened, Dad.\
639'''Homer:''' ''Sure'' it didn't...
640* ThatLiarLies:
641** "You're lying! You're lying! What makes you lie?"
642** "You liar! You don't have a home business. Why would you make up a lie like that?"
643* ThatMakesMeFeelAngry: The episode "Lisa's Pony" has Lisa telling the horse trainer Millicent (who is clearly based on Creator/KatharineHepburn), that she has to give up riding, causing Millicent to reply, "Although there's no change in my patrician facade, I can assure you my heart is breaking."
644* ThemeNaming: Most of the last names of Simpsons side characters come from street names in Portland, Oregon (Creator/MattGroening's hometown), such as Flanders, Quimby, Lovejoy, Terwillger, Burns(ide) and Van Houten (though Groening says it was a coincidence in that case). Kearney also got his first name from a Portland street.
645* ThemeTunelessEpisode:
646** The first full-length episode, "Simpsons Roasting On An Open Fire" does not open with the regular theme song.
647** "Springfield Up" opens with a documentary film maker talking to the viewers, with the credits appearing later and in a different font.
648* ThereAreNoRules: In "How I Spent My Strummer Vacation", the rules at Rock n' Roll Fantasy Camp are: "Rule #1: There are no rules. Rule #2: No outside food."
649* ThermometerGag: In "Marge Gets A Job"
650-->'''Grandpa Simpson:''' Oral thermometer, my eye! Think warm thoughts, boy, 'cause this is mighty cold.
651* TheyKilledKennyAgain: Hans Moleman dies in most of his appearances.
652%%* TheThingThatWouldNotLeave: Otto in "The Otto Show".
653%%** Gil in "Kill Gil Vol. I & II".
654* ThickLineAnimation: Homer's flashback to the previous night in "The War of The Simpsons".
655* ThievesCant: In one episode, Homer teaches Bart hobo sings (which were a real thing), such as one that advertises people willing to feed and put them up for the night... along with a house that has a ''mass hobo graveyard'' in the back.
656* ThinLineAnimation: The show is considered an UrExample of this style.
657* ThingOMeter: Many times-- Sarcasm-O-Meter, Monster-O-Meter, Love-O-Meter
658* ThinksOfSomethingSmartSaysSomethingStupid: This is a RunningGag with Homer, whose relationship with his own brain is... shall we say, adversarial.
659** A classic example from "Brother From The Same Planet".
660--->'''Big Brothers Employee:''' And what are your reasons for wanting a little brother?
661--->'''Homer's Brain:''' Don't say revenge. Don't say revenge.
662--->'''Homer:''' Uh... revenge.
663--->'''Homer's Brain:''' [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere That's it, I'm gettin' out of here.]] [sounds of walking away, followed by a door slamming]
664** "Treehouse of Terror VI" segment "Homer Cubed": Homer is awed by the sight of the Third Dimension.
665--->'''Homer's Brain:''' O, Glory of Glories. O, heavenly testament to the eternal majesty of God's Creation.
666--->'''Homer:''' Holy macaroni!
667** In "Marge in Chains," Mr. Burns finds Homer sitting in a secret private chamber eating a sandwich. Burns furiously demands to know who he is.
668--->'''Homer's Brain''': Don't panic. Just come up with a good story.\
669'''Homer''': My name is Mr. Burns.\
670'''Homer's Brain''': D'OH!
671** Even Bart goes through this. In "Teenaged Mutant Milk-caused Hurdles", he has a crush on the new teacher.
672--->'''Bart's Brain:''' All right, time to show this naive young veteran what happens when you call on Bart Simpson.
673--->'''Bart:''' Ma'am, my name is Bart, and I am glad to have you as my teacher.
674--->'''Bart's Brain:''' What the hell!?
675** In the episode "New Kid on the Block" after Bart freaks out Lisa into running away from the basement of the house next door, he's shocked into unconsciousness by someone sneaking up behind him. When he wakes up:
676-->'''Laura Powers:''' Hey, kid, wake up.
677-->'''Bart:''' Who are you?
678-->'''Laura Powers:''' I'm Laura, your new neighbor. You all right?
679-->'''Bart's Brain:''' She's beautiful. Say something clever.
680-->'''Bart:''' I fell on my bottom.
681-->'''Bart's Brain:''' D'oh!
682** In "Simpsorama" (the {{Crossover}} with WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}), Marge is introduced to Leela:
683--> '''Marge (thinking)''': Oh, don't mention her eye. Don't mention her eye.
684--> '''Leela (thinking)''': Don't mention her hair. Don't mention her hair.
685-->'''Marge''': I (Eye)... am so pleased to meet you.
686-->'''Leela''': Nice to be hair.
687* ThirdPartyDealBreaker: In "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS5E5TreehouseOfHorrorIV Treehouse of Horror IV]]", Homer makes a DealWithTheDevil [[SoldHisSoulForADonut for a donut]]. Marge gets him out of it by successfully arguing that he'd already pledged his soul to her; the Devil curses him to have a donut for a head in retaliation.
688* ThisIsForEmphasisBitch:
689** Of all people, Mr. Burns before dueling Rich Texan in a scavenger hunt.
690** The episode "The Girl Who Slept Too Little" has the family touring a stamp museum when they come to a talking stamp of Alexander Graham Bell saying he's the inventor of the telephone. Next to him is a talking stamp of Elisha Gray who claims it was stolen from him, to which Bell replies "Read the patent, bitch!"
691* ThisJustIn: In "The Joy of Sect", Kent Brockman is negatively editorializing about The Movementarians, but is soon handed some papers from off-screen.
692-->'''Kent Brockman:''' Ladies and gentlemen, I've just learned of a change in the station's management. Welcome, Movementarians! Continue to improve our lives! I love you, perfect Leader.. and new CEO of KBBL broadcasting!
693* ThisLoserIsYou:
694** Homer and to a ''much'' greater extent, Frank Grimes.
695** In the 90's episodes Maggie is unintentionally this to any modern viewer who was either a baby at the time or not born yet.
696* ThreeShorts: Besides the annual Treehouse of Horror episodes, the following episodes takes on the three shorts format:
697** "Simpsons Bible Stories"
698** "Trilogy of Error" (though this one is debatable, as all three stories are interconnected at points)
699** "Tales From the Public Domain"
700** "Margical History Tour"
701** "Simpsons Christmas Stories"
702** "The Wettest Stories Ever Told"
703** "Revenge is a Dish Best Served Three Times"
704** "Love, Springfieldian Style"
705** "Four Great Women and a Manicure" (this one is actually four stories, due to the new commercial formatting for Season 20 and beyond. This aspect is also lampshaded)
706%%* ThreeStoogesShoutOut: Happens in a lot of episodes, too numerous to name them all here.
707* ThroughAFaceFullOfFur:
708** He has no fur on his face technically, but in "Mobile Homer", Homer's face turns blue from a lack of oxygen when a garage door repeatedly lifts up and down on him while he's lain in the garage's doorway, crushing his windpipe (or chest), caused by a book he tries throwing at a spider hits the garage door button instead.
709** In "Bart On The Road", Homer's face turns red frontally for a moment, after learning from Lisa of Bart and his friends' trip to the World's Fair, before angrily yelling some muffled obscenities while wearing a nuclear plant suit's helmet.
710** In "Stop or My Dog Will Shoot", Bart gets a python he names Strangles for a pet in place of Santa's Little Helper and Homer's whole head turns red, when Strangles wraps his coils around his neck, after Homer does the strangling routine with Bart.
711** In a Simpsons short from ''Series/TheTraceyUllmanShow'' ("Bath Time"), Bart is turned blue entirely and is shivering from the cold water with which Homer runs, and fills the bathtub. Bart regresses to his normal color when he mixes the hot water with the cold.
712** In "Home Sweet Home Diddily-Dum-Doodily", Rod and Todd turn pale in horror at the violence in an Itchy & Scratchy short they just watched with Ned, Bart and Lisa.
713** In "Selma's Choice", Lisa is pale from hypothermia after swimming in the beery river at Duff Gardens. In the same episode, Homer later turns pale when he falls ill from eating a tainted or stale sub sandwich.
714** In the couch gag of "Bart Stops To Smell The Roosevelts", a Creator/JohnKricfalusi/Spumco-esque Homer turns red when he thinks he broke wind, but Bart, who along with other members of the nuclear family were redesigned by John K. and Spumco here, placed a whoopee cushion in his spot on the couch on which he sits. Typically, Bart laughs at the prank and Homer gets ticked off, strangling Bart and as he does this, Bart's face gradually turns blue.
715** In "Brother's Little Helper", Krusty's face turns blue when a remote-controlled gag bow tie spins rapidly and uncontrollably, choking off the air supply from his lungs to his windpipe while in the middle of hosting his show.
716** In "Lisa's Substitute", Martin Prince is later seen pale from the pressure and stress of running against Bart in the classroom presidential campaign.
717** In "The Ten Per-Cent Solution", Homer gets green-faced when he lies on the floor, acting as a bloated corpse.
718** In "Thirty Minutes over Tokyo", Homer's face turns magenta as a result of red tide poisoning from eating a can of expired plankton.
719** In "Mommie Beerest", a health inspector named Frankie is pale as a result of eating Moe Syszlak's pickled eggs and dies.
720* ThrowingOutTheScript: Homer rips up his notes, then realizes he can't think of anything to say and tries to put them back together again.
721* ThrowingYourGunAtTheEnemy:
722** Comic Book Guy (playing a villain named The Collector) tries to shoot Bart (Stretch Dude) numerous times with a phaser. Bart easily avoids all shots with his elasticity, but is taken down in a second when The Collector throws the phaser.
723** Chief Wiggum was mad at what he was hearing on the TV, and shoots at his TV to turn it off. His wife tells him to use the remote (in his gun holster), but the channel he turns it to is even more infuriating, and he throws the gun at the TV and actually succeeds in breaking it.
724** During the "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BexuOsshqjk Cops: In Springfield]]" segment, Chief Wiggum does this after he and his men are seen inexplicably fighting a mummy.
725* TickertapeParade:
726** In "Deep Space Homer", the carbon rod credited with saving the space shuttle from burning up in Earth's atmosphere gets a ticker tape parade in its honor.
727** In "The Twisted World of Marge Simpson", there's a gag where the family hold a fake parade (with Lisa as an astronaut) so they can drop leaflets for Marge's pretzel-selling business. Marge stages a ticker tape parade to avoid littering laws when she throws flyers for her pretzel business off the buildings.
728---> '''Chief Wiggum:''' Welcome back, space girl. ''[sniffs]''
729* TimeFreezeTrollingSpree: The last segment of "Treehouse of Horror XIV" involves Bart and Milhouse using a magic stopwatch to pull pranks before they're found out. They end up breaking the watch and spend the next two decades repairing it to make time go forward again.
730* TimeForPlanB:
731** In "Trash of the Titans", Springfield's contingency plan, aka "Plan B", is to move the entire town five miles down the road.
732** When Burns decided to pick a local boy to be his heir, Milhouse was one of the rejects. After that, Lisa tried to persuade Burns into accepting the possibility of his heir being a woman but he was quite clear on that: [[HeirClubForMen no girls]]. Cut to a scene with Milhouse dressed as a girl commenting "So much for Plan B".
733* TiredAfterTheSong: The final segment of "The Simpsons Spin-Off Showcase", ''The Simpson Family Smile-Time Variety Hour'', ends with a big musical number, at the end of which the Simpsons are panting heavily behind forced smiles.
734* TiredOfRunning: Homer, in "Beyond Blunderdome", eventually grows tired of running away from the studio execs who want to stop he and Creator/MelGibson from screening the alternate ending version of ''Film/MrSmithGoesToWashington'', and decides to fight back instead.
735* TitleTheAdaptation
736* TitleDrop:
737** Said in "Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?".
738** Parodied in "Thank God It's Doomsday" during the fictional movie "Left Below":
739---> '''Man:''' [[{{Anvilicious}} The virtuous have gone to heaven]], and the rest of us have been... ''left below''.\
740'''Homer:''' "Left below" ... where have I heard that before?\
741'''Lisa:''' Dad, it's the title of the movie.\
742'''Homer:''' [''Gasps''] It's everywhere!
743** Also parodied in "Take My Wife, Sleaze" while Homer watches a movie which closely resembles a real one:
744---> '''Mother:''' Oh, I don't know what's the matter with Jimmy. He won't do his homework, he only salutes the flag with one finger, and he comes home every night with other peoples' blood on his shirt.\
745'''Father:''' He's a rebel, I tell you, a rebel without a cause... [[Film/RebelWithoutACause just like that boy in that popular movie we saw.]]
