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{{trope}}
[[File:
Once in a while, a TV show does something that actually happens in [[Real Life]]. Don't worry, it never lasts, and they soon slip back into their [[Strictly Formula|old habits]]. Rarely, other shows pick up on this, and you then get a recurring [[Trope]] that accurately reflects the real world. Listed below, for your convenience, are some examples of those.
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When it's the exact opposite, you've got a bad case of [[Reality Is Unrealistic]]. If people fall for it, it's because [[TV Never Lies]].
Technically, these [[
The Bastard Spawn of these two [[
There's a Sliding Scale of
Another way of saying the above is that a great many things happen on television that have happened at least once to someone in the world. The reason they become [[
And that's pretty much how television works. So please, before adding anything to the list below or describing any existing [[
Also, just because something may be definitely and entirely
For example, [[The Mentally Disturbed]] - [[Captain Obvious|mentally ill people do exist]] in [[Real Life]] and therefore the trope belongs on this index. That said, real life mental illness (at least once you include the milder illnesses and degrees of it) is so common that having a list of mentally ill people would overwhelm the entire wiki, and some people would find being listed as examples of mental illness or instability very insulting.
{{examples}}
== A-C ==
* [[Abandoned Warehouse]]: At least one or two can be found in any larger town or a city.▼
* [[Abdicate the Throne]]: Britain's Edward VIII, Sweden's Queen Christina, recent Dutch monarchs.▼
* [[AB Negative]]: AB- really is the rarest common blood type with between .2% and 1% of any given population having it. However, [[wikipedia:Human blood group systems#Rare blood types|there are LOTS of really rare types.]]
** The whole aspect of the [[Trope]] in that AB- can only take AB- blood is false. The positive variant (i.e. AB+) is considered a universal receiver of Red Blood Cells (O- is the universal donor), which makes life much easier for the blood bankers, in that they can usually just grab a bag of any old blood type and they won't reject it. AB- (the [[Trope Namer]]) is only slightly more limited; they can receive any negative red cells but not positive red cells (as opposed to how the inverse is possible and is why AB+ is the universal receiver).
** The "universal donor/receiver" angle only works with components. Whole blood is uncommonly used in transfusion medicine at present; most blood products consist of specific processed components such as red blood cells, plasma, or platelets. O- is the universal donor for red cells; AB+ is the universal recipient for red cells. With plasma it’s basically reversed: O is the universal recipient, AB is the universal donor (Rh+/- doesn’t matter much in plasma). If you had to give someone whole blood it really ought to be an exact match.
** You can usually get away with giving Rh+ red cells to an Rh- patient [[It Only Works Once|ONCE without ill effects]]. Most people don’t have Rh antibodies unless they’ve been transfused with Rh incompatible blood (you can get them from pregnancy too). Once a person makes Rh antibodies giving them Rh positive blood can kill them.
** Regardless of the above, it is standard practice to give patients only their own blood type. Even if one is a universal recipient, using another type is done only if you have no choice. Rarity isn't really an issue either, because if one has a common blood type meaning there are plenty of donors, that also means there are plenty of recipients to split it between.
▲* [[Abandoned Warehouse]]: At least one or two can be found in any larger town or a city.
▲* [[Abdicate the Throne]]: Britain's Edward VIII, Sweden's Queen Christina, recent Dutch monarchs.
* [[Abnormal Ammo]]: Dragon's Breath pyrotechnic shotgun rounds. Actually most of [[wikipedia:12 gauge shotgun#Specialty ammunition|shotgun ammunition types]] could be considered "abnormal".
** Name any episode of ''[[
** The blunderbuss will use literally anything you can stuff down the barrel as ammo.
** The British rather ingeniously use (or used) tungsten rounds for cave fighting to prevent ricochet. [[Loophole Abuse|There was a side effect of the bullets acting like explosive rounds in human tissue.]]
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* [[Abusive Parents]]: Unfortunately.
* [[Acme Products]]: Acme was a fairly common name for companies at one time, as it would put them at or near the beginning of the listings in the phone book. It helped that the word means "the best".
** There still exists a supermarket chain on the East Coast of the United States called "Acme".
* [[Acquired Situational Narcissism]]: An actual DSM defined personality disorder that develops in some people who acquire fame or notoriety.
* [[Acrofatic]]: Sumo wrestlers. Many technical pro-wrestlers qualify too.
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** Played straight with deadly results with samurai-class women. They trained with various weapons ("inferior" naginata and tanto particularly) specifically to be this trope and defend the home and family while the men were off making war.
* [[Adminisphere]]: Administrators and upper management of anything tend to either be or become separate from the rank and file, which means decision making may well be affected badly. Averted by policies and by keeping communication open, and subverted when the education or better information of higher-ups makes for better decisions.
