Sponge Bob Square Pants / Tropes D to I

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For tropes A to C see here.

For tropes J to P see here.

For tropes Q to Z see here.

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Tropes with their own pages

• Early Installment Weirdness
• Eye Scream
• Family-Unfriendly Violence
• Flanderization
• Foil
• Gainax Ending

Other Tropes

D

• Dance Sensation:
  • "The Sponge" in "The Chaperone" becomes a sensation when SpongeBob starts doing it. It involves some ridiculous twists and turns, bouncing with his body and becoming a basketball to be shot into a hoop (Nothing but net!). Other fish undergo weird injuries that go from hilarious to horrific and right back to hilarious, and nonsequiturs like a giant apple chasing fish only further the hilarity.
  • "The Cramp" in "Slimy Dancing" starts from an Accidental Dance Craze and ends up becoming popular.
• Dangerous Interrogative: Played for Laughs in the episode "Imitation Krabs" where Plankton disguises in a Mr Krabs cyborg and, after a lengthy and exhausting amount of rigmarole, demands the Krabby Patty formula from Spongebob:
  Spongebob: No can do, Mr Krabs.
  Krabs-bot: *in Machine Monotone* WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT!!!!
• Dark and Troubled Past: Implied for Mrs. Puff. She doesn't like to talk about whatever happened to Mr. Puff, and she had to start a new life at some point for unknown reasons.
  "I'll have to move to a new city, start a new boating school with a new name!...No...Not AGAIN."
• Darker and Edgier: The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie, and several episodes focusing on Plankton and Squidward.
  • "Nasty Patty" where Mr. Krabs and SpongeBob try to hide a body of a health inspector they thought they killed.
  • The 2005 educational short "The Endless Summer" while not part of the show. It's ending is surprisingly depressing and not played for laughs.
• Darkest Hour: In "SpongeBob's Last Stand", Plankton has successfully driven the Krusty Krab's customers to the Chum Bucket, and Mr. Krabs has no choice but to give Plankton the Krabby Patty Secret Formula.
• Dastardly Whiplash:
  • In "Blackened Sponge", SpongeBob dreams of Jack M. Crazyfish, who in his dreams, ties damsels in distress to railroad tracks and cheats at Rock–Paper–Scissors, as a cover story for a bathroom incident where he gets a black eye from attempting to remove a toothpaste cap with a monkey wrench. He boasts about his imaginary fight with Crazyfish to Patrick, Sandy, and the Krusty Krab customers to appear tougher than he really is.
  • Subverted when the actual Jack M. Crazyfish actually shows up at the Krusty Krab:
    Customer: Uh, what did you say he looked like again?
    SpongeBob: Oh, kind of tall, handlebar mustache—
    Customer: Little green hat?
    SpongeBob: I kind of thought it was teal, but that sounds like him, all right.
    (double take) Wait a second, how did you know he was wearing a green hat?
    [gasps are heard through out the room as Crazyfish enters the room]
    SpongeBob: He's... real!
    Jack M. Crazyfish: I'm looking for SpongeBob—
    SpongeBob: Mr. Crazyfish, please don't skin me alive! I made all that stuff up, I was just kidding about whupping you, right folks? You remember.
    Elderly Lady Customer: I liked the part where you told us how he was crying like a baby.
    [SpongeBob runs back to his house to get the wrench and toothpaste]
    SpongeBob: All right, look. I had a toothpaste tube, like this, but I couldn't get it open, 'cause the cap was stuck, and I guess I haven't been working my arms out that much lately— so I opened it up, like this. [SpongeBob hits the toothpaste tube with his wrench]
    SpongeBob: Then I was walkin' like this, and I didn't see where the cap went, like this, so I slipped on it, and I landed right on my wrench, like this. [SpongeBob hits the wall, and gets another black eye from the wrench]
    SpongeBob: And I gave myself a black eye, like this— uh, like these. So you see, I made it all up, so I could keep from looking stupid. Makes sense, doesn't it?
    Crazyfish: Uh, not really. I'm here because I heard you make a really good Krabby Patty.
• Davy Jones: For the most part, references to Davy Jones's locker in the show are about the guy from The Monkees (who even makes a cameo appearance on "SpongeBob vs. The Big One"). Two appearances, however, seem to be the entity. In "The Curse of Bikini Bottom", Davy Jones's locker is where the Flying Dutchman stores his clothes. A skeleton, addressed as "Davy", also is inside. The Flying Dutchman speaks to him as if alive, but he doesn't appear to be so. In "Krusty Kleaners", SpongeBob pogo-sticks through an office and lands in Davy Jones's cubicle, occupied by a skeleton. It's just as unlife as the previous time, but this episode he wears pirate clothes (and a mustache).
• A Day in the Limelight:
  • "Mall Girl Pearl" is the first episode in the series in which SpongeBob plays no direct role in the outcome of the story. Instead, the episode exclusively focuses on Pearl as she tries to get a job at the mall so she can be like her friends, with SpongeBob appearing in two background cameos stalking Squidward and one more cameo at the end when he retrieves Beatrice's dropped hand.
  • Pearl has a major role again in "Whale Watching", with SpongeBob only reduced to three cameos and no dialogue aside from his trademark laugh.
  • Patrick has this role in "The Executive Treatment" and "Shell Games".
  • Plankton is the focus character in both "Plankton's Army" and "Lockdown for Love". The latter is notable for featuring SpongeBob's smallest role in an episode yet, only appearing for a few seconds and no dialogue aside from panting sounds.
  • The second movie features Plankton of all people as the deuteragonist. He even saves the day when it looked like the main gang is going to be defeated, and gives the formula back immediately afterwards with no strings attached.
• Deadpan Door Shut: When SpongeBob and Patrick are selling chocolate door-to-door in "Chocolate with Nuts", a customer silently slams the door in their faces when Patrick says "I love you" in an attempt to flatter him.
• Deadpan Snarker: Squidward and Karen. Big time. They're both a lot smarter than the people they routinely have to deal with, and respond to the stupidity of those around them with sarcasm. In Squidward's case, he's perpetually depressed, so his sense of humor is extremely dry as a result. Mr. Krabs and Sandy also have their moments — in fact, the only major characters who aren't sardonic with at least some sort of regularity are SpongeBob and Patrick.
• Delayed Reaction: Happens a lot.
  • From 'The Great Snail Race':
    Squidward: For the Bikini Bottom Snail Race. Snellie will be winning this Sunday.
    Patrick: Sunday?
    SpongeBob: Well, I guess I can't enter Gary in that. Sunday's laundry day!
    Squidward: What?! No, SpongeBob. You can't enter Gary because Gary's a mutt!
    (close-up of Gary looking exactly like a mutt)
    SpongeBob: Boy, you got that right. Gary's no—HEY!! What makes you think Gary couldn't win that race?
  • Also in 'Ghost Host', where a customer falls asleep on a mattress being sold to him. The Flying Dutchman comes in and tries to scare the sleeping dude, but no matter how much he tries, he won't wake up. Only when The Flying Dutchman gave up and the salesman has come back already did the customer wake up and scream in terror.
• Denser and Wackier: With the increased focus on slapstick, Surreal Humor and increasingly deranged animation, season 10's episodes onward are almost comparable to Looney Tunes in their wackiness.
• Department of Redundancy Department:
  • The Bank of Bikini Bottom Bank in "Safe Deposit Krabs".
  • In "Help Wanted", SpongeBob calls the Krusty Krab "The finest eating establishment ever established for eating."
  • The Campfire Song Song.
  • In the episode "Big Pink Loser", SpongeBob receives a trophy for "Outstanding Achievement in Achievement."
  • "Pizza Delivery" has this exchange:
    SpongeBob: We're saved!
    Squidward: That's just a stupid boulder!
    SpongeBob: It's not just a boulder... it's a rock!
  • "The Bad Guy Club for Villains"
• Depending on the Writer: A lot of the character interpretations are rather inconsistent between episode to episode. SpongeBob can be a sweet natured albeit naive Ditz or an arrogant, idiotic Butt-Monkey, Squidward tends to vacillate between being a complete Jerkass and a Jerk with a Heart of Gold, Sandy can be a multitalented voice of reason or a rowdy Small Name, Big Ego while Mr. Krabs can be a greedy yet somewhat well intentioned Pointy-Haired Boss or a borderline Monster in his money lust.
  • The variance in Patrick's writing is Lampshaded in one episode:
    Squidward: Patrick, just how dumb are you?
    Patrick: It varies.
  • Whether Squidward or Squilliam wins at the end of their episodes also varies.
  • Usually the character interpretations fall on who the character in focus is. If the focus is Squidward's life being ruined, then SpongeBob and Patrick will have nothing bad happen to them, while when the focus is instead SpongeBob having a problem, everything bad will instead happen to him, usually caused by Patrick.
  • It seems that the writers just cannot decide on whether Squidward and Mr. Krabs are supposed to be afraid of ghosts or not.
• Deranged Animation: Most episodes at some point, especially seasons 1, 4, the two movies, and the second half of season 9. Season 11 onwards pushes this to its limits, having crazy-looking expressions become the norm.
• Derivative Differentiation: Per word of Stephen Hillenburg, a big reason the show is centered around SpongeBob as a central character as opposed to having a hard set duo billed was because at the time the show was created, buddy shows like The Ren & Stimpy Show were very popular, and Stephen wanted to do something different.
• Derelict Graveyard: Bikini Bottom itself. The Mall, Thug Tug from The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie, The Mobile Krusty Krab, and the Boating Museum and most contents are all shipwrecks.
• Description Cut: From "Nature Pants". SpongeBob has decided to live in the wild with jellyfish, abandoning civilization and all of his friends. Patrick is completely distraught and begs SpongeBob to come home:
  Patrick: SpongeBob! Come back! I miss you! Sandy misses you! Even Squidward misses you!
  [scene cuts to Squidward dancing gleefully in his own home, presumably celebrating SpongeBob's absence]
• Destructive Savior:
  • In "Wormy", SpongeBob and Patrick sound the alarm about a monster (actually a butterfly) and send the city in a panic that causes far more destruction than the "monster" would have ever caused.
  • In the episode "Sandy, SpongeBob, and the Worm", SpongeBob and Sandy manage to drive a giant worm away as it fell down a large cliff. However, at the same time the citizens of Bikini Bottom were pushing the city somewhere else in an attempt to get away from the aforementioned worm and the city ended up at the bottom of a cliff that the worm fell off. As a result, the giant worm landed on top of Bikini Bottom, destroying it.
• Determinator: Sandy and Plankton show traces of this trope, but no one in the show comes close to SpongeBob. His dedication to his job at the Krusty Krab borders on self-destructive at times. He will never, ever miss a day of work if he can help it, and in the very first episode, he finds a "Hydrodynamic spatula with port and starboard attachments and turbo drive," despite the fact that Krabs completely made it up on the spot (just to get rid of SpongeBob by sending him on a wild goose chase). He's also gone to absurdly great lengths to impress and/or help pretty much every character on the show (even the non-recurring characters— usually Krusty Krab customers) at some point.
  