746* TitleMontage:
747** "The Simpsons 138th Episode Spectacular" features a montage of couch gags from previous episodes as part of its opening sequence.
748** "At Long Least Leave", the series' 500th episode does this as well, beginning with the very first couch gag, then proceeding to do a frame-by-frame montage of every couch gag since then superimposed over the number "500."
749* ToadLicking:
750** Homer in the episode "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS11E15MissionaryImpossible Missionary: Impossible]]" is depicted at one point lying on a hammock and picking up toads at random and licking them to get high while stranded on a South Pacific island.
751-->'''Bart:''' Dad, are you ''licking toads?''\
752'''Homer:''' I'm not ''not'' licking toads!
753** In "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS14E2HowISpentMyStrummerVacation How I Spent My Strummer Vacation]]", Homer resorts to licking the toads in a pet shop in an attempt to intoxicate himself after being kicked out of Moe's Tavern.
754** In "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS23E17ThemRobot Them Robot]]", Lenny licks a toad after a drug test held at the plant.
755* ToBeLawfulOrGood: "Homer vs. Dignity": Burns tempting Homer to throw fish guts at the crowd for $1 million. Homer is torn between staying lower-middle class and being hated by the entire town. Ultimately, though, he chooses the right path.
756* ToiletSeatDivorce: In "Beware My Cheating Bart", Homer threatens to divorce Marge after she, out of spite, gives away spoilers for a show he was obsessed with.
757* TokenGoodCop:
758** Springfield is up there for having some of the least competent cops in fiction, no thanks to none other than [[TheDitz Chief Wiggum]]. He is stupid, lazy, corrupt, and often causes a lot more damage than the criminals ever do, and everyone else isn't much better. Officer Lou, however, actually has some competence at his job, usually being the one to point out Wiggum's mistakes, and is the first to understand when something is wrong and tries to acknowledge it. Unfortunately, since this is Springfield, a place [[AdultsAreUseless where almost nobody is allowed to be competent]], Lou gets ignored more often than not, while Wiggum continues to cause chaos and destruction.
759** In "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS6E23TheSpringfieldConnection The Springfield Connection]]", Marge joins the Springfield police force when she [[GoodFeelsGood gets a rush]] from thwarting Snake's three-card monte scam, and she is shown to be far more competent than most of the other cops. During target practice, she only shoots criminals (Chief Wiggum even berates her for missing targets of a baby and a blind man), and she arrests Homer when he [[StealingTheHandicappedSpot parks his car across three handicapped spaces]], refuses to move it, and takes her hat. Near the end of the episode, Marge exposes Herman's scheme to sell counterfeit jeans, but the rest of the police force can't arrest him due to a lack of evidence. That lack of evidence of course, being that the cops decide to take all the counterfeit jeans for themselves. Unable to stomach its corruption, [[StatusQuoIsGod Marge quits the force]].
760* TokenHouseguest: Parodied in the episode "Itchy, Scratchy and Poochie". As a parallel to ''JustForFun/TheItchyAndScratchyShow'' getting a new character, the Simpsons inexplicably have a teenager named Roy living with them. By the end of the episode Roy moves out to a new apartment with two sexy female roommates. The whole episode was a commentary on the network asking for the show to add a teenage character to cater to that demographic.
761* TokenReligiousTeammate:
762** Mentioned in "Lemon of Troy", when Bart is [[InvokedTrope assigning stock war movie archetypes]] to his band of friends. Todd Flanders is "the quiet, religious guy who ends up going crazy." Todd, Rod and their dad Ned are devout Christians (who range from being shown as nice, annoying or pushy fundamentalists [[DependingOnTheWriter over the years]]).
763** Marge Simpson is clearly more involved in the church than the rest of the family. And while for example "Homer the Heretic" focuses on Homer's dwindling faith, it's obvious on several occasions that the kids wouldn't go to church unless Marge made them.
764** In the thirteenth-season episode "She Of Little Faith," Lisa converts to Buddhism and seems at least as serious about it as Marge is about Christianity... [[DependingOnTheWriter when the writers remember to reference it]], anyway.
765** Apu seems to be a faithful Hindu, but it doesn't get much focus.
766* TomatoSurprise: Referenced in Homer's poem:
767-->There once was a rapping tomato\
768That's right, I said "rapping tomato"\
769He rapped all day, from April to May\
770And also, guess what, ''[[NarratorAllAlong it was me.]]''
771* TongueOnTheFlagpole:
772** One of the winter hazards faced by Lewis and Clarke (a.k.a. Lenny and Karl) in "Magical History Tour".
773** Homer gets his tongue stuck to the ice sculpture at Otto's wedding.
774** In "The Springfield Files", Channel 6 News uses a file photo of Homer that shows him with his tongue stuck to a lamppost.
775** In "My Fair Laddy'', Bart stores Lisa's saxophone in the freezer and then hands it to her. Her tongue gets stuck when she attempts to blow it.
776* TonightSomeoneDies: The promos for "Alone Again, Natura-Diddily" literally asked: "Who will ''die''?", and proceeding to list off a bunch of potential victims. Unfortunately, word got out before the episode aired that Maude would be the unfortunate one, so these promos didn't generate the expected suspense.
777* {{Tontine}}: In "The Curse of the Flying Hellfish", it's revealed that Abe Simpson and Mister Burns served together during World War II, and their squad (the Flying Hellfish) acquired a set of priceless German paintings, with the agreement that the last member of the Hellfish to die would get them. It ends [[spoiler:when government officials and the descendant of the person they stole the paintings from arrive and reclaim them for the German. The descendent is not too worried about their safety, either]].
778* TooKinkyToTorture: Lampshaded in "All Singing, All Dancing."
779-->'''Marge:''' ''[singing]'' It's a desperate criminal, on the run from the law! Please spare my children... \
780'''Homer:''' ''[singing]'' ...and their Depp-trousered Pa! \
781'''Snake:''' ''[singing]'' A singing family?!? It's worse than I feared! For hostage purposes, you're just too weird! Bye! ''[Exit: living room window]''
782* TooManyBabies:
783** Apu and Manjula get octuplets after she starts taking fertility treatments to increase the chance of pregnancy. We later find out that this wasn't the fault of the doctor they saw — several people had been slipping Manjula fertility drugs without her knowledge. Later on the same episode, nine babies are born to a couple living in Shelbyville. "Holidays of Future Past" shows that each of Apu and Manjula's children also had a set of octuplets.
784** This also applies to Cletus and Brandine Spuckler, who have far more children, even before Season 8.
785* TooMuchInformation: After Lisa is promoted to third grade in "Bart vs. Lisa vs. The Third Grade", Bart blurts out:
786-->'''Bart:''' She's not so great! She got diarrhea when we went to Carlsbad Caverns!
787* TooQuirkyToLose: Bart entered a school science fair with an entry called "Can Hamsters Fly Airplanes?" Even though his "experiment" clearly did not prove or disprove any hypothesis, Principal Skinner was so charmed by the sight of a hamster wearing flight goggles and a scarf and sitting in a model airplane that he pronounced Bart the winner.
788* TooSmartForStrangers: Poor Ralph Wiggum... He just doesn't get the point of these.
789* TooUnhappyToBeHungry: In "Flaming Moes" when Homer is sad over Moe's success after taking his drink idea.
790-->Marge, I'm too upset to eat. I think I'll go to Moe's. ...D'oh!
791* TorchesAndPitchforks:
792** Quite often. The citizens of Springfield '''love''' rioting.
793** Most notably in TheMovie in which Loads and Loads of Bit Players are featured in such a scene.
794** Lampshaded by [[ReasonableAuthorityFigure Skinner]], of all people
795---> '''Skinner:''' Ah, there's no justice like Angry Mob Justice.
796* TormentedTeacher: Mrs. Krabapple had to deal with Bart's disruptive antics, and apparently his misbehavior is so unruly that the teacher's union had to include a clause in their contract that no teacher who has Bart in their classroom will be held legally responsible if he dies while under their supervision.
797* ToyDisguise: In "The Fool Monty", a ''E.T.'' scene is parodied when Bart hides an amnesiac Mr. Burns in a pile of plush toys (one of which is of E.T. himself).
798* TraineeFromHell: To the faculty of Springfield Elementary, Bart Simpson is this, hands down. He refuses to learn anything, destroys school property, destroys teachers' property, and has directly caused Skinner to be fired more than once. He's even known in-universe to teachers across America as "The Devil In Blue Shorts".
799* TrainingThePet: In "Bart's Dog Gets an F", the Simpsons have had enough of Santa's Little Helper misbehaving, so Homer threatens to give him away if he doesn't learn. Bart takes him to obedience school but struggles to have SLH obey commands. It's only after Bart pours his heart out to him that the dog starts understanding and finally does what he says.
800%%* TrainStationGoodbye: Lampshaded.
801* TranquillizerDart:
802** Bart has just been "taken" by a monkey at a local zoo, and Homer tries to save him by putting a tranq-dart into a tube and putting it into his mouth. He then inhales, and it gets self-explanatory after that.
803** Subverted in another episode when Barney is shot with a ''bear'' tranquilizer dart. He actually pulls out the dart and drinks the remaining sedative before passing out.
804* TranslationYes: In "Thirty Minutes Over Tokyo", Homer's "D'oh!" is much longer in Japanese.
805* TravelMontage: Seen in "Dog of Death" when Santa's Little Helper goes off on his own; a map of the locations he travels to is shown while ''Music/PeterAndTheWolf'' plays.
806* TreatedWorseThanThePet:
807** PlayedForLaughs in "The Springfield Files" when after Bart mocks Homer over the latter seeing an alien and the rest of the family show disbelief or disinterest in his story, Homer bemoans being mocked on [[ContrivedCoincidence his birthday, which also happens to be Santa's Little Helper's birthday.]] This causes the family to happily clamor around the dog while ignoring Homer and he to sulk in the background while muttering "lousy, lovable dog!"
808** PlayedForDrama in "The Crepes of Wrath" where foreign exchange student Bart is routinely abused, ignored and overworked by Cesar and Ugolin, his "caretakers" who are in reality criminals who make wine laced with antifreeze and their pet donkey is treated more favorably, complete with better living conditions and [[KickTheDog being give Bart's hat to wear.]]
809* TreeBuchet: Homer launched a rabbit into the horizon with one of these.
810* TribalFacePaint: Appears in the ''Literature/LordOfTheFlies'' parody episode, naturally.
811* TrickedIntoSigning: Inverted in "Bart the Fink": Instead of trying to get Krusty's signature in the guise of an autograph, Bart tries to get Krusty's autograph in the guise of a signature. He gives Krusty a check, expecting that Krusty will have to endorse it with his signature, but the plan fails because Krusty endorses his checks with the name of his Cayman Islands holding corporation.
812* TripleNipple: In "Kamp Krusty", Lisa uses Krusty the Clown's superfluous third nipple to confirm his identity.
813* TriumphantReprise: In "The Otto Show," where Otto is temporarily fired from his job as school bus driver, Seymour Skinner tries to fill in for him. Earlier on, the students sing "Hail To The Bus Driver" on the bus trip; at first Skinner sings along with it and laughs, but as he gets delayed longer and longer in traffic (because of his inexperience) he starts getting very irritated at the song, eventually shouting "shut up" at the only student still singing it. Toward the end of the episode, Otto gets re-hired. When the students sing "Hail To The Bus Driver" again, Skinner, who's overhearing the singing from a window, looks at the bus and says "yes, hail to the bus driver" in a more serious but happy manner, with a few electric guitar notes playing in the background.
814* TrivialTragedy:
815** In the sixth season episode "Lisa's Rival", Homer comes across an overturned truck spilling sugar. Like expected, his first thought is to shovel a huge pile of the sugar into his car, stealing it to himself. Homer quickly becomes obsessed by the amount of sugar he has, and when rain eventually melts the pile he's gathered, we get the following reaction:
816--->'''Homer:''' [[BigNo NOOOO!]] It's melting! My sugar is melting!\
817'''Marge:''' Homer, I'm sorry.\
818'''Homer:''' No, it's fine, Marge. I learned my lesson. [[SpaceWhaleAesop A mountain of sugar is too much for one man.]] That's why God dispenses it in tiny packets. Also, that's why he lives on a plantation in Hawaii.
819** In another episode (the one where Homer becomes a tow truck operator), they accidentally spill a carton of milk, and this brings Homer to tears. Yes, Homer is literally crying over spilled milk.