* [[Adventurer Archaeologist]]: Yes; though it's very exaggerated nowadays, there really used to be rough-and-tumble cowboy archaeologists. Roy Chapman Andrews is said to be the inspiration for [[Indiana Jones]]. He led expeditions through the Arctic and China, but most famously through the Gobi Desert. He was frequently attacked by bandits and survived by his wits. Yes, he was a real person. Go look him up. His biography reads like a pulp fiction novel, but unlike [[L. Ron Hubbard]], it's all true.
* [[A Fool and His New Money Are Soon Parted]]: It's called "sudden wealth syndrome".
* [[Afraid of Blood]]: Hemophobia.
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* [[Alcohol Hic]]: That said, it's not the surest way to tell if someone is drunk - sober people can get hiccups just as easily.
* [[Alcohol-Induced Idiocy]]: Alcohol is well known for its ability to decrease intellectual capacity while lowering inhibitions.
* [[Alcohol Is Poison]]: Alcohol is toxic to humans, but for most adult humans, in amounts well below the
* [[The Alleged Car]]: Chances are, you've either owned one, or you're too young to drive.
* [[All-Natural Snake Oil]]: "All natural" can refer to many things, from the beneficial to the deadly, and is a form of the [[Appeal to Nature]] fallacy.
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* [[Arranged Marriage]]: Believe it or not, there are still places where this is common.
* [[Asexuality]]: It's weird being surrounded by something that you've got no interest in.
* [[As Long
* [[Asshole Victim]]: This is what can happen to you when you're the kind of person that others are right to rejoice in your misfortunes. The moral: Try not to be such a douchebag.
* [[Assumed Win]]: Much to the embarrassment of whoever stands up.
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* [[Battle Cry]]: Some have hypothesized they came into existence as warning or intimidation, but common through the history of warfare.
** [[Remember the Alamo!]]: A quite common casus belli in warfare is remembering a [[Last Stand]] conducted in fighting against or defending against the enemy.
* [[Bara]] / [[The Bear]] / [[Manly Gay]]: A case of truth becoming trope - a fixture in gay-directed media, and once mainstream media began to portray a wider range of gay men, [[Manly Gay]] men including bears began to be depicted more often in it as well. Contrast [[Camp Gay]] and compare both [[Armored Closet Gay]], [[Macho Camp]], and [[
* [[Bavarian Fire Drill]]: People generally do what they're told, and this can be used against them. "Spearphishing" and other social engineering scams feed off of this quality of human beings.
* [[Bedouin Rescue Service]]: In the modern era, this is mandatory. In ages past... not so much.
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* [[Boys Love]]: As you can see from many other entries on this list, gay men exist.
* [[Bragging Rights Reward]]: Too many to name, but anything where the only award is immediately consumed or is an unusable certificate or trophy (or worse, the temporary acclaim of one's current peers.)
* [[Brainwashed]]: Rare, but it can happen, though [[Tropes Examined
* [[Brainwashed and Crazy]]: [[Nazi Germany]]. [[
* [[Briefcase Blaster]]: Heckler and Koch makes a special briefcase for their
* [[British Stuffiness]]: (see [[National Stereotypes]]) Brits are more private and reserved with people other than their close friends than Americans are, but this should not be interpreted as being arrogance; likewise the reverse with American bluster.
* [[Broke the Rating Scale]]: The first use probably was by a band who claimed that they were so loud that their speakers had to [[Up to Eleven|Go To Eleven]] (versus the usual 1-10 volume control).
* [[Buried Alive]]: Used to happen extremely frequently because of primitive medicine. (Well, with varying frequency, depending on who you ask.) Now, it's rare. People still have this fear and request bells installed in their coffin just in case.
* [[Bury Me Not
* [[Busman's Holiday]]: Carpenters spend their time off fixing the house, IT staff spend their time at home on a PC, musicians tend to spend time off going to others' shows and listening to music, and pilots and flight attendants do hitch rides on their airlines, obviously.
* [[But I Play One
* [[
* [[But We Used a Condom]]: To the sorrow of many, and the existence of quite a few.
** If our product doesn't work, Happy Father's Day!
* [[But You Screw One Goat!]]: Yes, bestiality exists.
* [[Call a Smeerp
* [[Calling Your Attacks]]: Martial arts practitioners believe that expressing certain phrases or vocalization help build up ''chi'' or ensure proper breathing
* [[Camp Gay]] / [[The Twink]]: Although to a far lesser extent (and a far more self-aware extent) usually than TV depictions of gay men would have you believe. Contrast [[Bara]], [[The Bear]], [[
* [[The Captain]]: On pretty much every naval ship that exists, and private sailors and pilots also have the title.