  Amongst the things that SpongeBob refuses to keep him from doing his job are potential starvation, a giant tornado, a terrible cold, severe fatigue, and being unable to walk.
• Didn't Think This Through:
  • In the episode "Pressure", Sandy argues with Patrick, Squidward, SpongeBob, and Mr. Krabs about "land critters" being better than "sea critters." At one point, the four brag about being able to breathe underwater, and the fact that she (unlike them) needs her suit to survive in the ocean. As they laugh at her attempts to retort, she removes her suit and helmet in a fit of prideful rage, attempting to prove them wrong. Then she realizes that she can no longer breathe.
  • In "SpongeGuard on Duty", SpongeBob wishes he were a lifeguard like Larry; he thought that being one means walking around and looking cool for everyone. He didn't know being a lifeguard meant saving drowning beachgoers' lives, something he doesn't find easy since he can't swim.
  • "Demolition Doofus": The reason SpongeBob is not killed in the demolition derby and instead becomes a racing champion is because Mrs. Puff didn't know a) he's a sea sponge, which are soft, invulnerable invertebrates, and b) because SpongeBob Drives Like Crazy, this makes him an almost completely impossible target.
  • In "Friendiversary", Squidward was too late to realize erasing SpongeBob's entire memory of him also erases his memory of the combination to Mr. Krabs' safe that contains the secret formula, because he attached it to one of his times with Squidward so he wouldn't forget it. Thus, Squidward is forced to spend time with SpongeBob and help him regain his memory so he remembers the combination.
• Disney Death: In "Ditchin'", SpongeBob almost drowns in a tar pit, but the thought of Mrs. Puff's bathroom key (which he never returned) causes him to miraculously free himself and escape.
• Disney Dog Fight: SpongeBob thinks that Gary had left him forever to live with Patrick, but at the end he comes back to SpongeBob.
• Disapproving Look: Sandy gives SpongeBob one once it's exposed that he used fake muscles.
• Disaster Dominoes: SpongeBob's "horrific incident of terror" from "Missing Identity".
• Disproportionate Retribution:
  • According to "Good Ol' Whatshisname", the standard punishment for wallet theft is 10 years of incarceration.
  • In "Demolition Doofus", SpongeBob injured Mrs. Puff and causes her inflation sac to burst. As a result, she enters him in a demolition derby so he would be killed (yes, "killed"); but instead, his bad driving ironically helps him survive and wins.
  • In "Little Yellow Book", Squidward gets shamed by the whole town, kicked out of his house, and arrested for reading SpongeBob's diary.
  • "Fools in April" starts with SpongeBob playing harmless pranks on people in Bikini Bottom, who all thought they were kind of funny, until Squidward got so irritated by SpongeBob's laughing he pulled an elaborate and humiliating prank that ended in SpongeBob running off in tears with everyone else shaming Squidward for it. Squidward struggles to apologize until the guilt consumes him and he performs an anguished declaration apologizing to SpongeBob. It turned out SpongeBob was only pretending to be heartbroken as another prank.
  • In "Party Pooper Pants," the police arrest SpongeBob for not inviting them to his party.
  • During the episode "Arrgh!", Mr. Krabs is playing a Flying Dutchman board game with SpongeBob and Patrick. Patrick lands on a card that allows him to throw one of his "shipmates" in the "brig," and he chooses Mr. Krabs. Krabs fires him in retaliation, and Patrick replies that he doesn't even work at the Krusty Krab (congrats, Krabs— you got outsmarted by a man who's forgotten how to eat on at least one occasion). At that point, Krabs offers Patrick a job, "starting now," which makes Patrick ecstatic. Then Krabs immediately fires him.
• Disrupting the Theater:
  • In "F.U.N.", SpongeBob goes to the movies with Plankton for a friendly day out, but Mr. Krabs interrupts the movie to tell him that Plankton is only pretending to be his friend to steal the Krabby Patty formula.
    Mr. Krabs: Listen up! He's decievin' ya! Reach into his pocket now, and take what he's got!
    (several theatergoers pick their partners' pockets and run off)
    Mr. Krabs: You too, boy!
    (SpongeBob reaches into Plankton's pocket and, to his horror, takes out a Krabby Patty)
  • In "Something Smells", SpongeBob and Patrick go to see a movie to celebrate the former getting over his supposed ugliness (actually just rancid breath driving everyone away). Once SpongeBob gets upset about it again after some of the moviegoers react in disgust to being around him (and smelling his breath), Patrick becomes furious and holds SpongeBob in front of the viewers of every auditorium to force them to look at him, who all evacuate once he speaks and his breath is spread.
  • In "Wigstruck", SpongeBob finds a giant wig that he thinks is amazing despite everyone laughing or mocking him, but people don't get truly mad at him until he goes to see a movie, as the wig is so tall that it blocks the projector and prevents anything from showing up on screen. The audience starts a riot in response and chases SpongeBob out of the theater.
• The Dentist Episode: Patrick visits the dentist in "The Whole Tooth."
• Diegetic Soundtrack Usage:
  • SpongeBob hums the show's credits theme (usually not heard due to Nickelodeon's Credits Pushback) in "Krabs vs. Plankton".
  • "Unreal Estate" plays a modified version of the show's intro for the first three houses SpongeBob tries out: a banana, a hot pepper and a chicken parmesan hero.
  • SpongeBob sings lyrics from the intro in "Old Man Patrick" in order to get Patrick to remember who he is.
  • Weaponised in "Handemonium": to defeat Plankton's rampaging Chum Bucket hand, SpongeBob takes off his pants and sings the first part of the song's theme to summon Hans.
  • In "The Big Bad Bubble Bass", the absurdly complicated password to SpongeBob's vault of action figures involves him playing the theme song with his nose.
• Digital Destruction:
  • Due to a sound-mixing error, two lines in "Something Smells" are repeated by mistake. This also happens in YTV and some international airings, though the on-demand version fixes this.
  • When Nickelodeon started airing an edited version of "Procrastination", the colors were noticeably washed out and less saturated. This extended to its sister episode "I'm With Stupid". This doesn't affect the uncut version.
  • The title-card for "Procrastination" is darker in the Amazon Video version.
  • The last second of "Suction Cup Symphony" is cut in the Netflix version.
  • Season 2 and 6 DVD sets have poor color correcting, making SpongeBob appear beige.
• Disappointing Promotion: In "Patty Hype", Spongebob and Mr. Krabs agree to trade businesses, with Krabs taking over the Pretty Patties stand and Spongebob assuming ownership of the Krusty Krab. Initially Krabs benefits from this as he continues to do the business that Spongebob was doing, but the following day, it blows up in his face as he's chased by an angry mob over the fact that the patties had unintended colorful side effects. Meanwhile, despite taking over an empty restaurant, Spongebob is absolutely over the moon, enjoying every aspect of the Krusty Krab down to the squeaky pickles.
• The Ditz: Patrick. For example, he can short-circuit his brain at random. Taken past the logic extreme in one episode where he forgets how to breathe. "I'm With Stupid" mentions that Patrick also forgot how to eat at one point. In "Pressure", he expresses disbelief that Sandy is a girl, despite using "she" to refer to Sandy just minutes earlier. The level of his stupidity is perhaps never better expressed, however, than in this exchange during the episode "Big Pink Loser":
  SpongeBob: This time, I've got something I know you can do. We're gonna open a jar. [opens a jar himself] Easy! Now you try. First, get a jar.
  Patrick: [produces a pickle from hammerspace]
  SpongeBob: Patrick, that's a pickle.
  Patrick: Yes.
  SpongeBob: You need a jar.
  Patrick: [produces a spatula]
  SpongeBob: No...
  Patrick: [produces his own shorts]
  SpongeBob: No...
  Patrick: [produces SpongeBob himself]
  SpongeBob: No... try this. [hands Patrick a jar] Now, take the lid off the jar. [does so himself]
  Patrick: [places the jar in his mouth]
• Does This Remind You of Anything?:
  • In "Gary Takes a Bath", SpongeBob paints the bathtub like a treasure chest, which he leads Gary to as if on a treasure hunt. SpongeBob hands Gary bars of soap, calling them doubloons, then promptly warns Gary not to drop them.
  • This exchange in "Grandma's Kisses":
    Patrick: Then you get behind her and I'll push!
    SpongeBob: Patrick, we didn't say that.
  • There's also in the beginning of the episode "Your Shoe's Untied", where SpongeBob was watching a live-action sea anemone gyrating (thus implying that he was watching porn) until Gary meows, startling SpongeBob — who promptly changes the channel, claiming he was looking for football and admonishing Gary for telling lies.
  • When under a lot of stress in "Little Yellow Book", SpongeBob takes a break where blows bubbles in a manner akin to smoking.
  • At the end of "Dumped," when Gary goes back to SpongeBob after getting the cookie in Patrick's pocket, Gary and SpongeBob go for a walk, leaving Patrick standing in SpongeBob's house in nothing but his underwear, screaming, "I THOUGHT WHAT WE HAD WAS SPECIAL!"
  • In "Something Smells", SpongeBob thinks everyone is avoiding him because of his ugliness (but actually his breath stinks) and is really saddened by it, to which Patrick tells him to be proud of being ugly and prompt him to chant from the top of his house "I'm ugly and I'm proud!" Squidward even lampshades it.
    Squidward: Is that what he calls it?
• A Dog Named "Dog":
  • A plankton named Plankton. "Plankton's Army" reveals that his full name is Sheldon J. Plankton, so this is a Species Surname.
  • A sponge named SpongeBob. This informs audiences that SpongeBob is a sponge, not an anthropomorphic block of Cartoon Cheese.
  • Subverted Trope: Squidward is an octopus, not a squid.
• Door-to-Door Episode: "Chocolate With Nuts" has SpongeBob and Patrick going door-to-door selling chocolate bars.
• Dope Slap: After it's revealed near the end of "Squid Noir" that the jellyfish stole Squidward's clarinet, SpongeBob makes a joke about the jellyfish learning that "crime doesn't play". Patrick promptly nails him with a hard one.
• Double Standard: Violence, Child on Adult: This is implied in the episode "The Bully," with Flats bullying his father, and his father being scared.
• Double Take:
  • Step Four for the patented SpongeBob SquarePants Bubble-Blowing Technique: Double Take 3 Times.
  • A downright epic one takes place in "Home Sweet Pineapple": SpongeBob has his house eaten by wild nematodes and tries to spend the night at Patrick's house, only to find it to be miserable, and sneaks into Squidward's house while he's asleep. Squidward, in a half-awake stupor, is blissfully unaware that his ultimate annoyance has taken residence in his home, fetches him a glass of water, and lets him hop in bed with him, completely out of it — until...
    SpongeBob: [yawns]) Good night, Squidward.
    Squidward: [while yawning] Good night, SpongeBob. [drifts back off to sleep]
    [Beat]
    [Squidward's eyes snap open]
    Squidward: GOOD NIGHT, SPONGEBOB. [kicks him out of his house]
• Downer Ending: Quite a few episodes, for the laughs.
  • "Hall Monitor": SpongeBob realizes he's the maniac and Mrs. Puff punishes him, and she gets arrested instead when she claims it was all because of her. SpongeBob is also demanded to see her after class...six months from now.
  • "The Paper": Squidward sells everything he owns for the eponymous paper, only to realize he can't do all the cool things SpongeBob can with it because he's not creative like him, and Patrick throws it away.
  • "Procrastination": SpongeBob's work on the essay was all for nothing when the assignment is canceled.
  • "Squid on Strike": Mr. Krabs forces Squidward and SpongeBob to work for him forever as punishment for destroying the Krusty Krab.
  • "Sandy, SpongeBob, and the Worm": The Alaskan Bull Worm lands on Bikini Bottom, saying "Ouch."
  • "The Bully": Mrs. Puff misunderstands SpongeBob beat up Flats when she sees Flats on the floor and SpongeBob making a fist from a Rousing Speech, and punishes him.
  • "Good Neighbors": Squidward, SpongeBob and Patrick are forced to perform community service for the rest of their lives after the destruction of Bikini Bottom, although it doesn't affect SpongeBob and Patrick because they don't seem to care.
  • "SquidBob TentaclePants": SpongeBob, Patrick, Squidward, Sandy, Mrs. Puff, Pearl, and Mr. Krabs are melded together into a shapeless blob.
  • "Squidtastic Voyage": Patrick causes the submarine to grow inside of Squidward, and it never gets out.
  • "Plankton's Regular": Mr. Krabs takes a perverse amount of joy in Plankton losing his only customer.
  • "Boating Buddies": Squidward fails the boating test after receiving a large numbers of injuries, and has to come back next week. SpongeBob also failed the test, so he'll be seeing him again.
  • "Cephalopod Lodge": The lodge permanently kicks Squidward out.
  • "Tentacle-Vision": Squidward loses control of his show and is unable to get the set to leave his house.
  • "Someone's in the Kitchen With Sandy": Sandy is arrested by the police for public nudity, ignoring the fact that Plankton stole her fur.
  • "A Pal For Gary": SpongeBob scolds Gary for sending his "pal" away and decides to bring him to work so he's not lonely.
  • "One Coarse Meal": SpongeBob and Mr. Krabs scare Plankton, and he hides under the floor.
  • "Yours, Mine and Mine": Patrick steals SpongeBob's money and refuses to share a toy.
  • "House Sittin' for Sandy": Sandy's treedome is destroyed, and she appears to be shooting SpongeBob and Patrick with a ray gun. However, this turns out to be a ray that fixes the treedome, and it's completely fine once again. Until the ray gun gets broken, and Sandy's eye twitches as SpongeBob and Patrick back away.
  • "InSPONGEiac": Mr. Krabs forces SpongeBob to cry out mustard after his attempts to get to sleep end in failure.
  • "Squid Defense": Squidward gets arrested for attacking an innocent man whom he believed was a thief.
  • "Sold!": SpongeBob and Patrick hear about Squidward's goal to move away and attempt to help him; they flip his house literally, the real estate fish refuses to buy it, and then his house collapses.
  • "Married to Money": Mr. Krabs ends up lonely when it's discovered that "Cashina" is really Plankton trying to steal the formula from him.
  • "Snooze You Lose": Squidward fails his audition and is kicked out of the building.
  • "Man Ray Returns": Squidward returns from vacation, only for his house to crumble and be destroyed.
  • "Call the Cops": SpongeBob, Mr. Krabs, Patrick, Plankton, and Helen the Felon are all locked in a jail cell.
  • "The Krusty Slammer": Plankton wins this time, and Mr. Krabs is taken as his prisoner. Krabs is locked in a cage and cries as Plankton throws chum at him.
  • However, the ending to the 2005 educational short "The Endless Summer" is not played for laughs. It has Bikini Bottom become too warm to inhabit, and the city is abandoned.
  • The two alternate endings for "Shanghaied" end with SpongeBob, Patrick and Squidward getting eaten by the Flying Dutchman.
• Dreadful Musician: Squidward, at least according to everyone in Bikini Bottom. At one point his clarinet-playing is mistaken for a dying animal.
• Dream Episode: In "Sleepy Time", SpongeBob starts out by having a strange, driving-related dream, when a dream version of Mrs. Puff rips away his dream license. Now out of his own dream, he starts to explore the dreams of his friends and messes each and every one of them up- for example, in Plankton's dream of being a giant monster destroying the town, SpongeBob ends up defeating and shrinking him.
• Dressed to Plunder: In "Arrgh!" Mr. Krabs goes treasure hunting with SpongeBob and Patrick dressed in fancy pirate captain duds, and gives his two underlings some pirate wear to match. SpongeBob puts on two peg legs and calls himself Peggy the Pirate, while Patrick wears eyepatches on both eyes as Blindbeard the Pirate.
• Drugs Causing Slow-Motion: A variation. In the episode "I Was a Teenage Gary", Squidward accidentally injects SpongeBob with snail plasma that was meant to be administered to Gary, causing him to slowly transform into a snail. One of the effects is that SpongeBob walking speed is exponentially slowed down to match Gary's.
  SpongeBob: Gary, you're getting a looot faaasteeer.
• Drunk on Milk: SpongeBuck orders "A shot...of milk, two percent" at the Krusty Kantina, to which a western Squidward replies, "Think you can handle it?"
• Dude, Not Funny!:
  • During "Fools in April", Squidward gets fed up with SpongeBob's constant pranks, and decides to get revenge. He ends up taking his prank overboard, and ends up making him run out crying. The customers don't take kindly at all. However, their offended reaction to the prank was revealed to be just acting for ANOTHER April Fools joke.
  • Another example happens in "Ripped Pants" where SpongeBob gets the idea that pretending to drown makes a good segue to his ripped pants gag.
    Sandy: That wasn't funny, SpongeBob! Y'all had us worried sick!
  • A really good example would be "One Coarse Meal", where SpongeBob actually stands up for Plankton being tormented by Mr. Krabs in disguise and is angry for using his whale phobia to the point of eventual suicide. Naturally, the greedy crab refuses to believe his concerns.
• Dumb and Drummer: Patrick is the drummer for SpongeBob and the Hi-Seas, Plankton and the Patty Stealers, and was the drummer at the end of "Band Geeks". Earlier in the episode he played the trombone and SpongeBob played the drums.
• Dumbass Has a Point:
  • In the early episodes, Patrick was right to point out that Squidward has no interest in hanging with he and SpongeBob. He waves it off once SpongeBob tells him that's not the case.
  • Patrick's rant in "Wet Painters" after he and SpongeBob get a microscopic drop of paint on Mr. Krabs' first dollar:
    Patrick: This is all Mr. Krabs' fault! If he hadn't hung that stupid dollar in the first place!...I mean, it's not like it looks any different than a regular dollar. Why hang it? You could just stick any old dollar bill on the wall, no one would even know the difference!
  • In "Chocolate With Nuts", although both Sponge and Pat are swayed by a Con Man into spending their money, SpongeBob was quick to notice upon the second encounter that he was the same man who sold them the candy bar bags.
  • In "Good Neighbors", SpongeBob sees Squidward's Sunday papers were never delivered and assumes that's why he's grumpy, and although getting them jumbled, manages to round them up and deliver them some time later.
  • In "Squidtastic Voyage", Patrick actually says something smart, and everybody is surprised.
  • In "Porous Pockets", Patrick immediately sees through the "friends" SpongeBob makes when they repeatedly ask him for money, and he even tries to warn him not to keep giving his money away otherwise he won't have any left.
  • In "Cephalopod Lodge" when SpongeBob and Patrick are trying to consult with Roger over lifting his ban from the lodge, they tell him it's not Squidward's fault, nor their fault, so Roger asks whose fault was it, to which Patrick replies, "Maybe it's your fault." This leads Roger to deny them and leaves, but Patrick was actually right, because Roger is the door guard, who is supposed to be watching for any non-cephalopods and making sure they don't get in. And since SpongeBob and Patrick were able to get in, that means Roger didn't do his job to keep them out.
  • In "Treats!", Patrick happens to be the friend to help SpongeBob when Gary is meowing nonstop for the addictive Snail Bites, as he teaches him how to be firm with his pet and just say no, which in turn is what finally gets Gary to stop.
  • In "Sportz?" when Squidward decides to use Sponge and Pat's idiocy of sports against them, SpongeBob was right to question Squidward about foot-racing in ice skates because the skates are hurting his feet when running.
• Dumb Muscle: Patrick has been shown to be very strong on many occasions, though this is especially prominent in the games. He's not exactly the smartest guy around, either.