820
821* {{Troll}}: Milhouse claims to be one in the "Homer the Whopper" episode in which the Comic Book Guy says he posted his comic on the Internet and names some accounts that deride it. Bart tells him that they were just "lame-os" and Milhouse says "Two of them were me!"
822* TrollingTranslator: In "Midnight Rx", after Homer, Ned Flanders, Apu and Smithers are arrested by Canadian Mounties.
823-->'''Canadian Mountie:''' We've confiscated your car and its contents.\
824'''French Translator:''' ''Nous avons confisqué votre voiture et son contenu.''\
825'''Mountie:''' You may leave Canada, but never return.\
826'''French Translator:''' ''Vous pouvez quitter le Canada, mais ne retournez jamais.''\
827'''Mountie:''' I am a big fat French idiot.\
828'''French Translator:''' ''Je suis un grand gros'' - HEY!
829* {{Troperiffic}}: You'd be hard-pressed to find a series more troperrific than this.
830* TheTroublemaker: Bart is a natural troublemaker infamous amongst his family and the town for causing mischief, with many episode conflicts tracing back to him. This long list includes hiding the head of the Town Founder's statue, ramming his school's superintendent with a tractor, burning down the family's Christmas tree and spinning a tale about a burglar to cover his tracks, and ''causing a sonic boom'' that rattles the whole town with ''megaphones''.
831* TrouserSpace: Scorpio's offer of sugar and cream to Homer in "You Only Move Twice".
832* TrueLoveIsBoring: Zig-zagged. Despite the amount of separations (and a divorce at one point), Homer and Marge are still together.
833* TruncatedThemeTune: Common for the syndicated showings; instead of the full opening, it starts on Homer getting home from work and dodging Lisa, and running away from Marge in the car.
834* TryingNotToCry: Marge says she didn't want to cry in "Kamp Krusty" when she and the family have the last meal together before Bart and Lisa go off to summer camp. She immediately starts crying when Homer, Bart, Lisa, and Maggie start hungrily eating.
835* {{Tsundere}}: In "Moonshine River", Bart runs into the fastest mood swinging exemplar ever (albeit only for seconds).
836* TummyCushion: In the episode "Bart vs. Lisa vs. The Third Grade," Homer gets a satellite dish and he and Bart spend all day and night watching TV. At one point we see Homer passed out on the couch with Bart lying on top of him. Bart gets up and we discover that he has left an ass groove in Homer's belly.
837* TurnTheOtherCheek: "Homer Vs. Patty and Selma" centers around Homer's fractious relationship with Patty and Selma, with the latter insulting him at every turn and Homer firing back however he can. When he stops trying to get back at them and saves them from being demoted, they [[HumblePie quickly apologize]] and forgive their debt to him.
838* TWordEuphemism: From the episode "Bart Star":
839-->'''Bart:''' Give me a "B"?\
840'''Nelson:''' I won't give you a "B", but I'll rip you a new "A"!
841* TwoRightsMakeAWrong: Apu and his wife Manjula end up with octuplets, almost going broke due to the resulting expenses, when every member of the Simpson family independently decides to help along their desire to conceive by secretly slipping them fertility drugs.
842* TwoShotsFromBehindTheBar: Moe keeps a sawed-off shotgun handy in case of cheapskate customers or when he loses his temper, which happens ''all'' the time.
843* TwoWayTapping:
844** Chief Quimby puts a wiretap on Bart. He then blows the cover when he hears Fat Tony through the wire and goes "Fat Tony, is that you?"
845** Ned Flanders & Co. volunteer to watch the surveillance cameras posted everywhere. They're supposed to be looking for crime but they end up nannying everyone, making sure nothing "naughty" happens. If they see something there's a speaker they talk through to tell the perps to cut it out.
846** During the episode where Homer buys (and is absurdly reckless with) a revolver, Marge leaves the house with the children because she's fed up and goes to a pretty lousy hotel, with things like corpses on the pool, lousy beds, and an [[IncrediblyObviousBug an incredibly obvious ceiling-mounted camera]] that tells Bart to ignore it and go to sleep when he points it out.
847** When Homer & Ned go to Las Vegas Ned isn't sure if it's the right thing to do, so he prays. A surveillance bubble in the ceiling responds.
848--->'''Ned:''' Aw, leave me out of this, Homer. Games of chance are strictly forbidden by Deuteronomy 7.\
849'''Homer:''' Seven, eh?\
850''[Homer places his chips on seven; the ball lands in the seven slot]''\
851'''Homer:''' Way to go, Flanders! The Bible's finally pulling its weight. Got any more holy numbers?\
852'''Ned:''' Oh, I got a bunch, Homer, but I just don't feel right. Oh, Lord, what should I do?\
853''[Ned looks up at the ceiling, staring at a black bubble camera which quietly says "Keep gaming"]''\
854'''Ned:''' What?\
855'''Security Man:''' ''[speaking through bubble]'' It means gambling. Keep gambling.\
856'''Ned:''' Oh. Righty-O!
857* TyrantTakesTheHelm:
858** Subverted twice when surly assistant superintendent Leopold stomps up to the podium in Springfield Elementary's assembly hall, snarls something to the effect of "things are going to be ''very, very'' different around here", then cheerily introduces a much more endearing individual as the replacement faculty member. The first time is in "Sweet Seymour Skinner's Baadasssss Song" when announcing Ned Flanders as replacement principal, and the second time is in "The PTA Disbands" with Marge Simpson becoming a substitute teacher.
859** Inverted in "My Sister, My Sitter." After Lisa proves herself a reliable babysitter for the neighborhood, Homer and Marge leave her in charge when they go out. Lisa tries to be fair, but Bart (hating the idea of being babysat by his ''little'' sister) is as difficult as possible. After a series of pranks, he winds up breaking his arm in a fall. Naturally, it goes downhill from there.
860[[/folder]]
861
862[[folder:U]]
863* UglyGuyHotWife: ''Plenty''
864** Homer and Marge, although Marge's attractiveness has been played up over time and Homer has usually been shown as more attractive in his younger years when he started dating Marge. The episode "The Italian Bob" seems to reference this trope when the end of the episode shows Marge and Homer taking a romantic gondola ride, the gondolier providing his services for the evening puts his own spin on the song "That's Amore", much to Homer's annoyance.
865--->'''Gondolier:''' ''[singing]'' When a wife looks like that and her husband's so fat, that's immoral!
866** Homer has managed to attract several bombshells over the course of the show. They seem to see him as hot. Or maybe it's his personality, which is odd, given the way he acts the rest of the time.
867** In "Holidays of Future Passed," Milhouse and Lisa end up married. Milhouse grows up to be balding with a gut and Lisa grows up beautifully.
868** Mona Simpson, as seen in flashbacks in some episodes, was somewhat of a looker when she was young and Homer was a toddler; Homer's dad, however, was not so much more attractive than he is now, and was also somewhat of a slob.
869** Apu and Manjula. Possibly justified due to her being several years younger and the two being part of an ArrangedMarriage.
870** Comic Book Guy is a balding, [[FatBastard obese,]] [[JerkAss jerkass]], [[BasementDweller basement dweller]]. His wife, Kumiko, is a textbook YamatoNadeshiko.
871* UltraSuperDeathGoreFestChainsawer3000: The game "Bonestorm" in "Marge Be Not Proud".
872* UmpteenthCustomer: Homer buys the one millionth cone at a ice cream store in "You Kent Always Say What You Want".
873* UncertainDoom: The fate of Artie Ziff.
874* UncleSamWantsYou: When Springfield threatened to deport illegal immigrants, there was a poster with Uncle Sam saying "I want you... OUT".
875* UnconfessedUnemployment: In "He Loves to Fly and He D'ohs", Homer's life coach convinces him to quit his job to get a better one at a copper tubing company. He doesn't get it but cannot bring himself to tell his family, so he starts pretending to go into work and instead hanging out at Krusty Burger.
876* UnconventionalFoodUsage:
877** In "Lisa Goes Gaga", Music/LadyGaga appears in a dress made out of steak.
878** In one episode, Homer is mad at Ned, and so pours salt on his garden so his flowers won't grow.
879* UndeadAuthor: Groundskeeper Willie's story about the miner's strike.
880* UnderTheTruck: Marge does this (although she is on foot), dropping underneath Hans Moleman's truck while running home, in "You Kent Always Say What You Want".
881* UnderwaterFartGag: In "The Two Mrs. Nahasapeemapetilons", Homer and Apu sit in a hot tub and Jasper offers to turn on the bubbles.
882* UnderlingWithAnFInPR: One episode has Mayor Quimby remember he forgot to deliver Chief Wiggum's bribe for the month and give it to him... in front of most of Springfield's citizens.
883--> '''Chief Wiggum:''' And when you break the law, you gotta go to jail.
884--> '''Mayor Quimby:''' Uh, that reminds me, er, here's your monthly kickback.
885--> '''Chief Wiggum:''' You just... you couldn't have picked a worse time.
886* UndersideRide: Sideshow Bob does it in "Cape Feare" in a parody of the scene in ''Film/CapeFear''.
887* UnDuet: Marge ends up singing one half of "Let's Call the Whole Thing Off" at a wedding when Homer lets her down... again.
888%%* UnexpectedInheritance: "Selma's Choice".
889* UnexpectedKindness: In the episode "Cape Feare", Bart is jumpy because Sideshow Bob wants him dead. Marge holds up some scissors and says, "I'm gonna get you...", then finishes her sentence with "...some ice cream at the store because we're saving our money on diet cola!" (she was using the scissors to cut out coupons). Later, Bart is scared because Homer was running in with a knife, but he was just offering brownies.
890* UnexpectedlyDarkEpisode:
891** "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS8E23HomersEnemy Homer's Enemy]]" is a story focusing on Frank Grimes (a "realistic" character, by WordOfGod) being forced into the PlayedForLaughs CrapsackWorld of Springfield and getting so fed up with Homer's IdiotHoudini luck that he becomes the titular "enemy" of Homer... and then when Homer's luck saves him from being humiliated by a plan of Grimes, he undergoes a VillainousBreakdown which ends with him accidentally committing suicide-by-high-voltage.
892** Several episodes focused on Mr. Burns and Sideshow Bob get dark considering their villainous status.
893** Any episode with a character who has no funny quirks and is played seriously. Examples include the winemakers from "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS1E11TheCrepesOfWrath The Crepes of Wrath]]" (who nearly killed Bart by giving him antifreeze-laced wine), the Babysitter Bandit from "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS1E13SomeEnchantedEvening Some Enchanted Evening]]" (who tied up the kids and tried to rob the house) and Bart's kindergarten teacher from "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS9E3LisasSax Lisa's Sax]]" (whose treatment of Bart helped make him what he is today).
894* UnexpectedPositive: When Marge and Homer are mistakenly assessed as negligent parents, they are forced to attend a parenting class which Marge initially fails due to a false positive diagnosis for crack and PCP.
895* UnexpectedlyRealMagic: In the Treehouse of Horror episode "Dial 'Z' for Zombie", Bart discovers a book of spells. To test it out he offers Lisa to use it to bring Snowball I back from the dead. The spell GoesHorriblyWrong as it causes zombies to rise from the grave all over the world.
896* UnexplainedRecovery:
897** In "Simpsons Bible Stories":
898--->'''Bart:''' ''[to Ralph]'' I thought you were dead!\
899'''Ralph:''' Nope!
900** In "Diatribe of a Mad Housewife", Dr. Marvin Monroe appears at a book signing. When asked where he's been all these years, he replies that he's been very sick. Of course, we've seen his gravestone in previous episodes, [[MST3KMantra but never mind.]]
901* TheUnfairSex:
902** Happened with Homer and Marge quite a bit in the earlier seasons, though lately, the show has started to call ''both'' of them out when one of them mucks up the marriage.
903** The episodes dealing with infidelity seem to paint Marge as a delicate flower easily wounded by her boorish husband, while Homer is seen as a pig for even thinking of leaving Marge... and yet ''Marge'' has been more likely to have an affair than Homer. He's had only two memorable instances though "Colonel Homer" was one-sided on Lurleen's part and "The Last Temptation of Homer" was mostly a manifestation of his guilt at the mere ''thought'' of cheating.
904** In "The Boys of Bummer", [[DoubleStandard when Homer tries to stop the harassment being hurled toward Bart, they get on Homer's case for not using a condom and conceiving Bart, but after Bart's suicide attempt brings Marge to a]] RageBreakingPoint with the town, [[DoubleStandard none of them blame her for giving birth to him]].
