- Concern: Misused
- Since this is an index, we will need to overview entries rather than wicks.
- Number of entries: 433
- Target: 50 randomly chosen entries
Key
Correct- Green: Correct usage
- Purple: Dead Unicorn Trope or Forgotten Trope
Misuse
- Red: Trope is still in use; may be a Dead Horse Trope, an Undead Horse Trope, a Cyclic Trope, or an Evolving Trope
- Cinnamon: YMMV trope, cannot be discredited
- Pink: Other misuse, including Complaining
Other
- Gold: Zero-Context Example
- Gray: Uncertain
Entries
Correct
- Chucking Chalk: A discredited trope in real life, at least in Western education systems. A teacher throwing things at his pupils is likely to find himself out of a job in short order. The fact that most classrooms nowadays use dry-erase boards or computerized screens instead of chalkboards is also a factor. Not many works seem to use it, either.
- Cure Your Gays: Now that it's understood that "conversion therapy" and other attempts to "cure" non-heterosexual orientations are at best worthless and useless and fraudulent and at worst dangerous to life and health, playing this straight is seen as backward and
offensive. Doesn't stop some religious groups from continuing to try it, though. Everyone likes gays now, of course this trope's gonna die out. - Dinner with the Boss: Discredited around The '70s to The '80s in The United States and the UK. Most if not all work-related/work-networking parties/meetings/similar, anywhere in the world, are at restaurants, bars, or other public event locations, or held at the house of the boss/senior staff rather than rank-and-file employees. In Europe and Japan (as well as Latin America and most of Asia) this was how things were all along for the most part. Never happens in real life anymore, and hasn't been too common in more recent media.
- Driver of a Black Cab: This is heading for discredited status in modern times, as London has one of the highest ratios of ethnic minorities to white people in the whole country and it's much easier to be prejudiced against an abstract concept than against people you've actually met. Not to mention many London cabbies are now immigrants. Seems to have been exclusive to British works in the first place.
- Elvis Lives: In any work written after 2015, Elvis Presley would be over eighty years old. If he's not dead, it's likely that he will be soon. You're more likely to see this used straight with someone more recently deceased like Michael Jackson, Tupac Shakur or Stevie Ray Vaughan among many others. Sounds valid unless the definition gets expanded to include all kinds of celebrities instead of just Elvis.
- Everybody Smokes: The global smoking rate (as measured by admitted daily smokers) as of The New '10s rests around 25 to 30 percent, with a far lower percentage (around 20 to 25 percent) in most Western First World nations, due to aggressive education campaigns about the dangers of tobacco, stricter regulation of its use and sale and promotion, and free or low-cost quitting assistance for smokers, and more recently the emergence of electronic cigs. Some populations (and some nations/regions/cities) have larger percentages of smokers, but the trope is entirely discredited anywhere outside of those specific exceptions since The '90s. It still shows up in period pieces, but even then modern attitudes towards smoking have caused a decline in those kind of depictions. Smoking isn't as common as it was in the '50s, and a lot of on-page examples involve period pieces.
- Fairy Godmother: This is rarely used seriously in modern stories, often seen as a trite character archetype or a Deus ex Machina, usually associated with the most archaic parts of Fairy Tales (even though this trope is a lot more recent than most of those stories, and in fact very rare in fairy tales collected by folklorists; most Cinderella variants have her aided by her dead mother, or, in such variants as Catskin and Cap o'Rushes, by nothing but her own wits and some advice). It's still often used, simply because it's just so useful that writers can't resist it, although they often disguise the fairy godmother as something else and play it for comedy. The entry has a pothole to Undead Horse Trope, but it's still rarely played straight outside of parodies or references to actual fairy tales.
- Give Geeks a Chance: Due to modern-day attitudes towards relationships, it's harder to take seriously anymore. If it is used, expect An Aesop as well. The mainstreaming of nerd culture such as The Big Bang Theory has rendered it more or less obsolete, as there's no longer anything especially remarkable about a self-proclaimed "nerd" having a fulfilling love life. Most of the works with examples on the page came out before 2007 (when The Big Bang Theory, which could be the Trope Breaker, came out).
- Gratuitous Animal Sidekick: This became such an overused cliché in feature animation like Disney and its imitators (especially in the 90s) and kids cartoons of the 70s and 80s, and such an obvious way of pandering to kids and hocking toys, that it's considered impossible to take seriously now. It's quite rare to find examples of it in contemporary works and it's very rarely used in mainstream films now (there are exceptions like Tangled, but the side-kick in question only had a very small role and gets a pass due to it being an ode to an old Disney tradition). Excluding Disney movies, there's not a lot of modern examples being played straight.