E

• Early-Bird Cameo: Flats the Flounder, the titular antagonist in the Season 3 episode "The Bully", would occasionally show up in Season 1 as an unnamed extra (most prominently in the episodes "Sandy's Rocket" and "Texas").
• Early Installment Character-Design Difference: Sandy's underwater suit was changed to have a hole for her tail season two onwards. She also didn't have an acorn on her suit originally.
• Early-Installment Weirdness: Season 1 feels very different than the rest of the show, mainly due to being produced with actual ink and paint, rather than the Toon Boom software. It also has a slower, more laid-back feel compared to the rapid-fire comedy later seasons would work with.
• Earpiece Conversation: Patrick coaches SpongeBob through his boating test with a walkie-talkie hidden under a cowboy hat. Mrs. Puff compliments SpongeBob on his improvement, joking that it's as if someone were telling him all the answers. But when she mentions that that would be cheating, SpongeBob freaks out and confesses... and crashes the boat, failing the test once again.
• Ear Worm: The episode "Earworm" is about SpongeBob getting addicted to a song called "Musical Doodle." He spends an entire night listening to it, can't resist singing it at work (to the annoyance of the customers), and even goes mentally insane to the point that his friends have to tie him up in a chair. It's said that the earworm, which is personified as an actual worm with a record player near SpongeBob's ear, can only be gotten rid of by playing another catchy song. Squidward ends up getting rid of the earworm, not because his song is catchy, but because it's so bad the worm can't stand it and leaves.
• Easily Forgiven: In "The Secret Box", after Patrick catches SpongeBob breaking into his place and trying to peek inside his mystery box, even after he told him not to:
  Patrick: That's it, SpongeBob. You have crossed the line. As of right now, this friendship is over!
  SpongeBob: [tears up] Really?
  Patrick: Nah, you can look inside if you really want to.
• Easily Impressed: SpongeBob and his best friend Patrick act quite childishly and cheer over everything obnoxiously. This especially gets on Squidward and Plankton's nerves.
• Easy Amnesia: Played with in "Missing Identity", where SpongeBob suffers a "horrific incident of terror", yet came out alright — it was a missing nametag that drove the plot. For the rest of the episode, he repeatedly reenacted his morning routine, complete with the aforementioned "horrific incident of terror". For "WhoBob WhatPants", the creators intentionally revisited the idea to play it straight.
• Eating the Eye Candy: In "SpongeBob LongPants", when SpongeBob first walks through the Krusty Krab in his new long pants, we get a shot of his butt and several female customers are shown to be clearly attracted to him.
• Eccentric Artist: Inverted: Squidward fancies himself as an artist and yet he's so straightlaced. That's probably why people think his art is tasteless.
• Either/Or Title: All episodes have title cards, but some are presented within Patchy specials, most of which have titles themselves: "Shanghaied" is part of "You Wish" or "Patchy's Pick", "Party Pooper Pants" is part of "SpongeBob's House Party", "Ugh" is part of "SpongeBob B.C. (Before Comedy)", "The Sponge Who Could Fly" is part of "The SpongeBob Lost Episode", and "Truth or Square" is part of "Patchy the Pirate's SpongeBob SquarePants Fan Club Big Time Impressive Celebratory Television Extravaganza!" Similarly, three episodes have Special Edition Titles that rename the show: "Christmas Who?" is The SpongeBob Christmas Special, "What Ever Happened to SpongeBob?" is WhoBob WhatPants, and "Hello Bikini Bottom!" is "SpongeBob On Tour".
• Eldritch Abomination:
  • One episode has SpongeBob reading a novel. Said book stars creatures so horrifying that the author died trying to describe them in it.
  • Played for Laughs in "Wormy". Everyone thinks that the butterfly is one, until Sandy returns.
  • The Evil Alien Jellyfish Overlord from Planet of the Jellyfish
• Eldritch Location: The Fly of Despair from "Shangheid", a literal pocket dimension that only the Flying Dutchman and Squidward know about which is nothing but a tunnel of surreal, demonic imagery!
• Electric Jellyfish: The show's jellyfish are, although they're described as stinging. They've even burned several characters.
• Eleventy Zillion:
  • In "Truth or Square", the Krusty Krab celebrates its "eleventy-seventh" anniversary.
  • In "Have You Seen This Snail?", the Dirty Bubble Challenge requires someone to hit the paddle ball 29,998,559,671,349 times in a row.
• Elongating Arm Gag: In "Frankendoodle", when a pencil falls to the bottom of the sea, SpongeBob and Patrick are startled by it and hide behind a rock. When SpongeBob goes to investigate, the next shot is of his hand sticking out from offscreen to poke the pencil. The camera pulls back to reveal that SpongeBob has stretched out his arm from their hiding place, several yards away.
• Embarrassed by a Child: In "Squirrel Jokes", when SpongeBob becomes a stand-up comedian and unknowingly irritates Sandy by using jokes about her species, the next day, Sandy is treated like this when she's in a supermarket. A boy walks up to Sandy and his mom responds "Don't go near that squirrel, Billy. You'll catch its stupid."
• Embarrassing Ad Gig: In "Model Sponge," SpongeBob gets a modelling gig after thinking he was fired from the Krusty Krab. The commercial is for a new kitchen sponge, but SpongeBob gets stuck playing the sponge, being forced to strip and getting rubbed on disgusting objects. He quits during the ad and runs back to the Krusty Krab.
• Embarrassing First Name: Sheldon J. Plankton. So much so that his army of cousins frequently laughs uncontrollably at it every time Karen addresses Plankton by his full name.
• Enraged by Idiocy:
  • While not to the extent of Squidward, Sandy can get annoyed by the stupidity of others, mostly by Patrick like in "I Had An Accident" for instance.
    Sandy: Don't you have to go be stupid somewhere else?
    Patrick: Not until four.
  • Plankton, like Squidward, gets easily irritated by stupid people, particularly SpongeBob.
• Epic Fail:
  • In "Shell Shocked", SpongeBob goes to a store to get a replacement shell for Gary and ends up breaking every single shell in the store, including the one the manager claimed was completely indestructible.
  • Stanley S. SquarePants can 'only' do this. He is utterly incapable of doing 'anything' right to the degree were he broke SpongeBob's TV just by lightly touching it, and he can't even sit still and do 'nothing' without screwing it up.
• Episode Title Card: Every episode begins with a title card.
• Epileptic Flashing Lights: It's probably best not to see the dance sequence from "Jellyfish Jam" if you have epilepsy.
• Epiphora: The show does this a few times, all of them coming from the eponymous character:
  • "Hall Monitor":
    SpongeBob: Hall monitor SpongeBob reporting for duty! I am ready to take my position... IN THE HALL! I will protect all those who are weak... IN THE HALL! All laws will be enforced... IN THE HALL!
  • "Graveyard Shift":
    SpongeBob: Psst! Squidward, I'm working in the kitchen... at night! Hey, Squidward, guess what? I'm chopping lettuce... at night! Look at me, I'm swabbing the bathroom... at night! Ow, I burned my hand!... at night!
  • Double Subverted in "New Student Starfish".
    SpongeBob: Behold, Patrick, the hallway of learning. And here's the fountain of learning. And these are the lockers of learning.
    Patrick: And these are the stairs of learning, right?
    SpongeBob: No, they're just the stairs. These are the stairs of learning.

• Escalating War:
  • The climax and ending of "Employee of the Month" has this, as SpongeBob and Squidward use increasing abrasive and ludicrous ways of keeping each other from reaching the Krusty Krab, topping off with Squidward tied to a giant boat and SpongeBob tied to an anchor. Then when they reach the Krusty Krab, they wreak even more havoc as they tear it apart while cleaning in attempt of impressing Mr. Krabs, and then finally produce a pile of Krabby Patties so quickly and at such a fast rate that it causes the Krusty Krab to explode.
  • "Sand Castles in the Sand" starts with SpongeBob crushing Patrick's sand castle, saying it did it wrong. To get even, Patrick does the same to a castle Sponge then builds. The whole episode is an Escalating War depicting the two trying to outdo each other with more complex sand castles and imagery. Eventually, they really get into it, building sand armies to demolish the other's castle. It culminates in an aerial dogfight complete with sand-nukes.
• Euphemism Buster:
  SpongeBob: Squidward! He's... he's... pushing up daisies!
  Patrick: Oh, I thought he was dead.
• "Eureka!" Moment: Shows up a lot.
  • SpongeBob in "Something Smells" when he realizes he and Patrick have rancid breath from the peanut onion sundae.
  • SpongeBob in "Just One Bite" when he realizes Squidward loves krabby patties.
  • SpongeBob in "Krabs vs. Plankton" when he sees a single krabby patty in the lawyer's briefcase, prompting him to get the idea to expose Plankton's Wounded Gazelle Gambit.
  • Mr. Krabs in "Stanley S. SquarePants when he realizes Stanley can blow up everything he touches, prompting him to work at the Chum Bucket.
  • Twice in "Free Samples"; one by Plankton when he decides to Sabotage to Discredit based on a comment from Karen, and another by SpongeBob when he hears "new" and "different", which causes him to realize how to save the Krusty Krab.
  • SpongeBob in "Scavenger Pants" when he realizes he and Patrick can find Squidward's nonexistent brother by asking Mrs. Tentacles to adopt them.
• Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas: Mr. Krabs and Plankton, although in the latter's case, it's his grandmama.
• Even Beggars Won't Choose It: A guy who hasn't eaten for days crawls into the Krusty Krab begging for food, but when he gets offered some he rejects it because the Krusty Krab lacks "pizazz." He then crawls away still begging for food... water... atmosphere!
• Even Evil Has Standards: Mr. Krabs' greed is so bad, that even Plankton is shown to be disgusted by it. Quoted by him in "The Krabby Kronicle", "And I thought I was evil."
• Everyone Has Standards:
  • Squidward is a notorious Jerkass who hates SpongeBob with a passion. Even so, he was absolutely disgusted when Mr. Krabs sold SpongeBob's soul to the Flying Dutchman for pocket change.
    • In the same episode, The Flying Dutchman himself was surprised that Mr. Krabs was not only eager to sell his soul and took the whole ordeal lightly. But he also sold his soul several times to other ghosts, monsters, and to SpongeBob (he was a bit short on pay day).
  • Another Squidward example happens in "Pizza Delivery." After the customer refused to accept the pizza, SpongeBob goes into a depression. Squidward, who usually enjoys seeing SpongeBob's misery, actually feels sorry for him, goes up to the customer, and slams the pizza into his face.
  • SpongeBob becomes one toward Plankton in "One Coarse Meal" when Mr. Krabs finds out his fear of whales and disguises himself as Pearl to scare him continuously to the point of suicide, leaving SpongeBob to call him out for it. Naturally, he doesn't listen.
  • SpongeBob is this toward Plankton again in "The Krabby Kronicle" when his fake news stories cause the Chum Bucket to be shut down.
  • In spite of being willing to go along with Kevin's hazing and laughing at SpongeBob for being a geek, the rest of the Jellyspotters are unimpressed with Kevin still refusing to make SpongeBob a club member after everything he's been through and saving them from the King Jellyfish and essentially mutiny against him to offer to make SpongeBob a member anyway.
• "Everyone Is Gone" Episode:
  • ""Gone"'s entire plot is that SpongeBob wakes to find he's the only Bikini Bottomite left. The episode ends with everyone coming back and explaining they were all having a holiday without him.
  • "Whatever Happened To Spongebob" serves as the exact opposite. SpongeBob has gone, and it's up to everyone else in town, who are all still there, to find him. The shorts based off "Whatever Happened To Spongebob" fit the trope even more, as in those, SpongeBob has vanished and it is never explained where he is or what happened to him at all.
• Even the Dog Is Ashamed:
  • In "Sleepy Time", Gary was among those annoyed at SpongeBob for appearing in their dreams and messing with them.
  • In "Squeaky Boots", Gary was bothered by the squeaking noise of SpongeBob's boots, retreating into his shell and coming out with earplugs.
  • In "What Ever Happened to SpongeBob?", Gary was technically the first character to call SpongeBob "Idiot Boy" for breaking his shell from a tight hug, albeit it comes out as an angry hiss.
• Even the Guys Want Him: In "The Two Faces of Squidward," where Squidward gets his face reconstructed after getting in the way while SpongeBob opens a door.
• Everybody Cries:
  • In "Arrgh!", after hearing SpongeBob and Patrick's complaints about feeling tired and hungry, Mr. Krabs laments that he would be nothing without a loyal crew and starts crying. This makes SpongeBob and Patrick feel so guilty that they start crying too.
  • In "Texas", Sandy's song about her homesickness for Texas causes a short montage of SpongeBob, Patrick, Mr. Krabs, and two Krusty Krab customers bursting into tears from listening to the song.
  • In "Krabs vs. Plankton", during Plankton's lawsuit against the Krusty Krab, Plankton testifies to the court about how he had promised his grandmother to run a marathon and is now unable to fulfill his promise due to his (fake) injuries, using Crocodile Tears throughout. The jury is so convinced by Plankton's testimony that they end up bursting into tears. Even the judge became close to tears.
• Everybody Knew Already: In "Banned in Bikini Bottom", when Mr. Krabs was forced to close down the Krusty Krab, he converts SpongeBob's house into a secret Krusty Krab... complete with a sign advertising it as such.
• "Everybody Laughs" Ending:
  • Parodied in the episode "Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy V," which ends with every character featured on the episode laughing one after another, even characters with no reason to laugh, such as Man Ray and the Dirty Bubble, who are in prison, even though the only "joke" was that Barnacle Boy couldn't finish his Krabby Patty.
  • Subverted in "Spongicus". SpongeBob, Patrick, Krabs, and Squidward begin laughing as the music cue signals the end of the episode, but the scene continues. One by one, the characters get bored, stop laughing, and walk away. Then the sea lion from before roars and the episode ends abruptly.
  • Also parodied in "The Great Snail Race," in which the laughter is broken by an unexpected, angry attack from the sky c/o Sandy.
• Everything Explodes Ending: "Dying For Pie" ends with the exploding pie completely destroying Bikini Bottom, using Stock Footage from the Bikini Island nuclear tests to represent said explosion.
• Everything Is an Instrument: In "Hello Bikini Bottom!" SpongeBob and Squidward hold one of their concerts in a supermarket. Nearby customers notice the music and grab some food items from the shelves to use as musical instruments and play along with them.
• Evil Feels Good: When Plankton betrays SpongeBob in the episode "F.U.N." he says the reason is because "evil is just too much fun".
• Evil Versus Evil: Mr. Krabs and Plankton are rivals, but have had their share of evil moments.
• Exact Words:
  • In "Squilliam Returns", Squidward asks SpongeBob to empty his mind of anything that isn't fine dining and breathing. He does just that...and even forgets his own name.
  • In "Kracked Krabs", one of the nominees for Cheapest Crab has him submit a video where he scans a grocery three times. Why? It says "three times the flavor", so as he puts, it's three times the price.
  • In "SpongeBob's Bad Habit", when the hypnotherapist realizes SpongeBob subconsciously implanted his nail-biting habit from Squidward, he seems to cure him with the command "you will no longer bite your nails." The moment SpongeBob sees the doctor - revealed to be Hans - in the full light, he bites his nails instead.
  • In "Plane to Sea", SpongeBob explains the trip he and Patrick won for Squidward is "an all expenses paid trip to see beautiful Bora Bora Bottom." It was revealed in the end the trip was exactly for that reason — it was only a trip to see the resort briefly before going right back to Bikini Bottom, due to the plane being set to autopilot.
• Expecting Someone Taller: In the episode "Opposite Day", SpongeBob impersonates Squidward when a real estate agent comes to look at Squidward's house. She tells SpongeBob that she pictured "Squidward" being much taller.
  SpongeBob: Yeah, everyone says that.
• Expy: SpongeBob is similar to Rocko from Rocko's Modern Life, Patrick is similar to Heffer, Squidward is similar to Mr. Bighead, Gary is similar to Spunky, and Mr. Krabs is similar to Mr. Smitty. Creator Stephen Hillenburg did indeed work on Rocko.
• Extra! Extra! Read All About It!: "Hall Monitor": "Maniac strikes Bikini Bottom! City paralyzed with fear!" This is also used twice in "The Ballad of Filthy Muck."
• Extremely Short Timespan: The episode "Graveyard Shift" takes place over the course of seven hours in a single night (8:00 PM to 3:00 AM).
• Eye Scream: Enough to warrant its own page.

