Morality Tropes | Sex, Sexuality, and Rape Tropes | Narrative, Characterization, and Plot Tropes | Impossible in Real Life | You are here | Too Controversial | Gossip and Stereotypes
NOTE: Please consult the Real Life section maintenance thread
if you want to propose adding a trope here.
"Most people have met someone like this."
— From the (now cut) Real Life section of Extreme Doormat
These tropes are so commonly observed in our reality that listing many or all of the occurrences of any of them would make a trope page incredibly unwieldy, or else force the addition of overly general examples, and marginalize fictional examples that are the focus of this wiki. Tropes that are People Sit on Chairs in real life often belong here if they aren't stereotypes or narrative elements. Contrast Impossible in Real Life, which is the exact opposite.
- Absence Makes the Heart Go Yonder
- Abusive Parents — also a morality trope
- Accidental Murder
- Accidental Suicide
- Accidentally Real Fake Address — whenever someone makes up an address or a phone number, there's always a possibility that it will end up being real.
- Acid Reflux Nightmare
- Action Girl — also attracts natter and gushing.
- A-Cup Angst- also a sex trope.
- Agony of the Feet
- The Alcoholic
- Alcohol-Induced Idiocy
- Alcoholic Parent
- Alliterative Name
- Almost Famous Name
- Ambiguous Gender Identity - also a sexuality trope
- Ambiguously Gay - also a sexuality trope
- Ambiguously Bi - also a sexuality trope
- Amicable Exes
- Anti-Air
- Anti-Armor
- Anti-Cavalry
- Anti-Infantry
- Artistic License – Gun Safety
- Ascended Fanboy
- Ass Shove
- Ate His Gun
- Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!
- Attention Whore - Also too controversial
- Badass Army
- Balloon Belly - Some animals and even humans can get this, usually if they eat too much food at once.
- Berserk Button
- Bespectacled Cutie - Also both a characterization and sexuality trope.
- Be Careful What You Wish For
- Beware the Nice Ones
- Big Eater
- Big Friendly Dog
- Big Guy, Little Guy - Also attracts ZCEs.
- Bold Explorer
- Bread, Eggs, Milk, Squick - Often violates the Rule of Cautious Editing Judgment when applied to real life.
- Break the Cutie
- Breast Attack
- Broken Pedestal - Also too controversial.
- The Bully
- But for Me, It Was Tuesday
- But Not Too Black
- But Not Too Foreign
- Canine Companion
- Cannot Kill Their Loved Ones
- Can't Hold His Liquor
- Captain Obvious
- Cassandra Truth
- Celebrating the Heroes
- Cheated Death, Died Anyway
- Cloudcuckoolander - Also too controversial.
- Coattail-Riding Relative
- "Common Knowledge"
- Complaining About Things You Haven't Paid For
- Cool Car - Too YMMV when applied to real life; what constitutes "cool" varies greatly from person to person.
- Cool Boat - Too YMMV when applied to real life; what constitutes "cool" varies greatly from person to person.
- Cool Old Guy - also a characterization trope
- Cool Old Lady - also a characterization trope
- Cool Plane - Too YMMV when applied to real life; what constitutes "cool" varies greatly from person to person.
- "Could Have Avoided This!" Plot
- Crack is Cheaper
- Crippling Castration
- Crowd Song
- Cyberbullying
- Deadpan Snarker
- Death by Childbirth
- Death World - Any environment can kill you if you don't prepare accordingly.
- Didn't Think This Through
- Dies Wide Open
- Disproportionate Retribution
- Disney Villain Death
- Disrupting the Theater
- The Dog Bites Back
- Do Wrong, Right — also too controversial
- The Drag-Along
- The Dreaded Toilet Duty
- Drinking on Duty
- Driven to Suicide - Unfortunately.
- Drop-In Character
- Drunk Driver
- Due to the Dead
- Dump Months
- Dysfunctional Family - Also attracts gossip and is a morality trope.
- Embarrassing Damp Sheets
- Emergency Presidential Address
- Encyclopaedic Knowledge
- Everyone Has Standards
- Extreme Doormat
- Eye Scream
- Failures on Ice
- False Dichotomy
- Famous for Being First
- Fatal Flaw
- Fate Worse than Death - Unfortunately.
- Finger-Tenting
- Fingore
- First Friend - Eventually, someone would find their first friends.
- Forbidden Fruit
- Formerly Fat
- Formerly Fit
- Four-Star Badass
- Fur Bikini
- Gayngst-Induced Suicide
- General Failure
- General Ripper
- Genocide Survivor
- Gentle Giant
- Gigantic Adults, Tiny Babies
- Groin Attack
- Gross Gum Gag
- Growling Gut
- Gutted Like a Fish
- Hand on Womb
- Hanging Around - Also too controversial as a torture trope.
- Happily Adopted
- Happily Married
- #HashtagForLaughs
- Hell Is That Noise
- Heterosexual Life-Partners
- Hollywood New England - Also a stereotype.
- Hollywood Tactics
- Home Stage
- Homophobic Hate Crime - Also too controversial.
- Hopeless War
- Horrible Judge of Character - Also too controversial.