- Hollywood Thin: On its way to becoming this, thanks to increasing backlash against media that pressures women and men to be as thin/buff as possible. Hollywood in particular is facing anger over these issues. According to some, this trope might cause viewers to develop eating disorders. Ironically, its deliberate opposite, Real Women Have Curves, may not be far behind it, as it's also receiving backlash for promoting the unhealthy ideas that people who are thin are somehow inferior to those who aren't. Sounds valid.
- Hysterical Woman: Not only a Double Standard, but a tired cliché. Dated stereotype
- Mayan Doomsday: December 21, 2012 is in the past now, and suffice to say, the world and civilization in general remain intact. It's hard to imagine any new works taking this trope seriously with that in mind. A Failed Future Forecast based on an urban legend
- Mystical India: Becoming one these days, at least in Europe and North America, where a notable percentage of the Indian population can and will call works set in India out on any inaccuracies. The trope is "the Theme Park Version of India" and Theme Park Version is also discredited.
- Smoking Is Cool: Changing attitudes towards smoking have deemed these tropes in bad taste, if not outright dangerous for the impressionable. Modern examples that play these straight are met with fierce criticism. The trope is in a similar situation with Everybody Smokes.
- Standing in the Hall: Parodied in some Japanese works still, but not used in Real Life as much. In western countries, similar variants aren't used due to kids taking it as an opportunity to wander around the halls. Almost never happened in Western media anyway.
- Virgin in a White Dress: Nowadays, Western women are free to have sex lives before marriage (although it may be frowned upon in some circles), and free to choose what color dress they wear. It's entirely possible (heck, even likely) that a modern bride wearing a white dress might not be a virgin or might only be a Technical Virgin. In addition, remarried brides are still allowed to wear white if they choose to. Another reason of why this is discredited is the fact that white lost its connotations of purity and became simply the color associated with new beginnings, including but not limited to marriages, that's why most wedding decorations are either white or in any other very light color such as cream. (Gold/white and silver/white are extremely popular) According to the Real Life folder on the page, the trope didn't exist in it's classic form until the 1950s, which would make this more of an Undead Horse Trope instead. But then again, there aren't a lot of modern examples.
- Who Wants to Be "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?": Flashy big-money game shows died off throughout the first decade of the 21st century, due in part to an oversaturation of the genre and the rise of reality TV. Once game shows started becoming popular again in The New '10s, they tended to be more straightforward, and less flashy and lavish. The dealbreaker was most likely Deal or No Deal, which started off hotly but quickly lapsed into self-parody and suffered massive overexposure. This trope might be a complaining magnet anyway.
Misuse
- All Jews Are Cheapskates: Though not entirely gone from media, it is still considered an offensive anti-Semitic stereotype now, especially due to its usage in anti-Semitic propaganda (although self-deprecating works actually made by Jews can usually get away with it). First sentence potholes to Undead Horse Trope, but could actually be a Dead Horse Trope
- Bouncer: The classic image of the trope, a large, overweight meathead is steadily becoming this as more and more places are hiring women and average-sized men, as the former can deal with drunk and aggressive women far more easily and with far fewer opportunities for lawsuits, while the latter group helps foster a friendlier, less hostile atmosphere, as well as being far less likely to attract the attention of aggressive men intent on proving their machismo. Bouncers who do fit the "violent scumbag" stereotype will quickly find themselves unable to find employment at well-managed or upstanding establishments, as owners and heads of security from other establishments do talk to each other. If word gets around that you're a bad hire who causes many a headache for your employer, "you'll never work in this town again" may very well become reality. Still being used.
- Brains Evil, Brawn Good: Intellectual characters are no longer portrayed as antagonistic (and much less as out-and-out evil) in modern works, while brute force is less regarded as a positive aspect. Still seems to get some use.
- Catch Your Death of Cold: Better understanding of viruses, the human immune system and disease vectors have largely overcome this old-wives' tale in Western media, though it's still alive and well in nese and possibly other East Asian media. Still gets plenty of use.
- The Chosen One: Has largely fallen out of favor due to how overused and cliche it is. One of the few ways to still use this trope so modern audiences accept it is to point out how much It Sucks to Be the Chosen One. The LEGO Movie in particular plays with, parodies, and deconstructs this trope to kingdom come while not taking itself seriously in the slightest. Still gets plenty of use.
- Class Pet: Fewer and fewer schools still use class pets due to budget issues, it being a potential health hazard for the student, and it being deemed unsuitable for the pet. Most modern instances of class pets in media are jokes about the pet dying or being accidentally let loose. still used in media.