F

• Face–Heel Turn: In "Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy V", Barnacle Boy, tired of being treated like a child, turns against Mermaid Man and dubs himself Barnacle Man.
• The Faceless: Hans, a hand whose full body is never seen.
• Face on the Cover: SpongeBob's face is on the cover of SpongeBob SquarePants: Original Theme Highlights and other media.
• Faceplanting into Food: In "No Free Rides", SpongeBob and his parents throw a party for Mrs. Puff after she gives him his driver's license. When Mr. and Mrs. SquarePants unveil a surprise gift for SpongeBob, a new boatmobile, he faints and falls backward onto the cake.
• Failure Is the Only Option:
  • Plankton will never acquire the Krabby Patty Secret Formula.
  • SpongeBob will never get his driver's license.
  • Squidward will never get the alone time he deserves.
• Failure Montage:
  • In "Pickles", SpongeBob has trouble doing things right, and there's a montage of him trying to figure out how to get into bed.
  • In "Missing Identity", SpongeBob tries to retrace his steps to find his missing name tag by repeating everything he did that morning, from tripping down the stairs to tasting Gary's food to saying hi to Patrick. Unfortunately, Patrick keeps flubbing his lines, meaning that they have to go through the whole thing over and over.
  • In "Plankton's Army" we see a brief montage of Plankton's failed disguises as he tries to steal the Krabby Patty formula, all of them involving roaches.
  • In "I Heart Dancing", SpongeBob constantly tries and fails to replicate a move Squidward shows him, to the point he's too sleepy to attend the big dance audition or even wake up.
  • In "Friendiversary", Squidward tries to get SpongeBob to remember him (and the combination to the Krusty Krab safe) by reenacting some of their past adventures with each other. SpongeBob shrugs and shakes his head at every one of them.
• Faint in Shock: In the episode "Krusty Dogs", Mr. Krabs takes away Krabby Patties from the Krusty Krab menu and puts hot dogs in their place. SpongeBob's reaction is to faint from shock, just as two paramedics immediately arrive and revive him. SpongeBob, however, faints again upon seeing Mr. Krabs take out the kitchen oven.
• Fan of the Underdog: SpongeBob and Patrick seem to be the only entities in Bikini Bottom that actually like Squidward and consider him as wonderful and talented a being as he himself believes he is. Unfortunately their stupidity and clinginess still manages to cause him as much suffering and pain as everyone else's harshness.
• Fancy Toilet Awe: The episode "House Fancy" has Squilliam Fancyson giving a tour of his house which he deems to be the fanciest in all of Bikini Bottom. He states that his favorite part is the bathroom, where everything, including the toilet, is custom-made, complete with a jewel-encrusted toilet paper holder. The host of the titular show is amazed by the display of fanciness.
• Fanservice Car Wash: In one episode, Mr. Krabs is wearing Pearl's pants and shakes his booty in front of a depressed SpongeBob (who had failed his boating test again) while washing his boat.
• Fantastic Fauna Counterpart: Not every animal is sapient, and many of them are the direct counterparts of land animals showing very similar behaviour. For example, worms are dogs, snails are cats, seahorses are horses, and jellyfish are bees.
• The Fantastic Faux: While the International Justice League of Super Acquaintances (first seen in "Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy V" when SpongeBob's friends borrow their outfits to get superpowers, then seen in their original incarnations in "The Bad Guy Club for Villains") has an aesthetic and name more reminiscent of the Justice League, the powers fit the Fantastic Four archetypes much better. The Elastic Waistband has stretchy powers a la Mister Fantastic, Miss Appear is an Action Girl with invisibility powers a la the Invisible Woman, and Captain Magma shoots hot lava similar to the Human Torch's fire ability (and activates his powers with a catchphrase like the Torch does). The Quickster and Mermaid Man don't fit a particular mold, however, as they're parodies of The Flash and Aquaman respectively.
• Fantastic Racism:
  • Played for laughs when SpongeBob became a lifeguard:
    SpongeBob: There are sharks in the water!
    Shark: Hey! That's my family you're talking about!
    SpongeBob: Um... sea monsters!
    Sea Monster: You know, we sea monsters have made great contributions to the fields of science and literature.
  • Also parodied in "Squirrel Jokes", where SpongeBob's insensitive jokes towards squirrels turn Sandy into a laughing stock in Bikini Bottom.
  • Played disturbingly straight in "The Fry Cook Games", where SpongeBob and Patrick develop a bitter rivalry. As the conflict escalates, they resort to insulting each other for the color of their skins.
  • From SpongeBob reading the dumpster writing in Sailor Mouth: "'Nematodes are people too!' (Dismissively) HA! Those nematodes!" Just replace nematodes with any minority group in the world and see how bad a person you suddenly feel.
  • Sandy is the victim of many direct and indirect "racist" remarks (either because she's from Texas or because she's a "land critter"). In "Karate Choppers," Mr. Krabs forbids SpongeBob from participating in karate with Sandy. As he leaves the scene, he appears to sniff in Sandy's direction before muttering "Mammals..." in a disgusted tone. Especially jarring since his daughter is a whale.
  • In Kenny The Cat, Sandy thinks that cats are bad people.
• Fantasy Twist: SpongeBob fantasizes about what his life would be like if he had muscles. It turns out to be exactly the same as it is now, but with muscles.
• Fate Worse than Death: In "Born Again Krabs"
  Flying Dutchman: Heard what you said? I couldn't hear myself thinking with this one around. I only had him for thirty seconds. And it's jellyfishing this and Mermaid Man that. Why, not giving him back is a fate worse than death. He's your problem now.

• Fear-Induced Idiocy:
  • Whenever SpongeBob attempts a driving test, he'll become so panicked behind the wheel that he'll inevitably end up crashing.
  • In "That Sinking Feeling", Patrick Star and SpongeBob run from an enraged Squidward while they're underground. Because of how panicked they are, they simply attempt to dig through the rock instead of around it. This is downplayed, since neither of them are particularly smart (especially Patrick).
• Feigning Healthiness: In "Suds," SpongeBob is scared that Sandy will take him to the doctor for his "suds" disease, so Patrick "cures" him by plugging up all his holes. SpongeBob claims to Sandy that he's fine, but every time he sneezes, he inflates, until eventually he lets out a Sneeze of Doom that destroys the Krusty Krab and has no choice but to go to the doctor.
• Felony Misdemeanor:
  • SpongeBob tends to overreact whenever he makes a single mistake during his job, like being late by a minute, accidentally giving a customer a large-sized soda instead of a medium one, being out of napkins…
  • To take this trope literally, do not litter in Bikini Bottom. Ever.
• Feud Episode:
  • Squidward gets SpongeBob and Patrick to stop being friends by sending them each his own makeshift bubblegrams. Once Squidward realizes what he did when both ex-friends want him to be his friend, he comes up with a plan to get them to be friends again.
  • SpongeBob and Patrick would have more quarreling in episodes such as "The Fry Cook Games", "New Student Starfish", and "The Battle of Bikini Bottom".
• File Photo Gag: In "What's Eating Patrick?", a file photo of SpongeBob and Patrick shows SpongeBob sitting in a chair while Patrick is wearing a chair around his neck.
• The Film of the Book: The episode "What Ever Happened to SpongeBob?" is based on the Tie-In Novel For the Love of Bubbles.
• Finger-Snapping Street Gang: In the episode "What Ever Happened to SpongeBob?", the Bubble-Poppin' Boys are a group of Greaser Delinquents clearly modeled on the Jets from West Side Story. They're first seen walking side-by-side and snapping their fingers, and after stopping to introduce themselves to SpongeBob, they start right back up again as they close in on him.
• Fire Means Chaos:
  • In the episode "Wormy!", when everybody thinks Sandy's pet butterfly is a monster, they go crazy and at one point several buildings are seen on fire (yes, underwater).
  • In "Squilliam Returns", Spongebob's attempt to clear his mind of everything that has nothing to do with fine dining and breathing is represented by tiny versions of himself getting rid of documents in an office inside his brain. Hilarity ensues when the workers realize they have accidentally scrapped Spongebob's own name in the process, and the entire office descends into panic and eventually fiery chaos trying to recover it.
• Firing Day:
  • In "Karate Choppers", SpongeBob is told not to do karate at work or risk getting fired. He is then attacked by Sandy, who refuses to believe his pleas to stop, only for Mr. Krabs to appear and make good on his threat. This causes SpongeBob to cry a river, but Sandy, realizing her friend wasn't kidding, convinces Mr. Krabs to give him another chance.
  • In "Bossy Boots", Pearl gets a summer job at the Krusty Krab and makes radical changes to the theme and decor. Mr. Krabs disapproves of the changes, but he can't bring himself to fire his daughter, so he has SpongeBob do it instead. It turns out Pearl actually wants to be fired, so the two stage a dramatic "firing" for Krabs to hear.
  • In "SpongeBob You're Fired", SpongeBob gets fired from the Krusty Krab as a cost-cutting measure (he does not fire Squidward due to having seniority). After a falling into a rut, he attempts to find jobs at other restaurants, but he is fired from them just as quickly because all he can make is krabby patties. It does not last long, as by the end it is shown the Krusty Krab has been falling apart without SpongeBob, so Mr. Krabs rehires him and has the customers pay to use the toilet to make up for the money loss.
• Fishbowl Helmet:
  • Sandy wears one so that she can survive underwater. Although she does wear a suit, it looks more like a space suit than scuba gear, and as shown in the episode "Pressure", it doesn't really seem to do anything; it's the helmet that matters. When she takes it off to prove a point (and fails), she saves herself by putting a pickle jar on her head.
  • Any sea creatures who enter Sandy's treedome, usually SpongeBob and Patrick, wear these with water in them so they don't dehydrate.
• Five-Man Band: The International Justice League of Super Aquaintances, or IJLSA from the episode "Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy V", consists of The Leader: Mermaid Man, The Lancer: SpongeBob (The Quickster), The Smart Guy: well, he's smarter than a lot of the cast— Squidward (Captain Magma), The Big Guy: Patrick (The Elastic Waistband), and The Smurfette Principle: Sandy (Miss Appear).
• Five-Second Foreshadowing:
  • In "The Secret Box" when SpongeBob crashes into the wall of Patrick's house while trying to find out what's in the secret box, a picture of he and Patrick bounces off his head and divides into two pieces, with himself on one half and Patrick on the other. This could be interpreted as a literal foreshadowing of the moments when Patrick wakes up: the consequences of stealing the box and Patrick almost bringing the end of their friendship.
  • In the same episode when SpongeBob looks in the box and sees the string inside, the farthest end appears to be fastened to the box. SpongeBob also doesn't take it out nor does he ask Patrick why it's there. Right when he leaves, Patrick reveals the string needs to be pulled to reveal the embarrassing photo.
• Flashback Cut: In "The Bully"
  SpongeBob: Hi, I'm SpongeBob!
  (later)
  SpongeBob: I haven't said two words to the guy!
  (cut)
  SpongeBob: Hi, I'm SpongeBob!
• Flaying Alive: Surprisingly frequent.
  • Despite its status as a kids show, In the episode "Plankton's Regular", Plankton's new customer moves the Chum Bucket door over the lying SpongeBob, peeling the flesh on his face. It was very detailed.
  • "Sand Castles in the Sand" includes Patrick ripping some of his skin off.
  • In the same episode, Plankton flays himself.
• Flea Episode: "A Flea in Her Dome". When Sandy returns home from Texas, she picks up a flea, which quickly multiplies and makes her, SpongeBob, and Patrick itch.
• Flexing Those Non-Biceps: Anchor Arms, which look nothing like balloons worn over SpongeBob's arms.
• Flintstone Theming: Nearly everything is replaced by its underwater equivalent.
• Foil: SpongeBob to Squidward. SpongeBob is an idiot, but is well-meaning, and who is sort of pleasurable to be around. In contrast, Squidward is a smug, pessimistic character who hates his job, thinks he's superior to everyone else, and is the town's unofficial Butt-Monkey.
• Food and Animal Attraction: Gary the snail gets really affectionate towards Patrick over the cookies in his pocket.
• Forbidden Fruit:
  • The plot of "The Secret Box" revolves around SpongeBob wanting to find out the big secret the eponymous box holds, which Patrick absolutely refuses to reveal.
  • In "Jolly Lodgers", Squidward goes to Hotel Halibut while his home is invested by sea urchins, but he unfortunately cannot get the alone time he deserves because SpongeBob and Patrick are also staying there for the jellyfishing convention the hotel is hosting. They then proceed to show up in every one of Squidward's hotel activities, to the point of cornering him in the hallways until he reaches the door where the convention is. SpongeBob slyly warns him not to go in there otherwise he'll end up at the convention; sure enough, he does end up joining, which was SpongeBob and Patrick's plan all along.
• Forced to Watch: At the end of "Patty Caper", as punishment for stealing the secret formula for the Krabby Patty, Mr. Krabs must give away patties for free for a day and the two police officers who caught his confession are the ones forcing him to watch as SpongeBob gives away the patties, as Mr. Krabs screams in horror.
