Are Tropes becoming public (internet) vocabulary?

(I certainly hope that I'm posting in the correct area, I'd appreciate being told if I'm not and where to correctly post.)

To preface, I've personally been a trope diver for a fairly long time and on a regular basis (Although likely not to the extent of Tvtropes ruining my life, I have lost many a night diving into examples sections and perusing related spoilers I probably shouldn't have. Tvtropes did introduce me to Pratchett's works and Discworld, so I can't complain ^_^) In my experience, at least, tropes have been an extremely handy form of shorthand for referring to a character type or situation without having to go off on a tangent of "Explaining what I mean without actually having a word for it" or something of that vein—at least in instances in which the trope vocabulary was shared.

I've seen tropes referred to by name (Blood Knight, Tsundere, Kuudere, etc) in multiple instances on several other websites, which, other than inspiring further nights to be lost to the endless categories, inspired a fair amount of sustained interest. Thus, I've been studying public vocabulary over the internet as a concept for my intro to Anthropology course, and am curious as to how you, as tropers view the matter. I do realize that not all tropes are originally named (Counting trope namers from media) and some are grabbed from other cultures, but most outside experiences I've had in relation to Tvtropes from say, Cracked or Gamefaqs have directly referenced Tvtropes.

That said, I do have a few questions for anyone interested on the topic in regards to how tropes affect perception beyond the scope of Tvtropes.org

(Disclaimer: Any answers will not be used in a project any broader than this minor instance, and anonymity (D'oh, internet) will be assured unless requested otherwise.)

1. How much time have you spent on TV Tropes on average, from session to session?

2. Has your ability to interpret a book, a television show or series, or a given movie shifted after spending any time learning about tropes?

3. Have you considered the presence of Tropes in your everyday life?

4. Has TV Tropes introduced any ideas to your perception of the world that you did not previously consider within your region? For instance, did you previously consider, say, Helga from “Hey Arnold!” a Tsundere, or a least of a character “type”?

5. Would you be able to describe the trope of “Tsundere” or an analogous trope just as smoothly if you did not have the trope phrase to refer to?

6. Have you begun to expand the way in which you think about different sorts of tropes that fall under the same realm of experience? For instance, the “Sliding Scale of Antiheroes” offers a set of different interpretations of Anti Heroes as they exist in literature and media.

7. Are tropes becoming a norm over the internet, or is it only in specific pockets of websites, or to a specific type of fandom?

8. Just as so many “Facts of Nature” exist that most people do not question in day to day life, would you consider tropes to be the same way on television or within literature? Did you think about the presence of tropes before you were introduced to TV Tropes?

9. Do you consider tropes to be culturally relativistic, or present on a basis of cultural reference points?

10. Has becoming experienced with tropes broadened your expectations of media, or narrowed it?

11. Do you think your perception of tropes would be any different from another cultural perspective?

I hope I'm not stepping on any toes here, as this is my first post on TV Tropes :)

A lot of trope names come from sources outside the wiki. When I write movie reviews and I want to reference a trope, I only link to this site if I don't feel the trope name is clear enough.

I've definitely noticed the same thing, but like the above poster said, do be aware that some tropes were named after pre-existing terms - Tsundere and Kuudere were both established terms (especially in Japan and in the anime fan community) before TVT.

There's many terms though which were already established - Bathos springs to mind, even if it's not used that often.

Outside of here I do not run across their usage in daily life much.

We tend to repeat terms we like. I know my dad sometimes uses a TV Tropes term, like Refuge in Audacity, because I've said it and he's asked what I meant or inferred the meaning and thought it was funny.

One thing I looooove about finding TV Tropes is it fits in well with my interests. I love studying cultural trends, including pop culture. It's fascinating to me how tropes (even if not named as they are here) work themselves into our minds and offer a template to play with. Subversions and deconstructions are plenty popular for a reason. Personally I think it's related to the swell in "Dark 'n Gritty" and "Edgier and Grittier" that have become popular enough that they are buzz words—and popular enough there's a bit of a backlash or gleeful screwing with associated dark 'n gritty tropes since some people are feeling inundated.

edited 12th Nov '13 9:09:58 PM by phoenixflame

I dunno, I've seen TV Tropes terms used on some other sites but not too often. They were somewhat common terms though

Some terms, like Hilarious and Hindsight and Crowning Moment of Awesome, can be found in some sites that are more informal and Internet-like. But I don't think more formal sites would necessarily make use of terminology set up by this site, even if they use similar concepts. Trope, after all, is a device used in literature and media, and those have been around implicitly.