* [[Cardboard Prison]]: Some prisons and jails are rather easy to escape. Tended more to happen in the pre-camera past or in the Third World.
* [[Casting Couch]]: [[Real Life]] examples abound from film to fashion and music (where it's more common now). Somewhat subverted in that unlike in fiction, where complying may well benefit the victim, in reality, the victim may very well get nowhere at all for his or her trouble, or end up destroying his or her career doing this for real. Of course, there's also porn staged around the idea with fully willing participants...
** In the #MeToo era? Invoking this trope, even fictionally, has [[Unfortunate Implications]]. It's a bit like a radio DJ joking about payola on-air.
* [[Casual Kink]]: In some places far, far more than others. If you're in such a place, you probably either are very aware of it, or don't even recognize it as unusual.
* [[The Catfish]]: The [[wikipedia:Wels catfish|"wels catfish"]], also called a "sheatfish". They can be up to 10 ft long (3m) and weigh 330lbs (150kg). They eat ducks.▼
* [[CAT Trap]]: If you're suffering from claustrophobia, you don't want to spend too much time in a closed scanner.
* [[Caught
* [[Ceiling Banger]]: What apartment dweller hasn't had to deal with noisy neighbors?
* [[The City Narrows]]: Most large cities have what is euphemistically called a "bad area" or two. The larger the city, the more likely. It probably won't be all alleys, though.
* [[The Chains of Commanding]]: It can be tough to be a political leader, and sometimes political leaders are restricted by politics or the lack of cooperation from others from accomplishing even important or needed goals.
* [[Check Point Starvation]]: There ''are'' no [[Check Point
* [[Cherry Tapping]]: Human beings who die from stinging insects or from something else that in small or ordinary amounts is fairly harmless, but in large numbers is fatal.
* [[Chewbacca Defense]]: If the defense does ''not make sense'', you must acquit. Still a logical fallacy, but it works.
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* [[Conveniently-Common Kink]]: Because a fair amount of kinks are fairly common among sexual humans (especially at the lighter end of BDSM, for example), and in settings where people can be open, they may be quite surprised at how many people share their deepest, darkest desire.
* [[Converting for Love]]: Yes, it happens. Enough that some religious sects will use the promise of a loving relationship to recruit people.
* [[Convicted
* [[Cool but Inefficient]]: The Tsar Tank. You could walk faster than it could move at top speed.
* [[Cool Chair]]: Thrones, of course. And someone based a 15K chair off of the one Blofeld had.
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* [[Deadpan Snarker]]: You ''really'' want an example of this?
* [[Decade Dissonance]]: Compare Hong Kong to the Guangdong province just over the border, or downtown Rio de Janeiro to its slums. Hell, compare ANY inner city to the gleaming, tourist-laden areas.
** There is a tiny island off the coast of Scotland, St. Kilda, where the seas are so choppy and rough, that few people dare try to sail to and from it. People have lived there for centuries. The government sent an expedition there in about 1746 to see whether Bonnie Prince Charlie had taken refuge there after the Battle of Culloden. The locals hadn't heard of Prince Charles Edward
* [[Deep Sleep]]: Some people are definitely heavier sleepers than others, especially if drunk or drugged. The reason fire alarms and loud alarm clocks exist.
* [[Delegation Relay]]: Else known in English as "passing the buck," because no one really wants to do some chores or run some errands.
* [[Denied Food
* [[Depraved Dentist]]: There's been a few cases of [[Real Life]] dentists sexually assaulting unconscious patients, and others doing fraudulent or unnecessary work (especially on low-income children on Medicaid and, conversely, in high-income privately insured patients) to make money, even if said work makes the patient's oral health far worse. And the [[Ur Example]] of the [[Deadly Doctor]], [[Mad Doctor]], and all similar tropes, Josef Mengele, started out as a dentist.
* [[Deserted Island]]: All around the world. And not just in tropical regions as in fiction, but in temperate and polar regions as well.
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* [[Diner Brawl]]: It's not rare for late-night diners to see these happen from time to time. Many of these diners are in areas with a lot of nightlife, resulting in drunk patrons coming in to eat. As with the [[Bar Brawl]], drunk people gathering together in one place can sometimes be dangerous.
* [[Dinner Deformation]]: Some types of snakes eat a prey so large that it shows.
* [[Distracted
* [[Divided We Fall]]: Internal squabbles and quarrels can have far more destructive impact on anything from a friendship to a nation than can any external threat. Good examples can be seen in nearly every case of Internet drama that has ever happened as well.
* [[Divorce Assets Conflict]]: When you've shared the same stuff for years, of course you're going to fight over who gets what. Averted with prenups.
