Markup View

Author: kjnoren

Dec 4th 2013 at 3:46:32 PM

While I agree with the sentiment behind TropesAreFlexible, I'd say YKTTW is a partial exception to that. Here we are creating a snapshot of how the trope is used right now (and partially in past time), but not in how it might evolve later on. (If one wanted to say TropesAreMutable, it would be closer to how I view things.)

I view tropes as concepts. In this case, the core concept is camping, which implies the combination of outdoor living and recreation. Here, the trope is very much not flexible, though what is considered recreation and outdoor living can be. Everything else here can and should be tossed by the wayside: requiring a specific genre or media, making requirements on what people move about in, and so on.

Last, I think referring to TropesAreFlexible during YKTTW is disingeneous, and implies a failure in determining the best possible trope as of the time of writing. The primary goal is to identify the core concept of the trope, and give it a good name that (a) fits the concept, (b) does not limit the concept in any unduly way. Which is how I interpret "concise" in ClearConciseWitty.