905* UnflatteringIDPhoto:
906** After failing a breathalyzer test in the episode "Duffless", Homer loses his driver's license. When it gets stamped "VOID", we see he has a [[https://i1.wp.com/metro.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/licence.png?quality=90&strip=all&zoom=1&resize=540%2C413&ssl=1 very unflattering photo]] with him having one eye closed, another eye squinting, and his mouth hanging open.
907** "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS13E13TheOldManAndTheKey The Old Man and the Key]]": Selma is about to take Grandpa Simpson's picture in preparation for getting his driver's license, when Grandpa asks her if she can just use his photo from the latest issue of the ''Springfield Shopper'' newspaper instead. The photo depicts Grandpa yelling at a cloud, under a headline that says '''OLD MAN YELLS AT CLOUD'''. The picture gets used for his driver's license.
908* UnfortunateImplications: InUniverse example: When Krusty was doing one of his comedy gigs on TV (filmed at the Apollo Theatre, no less), the show he was doing was "Krusty Komedy Klassics." When he turns around and saw the sign on the stage, he realized in shock that it also had the same acronym as the Ku Klux Klan written in white letters, causing Krusty to giggle nervously and say [[OhCrap "KKK?...That's not good..."]] before the (obviously) offended audience decided to [[ProducePelting throw objects at him]].
909* UnfortunateSearchResults: In "The Great Wife Hope", the town's mothers go out for a night of "crazy bowling", and Marge reveals she got the idea after doing an Internet search for "girls having fun" and found it after scrolling through [[TheInternetIsForPorn 97,000 pages of porn]].
910* UngratefulBastard: Barney in "Mr. Plow." At the start of the episode, he's seen handing out fliers wearing a baby outfit (putting him nearly bare naked during the cold temperatures) and encourages Homer to promote his snow plowing business through something else other than fliers. This is what helps Homer's business become popular in the city, until Homer himself gives Barney advice about how to become successful himself. The next day, Barney comes in with a much larger snow plowing truck to Homer where Homer calls Barney out in stealing his idea. Barney then says Homer needs some [[BlatantLies healthy competition]] ...and promptly shoots the tires of Homer's plow truck. It doesn't help matters he keeps running Homer's name to the ground in his own TV ads while Homer does nothing to him until he gives Barney false info to clear out a house in a very dangerous area.
911* UnicornsAreSacred: In [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixzhgsY6lQY this]] couch gag, the workers manufacturing the Simpsons merchandise are depicted as miserable slaves made to work for cruel masters at Fox. There is a unicorn chained up in the underground sweatshop, looking malnourished and unhappy.
912* UnimpressiveProgressReveal: Used various times.
913** In the "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS4E5TreehouseOfHorrorIII Treehouse of Horror]]" segment "King Homer", the eponymous giant ape [[KingKongClimb climbs a skyscraper with Marge in his hand]], but drops from exhaustion - from the second floor, about half his body height.
914** Used twice in "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS9E23KingOfTheHill King of the Hill]]"
915*** Homer decides to start running at night, next scene has him already crawling due to exhaustion and stops in front of a mailbox... the one of his neighbor Flanders.
916*** Homer must climb Mount Murderhorn (a gigantic mountain that is said to be worse than the Everest). One TimeSkip later, the camera follows a trail of spent oxygen tanks and a Homer that is greedily sucking down on a new one... and then we find out that he just ascended about 20 feet (it's still close enough to the ground that Bart can easily tell him to stop using up his oxygen).
917* UniqueMomentRuined: One episode has Bart and Lisa eagerly looking forward to watching a special episode of ''The Itchy and Scratchy Show,'' where Scratchy will supposedly finally get to kill Itchy. However, right at the pivotal moment, the TV gets plugged out... and when it's plugged back in a few seconds later, the episode is already at the end credits.
918--> '''Krusty the Clown:''' WOW! They'll never let us show that again! Not in a million years! ''[laughs]''
919--> '''Bart and Lisa:''' AAAAHHHH!
920* UnknownRival:
921** Not quite enemies, but in "Who Shot Mr. Burns?", Mr. Burns is perpetually unable to remember his employee Homer Simpson. Eventually Homer breaks into Burns's office and [[RoomFullOfCrazy writes his name on every wall in giant letters]], then attacking Burns and shouting "[[PunctuatedForEmphasis MY! NAME! IS! HOMER! SIMPSON!"]] at him. Afterwards, Burns has this to say to his manservant:
922--->'''Burns:''' Smithers, who was that cow just yelling at me?
923** The situation is different when Homer changes his name:
924--->'''Burns:''' Ah! Max Power! How's every little thing?\
925'''Homer:''' You remembered my name!\
926'''Burns:''' Well, who could forget the name of a magnetic individual like you? Keep up the good work, Max!
927** Homer experiences the other side of this trope with Frank Grimes, who hates Homer's guts, while Homer thinks they're friends, but only in the first act. And then his son, who takes revenge on Homer, "How is old Grimey?"
928* TheUnpronounceable: Parodied with Apu's last name (Nahasapeemapetilon) many times.
929** Selma uses it as a way to avoid marrying Apu.
930--->'''Selma:''' [My name's] already long enough without Nahasapet-apeet-whatever.
931** Apu will not receive justice from the Springfield Police.
932--->'''Chief Wiggum:''' Homer Simpson, you are under arrest for the murder of Moe Szyslak and Apu Nahasa... pasa... ah, just Moe. Just Moe.
933** When Apu joins The Be Sharps, their agent tells him that his name will never fit on a marquee:
934--->'''Agent:''' From now on, you're Apu Du Beaumarchaise.\
935'''Apu:''' It is an insult to my ancestors and my god, but [[SureLetsGoWithThat okay]].
936* UnreadablyFastText:
937** Done in "The Simpsons 138th Spectacular" when the show pays tribute to everyone who makes ''The Simpsons'' possible; a ton of names scroll up the screen for only three seconds at a really fast pace.
938** In "Bart's Comet", Kent Brockman closed his news broadcast by saying, "The following people are gay:", which prompted a ridiculously fast-scrolling list.
939** In "Days of Wine and D'oh'ses", a TV ad about the phone book cover contest repeatedly flashes the address for which to send the photos, due to the "Where Is Springfield?" RunningGag.
940** In "Homer Badman", the TV show "Rock Bottom" admits to making some journalistic mistakes over the years, and a fast list of said mistakes scrolls up the screen.
941* UnrevealAngle:
942** In "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS7E23MuchApuAboutNothing Much Apu About Nothing]]", Homer is trying to help Apu prepare for his American citizenship test, and for [[WhereTheHellIsSpringfield locating Springfield on the map]], he points near Chicago. Lisa corrects him, but the view of her pointing at the correct location is obscured by Bart's head.
943** In one episode, Homer experiences a very frustrating version during a DreamSequence. He's having money problems and he dreams about an invention that will make him rich, but he's never able to actually see the invention because someone is standing in the way.
944* UnroboticReveal: In the show's parody of ''Series/RobotWars'', after completely failing to build a battlebot, Homer covers himself in armour plating and enters the arena himself.
945* UnsympatheticComedyProtagonist: Homer, who gets less sympathetic as the show ages.
946* UnusualEuphemism: In "Separate Vocations":
947-->'''Skinner:''' Look, let's can the euphemisms. No more bulls[[HypocriticalHumor p]][==]it.
948* UnwantedGlassesPlot: Bart gets thick glasses to correct his lazy eye in "The Last Temptation of Homer". Along with hair salve, throat spray, and heightened shoes, making him look and sound like a stereotypical nerd.
949--> '''Martin:''' Your appearance is comical to me!
950* UnwinnableJokeGame:
951** A recurring Minigame in ''The Simpsons'' video games, "Larry The Looter", is completely unwinnable. Immediately after looting the electronics store (the only store it's possible to loot), [[ShopliftAndDie Larry is gunned down by the angry store owner.]]
952** Also "Panamanian Strongman": A Franchise/KingKong-esque version of Manuel Noriega (who doesn't swat at or try to knock the planes out of the sky) gets shot down by airplanes and kicked by George H.W. Bush after telling players that "Winners don't use drugs" ([[HypocriticalHumor despite that George Sr. has a son that did -- who later, for better and worse -- became a U.S. President]]).
953* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: Homer does this at least once or twice a season.
954* [[ExaggeratedTrope Up to Eleven]]: Krusty quotes this trope for word at the beginning of "The Man In Blue Flannel Pants".
955[[/folder]]
956
957[[folder:V]]
958* VacationCrossover:
959** The trope is spoofed in "Spin-Off Showcase". One of the spin-offs had Chief Wiggum and Principal Skinner fighting crime in New Orleans, and in one scene run into the Simpsons on vacation.
960** With ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'', in [[Recap/FamilyGuyS13E1TheSimpsonsGuy "The Simpsons Guy"]]: the Griffins are on the run from an angry mob. They stop to get gas, but their car is stolen so they start walking and discover they're just outside Springfield, home of the Simpsons.
961* VagueAge:
962** Jimbo, Dolph, and Kearney. They are implied to be teenagers but apparently attend Springfield Elementary. Kearney on the other hand, while he has a very screechy voice and acts like a teenage bully, he also has a ''son'' of his own, is divorced and according to Otto, they were in [[HeldBackInSchool 3rd grade together]].
963** Kearney, oddly enough, was shown in an early episode trying to buy beer with a fake ID and assumed name. Later, he's shown to remember Watergate and is also able to openly go for a drink at Moe's. Of course, the first incident was before they decided that his advanced age and apparent multiple failures to complete the sixth grade were a RunningGag.
964** Also, one episode shows that Jimbo is ''bald'' under his knit cap.
965** Krusty the Clown's age seems pretty vague too. They've shown his career in the 1950s through the 1970s, and he hasn't aged a day since. In "Like Father, Like Clown" it's shown that he hasn't spoken to his dad in 25 years and he was shown as a teenager/early 20s when that happened. His father, while a senior citizen doesn't look much older than his 60s.
966** This trope could apply to Troy [=McClure=] as well. He appears to be in his mid-40s to early 50s due to his career peaking in the 1970s. In "Bart the Fink" one of the [[RunningGag funerals you may remember him from]] was [[Film/TheThreeStooges Shemp Howard, Today We Mourn A Stooge.]] Shemp died in the 1950s. It's also implied he's had plastic surgery, which could make him OlderThanTheyLook.
967* VandalismBackfire:
968** Bart is angry at Lisa, and darkly announces that as vengeance, he tore the head off of a stuffed animal named Mr. Honey-Bunny. Lisa then reminds Bart that that was ''his'' beloved childhood toy.
969--->'''Bart:''' ''Agh!'' Mr. Honey-Bunny! ''[places the head back on and kisses it desperately]''
970** One episode revolves around the Simpsons joining the Flanders on a group trip to Jerusalem, with Homers disrespectful and annoying behavior driving Ned increasingly angry, finally boiling over when he finds Homer asleep in Jesus's tomb. To point out how lazy and uncaring Homer has been, Flanders shows that all he's been taking photos of the entire trip are soda cans with funny names, then deletes all the images on the camera.
971--->'''Homer:''' Whatever, that was ''your'' camera.\
972'''Ned:''' ''[angrily smashes the camera against the wall]''
973* VariationsOnAThemeSong:
974** In the middle of an episode where they go into Witness Protection and become the Thompson family, we see a variation of the theme where the chorus goes "The Thompsons" and Homer pulls up to their new home, a houseboat.
975** When a hurricane comes through town, the chorus sings "The Hurricane" and the letters on screen get blown away by the hurricane's wind.
976** Treehouse of Horror episodes usually have the closing credits music replaced by an arrangement for organ and theremin. The music for the Gracie Films logo, instead of the usual piano riff with a woman going "Shhh!", is the same riff on organ with a woman screaming.
977** When a rock band are the guest stars, sometimes they do the closing theme.
978** Season 9 Episode 1, The City of New York vs. Homer Simpson, replaced the usual closing theme with "New York, New York" sung by Music/FrankSinatra.
979* VaryingCompetencyAlibi:
980** In "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS6E5SideshowBobRoberts Sideshow Bob Roberts]]", Sideshow Bob is on trial for committing electoral fraud to get himself elected mayor of Springfield. Bart and Lisa accuse Bob of ''not'' being the real mastermind behind the fraud, pinning it instead on PompousPoliticalPundit Birch Barlow, with Bob being little more than Barlow's lackey. This, of course, was just a ruse to get Bob to confess, as his ego wouldn't allow him to be seen as incompetent.