• Forcibly Formed Physique: A given considering the Zany Cartoon nature od the show. SpongeBob takes on various forms the most often due to his spongey nature, but other characters may too become sqaush-and-stretch victims every once in a while.
• Foreshadowing:
  • In "Valentine's Day", Patrick crushing a heart-shaped rock, believing SpongeBob is inside it, gives a hint toward how raging he becomes if he doesn't get what he wants.
  • In "I'm With Stupid", Patrick's parents are initially impressed that their son immediately recognizes them (their first line is, "Wow, son! You actually recognized us this time!"), and Patrick doesn't bother to defend himself. As it turns out, they're not his parents. Patrick doesn't realize this because, as hinted at, he frequently forgets what his real parents look like.
  • Also in "I'm With Stupid", Gary questions on why SpongeBob is going to act stupid for Patrick, and he replies, "What could go wrong?" Something will go wrong indeed — Patrick begins to believe SpongeBob really is stupid.
  • In "Frankendoodle" as SpongeBob and Patrick play Rock–Paper–Scissors with bubbles, SpongeBob wonders why Patrick always chooses paper. Later on, it is revealed paper is how to defeat DoodleBob.
  • In "The Smoking Peanut", Clamu does not cry the instant SpongeBob throws a peanut at her; she frantically searches around her enclosure before bawling. This is a hint that the peanut is not what made her cry.
  • Two instances in "The Secret Box":
    • During SpongeBob's stealthy attempt to get the secret box, he gets stuck in the sleeping Patrick's arms, who pulls on SpongeBob's tongue while muttering about the box. This serves as a clue to the function of the string inside — it has to be pulled to gain access to the embarrassing photo.
    • After SpongeBob slips on his shoelaces and comes flying into the wall, a picture of himself and Patrick bounces off his head and splits into two halves, with SpongeBob on one half and Patrick on the other. This serves as a visual symbolization toward the consequences of stealing the secret box following when Patrick wakes up — the distrust SpongeBob is giving his best friend and the imminent end to their friendship.
  • In "Demolition Doofus" when SpongeBob is strangled by Mrs. Puff at the hospital, he very briefly giggles and says "That tickles!", giving a hint toward his Nigh-Invulnerability as an invertebrate once he enters the demolition derby.
  • In "Are You Happy Now?" after Squidward falls off a mountain, Squidward tells SpongeBob he will not be involved in his happiest memory. SpongeBob actually does become part of a forged happiest memory when Squidward manically destroys all the paper mache SpongeBobs at the Krusty Krab.
  • In "The Ballad of Filthy Muck", whenever Filthy Muck is around SpongeBob, he hardly says any words outside of giggling and mumbling, cluing in that Filthy Muck is a separate being from Patrick.
• Forged Message: "Naughty Nautical Neighbors", in which SpongeBob and Patrick, at their homes, communicates via speeches in soap bubbles. The noises disturb Squidward (whose house are between the two's) who's eating a cake at the moment. Frustrated, Squidward shakes his fork on the plate, at which point it creates foams (presumably from the cake). Squidward then gets an idea of stopping them: "sap" the communication line by stopping their bubbles mid-flight, and then using his own foam to create speech soap bubbles that are filled with unsavory messages for SpongeBob and Patrick (who are unaware that Squidward did it). This drives the two to hate each other for the remainder of the episode. Fridge Logic comes when Squidward's soap bubbles looked different from the normal one, and it's also filled with Squidward's voice and yet they don't recognize the voice.
• Forgot About His Powers: Apparently, SpongeBob forgot his ability to regrow his appendages when they fall off or are pulled off in "The Splinter", as he did nothing about it to solve the issue with his splintered hand.
• Forgotten Framing Device: The SpongeBob's Runaway Roadtrip episodes, also known as the vacation miniseries, begin with the same framing device of a character showing pictures of a vacation they were on, leading to a Whole Episode Flashback. However, the framing device for each episode is not revisited at the end, nor are they acknowledged in the other episodes. Averted with the book adaptation which shows all the episodes at once and adds in an extra scene at the end to close out the framing device.
• Forgot to Pay the Bill: Subverted. SpongeBob thinks Gary did this when the electricity goes out, but it was actually caused by No Name cutting the wires.
• For Inconvenience, Press "1": During a robot invasion.
• Formally-Named Pet: Mr. Puffy Fluffy.
• For the Evulz: "One Coarse Meal"
  • May be more a case of Knight Templar or It Amused Me, since Krabs often sees Plankton as far more evil than himself and deserving of whatever torture he gives him (even when it's unprovoked).
• Foul Medicine: Downplayed in "Mid-Life Crustacean", where Mr. Krabs hates taking his pill, not because it smells or tastes bad, but because it's very big and it makes him feel old.
• Four-Fingered Hands: Except the Flying Dutchman, who needs five fingers to count the number of wishes in Shanghaied.
• Four Is Death: The episode "Face Freeze!" includes a story of a man who stuck his tongue out at people 444 times, which prevented him from putting it back in. The number also foreshadows how grotesque the episode becomes.
• Fourth Wall Psych: In "Survival of the Idiots", when SpongeBob and Patrick are attempting to escape Sandy's treedome, there's a shot that makes it look as if SpongeBob is trying to open up the TV screen, but the next shot shows that he's actually trying to open the exit door to Sandy's treedome.
• Freak Out: Most of the characters have this at least once.
• Freeze-Frame Bonus:
  • The license SpongeBob receives in his dream in "Sleepy Time" reveals his birthday as July 14, 1986, and the expiration date is listed as December 14, 2003.
  • In "No Free Rides", when Mrs. Puff enters her house, there's a painting of the EXACT same frame in the top left! And if you look closely, the painting has ITSELF in it! This joke is also used in the episode "Bumper to Bumper."
  • In "Stanley S. SquarePants", there is a heading at the bottom of Uncle Sherm's letter that SpongeBob does not read aloud: "I'M FREE, FREE!"
  • In "Sun Bleached", one of the settings on the tanning light remote reads "Nuke".
  • The tartar sauce vat that SpongeBob finds in "Buried in Time" was said to have expired "fifty years ago" according to him; the expiration date on the vat says "May 1960", which is exactly 50 years before 2010, the year the episode premiered.
  • In "The Play's The Thing" when the crowd starts Produce Pelting Squidward and SpongeBob, one of the things they happen to throw is Plankton.
  • A book in SpongeBob's library in "Library Cards" is Modest Expectations by Slim Dickens.
  • When SpongeBob crosses an item off his to-do list in "The Sewers of Bikini Bottom," you can read some of the entries. These include "take road trip to moon," "wear all my socks at once," and "wear a tux to breakfast."
  • "Appointment TV" has one of these in the form of SpongeBob's VHS tapes. They are: How to Make a Bed, Krusty Krab Training Video, Santa Claus is Com'n to Town, Mr. Krab's [sic] Birthday Party, and Plankton Ruins Mr. Krab's [sic] B-day.
• French Accordion: The episode "Le Big Switch" has SpongeBob traded for another, blatantly French chef. The title card, as well as the music playing in the fancy restaurant SpongeBob now works in (whose owner is named Le Schnook and has a heavy French accent), are almost entirely played by accordions.
• Friendly Scheming: In "Fools in April", SpongeBob annoys Squidward with his April Fools' pranks, only for Squidward to pull a harmful prank on him that nobody finds funny. When he's called out on it, Squidward tries to (tries to) apologize to SpongeBob. When he finally does, it turns out that it was all a giant prank by SpongeBob, and the entire town was in on it.
• The Friends Who Never Hang:
  • Sandy is rarely involved in the antics going on at the Krusty Krab, so she's not seen interacting with Mr. Krabs or Squidward much individually, and is rarely placed against Plankton. Lampshaded in "SpongeBob SquarePants vs. the Big One" where Squidward doesn't know who Sandy is:
    Sandy: Y'all be careful. Looks like some biiiiig waves are coming!
    Squidward: Who are you?
  • Sandy and Patrick rarely hang out without SpongeBob accompanying them and on the few occasions that they do, they are quite hostile towards each other, implying that they mainly just tolerate each other because they're both friends with SpongeBob.
• Friendship Song:
  • On the episode "F.U.N.", SpongeBob and Plankton sing a song together about friendship. "F is for friends that do stuff together. U is for U and Me!" etc.
  • The episode "Pest of the West" also gives us "Idiot Friends."
  • The song about teamwork from the second movie.
• Friendship-Straining Competition:
  • In "The Fry Cook Games", SpongeBob - representing Krusty Krab - goes face to face with his friend Patrick, who got recruited by Mr. Krabs' nemesis, Plankton. Both Krabs and Plankton sway Bob & Pat respectively so that they'll be more motivated to beat each other; the multiple sport matches always have Bob & Pat demeaning each other in various ways, culminating in a brutal wrestling match... Until their pants suddenly rip during their match, revealing that they wear underpants of each other's color. This causes them to cry, rekindle their friendship and walk away, forgetting about the match.
  • "Sand Castles in the Sand" involves SpongeBob and Patrick getting into a sandcastle war. It takes an almost immediate turn into a bitter competition as they go from creating small sand castles to life-sized buildings, weapons, and even fighter jets (still made from sand). When they destroy the entire beach in their fighting, they're forced to make up and play a different game.
• Fright Beside Them: Subverted when Sandy and Patrick try to lure SpongeBob out of his home, with Patrick dressed as a gorilla, pretending to attack Sandy. But during the "attack" Patrick suddenly enters the frame. As it turns out, the guy in the gorilla costume actually was Patrick, while the guy who entered the frame is a real gorilla in a Patrick costume.
• Fun-Hating Villain: The episode "Banned in Bikini Bottom" features and organization T.U.O.O.F.A.T.T.A.F.A.D. (acronym for The United Organization of Fish Against Things That are Fun and Delicious) who shut down the Krusty Krab and ban krabby patties for being fun and delicious. The ban is lifted when the leader accidentally takes a bite of a krabby patty resulting in a Heel–Face Turn.
• Funny Animal: Nearly everyone.
• Funnel-Mouthed Cephalopod: One of the background characters (Incidental 11) is a female squid whose mouth is regularly funnel shaped.
• Funny Background Event: In the episode "Imitation Krabs," the opening scene features a normal day at the Krusty Krab. A customer walks in, other fish are sitting at the tables enjoying their meals, and Mr. Krabs looks on proudly... all while some random fish in the background appears to have taken his Krabby Patty apart and is licking the patty itself, almost sensually.
• Funny Flashback Haircut: The flashback to Jim's time being the fry cook at the Krusty Krab (which seems to take place around the 70's) shows Mr. Krabs with sideburns and Squidward with gorgeous flowing blonde hair. A later flashback shows that Squidward lost all his hair on the night that Jim quit.
• Funny Phone Misunderstanding: In an episode, titled "Big Pink Loser", Patrick is working at a restaurant and people phone up saying, "Is this the Krusty Krab?". That's what the restaurant is called, but Patrick, due to his stupidity, has forgotten, and he replies, "No, this is Patrick! I'm not a crusty crab!".
• Funny Photo Phrase: In "Christmas Who?", Squidward tells (a very depressed) SpongeBob to say, "Santa Claus" as his picture is taken, as a way of rubbing it in SpongeBob's face that Santa never showed up.
• Funny Robot: Karen from is Plankton's snarky robotic wife, who criticizes and points out flaws in Plankton's schemes (not that it stops him from going through with them).
• Fun Size: The miniature versions of SpongeBob and Patrick in "Fun-Sized Friends".
• Fun with Acronyms: Every Villain Is Lemons. "Otherwise known as EVIL."
• Fun with Flushing: SpongeBob and Patrick hear a story about a drain that two kids pulled long ago and that flushed away all of Bikini Bottom. They become obsessed with finding "The Big Drain" and making sure no one pulls it again. They do pull it but then it turns out to have been All Just a Dream.
• Furry Confusion:
  • While this normally doesn't come up very often, it got weird with the episode "Feral Friends". Neptune's Moon rises after 100 years and its light turns everyone into feral animals and it's treated as if they've devolved into these forms.
  • Snails in the show are traditionally treated as the equivalent to cats, with SpongeBob owning a pet snail named Gary. "Library Cards" introduces another snail called Snail Fail; unlike every other snail seen on the show, he is far more anthropomorphized, can talk, wears clothes, and is treated as a person rather than a pet.
  • "Walking Small" and "Your Shoe's Untied" both featuring talking, anthropomorphic eels (the one in the former episode even having arms and legs), yet in "Sailor Mouth" and "Life Of Crime", eels are treated as the undersea equivalent to snakes^note The former episode features a Bland-Name Product of Snakes and Ladders called Eels and Escalators, while the latter episode has Mr. Krabs say "eel in the kelp", a reference to the phrase "snake in the grass".