* [[Does Not Understand Sarcasm]]: Can happen with people on the autism spectrum. There's also neurotypical people who don't get sarcasm. Like the [[Dumb Blonde]], or anyone unfamiliar with a language and/or culture. Aphasia and aprodosia, where because of a brain injury, someone physically cannot comprehend what you're saying, are some other reasons.
* [[Dodgeball Is Hell]]: In some schools.
* [[Dodge
* [[Do I Really Sound Like That?]]: Some voice actors avoid watching their own work specifically to avoid this.
* [[Domestic Abuse]]: Sadly so, and probably more common than most of us would like to think, especially if emotional and financial abuse are counted alongside beatings and rapes.
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* [[Door Step Baby]]: Less common nowadays because hospitals will take abandoned babies, no questions asked. Doesn't mean it doesn't happen.
* [[Double Entendre]]: Practically the stock in trade of anyone who uses [[Twitter]], headline writers, and pretty much anyone in some situations.
* [[Double Standard Rape (Female
* [[Dramatic Shattering]]: Glass tends to break in accidents, crimes, and disasters. Also, in a form of [[Defictionalization]], people being dramatic or wanting to destroy something will often break whatever glass is nearby.
* [[Dream Within a Dream]]: ''Incredibly'' common.
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* [[Dr. Jerk]]: Because some people in the caring professions enter them for their profit potential or for being "better than" or able to control others, or believe they have an [[Omniscient Morality License]].
* [[Dropped a Bridget On Him]]: [[Downer Ending|Doesn't always end up as funny though.]]
* [[Drowning My Sorrows]]: It doesn't
* [[Drugs Are Bad]]:
* [[Dude, Where's My Reward?]]: Ditto.
* [[Dungeonmaster's Girlfriend]]: Sometimes a significant other or relative of the person running a game does join the game and sometimes they get preferential treatment from the Dungeonmaster, who is supposed to be impartial.
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* [[Emergency Weapon]]: Every half-decent army gives its soldiers at least knives for backup, and even the ones that don't still have their soldiers equipped with hands.
** It's the countries that take soldiers hands away you really have to watch out for.
* [[Empty Cop Threat]]: Even if the cops can't ''actually'' charge the suspect with obstruction of justice, they can still ''threaten'' to do
* [[The European Carry All]]: Just check out this "[https://web.archive.org/web/20090318143100/http://www.hottopic.com/hottopic/store/product.jsp?FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=2534374302024102&PRODUCT%3C%3Eprd_id=845524442133688 one leg pant]", or as most people would call it, a skirt.
", or as most people would call it, a skirt. -->
* [[Even Evil Has Standards]]: There are real situations that keep from someone becoming a [[Complete Monster]], even if they had crossed the [[Moral Event Horizon|
** This is mostly seen in prison system where prisoners have standards and those who had violated them don’t last too long. Many oppressive regimes also have standards within their countries on what kind of brutality is too much, even for the government.
* [[Even Nerds Have Standards]]: Nerds either have very low standards, or [[
* [[Everything's Better
* [[Everything Is Big in Texas]]: Texas is a pretty damn big state.
* [[Everything's Sparkly
** [[Gem-Encrusted]]: Some people can really overdo this now that Swarovski crystals are more common...
* [[Everything Trying to Kill You]]: [https://web.archive.org/web/20131122060905/http://www.cracked.com/funny-163-australia/ Australia.] For the immunocompromised, life.
* [[Evil Debt Collector]]: <s>Most</s> '''All''' of them. No exceptions. See Palisade Collections or the collections department of Wachovia Dealer Services as typical examples.
* [[Evil Luddite]]: [https://web.archive.org/web/20090819114620/http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/terrorists_spies/terrorists/kaczynski/1.html Ted Kaczynski], more commonly known as The Unabomber, is probably the [[Real Life]] [[Trope Codifier]].
* [[Evil Power Vacuum]]: Anytime a dictator or a really powerful dude is deposed. Colombia, for example, sank in a chaos of guerrillas and rival crime lords after Pablo Escobar got killed.
* [[Evil Uncle]]: The laws of primogeniture, where the deceased's son gets estates ahead of the deceased's younger brother, sometimes provoked younger brothers into this sort of thing.
* [[Evil Versus Evil]]: Power-hungry dictators (the closest Real Life equivalent of evil) often fight each other in their selfish quest for power. Hitler and Stalin could be an example of this form. Organized criminals fighting amongst each other creates another form: the drug cartel mafia wars in Mexico, gang wars elsewhere.
* [[Exalted Torturer]]: Due to [[Values Dissonance]], at various points in various societies, [[Real Life]] torturers have been excused and even glorified, as has torture itself. No examples may be given to avoid the obvious [[Flame War]], but it has happened.