981** In the episode "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS7E1WhoShotMrBurnsPartTwo Who Shot Mr. Burns? (Part Two)]]", the police believe Homer to be the one to shoot him due to Homer's name being the only thing coming out of Mr. Burns's mouth when he wakes up. However, once Burns regains his memory, he confirms that Homer lacks the skill or mental capacity to be capable of shooting him.
982* VehicularSabotage: In "The Great Louse Detective" someone is trying to kill Homer. He is made the King of the Mardi Gras parade because the person trying to kill him has tampered with the brakes of his float so he can't stop.
983* VengefulVendingMachine:
984** In the ClipShow episode "So It's Come To This", Homer, who just woke up from a coma, walks to a vending machine. It crashed into Homer, putting him back into a coma.
985** In "Marge on the Lam", Homer puts his arm inside a vending machine to get a free "invisible cola" (actually a Crystal Buzz Cola). When he reaches into it Carl warns him, telling him that someone lost an arm doing that once. (We see the inside of the machine where there's a skeleton arm from the last guy who tried to get a free soda, still holding onto a can of Fresca.) Homer eventually grabs the soda, but his arm gets stuck and Lenny and Carl run off screaming. Then, Homer gets his other arm stuck inside a candy vending machine. (In a scene cut from syndication, he imagines himself at Maggie's wedding with his arms still stuck to the vending machines.) Just as the rescue workers are about cut off Homer's arms, it turns out this could've been avoided if he ''let go'' of the can in the first place. The firemen write a note up for Marge to prove that the incident wasn't some wild excuse to avoid going to the ballet (with said note mentioning that while they were wasting their time with Homer, a lumber mill burned down).
986** In "The Trouble With Trillions", Homer keeps trying to use Burns's (stolen) [[ZillionDollarBill trillion dollar bill]] in the vending machine. This time, [[InvertedTrope much to everyone's relief]], the machine keeps spitting it back.
987** "'Tis the Fifteenth Season" had Homer at a SecretSanta exchange at work where, after receiving a DVD player from Carl and [[ConvenienceStoreGiftShopping being asked by Lenny where ''his'' present was, he says to Lenny, "Your present is right in the other room."]] He then goes offscreen to the other room and is clearly heard saying "C'mon, machine, take my dollar! ... Fine, we'll play it ''your way!''" He then tackles the machine (still offscreen) and returns with a tube of Certs breath mints.
988** When Bart attacks the school vending machines, they retaliate by firing their contents at him ("I'm gonna cap a pop in yo ass!")
989** A FunnyBackgroundEvent in "A Streetcar Named Marge" has Homer beating the crap out of an uncooperative vending machine.
990* VerbalTic: Ned Flanders adds "diddly" to his words.
991** He even writes it.
992--->'''Homer:''' ''[reading]'' "Hi-diddly-ho, neighb-" Oh jeez, he actually ''wrote'' "diddly"!
993*** ...and a later episode revealed that Flanders' VerbalTic is the result of suppressing his anger.
994* VerbThis: In Homer's revised ending to Mel Gibson's remake of ''Mr. Smith Goes to Washington'':
995-->'''Senator Paine:''' I believe the Senator has yielded the floor.\
996'''Mr. Smith:''' Yield this, Senator Paine.
997* VertigoEffect: Seen more in the earlier seasons, such as "Principal Charming" (parodying Film/{{Vertigo}}), "Bart Gets Hit By a Car" (when the camera zooms in on Marge), "Lisa's Substitute" (when the camera zooms in on Lisa when she's shocked to see Miss Hoover back), and "Treehouse of Horror" (when Lisa first sees the UFO).
998* AVerySpecialEpisode:
999** "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS9E5TheCartridgeFamily The Cartridge Family]]" is a Simpsons episode all about gun control. As controversial as the gun-control argument may be, the episode does point out that guns are not toys and that people who do not use them responsibly should not own them at all.
1000** "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS16E3SleepingWithTheEnemy Sleeping with the Enemy]]" has Lisa Simpson struggling with anorexia. The point of the episode is that eating disorders and insecurities about your looks aren't [[CompressedVice compressed vices]]. They don't go away in 20 minutes and sometimes will stay with you for life.
1001** The people of Ogdenville move to Springfield in "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS20E21ComingToHomerica Coming to Homerica]]", prompting the town to engage in a two-sided debate around immigration, paralleling America's real-world immigration debate. Putting the issue of racism aside, a country might not be able to [[OverpopulationCrisis handle mass migration because it might already have enough problems taking care of its own citizens (jobs, healthcare, crime, homelessness, etc).]] On the other hand, people who migrate to other countries might be trying to escape mountain-sized problems that can't be solved easily, or they are trying to support/protect their families. Long story short, the episode gives no clear answer to who is right or wrong.
1002* VictoryByEndurance: Homer has Homer Simpson Syndrome ("ohh, why me!?") where his brain is surrounded by 1/8 inch more cushioning fluid than usual, making him the perfect boxer. He just waits for the other guy to tire himself out punching him, at which point Homer can just push the other guy down for a KO.
1003* VideoCallFail:
1004** "Lisa's Wedding" had Lisa and Marge talk to each other through a picture phone. However, Marge kept forgetting that it was a video phone, leading to her [[LyingFingerCross visibly crossing her fingers]] in front of Lisa when she promises her that she will keep Homer in check for the wedding.
1005** In "You Won't Believe What This Episode is About - Act Three Will Shock You!", one of the social media pariahs that Homer works with is Jed Hawk, who became one when he went to the toilet at the end of a video conference and accidentally showed his dick to said conference.
1006* VideoPhone: One episode taking place in the future, "Lisa's Wedding," showcased a conversation between Lisa and Marge using a "picture phone." Marge kept forgetting that Lisa could see her over the phone, and her body language made it more obvious to tell when she was lying.
1007* VideoWills:
1008** Used a couple times, once in "Selma's Choice" where Lionel Hutz dubbed over the deceased Bouvier's voice (Hutz told Marge she'd be surprised with the number of times the trick works), and again in "Mona Leaves-a" with Mona:
1009--->'''Mona:''' If you're watching this right now, I am dead. Or if not, you've gotten into my stuff. But if I'm dead, this is my will. And if I'm not, get out of my stuff.
1010** Homer also attempted to film one in "One Fish, Two Fish, Blowfish, Blue Fish":
1011--->'''Homer:''' Hi, Maggie! I'm speaking to you from beyond the grave. ''[makes ghostly noises and laughs]'' Hope that didn't scare you.
1012* VigilanteInjustice:
1013** In the episode "Homer the Vigilante", after a series of burglaries hit Springfield, Homer forms a vigilante group with Barney, Apu and Moe in hopes to catch the cat burglar. But Homer and the group abuse their power to the point the news says they've caused more crimes than they stopped. The group disbands after world's largest cubic zarconium gets stolen by the burglar from the museum while under Homer's watch (he had gone off to get drunk with underage kids) and the town turns on him. While the episode does show that vigilantism can be inefficient when someone like Homer is in charge, the episode has Grandpa figure out who the burglar is and report him.
1014** In [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS6E9HomerBadman Homer Badman]], Homer is framed as a pervert after seemingly pinching the butt of a babysitter (when he was actually peeling off a rare gummi candy (one shaped like the Art/VenusDeMilo that she had unknowingly sat on). Rather than call the police, she rallies a mob and harrasses him for being a pervert. After trying and failing multiple times to clear his name, Groundskeeper Willie saves him by showing Ashley a recording of Homer taking the gummi candy.
1015* VignetteEpisode: Many, most notably the Treehouse of Horror series.
1016* VileVulture: Mr. Burns is often associated with birds, in particular, vultures.
1017** His character design, with his thin frame, skinny neck, and beak-like nose, makes him look very bird-like.
1018** His home includes a [[https://frinkiac.com/img/S04E17/769935.jpg menagerie]] filled with birds, (including vultures that look [[https://i.imgur.com/cYENVBX.png remarkably like himself]],) and in 'Fraudcast News', his alter ego in his Itchy & Scratchy propaganda cartoon is a [[https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/simpsons/images/7/7f/IMG_1431.PNG/revision/latest/top-crop/width/220/height/220?cb=20130204123251 vulture]].
1019** In a more subtle example, nearly all of the establishing shots of the nuclear power plant are accompanied by the sound of a crow's caw. According to 'Burns, Baby, Burns,' he apparently has several pet peacocks that wander around the grounds of Burns Manor.
1020** In 'The Fool Monty,' Mr. Burns is rendered mentally incompetent after suffering from a head injury. While the mayor holds a meeting to discuss what to do with him, Burns is restrained, appropriately enough, in an [[https://puzzledpagan.files.wordpress.com/2017/06/030.png over-sized bird cage]].
1021** In "Havana Wild Weekend", Mr. Burns, Lindsey Naegle, The Rich Texan, and Howard K. Duff VIII are the millionaires on "Vulture's Nest" who can provide funding and help with their business ideas and products to entrepreneurs. The Vultures can offer to take a percentage of the profits in return for investing money into the idea.
1022* VinylShatters: The episode "Itchy & Scratchy: The Movie" has Bart breaking records for kicks.
1023* ViolentGlaswegian: Groundskeeper Willie is Scottish and is always angry and shouty, even when he's being nice.
1024* VirtualAssistantBlunder: In "HOMR", Homer buys stock in an animation company and calls an automated hotline to check its stock price.
1025-->'''Voice:''' For automated stock prices, please state the company name.
1026-->'''Homer:''' [=AniMotion=].
1027-->'''Voice:''' [=AniMotion=]... Up one and one half.
1028-->'''Homer:''' ''Yahoo!''
1029-->'''Voice:''' Yahoo... Up six and a quarter.
1030-->'''Homer:''' Huh? What is this crap?
1031-->'''Voice:''' [[BitingTheHandHumor Fox Broadcasting... Down eight.]]
1032-->'''Homer:''' ''[[TakeThat (smiles contently)]]''
1033* VirusAndCureNames: In [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS8E1TreehouseOfHorrorVII "Treehouse of Horror VII"]], Lisa invents the [[IncredibleShrinkingMan shrinking device]] called a "debigulator", and the device that reversed it was called a "rebigulator".
1034* VisualPun: Several. One example took place when Homer became a photojournalist for a tabloid. When the editor commented a photo had "Page One" written all over it, it was because Homer wanted to remember the book page where he stopped. That's right, Homer took BookDumb to ''that'' level.
1035* VocalEvolution: Natural, given the series' run since [[LongRunners 1989]]. Some prominent examples:
1036** During the entirety of the Tracey Ullman shorts and the first season Creator/DanCastellaneta used a Creator/WalterMatthau impression for Homer, which was tonally deeper and had a marble mouth slurring. By Season 3 Homer's voice had moved a bit higher and a bit of a lisp, conveying childish energy albeit with more authority. The change was because the original voice was centered around the tonsils and so he had a hard time putting any sort of variation in his lines, the newer voice came more from the chest and gave the character more variety and a stronger presence. Dan says on the commentaries that he just tried to match the voice he'd been using when they were recording, and changing it little by little to make it easier to show a wider range of emotion. He eventually wound up with the voice we all know simply by trial and error. Past Season 10 or so, Homer's voice has become a little bit deeper and slightly more gravelly, but otherwise unchanged since the 4th season.
1037** Bart spoke in a nasal, monotone voice with a noticeable lisp in the early shorts, and it sounded much quieter. As the shorts go on, despite only being a slight change, his speech gets pronounced slightly clearer, as well as getting less slow and a bit less quiet. Starting with "Moaning Lisa", Bart's lisp starts to completely go away, and his voice gets higher and much more expressive. By Season 6, his voice is completely expressive. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5CLnCJlydY Just compare this]] to a later episode.
1038** [[invoked]] Creator/JulieKavner had the distinctive hoarse, gravely tone with her performances as [[ActingForTwo Marge, Patty, Selma and Mrs. Bouvier,]] but was significantly higher pitched and softer in intonation. Due to the stress of the performances on her vocal chords, all of Kavner's characters have become deeper, and, by Season 27, sounding like they've lost their voices.
1039** Creator/HarryShearer's Mr. Burns in Seasons 1 and 2 was ''much'' more deep and ominous than his current over-the-top performance, which became less nasal in season 34.
1040** Creator/HankAzaria's voice for Moe was quite a bit higher early in the run, and became quite deep by later seasons.
1041*** Chief Wiggum started deeper and slower[[note]]Azaria's imitation of David Brinkley[[/note]], then he was told to speed-up his delivery and it morphed into the current Edward G. Robinson voice.
1042** Creator/NancyCartwright also uses a deeper, more teenaged sounding voice for both Nelson Muntz and Kearney Zzyzwicz compared to before Season 6 or so. Nelson's "HA HA!" is pretty much the same, though. FridgeLogic applies here, as Nelson and Kearney have been shown to be smokers in several episodes, including when their voices were still higher.