G

• Gag Echo: In "One Krab's Trash", Krabs goes to the cemetery to find Smitty Werbenjagermanjensen's grave and take back his hat. He sees Squidward laying down flowers on a grave, which reads "Here Lies Squidward's Hopes and Dreams." Krabs remarks "what a baby." Later, when Krabs finds out that the hat is now worthless, he breaks down in tears, and a flower carrying Squidward walks in the background, pausing to say "what a baby."
• Gagging on Your Words: Squidward has a hard time saying "I'm sorry" to SpongeBob. So hard, in fact, that at one point his head explodes.
• Gainax Ending: Enough to have its own page!
  • In-universe: "I Had An Accident"'s ending results in a family staring at their TV at you in disbelief watching the episode the viewer just watched and were turned off by that Gainax Ending.
• Glad I Thought of It: A Running Gag is Karen coming up with a plan for Plankton to steal the formula, but Plankton dismisses her as interrupting or being nonsense, then he says the exact same idea.
• Games of the Elderly: In the episode "Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy VI: The Motion Picture", SpongeBob and Patrick interrupt Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy in the middle of the Shady Shoals Retirement Home's bingo afternoon.
  Mermaidman: BONKO!
  Barnacle Boy: It's "bingo".
• Gaslighting: Played for Laughs (and maybe a bit exaggerated) on "Pickles"; Bubble Bass claims SpongeBob screwed up his order, which causes him to lose all sense of order and orientation.
• Geographic Flexibility: Bikini Bottom is shown to be this. In most episodes it's a typical small town, but other episodes have shown that it contains a mall, a racetrack, and an Olympic stadium, among other things.
• Gibberish of Love:
  • Happens to Mr. Krabs in "Krusty Love" when he's trying to ask out Mrs. Puff, requiring SpongeBob to translate for him.
  • Squidward gets so flustered around Squilvia that he can only babble inanely and SpongeBob has to arrange their date for him.
• Giftedly Bad: Squidward is not as good at music as he thinks he is.
• Gift of Song: In the episode "Single-Cell Anniversary", SpongeBob helps Plankton write a song as an anniversary gift to Karen, which takes the form of a mariachi-type serenade.
• Gilligan Cut: In the episode "Idiot Box", Squidward doesn't understand why the cardboard box will make noises for SpongeBob and Patrick.
  Squidward: Why won’t this thing turn on? All right, fine. If you don’t want to show me, I don’t care! I've got better things to do than pace the floor wondering how you two work this thing. (Cut to Squidward pacing the length of his living room floor) How do those two work that thing?! There's got to be a secret button or a switch or something!
• Girl's Night Out Episode:
  • "Girls' Night Out" is this for Mrs. Puff, Sandy, and Karen as they prank Plankton and SpongeBob.
  • Its Sequel Episode is "A Cabin in the Kelp," in which Pearl joins Mrs. Puff, Sandy, and Karen as they visit a cabin deep in a forest.
• Glitch Episode: In "Karen's Virus", one of Karen's sick computer friends infects her with a virus, taking the form of a CGI-animated red monster. SpongeBob goes inside Karen's system, along with an idealized version of Plankton, to hunt it down and exterminate it. Meanwhile, Karen ends up taking a wild ride around town in an extremely delirious state, while the real Plankton tries to control her.
• Go-Karting with Bowser:
  • You shouldn't be surprised if SpongeBob invites even Plankton to one of his parties.
  • Mr. Krabs and Plankton have also played poker every Thursday night for years.
• Gone Horribly Right:
  • In "I'm With Stupid", SpongeBob pretends to be dumb so Patrick can be smart and impress his parents, but Patrick eventually begins to believe SpongeBob actually is dumb.
  • In "Welcome to the Chum Bucket", when SpongeBob starts forcing Plankton to do favors for him, he eventually becomes a spoiled brat and refuses to do his job.
  • In "Shellback Shenanigans", Plankton masquerades as Gary to sneak into the Krusty Krab's bring-your-pet-to-work-day and take the formula, but it goes way beyond disastrous when not only is SpongeBob fooled, but seeing "Gary" talking and turning green causes him to assume he's terminally ill, and is sent to the hospital.
  • In "Mimic Madness", SpongeBob begins imitating his friends so much that he develops a case of Mocking Mimicry Madness, causing him to forget who he truly is.
• Gonky Femme: Pearl is a huge girl with inhuman strength and a tendency to cause everything to shake whenever she is crying, jumping or dancing, otherwise is a stereotypical shallow boy-crazy teenage girl. She also wears pink.
• Good Angel, Bad Angel: Parodied twice in the show.
  • "The Donut of Shame" has an angel donut and a devil donut appear on Patrick's shoulders.
  • In the episode "Sportz?", Squidward is asked by SpongeBob and Patrick to teach them how to play sports properly and is given advice on what to do by angel and devil versions of himself. Angel Squidward advises that he must give them the right information so they don't hurt themselves, while Devil Squidward sadistically gloats that Squidward has the opportunity to use their idiocy of the sports and trick the two dolts into hurting each other as payback for all the times they annoyed him. Angel Squidward ends up agreeing with Devil Squidward after he gets hit by a tennis ball.
• Good Behavior Points: In "New Student Starfish", it's shown that Mrs. Puff has a "Good Noodle Board" system for her class, in which stars are placed next to her student's names on a board when they display good behavior. SpongeBob has by far the most stars, with a total of 74. However, when Mrs. Puff discovers an unflattering drawing of her made by Patrick, she believes SpongeBob drew it and removes one of his Good Noodle Stars. Later in the episode, after SpongeBob and Patrick manage to save the unhatched egg of Roger when the light bulb that gives it warmth goes out, Mrs. Puff gives each of them a Good Noodle Star.
• Good Cop/Bad Cop:
  • Mr. Krabs, playing both roles, invokes this on a dollar bill in an attempt to get it to talk to him.
  • In "Squid Noir," SpongeBob and Squidward try to do this to Mr. Krabs. They get mixed up and both be the good cop.
• Good-Times Montage:
  • The "F.U.N." song shows SpongeBob and Plankton having fun together and bonding.
  • Also the montage of playing with Wormy.
• Gorn: It's pretty damn gory despite being a kid's show, with scenes such as characters being skinned alive and getting their internal organs ripped out.
• Grandma's Recipe:
  • According to one episode, the Krabby Patty recipe was handed down to Mr. Krabs by his mother. A later episode had Krabs inventing the formula, but then the show was never strong on continuity.
  • Another episode had Squidward give Plankton his grandmother's chum recipe which made chum, a previously awful and, in some cases, inedible dish into a successful enterprise for Plankton.
• Gratuitous English: Some foreign dubs of the "F.U.N. Song" keep the word "fun" in English.
• Green and Mean: A good portion of villainous (or at least antagonistic) characters are green - Plankton, The Flying Dutchman, Bubble Bass, Kevin C. Cucumber and Flatts the Flounder. Downplayed with Squidward, who is more of an aquamarine color and a Jerkass rather than a true villain.
• Grin of Rage: In "The Executive Treatment," when Patrick inadvertently infiltrates a company's headquarters after being mistaken for an executive, his stupidity catches the ire of the CEO. During their first interaction, Patrick draws a "chart" that is just a house with smoke coming out of it. Patrick assumes that the CEO likes his chart because he's smiling, only to be informed that he smiles like that when he's really angry.
• Group-Identifying Feature: Mr. Krabs's employees have to wear sailor hats. This is a plot point in "No Hat for Pat", where Patrick can't work for Mr. Krabs because his hat weighs him down.
• Growing Muscles Sequence: In "Karate Island" Sandy and Udon have this before fighting. Udon has muscles grow in his eyebrows while Sandy has muscles grow in her tail.
• Grub Tub: In one episode, the Patty Vault in the back of Krusty Krab contains mountains of Krabby Patties which Squidward, who recently got addicted to them, swims in while eating them by the dozens.
• Guilt-Induced Nightmare: In "Procrastination", SpongeBob keeps putting off an essay. This comes back to bite him when he has a nightmare that all of his household objects come to life and his house burns down.
  House: Why did you set me on fire, SpongeBob?! Why didn't you just write your essay?! STOP WASTING TIME!!
• Guilty Until Someone Else Is Guilty: SpongeBob throws a peanut at Clamu to wake her up in "The Smoking Peanut." When Clamu awakens, she goes on a crying rampage, and SpongeBob believes throwing his peanut is what made her upset. After SpongeBob is interrogated by the police, they end up arresting Patrick instead of him, resulting in SpongeBob confessing about the thrown peanut. Nobody gets convinced of his or Patrick's innocence until a zookeeper shows up and announces that Mr. Krabs upset Clamu by stealing her pearl, which is revealed to actually be an egg because it hatched immediately after it was returned.
• Guinness Episode: In "Squirrel Record," SpongeBob and Sandy team up to break every record in a book.