* [[Explosive Overclocking]]: In memory of all those who turned their CPUs into grilled silicon after overclocking them to 6
* [[Extreme Graphical Representation]]: [http://lainos.sourceforge.net LainOS] is a FreeBSD-based operating system whose goal is to recreate the extreme graphical pizazz of the computers from ''[[Serial Experiments Lain]]''.
** [https://web.archive.org/web/20061012143527/http://www.compiz.org/ Compiz] is a window manager presently included with many Linux distributions. If you want, you can overload it with plugins so that your windows wobble like Jello when they move, your desktop is on the surface of a cube (with sharks inside), windows shuffle and dodge around one another when you switch between them, inactive windows go translucent and gain a mirror sheen, and a trail of fire follows your mouse around. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJB9Yum3S9M&feature=PlayList&p=6AD5E5D6B2DEA293&index=0&playnext=1 Here are some videos of it.]
* [[Face Doodling]]: If you haven't done this to someone, you're either lying or you've had this done to you.
** [[Take a Third Option|Or both]].
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* [[Fan Boy]]: To an even ''more'' annoying degree.
* [[Fashion Show]]: Another one that's existed in real life long before it was a trope.
* [[Faster-Than-Light Travel]]: Averted due to relativity. But wait! [https://web.archive.org/web/20121118154121/http://news.discovery.com/space/warp-drive-spaceship-engine.html Not so fast!]
* [[Fast Roping]]: Lifted directly from a standard (if somewhat dangerous) Real Life rappelling technique.
* [[Fatal Flaw]]: <s>Lots of people</s> ''Everyone'' will have one. Some have more than one.
* [[Fat Cat]]: Some cats really are overweight.
* [[Fat Bastard]], [[Fat Idiot]], and [[Fat Slob]]: Definitely NOT
* [[Fence Painting]]: Arranged by recruiters for militaries, fraternities, and sororities.
* [[Feuding Families]]: The Hatfields and the McCoys in the US; the MacGregors and the Campbells in Scotland; the Italian mafia families in New York and Sicily (with a couple in New Orleans).
* [[Firing in
* [[Flawed Prototype]]: Happens in many aspects, from military gadgets to toys.
* [[Fluffy Fashion Feathers]]: Lots less extreme and common than it used to be in general fashion, but still going strong in performance costumes, like dancewear, and stage costuming. Still around on hats, too.
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* [[Foreign Queasine]]: There's a whole show based around it called ''Bizarre Foods'' on the Travel Channel. And while most of it is in Asia, there are episodes that take place in North America, believe it or not. Anyone for fried nutria on a stick?
* [[Forgets to Eat]]: Every gamer has done this. This can also be applied to workaholics.
* [[419 Scam]]:
** The name actually comes from the section of the Nigerian criminal code pertaining to wire fraud, so it's also [[Exactly What It Says
* [[Freeze Sneeze]]: Cold really does make some people sneeze.
* [[Friend or Foe]]: Sometimes, especially in combat, it is very difficult to tell who is on your side and who is not.
* [[Friends
* [[Frivolous Lawsuit]]: This isn't just in America, they come from all over the world. Some of the most ridiculous are from Brazil and Britain.
* [[Freudian Excuse]]: Used in many a court case. [[Daddy Issues]] and [[Mommy Issues]] are subtropes of this, also used in many a court case.
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* [[Hot for Student]]: [http://readjack.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/lafave1.jpg Debra La Fave] comes to mind. Or Mary Kay LeTourneau.
* [[Human Popsicle]]: Cryonics companies such as [http://www.alcor.com/ Alcor] and the [http://www.cryonics.org/ Cryonics Institute] offer to preserve your whole body or your brain (currently done by keeping the whole head) at low temperatures just after you're legally dead until someone finds out how to cure whatever was killing you. Research shows this ''might'' work someday, as the method they use now allows us to freeze and thaw small organs. They'll also, of course, have to cure the effects of freezing on the brain, which is somewhat more complicated. Oh, and figure out how to make new bodies for the heads-only crowd.
* [[Humiliation Conga]]: A criminal once tried to trick someone into sending him an Apple PowerBook G4 he bought at eBay. He ended up receiving a binder with keys glued on the inside covers. [https://web.archive.org/web/20130214033700/http://www.zug.com/pranks/powerbook/ Read the full story here!]
* [[I Always Wanted to Say That]]: Because offline, at least, your brain comes up with that great quip far too late.
* [[I Can't Believe It's Not Heroin!]]: Capsaicin (the stuff that makes chili peppers hot) is very addictive.