1043* TheVoiceless:
1044** Maggie, with a couple exceptions. In "Lisa's First Word", she utters her first word, voiced by Creator/ElizabethTaylor: "Daddy." In "Treehouse of Horror V", she is voiced by Creator/JamesEarlJones in one of the alternate universes Homer created: "This is ''indeed'' a disturbing universe."
1045** Lampshaded in "Lisa's Wedding" when a teenage Maggie keeps trying to talk (or sing), but is either interrupted before she can say anything or has her mouth full of food and is unintelligible.
1046---> '''Homer''': Will that girl ever shut up?
1047** Sideshow Bob and Sideshow Mel were this for their first appearances, Bob communicated through a slide-whistle, Mel used a bicycle horn.
1048* VolleyingInsults: In "Worst Episode Ever" when Agnes and Comic Book Guy first meet:
1049-->'''Agnes:''' Out of the way, tubby!\
1050'''Comic Book Guy:''' Oh ''pardon me'', Oldie Hawn!\
1051'''Agnes:''' Oh OH! Why you ''ill-mannered'' sack of crap!\
1052'''Comic Book Guy:''' Oh ''goodie''. Now I know whatever happened to Baby Jane.\
1053'''Agnes:''' You are the ''rudest'' man who ever... [[MoodWhiplash bought me dinner!]]\
1054'''Comic Book Guy:''' Correction; I do not believe I have ever bought you... ''[realizes]'' Oh.
1055[[/folder]]
1056
1057[[folder:W]]
1058* WalkieTalkieGagOver: In "Treehouse of Horror V", Marge tries to call the police on a two-way radio when Homer goes insane.
1059-->'''Marge:''' Hello! Police! This is Marge Simpson! My husband is on a murderous rampage! Over!\
1060'''Chief Wiggum:''' Well, thank God it's over. I was worried there for a second. ''[hangs up]''
1061* WalkIntoCameraObstruction:
1062** "Lisa's Pony" in a scene where Homer's playing tea party with Lisa and Bart and Milhouse make fun of him. Homer notices them and immediately charges at them. He runs towards the camera and his stomach fills up the screen making it completely white.
1063** "Girls Just Want to Have Sums" where Nelson is about to beat up the disguised Lisa
1064** "The Dad Who Knew Too Little" where Homer is about to charge towards some free sample stands
1065** At the end of "A Star Is Born-Again" when the characters are doing a parody of a a Benny Hill sketch.
1066** "Brother's Little Helper" The scene where Bart walks into an army base where soldiers are taking showers. He is walking into the camera with a twitchy look on his face
1067** "Homer Defined": with Homer about to push a random button to stop a nuclear meltdown; with his finger.
1068* WalkOnTheWildSideEpisode:
1069** This happens to Marge on many occasions, ranging from running from the law with her friend after stealing her ex's car, taking part in a monster truck rally and gaining road rage from a Canyonero. {{Driv|esLikeCrazy}}ing seems to be her recurring BerserkButton.
1070** In "Separate Vocations", Lisa becomes a delinquent after getting "Homemaker" in an IneptAptitudeTest and being told that she'll never become a professional Jazz musician due to her stubby fingers. This culminates with her committing an expulsion worthy offense (stealing all of the teachers' guides) to which Bart takes the fall, not wanting her to ruin her life.
1071* WalkThroughTheCamera:
1072** "Selma's Choice" Bart and Lisa try to get Selma off a bench and ride a rollercoaster.
1073** "Much Apu About Nothing" near the beginning where Homer tries to get beer from the fridge. "Let's all calm down. Everyone's going to be just fine. As long as I have enough beers."
1074* {{Wallbonking}}: At one point, Marge joins an online game and gets stuck walking into a wall. She comments, "how incredibly annoying!", only for Grandpa, who is stuck like this in real life, to respond, "tell me about it."
1075* TheWallsAreClosingIn: When spoofing ''{{Film/The Ten Commandments|1956}}'' and the story of Moses, Milhouse and Lisa (as Moses and Aaron) are thrown in a room with {{spike|sOfDoom}}d walls that close in on them. However, the spikes have all been installed opposite each other, so that the walls stop when the tips touch, leaving plenty of room for them to climb to safety (and for Lisa to remark, "Slave labor. You get what you pay for.").
1076* WasntThatFun:
1077** Said by Bart when the family goes to Itchy & Scratchy Land and survive a rather deadly log ride that ended in the family jumping out of the way of a buzz saw onto mattresses.
1078** In "Brother From Another Series", Bart wants to go again after he, Lisa, and Sideshow Bob rode down the drainage pipe.
1079--->'''Bart:''' Let's go again! Let's go again!\
1080'''Lisa:''' ''[still catching her breath]'' NO!
1081* WastefulWishing: In "Homer and Apu", Homer wastes his three questions to the C.E.O. of the Kwik-E-Mart by asking three times if the man is ''really'' the head of the Kwik-E-Mart.
1082* WatchTheWorldDie: On at least one occasion, the family gathered on the roof in lawn chairs watching the destruction of Springfield after yet another wacky series of adventures. Marge wouldn't let Bart go loot with the others.
1083* WaterHoseRodeo: This occurs in "Last Exit to Springfield", due to Mr. Burns's incredibly weak strength.
1084* WateringDown: In "The Crepes of Wrath", the French winemakers dilute their wine with antifreeze, then test it on Bart.
1085* WayPastTheExpirationDate:
1086** We learn that Apu sells products that are over a decade old. "And the clerk who runs the store can charge a little more for milk (for milk) and meat (and meat) from 1984!"
1087** In another episode, Homer eats a box of baking soda from the back of the fridge that he thinks was there when they bought the house.
1088** In "The Bart of War", Bart and Milhouse drink a "forty-year-old novelty beverage" they find in Ned Flanders' Beatles shrine and experience a MushroomSamba.
1089** In "The Man Who Grew Too Much", when Lunchlady Doris reveals to Lisa that the vegetables she uses are genetically-modified to stay fresh, she tells her not to ask how old the Jell-O is. There are two trays of gelatin cut into letters to promote the final episode of ''Series/{{MASH}}'' in 1983 and the Atlanta Olympics in 1996; the episode aired in 2014, so the trays would've respectively been around 31 and 18 years old.
1090* WeAreExperiencingTechnicalDifficulties: Seen many times when something goes wrong during Kent Brockman's or Krusty the Clown's broadcast.
1091* WeDidntStartTheBillyJoelParodies: "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0PJYqzht3s They'll Never Stop the Simpsons]]", a SuspiciouslySimilarSong at the end of the 2002 "Gump Roast" episode (so far, [[LongRunners they seem to be right]]).
1092* WeakBossStrongUnderlings: {{Exaggerated}}. Mr. Burns may struggle to crush a paper cup and in one episode had his foot pushed away by an ant he intended to step on, but he is still widely feared because he has a private army of security guards, hired goons, and [[ArmyofLawyers lawyers]] in his personal retinue.
1093* {{Wedgie}}: Nelson and the bullies routinely give wedgies to Milhouse and Martin though Bart has received some on occasion.
1094* AWeightyAesop:
1095** One episode has the town declared the fattest town in America. This greatly concerns Marge and she manages to convince other people to enforce a ban on sugar so that everyone can start eating healthier. Naturally, people resist to the point of smuggling sugar prohibition style. StatusQuoIsGod kicks in at the end where Marge eventually gives up and lets people indulge in their sugar cravings.
1096** Zig-zagged in "King-Sized Homer" where Homer purposely gains weight to the point of weighing over 300 pounds because it would make him legally disabled, thus he can work from home and never have to physically go to work. A moment later, he gets a warning from the power plant that there will be a meltdown if the problem is not taken care of right now. Homer races to the source and winds up plugging up the hole with his enlarged rear, which somehow stops the threat. Homer realizes that if had he not gained excessive weight, he would have fallen to his death, which Lisa ironically remarks as well. Homer then decides he has to lose weight so Marge would not be turned off by his body anymore. Mr. Burns tries to get Homer to exercise, but gives up after seeing Homer is too fat to do a proper sit up and decides to just get him liposuction.
1097** In "The Heartbroke Kid", after Principal Skinner signs a contract with a vending machine company sponsored by hip-hop artists to allow them to sell their products at the school, Bart becomes greatly hooked on the [[NutritionalNightmare excessively unhealthy snacks]] and consumes them frequently, which results in him growing considerably obese and developing a serious addiction toward junk food. One day, he suffers a heart attack and is taken to the hospital, where an X-ray scan reveals there are ''three malted milk balls clogging his arteries and a wad of Laffy Taffy stuck on his liver''. Bart is put on a diet, but, when his addiction is too severe, the entire family and a few Springfieldians stage an intervention and send the boy to Serenity Ranch, a rather expensive weight-loss camp led by Tab Spangler, a fitness guru voiced by Creator/AlbertBrooks. Bart ultimately overcomes his addiction after Tab shows him the sacrifices his family is making to afford the camp's bills (namely turning the house into a youth hostel for a bunch of rude German students), whereupon he goes back to the school, smashes the vending machines apart and recovers the money he spent on them to bring it back to his family.
1098** In "Walking Big & Tall", the characters learn that there is no such thing as a perfect body image, being obese and underweight carry health problems that can turn fatal. Albert was right about protesting a shop that promoted impossible and anorexic body images but he still died of a heart attack caused by overeating. You shouldn't promote or shame either body type but you still need to consider either yours or their health.
1099* WeNeedADistraction: "Hello this is the Repo Depot, I'm just calling to distract you while we repossess your plow."
1100* WeShouldGetAnotherTape: In "Alone Again, Natura-Diddly", Homer films Ned's dating video on a tape featuring Marge giving birth to Maggie.
1101* WeddingRingRemoval: An inadvertent example. Homer takes off his wedding ring while working at a Habitat for Humanity-esque volunteer building event, and several women flirt with him upon noticing his ring tan, marking him as recently but no longer married.
1102* WelcomeToTheBigCity: When Homer first goes to New York, he's robbed several times and falls into a sewer while being chased by a pimp.
1103* WellIntentionedExtremist: Sideshow Bob. For example, the whole reason he framed Krusty was to provide 'Quality Children's Entertainment'. Yes, and because he got shot out of a cannon.
1104* WetCementGag:
1105** In "Lemon of Troy", Bart attempts to write his name in wet cement.
1106** In "Sex, Pies, and Idiot Scrapes", Homer and Flanders end up falling into a pile of wet cement. While they're stuck, Flanders begins reciting the Bible.
1107* WhatCouldHaveBeen:
1108** Parodied in-universe. The CorruptCorporateExecutive of a young-adult book publisher claimed that the original draft of ''Literature/{{Twilight}}'' was Bella falling in love with a {{Golem}}.
1109** Also played straight in that Marge could have been a ''ComicStrip/LifeInHell'' rabbit in disguise. Early in the series, Matt Groening was planning to reveal that Marge was hiding rabbit ears under her hair, but the idea was scrapped either due to inconsistencies, or because [[EveryoneHasStandards it was too silly even for]] ''The Simpsons''. [[http://www.rubbercat.net/simpsons/marge-rabbit-sprites.png This idea is immortalized in the Arcade Game.]]
1110* WhatHappenedToTheMouse:
1111** Colin, from [[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsonsMovie the movie]] most notably, and Janey Powell, Lisa's friend who seemed to get pushed aside so the [[IntelligenceEqualsIsolation "Lisa has no friends"]] running plot could happen.
1112** ''The Simpsons'' is a gold mine of this trope. A lot of the people the Simpsons have met (besides the celebrities) and the things the Simpsons or Springfield have disappeared and are no longer mentioned, or are mentioned later on, but only en passant.
1113** A subversion is with Mike Scioscia. He appears in "Homer at the Bat" and suffers from acute radiation poisoning in the end. He appears '''MUCH''' later in "[=MoneyBART=]", eighteen years later, and when Marge reminds him that he suffered from poisoning, he said "I did. But it ended up giving me super-managerial powers."
1114** {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d now and then, such as in "Homerazzi," where Homer complains about celebrities not acknowledging him in any way after their first meeting. (Creator/BettyWhite then approaches him and asks him questions about the family.) Another episode has Homer mention "my seldom-seen half-brother Herb."
1115** This trope was essentially why "Mother Simpson" was produced, as the then current writing team couldn't believe that Homer's mother had never been seen outside of a couple flashback cameos.