- How the Mighty Have Fallen - Too YMMV; what qualifies as "mighty" and "fallen" depends from person to person.
- Huge Schoolgirl
- Hybrids Are a Crapshoot
- Identical Stranger
- Impossibly Delicious Food - Yes, some food can be that delicious; also an opinion.
- Incompetence, Inc.
- Informed Judaism
- The Insomniac - Also a characterization trope.
- Irishman and a Jew
- I Want Grandkids
- I Was Quite a Looker
- Jar Potty
- Jumping the Shark
- Kids Hate Chores
- Killer Rabbit - Also a characterization trope; animals that look cute and harmless to us may not be seen that way by other animals.
- Lazy Bum
- Life Will Kill You
- Likes Older Men – Also a sexuality trope.
- Likes Older Women – Also a sexuality trope.
- The Loonie
- Loud Sleeper Gag
- Love It or Hate It
- Mail-Order Bride
- Marshmallow Hell - also often associated with sexuality.
- Mass "Oh, Crap!"
- May–December Romance - also a sexuality trope.
- Mega-Corp
- Middle Name Basis
- Mini-Me - Many real-life animals look like smaller versions of their parents. Plus scale models of larger things and toys that come in several sizes exist all over. note
- Mis-blamed
- Miscarriage of Justice
- Missing Steps Plan
- Mistaken for Fake Hair
- Mistaken for Romance
- Momma's Boy
- Monument of Humiliation and Defeat
- Morning Sickness
- Mortality Phobia - Also too controversial.
- Multi-Ethnic Name
- Munchkin
- Murder-Suicide
- My God, What Have I Done?
- Nice Guy - Also a morality trope
- Nightmare Fuel - Abiding by the wiki's "gushing is preferable over complaining" mantra, a page of everything in real life that evokes a negative emotion isn't a good idea.
- No Animals Allowed
- "No. Just… No" Reaction
- Not a Morning Person - Also a characterization trope.
- Not Enough to Bury
- Occupiers Out of Our Country
- Offending a Foreign Country
- Offing the Offspring
- Official Couple
- Oh, Crap!
- Older Than They Look
- One-Steve Limit aversions (also a Characterization trope)
- Only Friend
- Open-Minded Parent
- Open Secret
- Original Position Fallacy
- Overshadowed by Awesome
- Outliving One's Offspring
- Outside Joke
- The Paranoiac
- Passed in Their Sleep
- Permadeath
- Permanent Elected Official
- Permissive Parents
- Picky Eater - Also a characterization trope.
- Pimped-Out Car
- Plain Palate - Also a characterization trope.
- Platonic Life-Partners
- Please Wake Up
- Police State
- The Pollyanna
- Poor Communication Kills
- Popping Buttons
- Potty Emergency
- Potty Failure
- POW Camp
- Practically Different Generations
- Press Hat
- Pretty Boy - Also a sexuality trope that is too YMMV when applied to real life.
- Prisoner's Last Meal
- Rage Quit
- Raging Stiffie - Also a sex trope
- The Real Man
- Relative Ridicule
- The Roleplayer
- Royals Who Actually Do Something
- Rule-Abiding Rebel
- Scandalgatenote
- Scary Shiny Glasses
- Screaming Plane Baby
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here
- Secondary Sexual Characteristics
- Serious Business
- Sexy Sweater Girl
- Sharp-Dressed Man - also a sexuality trope
- She Is Not My Girlfriend
- Shell-Shocked Veteran
- Shiksa Goddess
- Shocking Moments
- Significant Name Shift
- Silver Fox - also a sexuality trope
- Simple Solution Won't Work
- Simple, yet Awesome
- Skewed Priorities - Also potential Flame Bait.
- Small Parent, Huge Child
- The Sociopath - Also a morality trope and too controversial.
- Someone to Remember Him By
- Sore Loser - Also potentially too controversial
- Spell My Name with an S
- Spiteful Spoiler
- Statuesque Stunner - also a sexuality trope
- The Stoic
- The Stoner
- "Stuck at the Airport" Plot
- Stupid Crooks
- Sub-Par Supremacist - Also too controversial.
- Suicide by Pills
- Suicide by Sea
- Suicide Dare
- Surprisingly Sudden Death
- The Talk - Also a sex trope
- Taught to Hate
- Tear Jerker - Abiding by the wiki's "gushing is preferable over complaining" mantra, a page of everything in real life that evokes a negative emotion isn't a good idea.
- That One Player
- There Should Be a Law - Also too controversial.
- Tiny Schoolboy
- Too Dumb to Live - Also too controversial
- Trademark Favorite Food
- Trans Tribulations
- Ugly Cute
- Uncanny Valley
- The Unintelligible
- Unintentional Uncanny Valley
- Unique Items
- Unplanned Crossdressing
- Unstoppable Rage
- Unusual Euphemism
- Viewer Pronunciation Confusion
- War Hero
- Wacky Parent, Serious Child
- We ARE Struggling Together
- We Used to Be Friends - Also attracted gossip.
- Who Names Their Kid "Dude"? - Also attracts natter.
- Wretched Hive
- You Get What You Pay For
- You Must Be This Tall to Ride
- You're Just Jealous
- You're Not My Type