* [[I Coulda Been a Contender]]: Bill Butterfield was so bitter about his football career ending in high school that he tried to push his son into athletic success. [https://web.archive.org/web/20120223194242/http://apse.dallasnews.com/contest/2002/writing/over250/over250.enterprise.fifth2.html The results weren't pretty]. Also mothers of beauty pageant girls, and parents trying to push kids into careers or better academic levels.
* [[I Hate Past Me]]: Everyone at one point or another has looked back on their life and asked at different points "What was I thinking?!".
* [[Idle Rich]]: Because for some people, being rich ''is'' their life's accomplishment. Aversions, however, do exist.
* [[If It Tastes Bad, It Must Be Good for You]]: Several good foods are actually quite bitter or almost disgustingly bland.
* [[I Just Shot Marvin in
* [[I Know Karate]]: Because some people do, indeed, know karate and other martial arts.
* [[I Know Mortal Kombat]]: Because even more people know no martial arts but think they do. The reason Bullshido and the [[What the Fu Are You Doing?]] trope exist.
* [[If You Ever Do Anything to Hurt Her...]]: Anyone with a younger sister has said this.
* [[The Illegal]]: Illegal immigrants are a large portion of many populations, and a hot-button political issue for nativists in said countries.
* [[Implausible Deniability]]: Bad excuses are common everywhere.
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* [[Insufferable Genius]]: Architect Frank Lloyd Wright.
* [[The Internet Is for Porn]]: And/or downloading music. And/or, according to some, buying drugs.
* [[In-Universe Camera]]: Just look at [[YouTube]] videos of any disaster after around 2000. From 9-11 to 3-11, you will see any disaster from the inside.▼
* [[Is That Cute Kid Yours]]: Check the discussion page for examples.▼
* [[I Surrender, Suckers]]: The reason why police officers will keep one gun pointed at a dangerous suspect at all times until his arms are fully handcuffed.
▲* [[In-Universe Camera]]: Just look at [[YouTube]] videos of any disaster after around 2000. From 9-11 to 3-11, you will see any disaster from the inside.
▲* [[Is That Cute Kid Yours?]]: Check the discussion page for examples.
* [[It's All About Me]]: Narcissists and sociopaths on the more extreme end, individual survival and forgetfulness on the more benign.
* [[It's a Small Net After All]]: In Mexico, ''everybody'' uses MSN Hotmail, MSN Spaces, and MSN Messenger, thanks to an alliance between Microsoft and Telmex, the latter a nigh-monopolic telco led by Carlos Slim, the richest man in the world.
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== J-L ==
* [[The Jailbait Wait]]: Depending on the state, you may not even have to wait. Some go as low as 14. But yes, people are dumb{{verify}} enough to do this. By the time she's old enough, she'll already have a boyfriend.
* [[Jerkass]]: Who hasn't met at least one in real life? If you haven't, you may want to look in the mirror.
* [[Jerk
* [[Jews Love to Argue]]: The Talmud itself is a result of legal arguments regarding Jewish religious laws. This emphasis may have also been a contributing factor in the amount of Jewish lawyers, [[Unfortunate Implications|stereotypical]] and otherwise.
* [[Joke Item]]: Plenty of them exist, some for the point of using them in practical jokes, others for many other reasons.
* [[Joker Jury]]: War crimes trials held by the victorious nation can be seen as this. As can very biased juries, for racial or other reasons. Attempting to prevent this is the reason that the ''voir dire'' process exists in some countries that use juries.
* [[Joke Weapon]]: Happens in [[Real Life]]. In one variant, carried to look like an actual [[Weapon for Intimidation]] but with no intent of actually being used. In another variant, used - there was at least one case of someone being slapped with a fish.
* [["Jump Off a Bridge" Rebuttal]]: Used by everyone's dad.
* [[Kangaroo Court]]: See [[Joker Jury]] above. Corrupt legal systems can produce this, as can biased or unfair ones.
* [[Key Under the Doormat]]: Burglars know this. Don't bother with it.
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* [[Killer Rabbit]]: A great many animals are meaner, sharper, or more poisonous than they look. This is why you don't play with wild animals.
* [[Kill Sat]]: The Strategic Defense Initiative, more commonly known as Project Star Wars. Similar projects are in the works, mostly because [[Frickin' Laser Beams|lasers are cool]].
* [[Knocking
* [[La Résistance]]: The French and Dutch Resistances were notoriously violent and strong, as were the Soviet and Yugoslav partisans, and the Polish Home Army.
** Krav Maga, the deadliest martial art, was made specifically for Jews getting accosted by the SS.
* [[Leave Behind a Pistol]]: Intentionally leaving a suicide method in reach of someone likely suicidal has happened.