H

• HA HA HA—No: Mrs. Puff in "Wishing You Well," when SpongeBob asks if he can take a ride in her new hot rod. They laugh and then Mrs. Puff says "no."
• Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow: "The Original Fry Cook" shows Squidward with long, blonde hair in the past. He lost it sometimes around when Jim left the restaurant.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: Patrick's sister, Sam. The episode even gives us this exchange:
  Sam: What Patrick doing? Why Patrick talk to meanies?
  Patrick: Umm......umm.....it's about your temper, sis.
  Sam: No have temper! This make Sister Sam...SOOO MAAAD, Sister Sam...PUT ON MEAN FACE.
• Half-Dressed Cartoon Animal: Many of the characters in the show, such as Patrick and Squidward, only wear either a shirt or pants.
• Halloween Episode:
  • "Scaredy Pants" takes place on Halloween and deals with SpongeBob's attempts to scare people.
  • In "The Curse of Bikini Bottom," SpongeBob and Patrick are transformed into ghosts.
  • "Ghoul Fools," also a double-length episode, has SpongeBob and Patrick on a haunted ship with a crew of ghost pirates.
  • "The Legend of Boo-Kini Bottom" is a stop-motion special and has the Flying Dutchman trying to scare SpongeBob.
  • "The Night Patty" has a spooky theme and takes place during the Krusty Krab's night shift.
  • "The Ghost of Plankton" has Plankton turn himself into a ghost, and get lessons from the Flying Dutchman on how to scare people, haunt houses, and shapeshift.
  • "A Cabin in the Kelp" is also a Girl's Night Out Episode, in which Karen, Sandy, Mrs. Puff, and Pearl visit a cabin in the woods and tell scary stories.
• Hammerspace:
  • In episode "Fear of a Krabby Patty," a frantic, delusional SpongeBob gives Plankton just enough time to squeak out, "Hey where'd you get that piano?" Just before, well, you know.
  • Plankton did one of these himself in a much earlier episode, "Plankton!", offering SpongeBob a golden spatula in an attempt to get a Krabby Patty from him. "I've been keeping it in my...secret compartment. SHING! Sparkle-sparkle."
  • In "FUN", he hides the Krabby Patty (which is bigger than his body) in his pocket.
• Handmade Is Better: In the episode "Neptune's Spatula", King Neptune challenges SpongeBob to a cook-off after he pulls Neptune's legendary spatula from the grease bucket. SpongeBob spends all the allotted time making a single Krabby Patty by hand and with love, while Neptune uses his magic to mass produce enough burgers to feed the entire stadium. King Neptune is declared the obvious winner... until he and the audience eat his Krabby Patties and find they taste terrible. Neptune then eats SpongeBob's burger and finds it so delicious he immediately hires him as his personal fry cook.
• Hand-or-Object Underwear: Characters who end up nude are occasionally shown covering themselves with their hands or a conveniently nearby object.
  • SpongeBob and Patrick frantically try to cover each other's genitals when they are seen naked at the Krusty Krab at the end of "Pranks a Lot".
  • When Squidward angrily tears off his Kuddly Krab uniform in "Bossy Boots", a police officer promptly writes a ticket and puts it on Squidward's crotch.
  • Near the end of the episode "Feral Friends", everyone turned into non-anthropomorphic sea creatures returns to normal, but they are left nude because they lost their clothes when they originally transformed. SpongeBob and Patrick aren't shown to be concerned with their sudden nudity, while Mr. Krabs, Mrs. Puff, Squidward, and Pearl are quick to cover themselves with their hands and run away in embarrassment and Larry the Lobster covers his groin with a flower.
• Hands Go Down: From "Band Geeks":
  Patrick: Is mayonnaise an instrument?
  Squidward: No, Patrick. Mayonnaise is not an instrument.
  [Patrick raises his hand]
  Squidward: Horseradish is not an instrument either.
  [Patrick puts his hand down]
• Hanlon's Razor: Played rather straight with SpongeBob, he can get away with all kinds of travesties he commits on others, so long as he means well in his actions. Patrick fits the bill most of the time as well.
• Happiness in Slavery: Numerous episodes have implied that Mr. Krabs takes advantage of SpongeBob's naive personality and love of fry cooking to pay him a rate below minimum wage, or nothing at all. And SpongeBob rarely questions the morality, or lack thereof, of whatever Zany Scheme Mr. Krabs talks him into.
• Hard-Work Montage: One such montage in "A Friendly Game" actually gets an introduction.
  Narrator: What follows is a brief construction montage.
• Harmless Liquefaction:
  • In "Re-Hibernation Week", SpongeBob melts into yellow goo when Sandy takes him on one dangerous exercise regimen too many.
    SpongeBob: This squirrel's trying to kill me! Any more of these stunts and I'll be reduced to a puddle.
  • In "Chocolate with Nuts", SpongeBob and Patrick melt when the crazed fish that has been chasing them throughout the episode asks to buy all their chocolate.
  • In "Moving Bubble Bass", this happens to Bubble Bass when Patrick intimidates him for making SpongeBob move his junk, leaving his Eye Glasses floating in midair until they drop into the puddle.
• Hats Off to the Dead: In one episode, Squidward trains several Bikini Bottom people for a marching band. The 2 flag spinners at the front spin their flag too fast, causing them to fly and then collide with a flying zeppelin to their deaths. The other marching band members hold their hats on their chest while the trumpeter plays Taps.
• Hated Item Makeover: "Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy": When SpongeBob and Patrick try to bring their favorite superheroes out of retirement, all they do is annoy and unintentionally harass them. What puts the final nail in the coffin, and ironically actually does bring them out of retirement, is the two painting Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy's Invisible Boatmobile:
  Barnacleboy: [with great frustration] AGH! GBHH...!! IT'S SUPPOSED-TA-BE-INVISABUL!!!
• Hates Baths: "Gary Takes a Bath" is devoted to SpongeBob trying to get Gary to take a bath and failing.
• Hat of Authority:
  • In "Squid's Day Off", Squidward gives SpongeBob a "promotion" so Squidward himself doesn't have to do anything. This is marked by SpongeBob now wearing two hats.
  • In "Hall Monitor", after taking Patrick on as his sidekick in patrolling the streets, SpongeBob notes that Patrick lacks one of these. Patrick settles on the empty ice cream cone he dropped, and SpongeBob accepts it.
  • In "Squid On Strike", Squidward promises that if he strikes with him, SpongeBob will "get [his] job back, and more..."
    SpongeBob: [gleefully] And more...? [SpongeBob imagines himself, via thought bubble, wearing a giant Krusty Krab uniform hat that's at least twice the size of SpongeBob himself]
• Healing Factor: SpongeBob can repeatedly rip off his own arms, and they will sprout back in the same scene with no problems and no pain. May also explain the various Amusing Injuries. In fact, considering that sea sponges have this ability in real life, this trope is Justified. SpongeBob's healing factor is so powerful that there are several gags involving SpongeBob's arms or legs being ripped or broken off. One hilarious example is in the episode "The Graveyard Shift", where Mr. Krabs decides that the Krusty Krab will be open 24 hours a day. So Squidward and SpongeBob are stuck there all night. To pass the time, Squidward tells a scary story about the "Hash-Slinging Slasher". SpongeBob bites his nails...then chews his fingers off...then his arms are being fed into his Buzzsaw Jaw as soon as they regenerate...and then he eats a bucket of his arms like a bucket of popcorn.
• Helping Granny Cross the Street:
  • Happens to Mr. Krabs in "Mid-Life Crustacean." The gag is brought back near the end of the episode; the scout walks him into his old room at his mother's house.
  • SpongeBob even does this for his own grandma in "The Abrasive Side," and later, his abrasive side rudely refuses to help.
  • Mr. Krabs does help an old lady across the street in "Patrick-Man!"... only to leave her in the street to chase a dollar.
• Helpless Kicking: In the episode "The Chaperone", as chaos unfolds during Pearl's prom as students perform the hazardous "Sponge" dance, one hapless fish is lodged through a hole in the wall and humorously flails his legs.
• Here We Go Again!: At the end of the episode "Can You Spare A Dime?", Mr. Krabs discovers that Squidward didn't steal his first dime, and hires him back to work at the Krusty Krab. All is well and back to normal... until Krabs and Squidward get into another argument that appears to be headed in the same direction of what the episode's plot is based on.
• Heroic BSoD:
  • Mr. Krabs in "One Krab's Trash." Or Villainous Breakdown, depending on how you see Mr. Krabs.
  • He has another one in the episode where he escapes death, vows to turn over a new leaf, and thinks his massive generosity and debt is all a dream and he's still in the hospital. And then SpongeBob and Squidward tell him he checked out of the hospital and here's the bill.
  • He gets a third in "Free Samples" when he thinks the customers have turned against the Krusty Krab for no reason.
  • Squidward also gets one near the end of "Squid's Visit."
  • SpongeBob gets one in "Krusty Dogs" when Mr. Krabs removes Krabby Patties from the menu.
• Heroic Sacrifice: The Big One from "SpongeBob SquarePants vs. The Big One" always demands a sacrifice of whoever rides it, in return for its awesomeness. JKL chooses to be the sacrifice to save Mr. Krabs' cash register, but somehow comes out perfectly fine in the end.
• Hibernation/Migration Situation:
  • "Pre-Hibernation Week" deals with Sandy's hibernation. SpongeBob is afraid that he won't get to have fun with Sandy before her hibernation, so the two do many extreme activities together. SpongeBob gets tired and hides, causing Sandy to start a search for him. Finally, SpongeBob goes to confess to Sandy that he can't handle the activities, only to find out that she has already started hibernating.
  • "Survival of the Idiots" sees SpongeBob and Patrick break into Sandy's treedome while she hibernates for the winter. They get trapped in the snowy dome and have to escape without freezing, all while avoiding the bulked-up, feral Sandy, who beats them up whenever their antics awaken her.
• Hidden Disdain Reveal: In the "Fry Cook Games" episode, SpongeBob and Patrick, who had a falling out, wrestle, exchanging "I don't like you!" "I don't like you more!" "I never liked you!" "I a thousand times never liked you!"
• High-Five Left Hanging: In "Pressure", Sandy is going on about the things land creatures can do better than sea creatures. Squidward makes a snarky comment about them being better at drowning, and SpongeBob offers a high-five. Squidward just stands there and says "Not on your life, sport."
• Hoist by His Own Petard: Happens somewhat often, but perhaps none more significant than the fact that, through a series of incidents involving time-traveling and SpongeBob/Patrick being annoying, Squidward actually invents jellyfishing, which he hates with a passion.
• Holding in Laughter: : In "New Student Starfish", after Patrick tries to introduce himself to Mrs. Puff's class and blurts out "Twenty-four", he and SpongeBob can't help but think of how funny it was and make stifled laughs. When the think of something funner then "twenty-four" ("Twenty-five!"), they can barely contain themselves until Mrs. Puff comes to scold them for interrupting her lesson.
  Mrs. Puff: Young man, this is your first day, so I'm letting you off with a warning. As for you, SpongeBob, I expect more from a Good Noodle. Pay attention!
  SpongeBob: Yes, Mrs. Puff. Sorry, Mrs. Puff.
• Hollywood Board Games: In "Mid-Life Crustacean", Bob and Patrick's attempt to make Mr. Krabs feel younger by playing a Dungeons & Dragons knock-off. It backfires and Mr. Krabs accuses the boys of being nerds and geeks.
• Hope Spot: In "Cephalopod Lodge", SpongeBob and Patrick stage a fake snake attack in an attempt to get Squidward back into the lodge. It all goes well, and Squidward is reinducted...but then SpongeBob and Patrick take off their disguise to cheer for him, causing him to get re-banned.
• Homesickness Hymn: In the early episode "Texas", Sandy sings a Blues song of yearning for her homeland of Texas, and it brings all of Bikini Bottom to tears.
• Horrible Judge of Character: SpongeBob, who thinks he and Squidward are good friends, but Squidward makes it clear that such is not the case.
• Horror Doesn't Settle for Simple Tuesday: Subverted. In "Graveyard Shift" where Squidward's improvised ghost story says that the ghost of a former Krusty Krab employee visits the restaurant every Tuesday night.
• Hot Skitty-on-Wailord Action: How exactly was Pearl born?
• Hourglass Plot: For the first half of "Free Samples", Plankton gives away free chum samples which the customers don't like that much (except for Patrick), then he gets an idea from Karen and sells more chum disguised as krabby patties, causing the customers to turn against the Krusty Krab. In the second half, SpongeBob tries to help Mr. Krabs by giving out their own free krabby patty samples, but no customers come; SpongeBob then gets an idea from Mr. Krabs and sells "new" krabby patties (which are just the regular patties but sold under a new name with a different taste), and the customers love them, regaining Mr. Krabs' reputation and saving the Krusty Krab.
• House Inspection:
  • "Opposite Day": Squidward wants to move but is warned about having poor chances of selling his house if his neighbors are obnoxious. In order to keep SpongeBob out of the way, he tells him that it's "Opposite Day", assuming that will mean that SpongeBob will stay quiet and out of the way. Instead, he takes it to mean that he should act like Squidward and proceeds to do so when the realtor arrives.
  • "House Fancy": Squidward wants to show up his high school rival Squilliam by having his house on a TV show. Naturally, SpongeBob shows up to help and makes a mess of Squidward's home. Then the show host compliments him on his daring sense of style.
• Human Head on the Wall: Parodied in "Wet Painters," where in one of SpongeBob's panicked Imagine Spots, he pictures Mr. Krabs mounting his and Patrick's butts on his wall as punishment for screwing up.
• Humans Are the Real Monsters: With the notable exception of Patchy, Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy, Hans, David Hasselhoff, and the French Narrator, most humans depicted in the show often antagonize the cast in some way. The notion of humans being evil predators is a major plot point in a few episodes episodes such as "Hooky", which portrays human fishing as a mass alien abduction, or in "Don't Look Now", which reveals there is a horror movie series all about an evil fisherman that hunts fish in the night.
• Humans by Any Other Name: According to "SpongeBob's Big Birthday Blowout", humans are called "beach giraffes." A dog is also named a "pie dragon."
• Human Jungle Gym: In the episode "The Masterpiece", business is slow at the Krusty Krab because the customers are more interested in a new restaurant called the Sea Chicken Shack, which has a statue of its mascot, Mr. Sea Chicken, for the children to play on while their parents order their food. When Mr. Krabs finds out about this from SpongeBob, he asks Squidward to build a statue of himself for the children to play on. Squidward does so, but Mr. Krabs is not happy because Squidward's artistic vision is far too unsafe for the children to play on. Mr. Krabs goes with Plan B, which is painting himself gold and holding absolutely still while the children play on him. Mr. Krabs does not enjoy this and asks Squidward how long he has to stay still. Squidward tells Mr. Krabs "As long as you want to keep making money", much to Mr. Krabs' dismay.
• Hunger Causes Lethargy:
  • In one episode, the eponymous sponge collapses because his "food meter" is empty. Mr. Krabs remedies this with a Krabby Patty (the kind of burgers he makes in his restaurant).
  • In "I was a Teenage Gary", this is subverted. Squidward observes that his neighbour's snail Gary is sluggish and assumes it's because he's hungry, but then he doesn't eat. The vet prescribes something called "snail plasma", but that ends up being injected into SpongeBob and Squidward and turning them into half-snail creatures. As it turned out, all Gary needed was water.
• Hurricane of Puns:
  • SpongeBob and Patrick argue back and forth with these in Pranks-A-Lot, until they are interrupted with the narrator saying "Several bad puns later..."
  • SpongeBob lets loose a stream of them towards the end of "Gary Takes a Bath," based on water and the furniture in his house: such as "Now dishes more like it!" and "I've got something to chair with you!"
• Hypno Pendulum:
  • Plankton uses one on SpongeBob in "Fear of a Krabby Patty" to try and hypnotize him into telling him the formula, but it fails, and he instead gets a dream which gets rid of his fear of krabby patties.
  • Hans uses one on SpongeBob in "SpongeBob's Bad Habit" to find out the reason behind his nail-biting habit.
  • Not a pendulum, but in "Professor Squidward", SpongeBob and Patrick are hypnotized by the ticking arm of Squidward's metronome.
  • In the book The Amazing SpongeBobini, SpongeBob uses one on Patrick to try and hypnotize him out of being sick. It fails.
• Hypocrite:
  • Throughout the first few seasons, Barnacle Boy complains to Mermaid Man more than once that making the invisible boatmobile invisible was a bad idea. Yet when SpongeBob and Patrick try to do them a favor by painting it, he reacts furiously ("IT'S SUPPOSED TO BE INVISIBLE!").
  • Squidward has been shown on numerous occasions to actually enjoy the same childish activities as SpongeBob and Patrick once he stops being a grouch and actually tries it, but often refuses to participate regardless, simply based on principle. This is most likely so he can satiate his own ego by convincing himself that he's in a higher social class than two adults who act somewhat immature when they're having fun.
  • In the beginning of "Pressure," Sandy cheats in her race with SpongeBob by getting an unexpected headstart... then when SpongeBob does the same thing in their subsequent race, Sandy calls him out on it, justifying that her headstart was okay because she "was just funnin' with ya' that time."
• Hypocritical Humor:
  • From "Hooky":
    Patrick: Look, SpongeBob, are you gonna listen to a big dummy, or are you gonna listen to me?
    SpongeBob: Umm...
  • From 'Pressure', while SpongeBob and the others were laughing at Sandy's failed attempt to breathe underwater:
    Mr. Krabs: I knew it! There was no way some "airhead" was gonna win anything against a water breather!
    Patrick: Airhead... (Laughs. The top of his head deflates like a balloon) Huh? (Puts thumb in mouth and blows. His head becomes round at the top.)
  • Same episode, while Sandy is telling the other four to go on dry land already :
    Sandy: Well? So are you going or not?
    SpongeBob: Actually, you know, but...
    Squidward: We can't, uh...because...
    Mr. Krabs: Well, um... we're late for our...
    Patrick: Our fitting!
    Sandy: Oh, you mean for your chicken costumes?
    Patrick: (Holding and eating popcorn) Hey, we are not chicken! (Drops popcorn) (Gasps) My popcorn! (Begins pecking at it like a chicken)
  • From "Party Pooper Pants", while Patchy remarks that he hopes SpongeBob received his invitation for his party:
    Patchy: Welcome! Say, you didn't bring SpongeBob with you, did you? I sure hope he got his invitation. (cut to SpongeBob and Patrick)
    SpongeBob: I'd sure like to go to this party, but I can't read the invitation! (Shows close-up of the invitation revealing that the print is sogged and ruined)
    Patrick: Me neither.
    SpongeBob: (Examines invitation) Whoever sent this obviously has no idea about the physical limitations of life underwater! Well, might as well throw these in the fire. (Scene zooms out revealing a bonfire between SpongeBob and Patrick. Both throw their invitations in the fire)
  • From 'Squilliam Returns', when Squidward told SpongeBob to empty his mind and his mind has various SpongeBobs emptying his mind:
    SpongeBob # 1: Hurry up! What do you think I'm paying you for?
    SpongeBob # 2: You don't pay me. We don't even exist. We're just a clever visual metaphor used to personify the abstract concept of thought.
    SpongeBob # 1: One more crack like that and you're outta here!
    SpongeBob # 2: (Down on his knees and begging) NO! Please! I have three kids!
  • Patrick in "I'm With Stupid", after trying to convince his parents that SpongeBob is an idiot to outshadow his own idiotic tendencies. Or rather, to convince who he thinks are his parents, because it's revealed in the end the couple Patrick introduced to SpongeBob weren't Patrick's parents but the three stars were too dumb to notice until the real parents appeared. In the meanwhile, his own stupidity convinces him that SpongeBob really is an idiot, and he insults and talks down to him in the most condescending manner despite and not even realizing he's just as dumb himself, ultimately leading to:
    Patrick: Oh, SpongeBob. Dumb people are always blissfully unaware to how dumb they really are... (Stares vacantly and drools)
  • From "The Camping Episode":
    Squidward That is the stupidest thing I've ever heard!
    Patrick Well maybe it is stupid, but it's also dumb.
  • From "Mermaid Man Begins":
    SpongeBob and Patrick: Squidward! Squidward! Let us in! We're missing the Mermaid Man marathon!
    Squidward: Go away! I've got better things to do than watch grown men prance around in ridiculous outfits. (Cut to a man dancing ballet on Squidward's TV)
  • There was also one from the episode "Big Sister Sam." Go above to Hair-Trigger Temper see it.
  • In the episode "Yours, Mine, and Mine," Patrick at the end says that SpongeBob has learned nothing about sharing, even though we see him take SpongeBob's wallet twice in the episode, and doesn't share the Krabby Patty toy with SpongeBob throughout the whole episode, to the point that Patrick eats the toy so he won't have to share it with SpongeBob! Let's face it. Patrick was more of a jerk in this episode.
  • "Little Yellow Book" features everyone laughing at SpongeBob's expense as Squidward reads his diary and its embarrassing secrets. They are disgusted with Squidward when SpongeBob runs away crying, but hey, they all knew who they were laughing at in the first place. Made even worse when Squidward points out that Patrick also read the diary, only for Patrick to dismiss him as "blaming everyone else".
  • In "The Slumber Party," SpongeBob tries to infiltrate Pearl's slumber party by going in disguise. It then shows a female sponge from "Farawayville" who just so happens to want to join Pearl's party, and is rejected. Turns out that was not SpongeBob in disguise, as when she runs away from the party in tears, it shows SpongeBob disguised with a mustache. He remarks that the girl is "uug-lee!"