1116* WhamLine:
1117** "Who Shot Mr Burns: Part Two":
1118--> '''Mr Burns''': The one who shot me was...[[spoiler: Maggie Simpson!]]
1119** "Mother Simpson":
1120--> '''Mona''': You awful man! Get out of my son's grave!
1121** "Hurricane Neddy":
1122--> '''Flanders''': Now calm down, Nedilly-diddly-diddly-diddly-doodly, they did their best, shodilly-iddly-iddly-diddly. Gotta be nice, hostiddly-iddly-diddly-diddly...[[RageBreakingPoint AW, HELL-DIDDLY-DING-DONG-CRAP! CAN'T YOU MORONS DO ANYTHING RIGHT?!]]
1123* WhatHaveIDone: Bart sawing off the Jebediah Springfield statue head in "The Tell Tale Head".
1124* WhatTheHellHero: Flanders tries to force the Simpson children into getting baptized (without discussing the matter with their parents) while he and Maude have temporary custody.
1125* WhatsAHenway: From "The Simpsons Spin-Off Showcase":
1126-->'''Marge:''' I said we were having a special ''guest'' tonight: Mr. Creator/TimConway!\
1127'''Homer:''' What's a Tim Conway?\
1128'''Tim Conway:''' Oh, about 120 pounds.
1129* WheelOfPain: Homer is forced to work one that [[MundaneUtility turns the wheel of a cupcake display in the cafeteria]].
1130* WhenIWasYourAge: A perennial favorite of Grandpa Simpson.
1131* WhereAreTheyNowEpilogue: The ending of "Bart's Dog Gets an F" features still screen pictures and text of what happened to some of the dogs after obedience school.
1132* WhereEverybodyKnowsYourFlame:
1133** PlayedForLaughs in "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS6E11FearOfFlying Fear of Flying]]" with a GayBarReveal; Homer, having been banned from Moe's and looking for a new watering hole, is the only man in She-She Lounge, a very obviously lesbian bar, muttering "There's something bothering me about this place...I know! ''[[DiscriminateAndSwitch This lesbian bar doesn't have a fire exit!]] Enjoy your deathtrap, ladies!''", which is followed by a woman asking "What was her problem?" as he leaves.
1134** Also, "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS8E15HomersPhobia Homer's Phobia]]". Homer makes friends with a kitschy antique store owner who looks like ([[InkSuitActor and is voiced by]]) Creator/JohnWaters but breaks off the friendship when he finds out that John is gay and Bart may be being influenced by him (the episode ends with Homer learning his lesson, naturally). In an effort to [[{{Pun}} straighten]] him out, Homer accidentally takes Bart to a steel mill that turns into a gay dance club/bar after the workday is over. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjElZ-O9EpM We work hard, and we play hard.]]
1135--->'''Moe:''' Wake up, Homer. The entire steel ''industry'' is gay.
1136** In "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS22E11FlamingMoe Flaming Moe]]", Smithers gets Moe to redesign his bar to cater to Springfield's resident gay population that doesn't fit in with the very trendy, upscale gay bar that opened literally across the street. Moe's (now redubbed Mo's) looks a lot more like a ''real'' gay bar would, a little class and a mixed but average clientele, while the competition is the loud, thumping, laser-and-fog-filled night club stocked (very intentionally) with a bevy of hunks that look like they just stepped off the catwalk.
1137* WhisperedThreat:
1138** In the episode "The Otto Show", Otto tells Lisa a story about a crazed maniac killer, ending the story by whispering to her that ''he'' was that maniac. [[PingPongNaivete Cue a blood-curdling scream from Lisa]] and him trying to allay her fears via a JustJokingJustification.
1139** In "Trash of The Titans" when campaigning for Homer's run as Trash Commissioner, Bart says on a loudspeaker to vote for him or "he'll beat us". Homer gets angry, tells him that he's only joking...then whispers to him [[IsThisThingStillOn (into the loudspeaker)]] "You're gonna get such a beating!" to the looks of horrified citizens.
1140** In "Black Widower", Sideshow Bob marries Aunt Selma, planning to kill her to gain her savings. While rubbing her feet, he repeatedly mutters under his breath his intent to murder her. When Selma overhears, he passes his statements off as loving compliments made in other languages.
1141* WhiteDudeBlackDude:
1142** Homer watches a black comedian do one of these routines in "Homer and Apu".
1143--->'''Homer:''' ''[laughing]'' It's true, it's true! We're so lame!
1144** And [[SmallReferencePools tries one himself]] in "Monty Can't Buy Me Love"
1145--->'''Homer:''' White people have names like ''"Lenny"'', while black people have names like ''"Carl"''.
1146* WhoIsDriving: A recurring joke regarding Otto and the school bus as he often joins the students in the back of the bus to see what is going on.
1147* WhoWritesThisCrap:
1148** In "Faith Off", Kent Brockman complains about the writing on the teleprompter.
1149--->'''Kent Brockman:''' Big game fever is reaching a fever pitch as the fevered rivalry between Springfield U. and Springfield A&M spreads like wildfever. This is writing?\
1150'''Intern:''' Sorry, Kent, I lost my thesaurus.\
1151'''Kent Brockman:''' ''[muttering]'' "Lost your thesaurus." You'll lose more than ''that''. In preparation for the big game, Springfield Stadium has caught additional seating capacity fever.
1152** In "Children of a Lesser Clod", Krusty complains about the writing at the award ceremony. It turns out Mr. Teeny is his writer.
1153--->'''Krusty:''' Now, every year we find one good Samaritan so deserving that not recognizing him would make Santa Claus himself vomit with rage. Ugh, who writes this stuff?!
1154* WholeEpisodeFlashback:
1155** "The Way We Was", "The Way We Weren't", "That '90s Show", "Dangerous Curves", "The Seemingly Never-Ending Story", the episodes about the birth of the kids ("I Married Marge", "Lisa's First Word", and "And Maggie Makes Three").
1156** "Dancin' Homer", which begins with Homer at the bar telling his friends about his short-lived stint as a baseball mascot. There's really no reason for the episode to be told in flashback, but it was done that way because the writers didn't know how to end the episode.
1157* WholePlotReference: ''Theatre/{{Hamlet}}'', ''Film/TheDeparted'', ''Film/MrAndMrsSmith2005'', ''Film/MaryPoppins'', ''Film/TwoThousandOneASpaceOdyssey'', ''{{Dracula}}'', ''Literature/LordOfTheFlies'', ''Film/SidAndNancy'', ''WesternAnimation/LadyAndTheTramp'', ''Film/ThelmaAndLouise'', ''Film/RearWindow'', ''Franchise/ANightmareOnElmStreet'', ''Series/TwentyFour'', ''Film/TheShining'', ''Series/MyMotherTheCar'', ''Film/BatmanBegins'', ''Franchise/KingKong'', ''Literature/TheIslandOfDoctorMoreau''...
1158** This appears the most often in the Halloween episodes.
1159* WhosWatchingTheStore: Seen in "Lisa the Beauty Queen" when both Apu and Sanjay are at the beauty pageant. Marge asks them who's watching the Kwik-E-Mart, and the scene cuts to Jimbo, Dolph, and Kearney stealing the Squishy machine.
1160* WhyWeCantHaveNiceThings: In "Trilogy Of Error", Lisa says, "This is why I can't have nice things" after Homer breaks her Linguo robot by pouring beer in it.
1161* WidelySpacedJailBars: The episode "The Frying Game" has Marge and Homer in jail together, in a cell whose bars are clearly too close together for Homer but Marge could walk right through them. She doesn't, making this a Serious Type.
1162* WidowMistreatment: [[SitcomArchNemesis Homer has always hated Ned]], but ever since Ned's wife, Maude, died in "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS11E14AloneAgainNaturaDiddily Alone Again Natura Diddily]]," her death has given Homer just another reason to pick on Ned (it gets even worse since he's indirectly responsible for her death in the first place). He'll often tease him about it, and one time, he even ''gloated about it in song.'' Thankfully, being ThePollyanna that he is, Ned will usually just laugh off Homer's insults.
1163* TheWildcats: Parodied in "Bart Star":
1164-->'''Ned:''' Who are we?\
1165'''Football team:''' The Wildcats!\
1166'''Ned:''' Who are we gonna beat?\
1167'''Football team:''' The Wildcats!
1168* WilliamTelling: In "The Cartridge Family," after Bart finds the handgun Homer acquired stowed in the vegetable crisper, he aims it at Milhouse who sticks an apple in his mouth. Marge manages to find the two just before Bart could pull the trigger.
1169* WilyWalrus: In one CouchGag, Marge, Lisa, Bart, and Maggie are penguins climbing onto an iceberg. Homer is a walrus who flops onto the iceberg, causing it to fling the penguins [[SwallowedWhole into his mouth]].
1170* WindowPain:
1171** Ralph (with a note attached) is thrown through the Simpsons' window; he announces "I'm a brick!"
1172** On another occasion, instead of a brick with a note, a ''ringing telephone'' is thrown through a window.
1173** In "Moe'N'a Lisa", Moe throws a brick with a note through the Simpsons' window after Homer forgets his birthday.
1174* WinHerAPrize: Principal Skinner tries to win a prize for his [[MyBelovedSmother Mother]] in one episode.
1175* WithOrWithoutYou: Homer gives these occasionally. The follow-through, eh, not so much.
1176* WolverinePublicity: "Bartmania" dominated so much of the early advertising, focus, and controversy arround the show that one would easily assume that the rest of the Simpson family were merely tertairy to Bart. When in reality, not did the rest of the family get plenty of focus, but if anyone was the main character, it was Homer. As a result, episode promos would often find any excuse to promote Bart's role in an episode, [[https://twitter.com/dailysimpsons/status/1194112629977108484 even if it was a minor B-plot.]]
1177* WomenAreWiser: Marge and Lisa to Bart and (especially) Homer.
1178* WontDoYourDirtyWork: In the episode "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS8E16BrotherFromAnotherSeries Brother From Another Series]]", when Bart asks God to kill Sideshow Bob, Homer replies with this less-than-helpful advice:
1179-->'''Homer''': [[DoWrongRight You do your own dirty work]].
1180* WorkingOnTheChainGang: The episode "Kill The Alligator And Run" sees the entire family (yes, even Maggie) sentenced by the State of Florida to forced labor on a chain gang after Homer kills an alligator named "Captain Jack" (the Florida town's most famous resident) and addresses the jury at their trial as "Drunken Hicks."
1181* TheWorldMocksYourLoss: After Ned lost his wife he sees couples dancing and having fun at the [[FictionalHoliday Jellyfish Festival]].
1182-->'''Marge:''' Poor Ned. This is his first Jellyfish Festival alone.\
1183'''Homer:''' I know. And it doesn't get any easier from here. There's the Tongue-Kissing Festival, Cinco de Ocho, the Hobo Oscars, days just made for lovers. Not widowers... lovers.
1184* WorldOfHam: Springfield, in ''spades.'' What can you say about a town where its citizens [[PowderKegCrowd fly into a rage at the drop of a hat, or even a pin?]] To the point where they go as far as [[SeriousBusiness destroying the neighborhood, killing each other,]] [[HamToHamCombat out-hamming one another,]] [[TheLongList the list goes on!]]
1185* TheWorstSeatInTheHouse: In "The Homer They Fall," Marge's seat for Homer's [[TheBoxingEpisode big boxing match]] was directly behind a pillar, so she couldn't see anything.
1186* WorldsSmallestViolin: Lenny tries this but loses the bow.
1187* WorstWhateverEver: Comic Book Guy is the {{Trope Maker|s}} using his ubiquitous CatchPhrase.
1188* WorthlessForeignDegree: Apu works in the Kwik-E-Mart despite being a top-of-the-class computing scientist back in India.
1189* WraparoundBackground: Lampshaded in "The Front" when Roger Meyers Jr. says that a common way to keep costs down on a cartoon is to re-use the same backgrounds over and over again... meanwhile, he, Bart, and Lisa walk by the same background numerous times.
1190* WretchedHive: Springfield has incompetent and corrupt police officers, corrupt politicians and violent idiots who break out into riots for the smallest offences. People are either hopeful about the town or they embrace this trope. According to the creator, Lisa is the only person who can truly escape Springfield uncorrupted.
1191* WrestlerOfBeasts:
1192** In "Marge Gets a Job", Groundskeeper Willie saves Bart from a startled Alaskan timber wolf [[EscapedAnimalRampage that wanders into the school grounds]]. He grapples it into submission, then consoles it by pouring some whisky into the palm of his hand for it to lap, telling it "Don't feel too bad for losing, I was wrestling wolves when you were at your mother's teat".