▲* [[
* [[Lensman Arms Race]]: World War II and the Cold War. Consider: the Germans only made very primitive payload rockets with long range work somewhat in WWII, and America couldn't launch a rocket as late as 1957. We were on the moon just over a ''decade'' later. ([[The Space Race]] being guided on both sides by [[Herr Doctor|genius German rocket scientists from Nazi Germany]], who were unaware of each others' existence as competitors for quite some time). And of course, nothing says "my <s>dick is bigger</s> kung-fu is better than yours" like the ever-more-powerful nuclear weapons tests of the 50s and 60s.
* [[Lethal Joke Item]]: Some items are far more dangerous or even deadly than they would look, either by themselves or when combined with something else.
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* [[Living Motion Detector]]: True for several animal species, which is why said species are so hard to film.
* [[Loan Shark]]: Why do people use their services instead of a, you know, bank? Bad credit, my dear Watson. Bad credit.
* [[Locking MacGyver in
* [[The Loins Sleep Tonight]]: The OTHER reason why you have a spam folder.
* [[Loners Are Freaks]]: People often wrongly jump to this conclusion when dealing with loners in real life.
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* [[MacGyvering]]: VERY common in [[Real Life]], especially among people who are cash-poor. Everything from furniture creation to computer repair to fashion to [[The Alleged Car|automobile repair to]] [[Nightmare Fuel|animal and human health care]] may well be subject to it depending on the setting.
* [[Made of Plasticine]]: Human beings can be very weak and die from some of the most unlikely to ordinarily cause death things, but not always - see [[Normally I Would Be Dead Now]] below.
* [[The Mafia]], [[The Mafiya]], [[The Triads and
* [[Maligned Mixed Marriage]]: There are hundreds, if noth thousands of examples throughout history of people hating those who marry outside of their race. In fact, at one time in the US, there were laws banning miscegenation.<ref>interracial marriage</ref>
* [[Mama Bear]]: Both the animal and human kind. There are documented cases of mothers rescuing their children from mountain lions and actual bears.
* [[Mama Didn't Raise No Criminal]]: The families of real life criminals do indeed live in this sort of denial sometimes, even when confronted with overwhelming evidence of criminal behavior.
* [[Mama's Baby, Papa's Maybe]]: Men do wonder. DNA testing has shown that sometimes, they have reason.
* [["Ma'am" Shock]]: Was more pronounced when "ma'am" meant an older woman. Now not as big of an issue - except for men mistaken for women on some occasions.
* [[Man in
* [[Mars and Venus Gender Contrast]]: Will almost inevitably be claimed as this by anyone invoking it.
* [[Meat Versus Veggies]]: There are many cases where persons debate with one another about the superiority of one kind of diet over another. If you're a vegetarian, you have probably had to contend with all sorts of reactions ranging from concern borne of ignorance to open scorn or derision. Alternately, if you're a meat eater, you've likely been accused of everything from murder to animal cruelty to endangering your health.
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* [[Mental Affair]]: The non- [[Science Fiction]] variant is fairly common.
* [[The Mentally Disturbed]]: Far more common but also far more mild than TV would make you think.
* [[Might
* [[Mile-High Club]]: Though trying to join is probably a bad idea if you don't have a private aircraft, and [[Too Dumb to Live|a very bad idea]] if you're the pilot.
* [[Military Brat]]: There is a whole subculture surrounding the family of military personnel.
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* [[Misleading Package Size]]: Overpackaging, fraud, or the desire to present something as more valuable than it is can make this happen.
* [[Miss Conception]]: If sex education doesn't exist. More common in the past, still sometimes happens in restrictive religious communities.
* [[Mission
* [[Mistaken for Gay]]: Many times, a result of the conflation of traits attributed to binary gender and sexuality. Yes, [[Captain Obvious|feminine men and masculine women can be straight]].
* [[Mistaken for Special Guest]]: See [[wikipedia:Guy Goma|Guy Goma]] for an example.
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* [[Mistaken Nationality]]: Far too common simply because many people don't care to learn geography or about nations.
* [[Mister Muffykins]]: Most breeders call the little yappy dogs victims of "small breed syndrome." A lot of it is just plain stupidity on the owner's part.
* [[The Mistress]]: Divorce lawyers and journalists alike make a huge part of their living because this is
* [[Modesty Towel]]: Force of habit and shyness will often lead to this being used even when there is no reason for it. Paranoia can also be a factor, if your room has a window.
* [[Monster Clown]]: [[wikipedia:Coulrophobia|Coulrophobia]]. Also applies to mimes.
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** The FCC and "concerned mothers". Both are also [[Acceptable Targets]].