- Disaster Movies involving airplanes — since Airplane! came out, no-one could possibly take one seriously. Unless it was based on a true story. One contemporary airplane disaster movie tried to play itself straight for the first part of its production process — then someone realized there were snakes on the plane... Disaster movies are still being made today. Not a lot of on-page examples involve airplanes anyway.
- Diseased Name: There was once a whole genre of jokes/Urban Legends wherein a Funny Foreigner, hillbilly or black person would punch above their presumed intellectual weight and give their child a name like Eczema. For many obvious reasons, this would never fly in contemporary society.
- The Upper-Class Twit variation (e.g. Pneumonia Vanderfeller) is still perfectly acceptable, if uncommon. The trope's description is literally just "Someone is named after a disease". Race, class or country of origin don't seem to matter.
- Flushing Toilet, Screaming Shower: Becoming one because newer buildings are designed with this trope in mind so it's harder to pull off. Still occasionally happens, even in real life.
- Free the Frogs: A cliché that just doesn't work anymore, since the frogs (and other animals for dissection) always come pre-killed. And even if they weren't, teachers are required to provide alternatives to students who don't want to dissect and are gradually phasing out dissection for the exact reason this trope arose; a lot of people are really squicked out by doing it. Actually, many schools that still do dissections often use virtual replicas. Still used in media.
- Fridge Run: Becoming this with the rise of on-demand TV and digital recording services, meaning you can watch these at your leisure later and skip the ad breaks. It's in the Audience Reactions index.
- Ghost Butler: In yesteryear, this was a standard feature of horror films — to show just how spooky the Haunted House was. It was used to the point where you are more likely to see it parodied than used straight. Sounds more like a Dead Horse Trope.
- Haunted House: This is somewhat discredited nowadays, with parodies, Abandoned Hospitals, and amusement park attractions being similarly popular to the straight portrayals. It's also an enduring trope, however, with stories of haunted houses going back at least to the ancient Romans
, making it Older Than Feudalism. It is still popular among Video Game Settings, however (see the game-specific trope Big Boo's Haunt), as it still provides a unique atmosphere and gameplay variations no other theme could logically do. Still in use, closer to an Undead Horse Trope - High School Rocks: Despite being a popular trope beginning in the 70s, and continuing on into the 90s (particularly in kid shows), is rarely played straight anymore. Now that shows like Freaks and Geeks and My So-Called Life, not to mention movies like Superbad and (to a lesser extent) Dazed and Confused, have subverted it into oblivion, it's almost impossible to take this trope seriously anymore. Waterloo Road is the show that made it become this way. There aren't a lot of on-page examples, but most of them are relatively recent, so the trope does still see some usage.
- If It's You, It's Okay: Discredited in slash fiction due to a specific use of it (i.e. "We're Not Gay, We Just Love Each Other") being perceived as having homophobic undertones. Most works aren't slash fiction.
- Inheritance Murder: Now becoming this; it's rare to find a murder mystery where the inheritor actually turns out to be the murderer, although it's very common nowadays to find it subverted with the inheritor being a prime suspect who turns out to be innocent. Sounds like it's more on the way to becoming a Dead Horse Trope, and the entry admits that it's stil common.
- Intergenerational Friendship: Now tends to be viewed as the adult "grooming" the child for sex, even if that's not the case. This might be the case in real life, but it still has plenty of use in media.
- Napoleon Delusion: Because after a certain point in time, delusional people wouldn't know who Napoleon is unless they were history buffs/history majors.note Also, in Real Life, A God Am I and the belief that one is seriously connected to, harassed/persecuted by, or actually is a celebrity or the President of the United States are more common delusions, as is the possibly-not-delusional belief (depending on the person and their activities — there have actually been real cases of said harassment/persecution) that one is being harassed/persecuted by authorities, a conspiracy, or the like. There are a ton of examples that don't involve Napoleon, and the description even says it doesn't just have to involve Napoleon.
- Open Heart Dentistry: Most doctors these days (with a few exceptions) are quite specialized and almost never do anything outside of their specialties. Still happens in media.
- Open-Minded Parent: Shifting attitudes towards many issues and the fact the Teens Are Monsters trope has fell into disuse have made this more of a rule rather than an exception (to the point of competing with the Bumbling Dad as the most popular "father figure" trope). The presence of an overtly-tolerant parent is now more often than not spoofed by showing them being totally oblivious to their kids' unrealistically dangerous/unusual actions or attitudes, which ironically was not the trope's original intent. Still common enough in media.