1193** In "Monty Can't Buy Me Love", Mr. Burns fights the Loch Ness Monster.
1194* WriteWhoYouKnow: InUniverse example: Bart based the character in his web cartoon series Angry Dad on Homer Simpson, as well as a sidekick based on Lisa (A bit of an InUniverse ThrowItIn moment, as he created her so the person she's based on, Lisa Simpson, won't complain about the series' ripping off on Homer). Homer was initially not to happy with it, although after it was revealed that his angry reactions are the only reason he's still alive, he allows Bart to continue with the series, although only under the condition that he only does it semi-based on real experiences.
1195* WritersSuck:
1196** "The Front," "The Itchy & Scratchy & Poochie Show," and "Homer to the Max" have a lot of jokes about how awful television writers are (especially the ones who work on cartoons).
1197** In "Bart vs. Lisa vs. The Third Grade", Homer laments the wave of reality shows, and blames the writers and actors for pricing themselves right out of the business.
1198* WritingAroundTrademarks: Lampshaded by the ''Film/MaryPoppins'' parody, who says she's an original creation like 'Ricky Rouse' and 'Monald Muck'.
1199* WritingLines: The chalkboard gags at the beginning of most episodes involve Bart working on his 20th-or-so repetition of a phrase.
1200* WrongSideOfTheTracks: Turns up a bit; in fact, the quality of life in Springfield shifts from suburbia to abject poverty ''literally'' around the division of a single set of train tracks.
1201* WroteTheBook:
1202** In "The Great Money Caper", Homer and Bart walk around Springfield conning people with the help of a book called "A Child's Garden of Cons". Later, Abe joins them in their grifting, saying [[LiteralMetaphor he wrote the book on flimflamming]]. Bart verifies.
1203** In "the Spinoff Showcase"'s Lovematic Grandpa segment, Moe claims to have written the book on love. Abe responds, "Yeah, 'All Quiet on the Western Front'."
1204[[/folder]]
1205
1206[[folder:X]]
1207* XCalledTheyWantTheirYBack:
1208** In "Homer the Clown", Krusty gets a call from Creator/GeorgeCarlin, who is suing him for stealing his "Seven Words You Can't Say on TV" bit. Krusty ends the call by saying, "Well, excuuuse me!"
1209--->'''Receptionist:''' Creator/SteveMartin on four.\
1210'''Krusty:''' Ten grand.
1211** In the episode "Burns, Baby Burns", Lisa makes fun of Marge's hair.
1212--->'''Lisa:''' Buckingham Palace called, they want their hat back.
1213** At the start of "Treehouse of Horror XX", a vampire, werewolf, mummy, and Frankenstein's monster walk the streets on Halloween. Jimbo tells them, "Hey lame-os, Turner Classic Movies called, they want their costumes back!".
1214* XDaysSince:
1215** In the new, High-Definition opening: Lenny and Carl are changing the "days without an accident" sign one number higher, then the Quitting Time Horn goes off and Homer runs out, knocking them over in the process.
1216** A prison holds a sign counting the number of days since the last break.
1217** A redneck bar has a sign counting the number of days without a tornado. And it's reset between scenes.
1218** When Apu takes his citizenship test, the sign outside says something like "130 years without a civil war".
1219* XtremeKoolLetterz: Krusty's gratuitous use of the letter K is one of his defining traits, starting with calling himself "Krusty the Klown" rather than "Krusty the Clown" (the K in Krusty can't be changed, because it's based on his real name, Krustofski). He still does it even though it's burned him on many occasions, like his ''Krusty Komedy Klassic'' special ("KKK? ''That's'' not good!"). The UnfortunateImplications were made worse by the fact that the letters are in white and the TV special itself was set at the Apollo Theater, where ''Showtime At the Apollo'' (a variety show featuring black performers) is filmed. He also did another special called ''It's a Krusty Kinda Kristmas''.
1220* XylophonesForWalkingBones: Discussed in a couple of different episodes where Homer remarks that he's afraid of xylophone music because of its association with dancing skeletons.
1221[[/folder]]
1222
1223[[folder:Y]]
1224* {{Yakuza}}: After Homer hires the Mafia to help Marge's pretzel business, the Investorettes hire the Yakuza to fight back.
1225* YankTheDogsChain:
1226** In "Moaning Lisa", Bart keeps winning against Homer in a boxing video game. Homer gets lessons from a kid at the video arcade and that night, he uses the tips to wallop Bart in the game, but just before he's about to deliver his finishing blow, Marge unplugs the TV. So Homer didn't technically win the match, and Bart announces his retirement from the game.
1227** In "Homer Goes To College," Bart and Lisa are watching an ''Itchy & Scratchy'' cartoon called "Burning Down the Mouse," the one where Scratchy finally gets Itchy, (of course, Bart's purpose in life is to "witness this moment"), but just as soon as everything is about to blow up, Doug, one of Homer's nerd college-mates yanks the plug on the TV to plug in their "rock tumbler." Bart and Lisa anxiously tell him to plug the TV back in, but as soon as he does, the cartoon is already over. Krusty remarks, "WOW, they'll never let us show ''that'' again, not in a MILLION YEARS!" Understandably, [[BerserkButton Bart and Lisa are anguished.]]
1228* YawnAndReach: Homer tries to teach it to Abe in "Lady Bouvier's Lover". Skinner does this to Patty in "Principal Charming", but she doesn't like it.
1229-->'''Patty:''' Don't be stupid.
1230* YesMan: Smithers, though some of Burns' [[KickTheDog more extreme schemes]] had Smithers actually standing up to him, even risking getting fired for it. Then again, Smithers did go back to working for Burns later in the episode.
1231* YokoOhNo: Parodied with Barney's girlfriend in "Homer's Barbershop Quintet". She's so avant-garde she drinks perfume containing a single plum from a man's hat and suggests that the quintet release a track that consists only of her voice saying "number eight" followed by Barney belching.
1232* YouAnsweredYourOwnQuestion:
1233** Homer, unsurprisingly, hasn't grasped some basic concepts.
1234--->'''Homer:''' Operator! Give me the number to 911!
1235** Played with in "Bart's Girlfriend":
1236--->'''Bart:''' Why the crap do we have to go to church anyway?!\
1237'''Marge:''' You just answered your own question with that commode mouth.
1238* YouAreInCommandNow: Homer ends up in command of a nuclear sub in "Simpson Tide".
1239* YouAreTooLate: When the manager of his boy band tries to destroy ''Magazine/{{MAD}}'' Bart and his friends try to come up with a plan to calm him down. However by the time they come up with one its too late and he successfully blows up MAD's office.
1240* YouCantHandleTheParody:
1241** They've used it at least three times. The first is in "Secrets of a Successful Marriage":
1242--->'''Homer:''' You want the truth? You want the ''truth''?! You can't ''handle'' the truth! [[Film/{{Patton}} 'Cause when you reach over]] and put your hand into a pile of goo that was your best friend's face, you'll know what to do.
1243** From "Sideshow Bob Roberts":
1244--->'''Sideshow Bob:''' You want the truth? You can't handle the truth! No truth-handler, you! I deride your truth-handling abilities!\
1245'''Judge:''' Will you get to the point?
1246** From "Mommie Beerest":
1247--->'''Jack playing card:''' You can't handle the twos!
1248* YouGetMeCoffee: Lisa wanted to be in a jazz band but was told she could sit in a chair instead.
1249* YouGetWhatYouPayFor: In the second segment of "Simpsons Bible Stories", which spoofs the story of Moses, Lisa and Milhouse escape a badly designed DeathTrap. Lisa notes, "Slave labor. You get what you paid for."
1250* YouJustRuinedTheShot: Becky appears to be torturing the family in "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Marge". When Marge tries to make the save, Bart informs her she ruined the shot.
1251* YouMightRememberMeFrom: [[invoked]] Troy [=McClure=] says this virtually every time he appears, even when he's on a date.
1252* YouMonster:
1253** Bart to Mr. Burns in "Who Shot Mr. Burns (Part 1)": "You twisted old MONSTER!"
1254** Homer will drop this one for any reason. '''Any'''.
1255* YouMustBeThisTallToRide: Bart attempts to subvert the trope by applying ice cream bars to the bottom of his shoes to meet the height requirement. It gets played straight when the ride starts and he nearly falls out going through a loop because he is not big enough for the safety bar to catch him.
1256* YoungerThanTheyLook:
1257** Homer Simpson: In Season 4's "Lisa the Beauty Queen," Homer tries his luck at the school carnival's "Guess Your Age and Weight" booth. The fortuneteller guesses that Homer is 53 years old and 420 pounds. Homer laughs at the man and reveals that he's 36 years old and 239 pounds. Later episodes would have Homer as 38 or 39, depending on writer.
1258** Hans Moleman: During the Alc-Anon meeting in Season 4's "Duffless," Hans reveals that he's 31 years old (which is true, according to his driver's license on "Selma's Choice" that shows he was born in August of 1961. It would make him around 31 at the time of the episode's premiere -- 1991), implying that Hans Moleman's alcohol addiction has rapidly aged him. As usual, NegativeContinuity has discredited this, as Hans was seen at the Springfield Retirement Home in "The Old Man and the C Student" and in "Little Girl in the Big Ten," a character pointed out that Hans was 80. Though given Moleman's [[ButtMonkey status]], and how incompetent just about ''every'' laborer in Springfield seems to be...
1259** Mr. Burns: Before "Homer the Smithers," Burns revealed that he was 81 years old and looked older because he went bald around the time he was in college. After "Homer the Smithers", it's since been retconned that he looks his age (or is older than he looks) and has had a head of hair as recently as the sixties.
1260*** Mr. Burns' age following "Homer the Smithers" has tended to vary. Generally, it was established since then that Burns is 104 years old, although in the S15 episode "Fraudcast News", Burns is 89 years old. Again, this depends on the writer.
1261* YourBrainWontBeMuchOfAMeal: In the "Treehouse of Horror III" piece "Dial Z For Zombies", Homer offers himself to the zombies if they'll let his family live. After knocking on his head, the zombies feel he doesn't have anything to give.
1262* YourFavorite: Matt Groening's favorite candy bar is Butterfinger, the reason he allows the characters to sell them.
1263* YourHeadASplode:
1264** Once in a reference to ''ComicBook/JohnnyTheHomicidalManiac'', as well as an ExplosiveDecompression.
1265** In "And Maggie Makes Three", Homer's head suddenly explodes during the WholeEpisodeFlashback, which is immediately revealed to be Bart hijacking the story. When the flashback resumes... Homer is still headless, crying about how his perfect life is ruined.
1266--->'''Marge:''' Homer, you had a head.\
1267'''Homer:''' Check. ''[flashback-Homer's head reappears]''
1268* YouWouldDoTheSameForMe: In "Homer the Heretic", Ned says this to Homer after he saves Homer from a burning house. In a daydream, Homer thinks differently, though he responds: "That's right, old friend."
1269* YouSayTomato:
1270** Marge says "foilage" instead of "foliage".
1271** Homer correcting Lisa: "It's spelled 'nucular', honey."
1272* YouWontFeelAThing: In the episode [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS8E10TheSpringfieldFiles "The Springfield Files"]]
1273-->'''Dr. Nick Riviera:''' Don't worry. You won't feel a thing ''[exhibits a swirling mechanical device]''... till I jam this down your throat!
1274[[/folder]]
1275
1276[[folder:Z]]
1277* ZanyCartoon: The Tracey Ullman shorts were often subject to this.
1278* ZanyScheme: Homer performs these, constantly.
1279-->'''Homer:''' Now, the only antidote to a zany scheme... is an even zanier scheme!\
1280'''Nerd:''' Why does it have to be "zany"?
1281%%* {{Zeerust}}: Parodied numerous times.
1282* ZillionDollarBill: Mr. Burns was said to own a trillion-dollar bill - and did! Now Fidel Castro has it.
1283* ZodiacMotifs: Scorpio (first name Hank), a character introduced in "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS8E2YouOnlyMoveTwice You Only Move Twice]]", is a megalomaniac who wants nothing more than to conquer the world. He's also a BenevolentBoss, ''very'' AffablyEvil, genuinely likes Homer, and even takes time out from fighting government agents who are attacking his hidden lair to try and talk Homer out of quitting. He doesn't succeed and Homer resigns anyway, but there's no hard feelings.
1284-->'''Scorpio''': Homer, I'm disappointed but I think you need to do what's best for your family. If you need anything, you call me. But Homer? On your way out, if you wanna kill somebody it would help me a lot.
1285[[/folder]]
1286

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