Basic Trope: A parent washes a kid's mouth out with soap as punishment for swearing.
- Straight: Alice learns a new swear word and says it in front of her father Bob. Bob then washes Alice's mouth out with soap.
- Exaggerated:
- Bob gives Alice a full-scale bath just for swearing.
- Bob takes Alice to the dentist for an "emergency cleaning".
- Downplayed:
- Bob makes Alice rinse her mouth with water or mouthwash.
- Bob makes Alice brush her teeth.
- Justified: Alice comes from a strict upbringing which discourages swearing.
- Inverted:
- Bob swears in front of Alice, so he decides to wash her ears out with soap.
- Alternatively, Alice is the one who washes Bob's mouth out with soap.
- Bob washes her mouth with soap for not swearing.
- Subverted:
- Alice is put in Time Out for swearing.
- Alice's punishment is to put money in a Swear Jar.
- Alice swears, Bob couldn't care less about it.
- It's a soap-bar-shaped white chocolate bar.
- Double Subverted:
- But when her time-out is finished, she gets her mouth washed out anyway.
- Alice gets her mouth washed out because she doesn't have any money to put in the jar.
- Instead it's her mother Clara who washes her mouth out with soap.
- It's actually a white chocolate covered soap bar.
- Parodied: Bob puts Alice in a dishwasher or a washing machine.
- Zig Zagged: ???
- Averted:
- Alice's parents punish her for swearing with other methods.
- Alice's parents don't see any reason to punish her for swearing.
- Alice is a good kid who doesn't swear.
- Enforced: The producers use it to tell the audience that there is no Censored for Comedy going on with the Sound-Effect Bleep.
- Lampshaded: "Yuck! So this is why I'm only allowed to say 'clean' words."
- Invoked: In an effort to teach Alice new words, Bob decides to let Alice watch an R-rated movie.
- Exploited: Alice has acquired a taste for soap, so she doesn't care how many times her mouth gets washed.
- Defied:
- Alice is smart enough not to swear around her parents.
- Bob watches his language around Alice or only has her watch G-rated media without swearing.
- Bob is afraid Alice will get soap poisoning from the punishment, so he decides to punish her in other ways.
- Bob sees no reason to punish her.
- Discussed: "I’d like to wash her mouth with a bar of soap for saying that!"
- Conversed: "Couldn't he just make her brush her teeth? Why go to those extremes?!"
- Deconstructed: Alice gets soap poisoning from too many times having her mouth washed out.
- Reconstructed: The poisoning incident teaches Alice not to swear so much.
Go back to the bathroom for your Soap Punishment!