- Proverbial Wisdom: This is often seen as a discredited trope in Western culture: the excessive use of proverbs is considered trite and cliché, typical for elderly people and those who want to seem more thoughtful than they are. Conversely, it is very frequently employed in Eastern culture. In it, proverbs are often cryptic in their meaning and serve as "thought exercises" to make a person think "outside of the box" (Zen koans being the best known example). May not be too common in the West, but it does still happen. The page doesn't even have an "Anime and Manga" folder, by the way.
- Robo Speak: As modern computers get better at duplicating and mimicking sounds, including speech —- and the average person grows more familiar with that technology in his day-to-day life — the public at large seems to be accepting the notion that you could create a robot that doesn't sound like a sedated Darth Vader. Does appear to be slowing down, but it's not completely out of use yet, especially not with video games.
- School Is for Losers: It has become less prominent nowadays as modern evidence shows that people with higher levels of education have a better quality of life, most notably during economic downturns. Also the "drop-out tycoon" rarely shows up anymore, as only extremely intelligent and socially-able (if not incredibly lucky) people can dodge regular education (at least) and become successful (as lampshaded in The Simpsons, years later it named this very trope). Furthermore, many jobs that just needed a high school diploma in the 1980s (never mind the 1950s) now require college degrees (or even graduate degrees, plus years of industry experience) as a result of Crippling Overspecialization and automation. Definitely discredited in real life, but still shows up in media.
- Team Power Walk: It's starting to become this due to Once Original, Now Common and the difficulty of actually getting a group of people to do this outside of a parade or a military exercise. This is one of those tropes that isn't meant to be common in real life. It's still being used in media.
- Teens Are Monsters: At least, the more "rebellious" teenagers in sitcoms that seem to only exist to make their parents miserable tend to be headed this way. Writers seem to be taking note of how hormones don't always turn a child into a raging monster who disagrees with their parents over everything, especially if it goes against everything the character has shown before. Additionally, most writers are also beginning to take note of how, instead of viewing them as kids going through a sensitive time in their lives, most viewers would rather beat most of these character types over the head with a lead pipe more than anything else. That said, Exaggerated, Played for Laughs versions of this trope do still pop up from time to time in most media. Discredited in real life, but still shows up in media.
- The use of Video-Game Lives has widely fallen out of favor in recent times, with many modern games and even platform games having done away with them, thanks to the widespread use of checkpoints, save files and the introduction of Auto-Save. The fact that a player can continue from the spot they previously left off, renders lives rather redundant. If Video-Game Lives are ever used, it is done by long running older game franchises, or rendered totally meaningless as a parody in Platform Hell games. Not every video game even had a reason to use extra lives in the first place, even back in the '70s.
Other
- Beautiful All Along: Dead in the water nowadays. While there's still a clear standard of beauty in places like Hollywood, a lot of attention is being paid to several "Be Yourself" campaigns that specifically denounce this line of thinking. A lot of the examples are played with, but there seem to be just as many straight examples, so it could either be this or Dead Horse Trope.
- Dead Pet Sketch: Except in parodies, and even then, not taken seriously. Doesn't explain why it fell out of use
- Dish Dash: There's a discredited variation of it; when someone is showing off their skills at keeping dishes balanced atop spinning sticks. It used to be popular in variety shows, but both the trope and the genre have disappeared for over 40 years. This variant is only mentioned four times on the page.
- Kawaiiko: Now that we're in the age of salarymen, Japanese sex dolls (as mentioned by Justin Lee Collins) and Japanese supermodels like Leah Dizon, this trope is very much now no longer able to be played straight. British magazine Take A Break treated it as The New Rock & Roll, but they were Two Decades Behind — the kawaii fad is known for its flaws more than anything else and is considered to be a joke nowadays. None of this is mentioned on the page, and there are still some modern examples.
- Stupidest Thing I've Ever Heard: On The Internet, it's become so overused that it's turning into the I'm Your Worst Nightmare of insults. Relies on a different entry for context. I'm Your Worst Nightmare itself has a pothole to Dead Horse Trope in its entry.
- Taking the Veil: The "Immured" variant of it fell aside by the end of the Victorian era. Doesn't explain why
- Yellow Snow: Considered such a lowbrow, juvenile gag, that it's only used as a bottom of the barrel gag for kids' shows at best, and never used in adult comedy. There aren't that many examples to begin with, but there are still a few modern works using it.
Analysis
- Correct (Total): 17/50 (34%)
- Actually discredited: 15/50 (30%)
- Actually Undead Horse or Forgotten: 2/50 (4%)
- Misuse (Total): 26/50 (52%)
- Still being used: 21/50 (42%)
- Can't be discredited because it's YMMV: 1/50 (2%)
- Other misuse: 4/50 (8%)
- Other (Total): 7/50 (14%)
- ZCE: 3/50 (6%)
- Uncertain: 4/50 (8%)