I

• I Am Spartacus: Parodied in "Opposite Day," when Squidward makes up opposite day so he can sell his house and move away from SpongeBob and Patrick, and SpongeBob and Patrick pretend to be Squidward, which confuses the realtor:
  Realtor [after Patrick pops out of the painting, pretending to be Squidward]: Who is that?
  SpongeBob [pretending to be Squidward]: I'd like to introduce you to Mr. Squidward.
  Realtor [confused]: You're both Squidward?
  SpongeBob: I'm Squidward, he's Squidward.
  SpongeBob, Patrick: We're both Squidward!
  • Further confusion ensues when the real Squidward shows up:
  Squidward: Stop! Get away from her! Ooh, ooh, I'm so sorry, ma'am, I hope these two barnacle heads haven't harmed you in any way.
  Realtor: Who are you?
  Squidward: Why, I'm Squidward.
  Realtor: [glares angrily] What kind of fool do you take me for? [points to SpongeBob and then Patrick] He's Squidward, he's Squidward, you're Squidward? I'm Squidward! Are there any other Squidwards I should know about?
  Gary [enters the room with a pickle for a nose]: Meow.
• Identical Stranger:
  • In "No Weenies Allowed": a sponge identical to SpongeBob only with dark hair and the real deal (wearing a Rainbow Clown Wig) both appear at the Salty Spittoon at the same time.
  • Also, in "Chocolate With Nuts," Patrick sells a chocolate bar to a starfish that looks and sounds exactly like him, telling him that it will keep his face from getting any uglier.
• Identity Breakdown: Parodied in the "Missing Identity", where SpongeBob loses his nametag and treats it as if he's lost his identity. He hyperventilates and passes out when he is reminded of the loss.
  • In the season 10 episode, "Mimic Madness", SpongeBob develops a case of "Mocking Mimicry Madness" when he transforms his upper half to do over 80,000 near perfect impressions of people after learning about the Sincerest Form of Flattery. Sandy, Mr. Krabs, Patrick, Squidward, and Plankton stage an intervention to get him to stop after they become annoyed by it which forces SpongeBob to realize he no longer remembers what his true personality is. He calls himself a freak before fleeing and running off to a cave where he begins to exhibit Sanity Slippage. The gang finds him and is able to remind him of who he is by impersonating him back...only to develop "Mocking Mimicry Madness" themselves.
• I Thought Everyone Could Do That: When Squidward gets to the part where the Hash-Slinging Slasher cut off his own hand, SpongeBob doesn't react. In fact, he even demonstrates that he himself can do it and regenerate the lost limb. Then Squidward explains that the Hash-Slinging Slasher's hand didn't grow back, and suddenly SpongeBob is terrified.
• I Do Not Like Green Eggs and Ham: Double Subverted in "Just One Bite". After declaring his dislike of Krabby Patties at the beginning of the episode, Squidward has a miniscule taste of it, and appears to like it. "Why, this Krabby Patty may be the most HORRIBLE, PUTRID, POORLY PREPARED, VILE, UNAPPETIZING, DISGUSTING EXCUSE FOR A SANDWICH IT HAS EVER BEEN MY DISPLEASURE TO HAVE SLITHER DOWN MY THROAT!" He buries the patty and SpongeBob walks off in sadness, but as soon as SpongeBob is gone, Squidward digs the patty back up and eats it, saying, "Oh, so delicious! Oh, all the wasted years..."
• If I Had a Nickel...: One of Squidward's insults in "Naughty Nautical Neighbors": "If I had a dollar for every brain you don't have... I'd have one dollar."
• Ignorant About Fire:
  • In the episode titled "Ugh," prehistoric relatives of SpongeBob, Patrick, and Squidward see a log that is set on fire by lightning. All three of them stick their hands in the fire to see what happens.
  • In another episode, SpongeBob starts a fire because he was daydreaming. He isn't aware until Mr. Krabs enters and when he gives SpongeBob a fire extinguisher he just throws it at the fire.
• Ill-Fated Flowerbed: Whenever Squidward's begonia garden shows up, it will get flattened.
• Illness Blanket: While the episode "Suds" did have SpongeBob with a disease called the suds, he didn't wrap himself in a blanket. In the book SpongeBob Goes to the Doctor, however, he gets the same illness and does wrap himself up.
• Imagine the Audience Naked: In "Squilliam Returns" when Squidward tries to avoid being intimidated by Squilliam, he tries to imagine him in his underwear. But he turns out hot.
• I'm Not a Doctor, but I Play One on TV: Parodied in "All That Glitters":
  Doctor: Oh, I'm not a doctor, I'm an actor who's searching for a role. Yes! Woohoo! I am so totally gonna get this part. [gives a sigh of relief]
• Impact Silhouette: Quite a few times, especially with Patrick, combined with There Was a Door. SpongeBob himself does it in "I'm with Stupid" after running through the wall of Patrick's house.
• Imposed Handicap Training: Spoofed on the SpongeBob SquarePants episode "You're Fired, Mrs. Puff", when the new boating teacher makes SpongeBob run the obstacle course blindfolded. It works, only now SpongeBob can only drive while blindfolded.
• Impossible Pickle Jar:
  • In "No Weenies Allowed," SpongeBob tries to prove he's tough enough to enter the Salty Spittoon by trying to open a bottle of ketchup.
  • In "Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy II," SpongeBob wins the Conch Signal that allows him to summon Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy. What's the first task he asks them to do? Open a mayonnaise jar.
• Impossible Task:
  • In "Help Wanted," Mr. Krabs tries to prevent SpongeBob from joining the Krusty Krew by tasking him with finding a "hydrodynamic spatula, with port and starboard attachments, and a turbo drive," an item he makes up off the top of his head. SpongeBob buys one at the Barg'n Mart (there was only one in stock) and returns in the nick of time to save the restaurant from a hoarde of hungry anchovies.
  • A Running Gag in "The Cent of Money," where Mr. Krabs keeps giving these to SpongeBob to distract SpongeBob from his mistreatment of Gary. These tasks include painting the entire Krusty Krab with a toothbrush and rearranging the wall rivets from smallest to largest. Naturally, he keeps succeeding.
  • Squidward sends SpongeBob and Patrick on a lot of these in "Scavenger Pants" in order to get some peace and quiet. They manage to complete them all, usually with some sort of Insane Troll Logic (for example, when Squidward sends them to find his long-lost brother, SpongeBob and Patrick get themselves adopted by Squidward's mother).
• Impossible Theft: In "F.U.N", Plankton somehow steals a Krabby Patty and replaces it with a cardboard standup without even touching it, and the camera was on both the entire time.
• Impossibly Delicious Food: Krabby Patties, to the point where conflicts can be resolved merely by eating one. Exaggerated with Jim's Krabby Patties.
• Immune to Jump Scares: In the episode "Ghost Host" (04x17), the Flying Dutchman attempts to frighten Spongebob periodically. It eventually gets to the point where he's grown numb to his scare tactics. This has also become a meme on its own.
• Inadvertent Entrance Cue: From the episode "Bossy Boots":
  Pearl: [on the new Krusty Krab uniforms she designed] Don't be jealous, Uncle Squiddy. I made one for you, too.
  Squidward: Don't bother! Only a fool would wear that!
  Mr. Krabs: [enters the scene from inside his office, wearing the uniform] Avast, ye shipmates! Don't these just shiver your timbers? Ar-ar-ar-ar-ar-ar-ar!
• Inanimate Competitor: In "The Great Snail Race", Patrick gets the idea to enter his own snail in the race against Squidward, except that his snail is actually a rock, which he's named Rocky. Due to the disqualification of Gary and Snellie, Rocky is proclaimed the winner. Squidward's incredulous reaction provides the page quote.
  Squidward: I can't believe it. My purebred, which cost me $1,700... lost to a rock.
• Incessant Music Madness: In "Jellyfish Jam," SpongeBob and a jellyfish keep Squidward up all night playing loud music. When more jellyfish show up and play the music even louder, Squidward has had enough and counterattacks by playing his clarinet. This angers the jellyfish, and when SpongeBob's pleas to stop result in Squidward playing even louder, the jellyfish goes over to Squidward's and stings him.
• Incredibly Lame Fun:
  • SpongeBob and Patrick once play a game that consists of doing, well, whatever non-sequitur goes through their minds, like climbing coral to make bubbles to determine a chess move, and make that move by blowing at the chess piece.
  • There's another scene where Mr. Krabs hangs out with SpongeBob and Patrick because he feels old. They end up going to the laundromat, reading at the library, sitting in a kiddie pool, et cetera. Subverted at the end when they suggest a panty raid. THAT is subverted when it turns out to be Mr. Krabs's mother's undergarments...
  • SpongeBob and Patrick once buy a large TV so they can play inside the box. They use their imagination to enjoy it so much, Squidward wants in.
  • Subverted on another occasion, SpongeBob gets a "useless" piece of paper from Squidward and then uses it to play all sort of games and use it to swim/fly around. When Squidward tried to do the same, he couldn't because he's not creative like SpongeBob is.
• Indestructibility Montage:
  • In "Wet Painters", SpongeBob and Patrick try to find a way to wash the paint off Mr. Krabs' first dollar earned, including putting it on the washing machine, sand blasting it, spraying it, even using technology (slamming a computer on top of it), to no avail.
  • "Bottle Burglars" has a montage of Plankton attempting to open the Krabby Patty secret formula bottle, until he notices a timer on the lock.
  • A sub-plot in "Frozen Face-Off" is Plankton trying to open the safe with the Krabby Patty secret formula. After a few failed attempts involving explosives, he finally opens it after he splits an atom and causes an explosion.
• Inertial Impalement: In the episode "Sleepy Time," Plankton dreams that he is giant and is destroying Bikini Bottom. As he is about to step on SpongeBob's pet snail, Gary, SpongeBob runs to his snail and turns into a push pin just as Plankton's foot comes down. As a result Plankton begins to deflate to his regular size, and is promptly stepped on by one of the dream Bikini Bottomites, causing him to wake up.
• Inexplicably Identical Individuals: In the episode "Squidville", Squidward moves to a town filled with other octopi, all of whom are exactly like him: same appearance (except for hair and clothes), same nasally voice, same interests (riding bikes, health food, interpretive dance, clarinets), same Easter-Island-head houses, same sarcastic and snobby attitudes, same distaste for sponges and starfish...
• Infernal Background: Parodied in "Just One Bite". SpongeBob claims that Krabby Patties are "good for your soul", causing him to gain a halo, wings, and a Fluffy Cloud Heaven background as a Cherubic Choir plays in the background. Squidward retorts by saying he has no soul, causing a fiery background to appear, complete with an Evil Laugh, surprising Squidward.
• Inflating Body Gag:
  • In "Squidward the Unfriendly Ghost," Patrick mistakenly blows Squidward's wax statue in an attempt of CPR, thinking that it's a dying Squidward. Then he blows too hard, causing himself to puff into a balloon and then zips around the room like a deflated balloon.
  • In "Bubble Troubles," Sandy gets puffed up by Pearl Krabs.
• Informed Species: Multiple:
  • SpongeBob looks more like a dish sponge than an actual sponge, even though he is supposed to be the latter. This is because Stephen Hillenburg couldn't do an appealing caricature of a real sea sponge, and he felt that a synthetic one worked better for the "squeaky clean" nerd look he was going for. It also implies that he's "a square peg trying to fit into a round hole." His parents, funnily, do look more like actual sponges, being beige-brown and round rather than square and yellow.
  • Squidward is actually an octopus despite his name. He lacks two tentacles because it was seen as a burden to animate. Plus, Octoward isn't a very appealing name. Despite being an octopus with squid in his name, he doesn’t really look like either, looking more like some sort of alien.
  • The Stockholder Eel in the episode "Executive Treatment" resembles an alligator or crocodile or some sort of lizard.
  • The episode "Patrick SmartPants" featured brain coral that looked nothing like the real animals, being cone-shaped rather than brain-shaped.
  • Craig Mammalton is supposed to be a seal even though he looks more like a sea lion.
• Injury Bookend: Played with. Squidward gets hit in the face by a door, and the resulting alteration to his bone structure causes him to become ridiculously handsome, so much as to attract copious amounts of attention from both men and women. After becoming overwhelmed with his newfound status, he attempts to become normal again, getting hit in the face with the same door several times again. This just makes him even more beautiful, however, only going back to normal after getting hit in the face with a pole after running to avoid a falling shoe.
• Ink-Suit Actor:
  • Mrs. Puff's actress is Mrs. Puff if she weren't an anthropomorphic fish.
  • Flats the Flounder is the same character he played in another movie. By the amount of times he says butt in the episode, you can tell he wants to add 'head' to the end of it. Flats's voice actor also voices the impostor father of Patrick in one episode. Add the irony of that character being called Marty...
  • And have you seen Mermaid Man?
• Inner Monologue Conversation: In "Big Pink Loser," Patrick is imitating everything SpongeBob says and does. SpongeBob thinks (At least I'm safe inside my mind), then hears Patrick thinking the same thing.
• Innocently Insensitive: SpongeBob and occasionally Patrick have moments of this, especially around Squidward. Case in point this compliment to Squidward's clarinet playing, said with completely sincere enthusiasm:
  SpongeBob: Bravo, Squidward! And all those wrong notes made it sound unique.
  Squidward: Wha?...There weren't any loose notes!!!
• Innocent Swearing: In "Sailor Mouth," SpongeBob and Patrick read a bad word written in a trash bin and start using it. Patrick claims it's a "sentence enhancer."
• Insane Troll Logic:
  • This little gem from "Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy III." SpongeBob is trying to teach Man Ray to be good instead of evil, so he gives him a series of tests. The first one involves finding a stranger's wallet on the ground. At SpongeBob's behest, Patrick takes his own wallet out of his pocket and clearly drops it on the floor. SpongeBob asks Man Ray what he would do. Hilarity Ensues.
    Man Ray: [picks up wallet and attempts to hand it to Patrick] Excuse me, sir, but I do believe you've dropped your wallet.
    Patrick: It doesn't look familiar to me.
    Man Ray: What? I just saw you drop it. Here.
    Patrick: Nope, it's not mine.
    Man Ray: It is yours. I am trying to be a good person and return it to you.
    Patrick: Return what to who?
    Man Ray: [facepalms, then reaches into the wallet and produces Patrick's I.D.] Aren't you Patrick Star?
    Patrick: Yep.
    Man Ray: And this is your I.D.
    Patrick: Yep.
    Man Ray: I found this I.D. in this wallet. And if that's the case, this must be your wallet.
    Patrick: That makes sense to me.
    Man Ray: Then take it.
    Patrick: It's not my wallet.
  • SpongeBob does this to Sandy in the episode "Sandy, SpongeBob, and the Worm." A giant Alaskan Bull Worm is terrorizing Bikini Bottom, and Sandy wants to "take that legless critter down," the reason being that it's personal— the worm actually bit most of Sandy's tail off. SpongeBob thinks she'll get killed, so he does everything in his power to change her mind.
    Sandy: Besides, he's got my tail. I can't take that sittin' down.
    SpongeBob: What if the worm didn't have your tail...?
    Sandy: If that worm ain't got my tail, who does?
    SpongeBob: Um... I do.
    Sandy: You do? Where?
    SpongeBob: In my... pocket.
    Sandy: [laughing] Well, why didn't you say so? Give it here.
    SpongeBob: [reaches into his pocket and produces Sandy's "tail"]
    Sandy: SpongeBob, that's a paper clip and a piece of string.
    SpongeBob: No, it's not. This is your tail.
    Sandy: [angrily] SpongeBob!
    SpongeBob: How would YOU know?! It's always behind you!
• Insistent Terminology: King Neptune is not bald, he is "thinning."
• The Inspector Is Coming:
  • Played with in "Nasty Patty". Mr. Krabs becomes convinced that a health inspector visiting the Krusty Krab is actually a fraud, who's been scamming them to obtain free food, and he and SpongeBob take revenge by serving him the most disgusting Krabby Patty they can think of. It turns out he's the real deal - but by the time they realise this, the patty has already (seemingly) killed him. Hilarity Ensues as they try to dispose of the Not Quite Dead body.
  • "Squilliam Returns": Squilliam learns about Squidward's job as a restaurant cashier and, predictably, mocks him for it. To defend himself, Squidward makes up a lie about how the Krusty Krab is a fancy, five-star eating establishment and not a fast food restaurant. He convinces Mr. Krabs to remodel the place and tries his hardest to teach SpongeBob etiquette and proper protocol. The poor fry-cook-turned-waiter collapses and only by erasing his memories and knowledge about everything else does he manage to pull a stellar performance. Squilliam is supremely impressed until SpongeBob and the Krusty Krab fall apart.
  • In "The Krusty Sponge", the Krusty Krab gets a visit from a prominent food critic. Despite everyone's best efforts, the critic dislikes everything there except for SpongeBob, which leads to Mr. Krabs going overboard with making everything SpongeBob-themed, down to serving rotten patties that look yellow and spongy.
• Instant Flight: Just Add Spinning!:
  • "Band Geeks": During band practice, the baton twirlers twirl too fast and fly off, crashing into a blimp.
  • "F.U.N.": SpongeBob is able to fly by twirling a police baton.
• Instant Gravestone:
  • The Time-Passes Montage of SpongeBob getting old in "Patty Hype" (which turned out to be a dream he had when he falls asleep while waiting) ends with him dead and replaced with a grave reading "R.I.P., I'm Ready."
  • In "Demolition Doofus" when Mrs. Puff hears the fish who competed in the demolition derby are like "risking their lives for amusement", she has an Imagine Spot of SpongeBob surrounded by thugs in boats and getting clobbered; once the thugs clear up, all that's left of SpongeBob is his grave.
• Insult Backfire:
  • Occurs during the episode "Opposite Day", when Squidward tells SpongeBob that it's Opposite Day. SpongeBob falls for it, and dedicates his entire day to doing and perceiving everything possible inversely.
    SpongeBob: [greeting Squidward] Hello, Squidward! Woop! I mean... goodbye, Squidward! Oh, isn't Opposite Day... terrible? [giggles gleefully]
    Squidward: [groans angrily] I'll tell you what's terrible! Living next to YOU! You're the worst neighbor in history!
    SpongeBob: [with genuine happiness] Wow! That's the nicest thing Squidward has ever said to me!
    Squidward: [facepalm]
  • In the episode "One Krab's Trash," Mr. Krabs tries to get back a rare novelty hat from SpongeBob.
    Mr. Krabs: I didn't want to say this in front of Patrick, but that hat makes you look like a girl.
    SpongeBob: Am I a pretty girl?
  • Another example, this time from "That Sinking Feeling":
    Squidward: I knew you two reprobates were behind this.
    SpongeBob: Yeah! We're reprobates!
    Squidward: That was an insult.
    Patrick: And we're insulted!
• Interspecies Adoption: "Rock-a-Bye Bivalve" focuses on SpongeBob and Patrick adopting a baby scallop and taking care of it. The sight of a male sponge and male starfish being parents to a scallop leaves other citizens of Bikini Bottom a little more than confused on how it's even possible.
• In the Doldrums: "SB-129" has Squidward in an endless expanse of white emptiness, until he mentions he is, at last, alone. Cue voices saying "alone" and the word itself appearing in different colors and sizes.
• I Resemble That Remark!: In "Pressure", SpongeBob, Patrick, Mr. Krabs, and Squidward are hesitant to set foot on dry land. Patrick makes up an excuse to stall:
  Patrick: We're late for... our fitting!
  Sandy: OH, you mean for your chicken costumes?
  Patrick: Hey! We are not chicken. (drops his popcorn) My popcorn! (bends down to peck at it like a chicken)
• Ironic Echo:
  • In "Squidville," Squidward snobbishly asks what's so fun about playing with a reef blower. SpongeBob and Patrick reply, "It's fun!" Squidward says: "How can you possibly have fun with one of those over-sized hair dryers?" SpongeBob and Patrick proceed to show him by sucking up his window with the reef blower. Later in the episode, when Squidward begins to tire of Squidville, he plays with an abandoned reef blower and two spectators ask him what's so fun about playing with a reef blower. And, you know the rest.
  • In "Squid's Visit" when Squidward realizes all his time spent in SpongeBob's house (recreated to look like his home) caused him to forget the casserole he put in the oven, resulting in his own house being burnt down, and screams SpongeBob's name in anger. SpongeBob, oblivious to this, is happy to have Squidward stay at his place until it's repaired, leaving Squidward catatonic and faints, leaving SpongeBob to scream Squidward's name the same way.
  • "Stuck in the Wringer" has this instance occur with SpongeBob being scolded by Mr. Krabs for messing up the Krusty Krab with his wringer, followed by SpongeBob scolding Patrick at the carnival for putting him through so much pain since the start, complete with the same exact line being delivered.
    Mr. Krabs / SpongeBob: Help?! I think you've helped quite enough today!
• I Take Offense to That Last One: From "Big Sister Sam":
  Squidward: That's it! I've had my fill of this thieving brute!
  Patrick: How dare you call my sister a thief!
• It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time:
  • In "Boating School", Patrick helps SpongeBob with his 39th boating test by putting a walkie talkie in his head and giving him the directions from afar. The plan works and SpongeBob is flawless...until Mrs. Puff casually comments aside it would be cheating.
  • In "The Lost Mattress", SpongeBob, Patrick, and Squidward get a new mattress for Mr. Krabs when his old one is lumpy and gives him back pain; unfortunately, they didn't realize until too late that the old mattress has all of Mr. Krabs' money in it.
  • In "Friendiversary", Squidward ultimately results to erasing every memory of him from SpongeBob's brain so he won't remember him thus won't bother him anymore. Mr. Krabs reveals this is bad, because doing so also erases his memory of the combination to the Krusty Krab safe with the secret formula, because it was attached to one of the Squidward memories to begin with.
• It Tastes Like Feet:
  • When Squidward is subbing for SpongeBob at the Krusty Krab grill.
    Customer #1: You call this food? My sandwich tastes like a fried boot!
    Customer #2: My sandwich is a fried boot!
  • And in "Whale of a Birthday", when Pearl's friends drink from the punch bowl...
    Pearl's Friend: Ew, it tastes like dishwater!
    Squidward: It is dishwater.
  • SpongeBob's Glove-Land glove-shaped candy.
    SpongeBob: blegh Glove-flavored...
• Irony:
  • In "Chocolate With Nuts", one of SpongeBob and Patrick's customers happens to be a Con Man who sells items for outrageously high amounts; ironically, that guy was the only customer they didn't sell any chocolate to.
  • In the infamous "A Pal for Gary", in spite of SpongeBob wanting to prove to Mr. Krabs that he's a responsible pet owner by getting a partner for Gary to keep him company so he isn't lonely while he's at work, he ends up becoming irresponsible for disobeying a warning that the pet is dangerous around other pets, not noticing the pet's violent behavior and thinking Gary is responsible, berating and scolding him for not being nice to his supposed "pal", letting him get tortured through the night and not even waking up once, and especially even after seeing the pet in its mutant form, he still scolded Gary for shooing his pal away despite the fact he saved his life.
  • "Hide and Then What Happens?" has SpongeBob play hide-and-seek with Patrick; while he searches all over the world for him, he skips Patrick's own rock because it would be too obvious. In a big twist, SpongeBob finds out Patrick was at home the entire time.
  • In "Sharks vs. Pods", SpongeBob mistakenly fears that the gang of gruff greaser sharks he's impulsively joined are really a bunch of stereotypical hoodlums and spends the second half of episode worrying he'll go down with them ("Yes! I'm not a criminal by association!"). In "The Getaway", SpongeBob acts as an accomplice to an actual escaped convict, who he believes is his new driving instructor, and tears up the town during a high speed, store-robbing chase, clearly enjoying himself doing so. SpongeBob's better judgment could use some fine-tuning.
• I've Heard of That — What Is It?: The Trope Namer.
  Patrick: Opposite Day? Hey, I’ve heard of that!
  SpongeBob: You have?
  Patrick: No! What is it?
• I Will Show You X!:
  • In "Opposite Day" after the realtor leaves in a huff, SpongeBob and Patrick say "Happy Opposite Day, Squidward! We hate you!" Squidward responds with "Let me show you guys how much I hate (like) YOU!" and chases them with a bulldozer.
    SpongeBob: Patrick, do you ever feel Squidward likes us too much?!
  • In "Squidward in Clarinetland," Squidward goes through a locker to get his clarinet. Once he escapes, he finds that SpongeBob has been keeping it safe for him outside the locker. Squidward then locks SpongeBob in the locker and throws it onto a bus.
    SpongeBob: Call it a friendly gesture!
    Squidward: I'll show you a friendly gesture!
• I Will Tear Your Arms Off: In "Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy III," Man Ray threatens to do this to SpongeBob if the latter doesn't release him. And later to Patrick if he wouldn't take back his wallet.