* [[More Than Mind Control]]: How [[Brainwashed]] and [[Brainwashed and Crazy]] actually happen in [[Real Life]]. The amount of ways that people can be turned against their own interests, their own consciences, and even their own bodies and lives, or pressed into [[Happiness in Slavery]] or resignation to slavery are enough to be [[Nightmare Fuel]] and [[Paranoia Fuel]].
* [[Mugging the Monster]]: If people make a career of robbing people, there's always a chance they'll pick the wrong person to try to victimize and end up getting the shit beat out of them or shot. [https://web.archive.org/web/20130202185130/http://www.shortnews.com/start.cfm?id=73382 There have been] quite a few cases of muggers trying to assault karate students.
* [[Mundane Luxury]]: To someone living in a third-world country, simple things like ''clean'' running water can be considered luxuries.
* [[Music Is Politics]]: Protest songs of the 60s were practically their own subgenre.
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* [[No-Tell Motel]]: [[Love Hotels]] in Japan, and plenty of other hotels and motels. You may have even stayed in one...
* [[Not in My Back Yard]]: And ''another'' one used in [[Real Life]] long before it was a trope.
* [[No, You Hang Up First]]: A manifestation of the "sunk cost" fallacy in that someone who is speaking in such a conversation will want to stay on as long as they can even if it would be better to stop talking.
* [[Obligatory Swearing]]: Middle and high school. The [[Music/Hardcore Punk|Hardcore Punk]] [[
* [[Obligatory War Crime Scene]]: Yes, many of those war crime scenes you see in movies ''actually happened'' (or were based on true events) and were most likely ''toned down'' for viewers. The exception would be [[
* [[Oblivious Adoption]]: Oh, it happens alright. More often than we like to think.
** Fortunately, [[Happily Adopted|the other way around]] also happens.
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** Simo Häyhä, a Finnish sniper during Finlands winter war (1939-1940) he scored 505 confirmed kills & 542 unconfirmed. Also 200+ kills with submachine gun. Remarkably, all of Häyhä's kills were accomplished in fewer than 100 days with a very limited amount of daylight per day. Nicknamed "Valkoinen Kuolema" in Finnish, which translates to "White Death".
* [[Only Sane Employee]]: Been there, done that, burned the t-shirt.
* [[Only Sane Man]]: You feel like this often, admit it. And this trope's cousin [[Surrounded
* [[Operation Blank]]: They've had some [http://www.cracked.com/article_16213_the-25-least-inspiring-military-operation-names.html pretty silly names].
* [[Operator From India]]: Dell is the biggest offender. Most big companies do it nowadays to save money. Outsourcing FTL
* [[Overheating]]: Why your computer needs fans or some kind of a cooling system, especially the more you push it to do. Why ignoring the "check engine" warning or the temperature gauge on your vehicle is ''never'' a good idea. Can happen to human beings also, usually during heat waves, under the influence of drugs that affect the brain's temperature regulation - from alcohol to MDMA to neuroleptic drugs - or who have some forms of brain damage that do the same.
* [[Our Dragons Are Different]]: Komodo dragons and leafy sea dragons, among others.
* [[Out
== P-R ==
* [[Paedo Hunt]]: As exemplified by the cases where parents' family photos of once-innocent events have been reported to police by developers or by people who see them on [[
* [[Papa Wolf]]: As if the [[Mama Bear]] trope wasn't enough, ''do not threaten or harm someone's children.''
* [[Passive-Aggressive Kombat]]: Some situations don't allow for a physical or heated confrontation.
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* [[The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything]]: Bosozoku and ''yankii'' in Japan, 99 percent of motorcycle clubs elsewhere in the world, punk rockers and black metallers for the most part, the list goes on. The most harm members of such groups likely do on average is creating noise, minor illicit drug use or petty fraud or shoplifting, if that. They normally get hated either for the more outrageous crimes (and incredibly rare) crimes that show up in their midst, or for being nuisances with the extent of petty crimes in a more law-oriented and business-oriented mainstream culture.
* [[The Plague]]: [[wikipedia:Black Death|The Black Death]]. Spanish Flu.
* [[Platonic Life Partners]]: [[
* [[Playing Sick]]: Don't tell me you've never done it.
* [[Plucky Middie]]: They had to be.
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* [[Powder Trail]]: It happens. Often more so with liquid than powder - this is why you avoid sparks and open flame near gasoline or other flammable liquids.
* [[Pretext for War]]: Has happened quite a few times in history.
* [[Pretty Fly for
* [[Pretty in Mink]]: Fur is often worn for style instead of warmth.
* [[Primal Scene]]: Walking in on parents (or other adult relatives) having sex has happened to a lot of people.
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* [[Ragtag Bunch of Misfits]]: Is there a chapter in the Mexican 19th century that doesn't has one of these? Also, any revolutionary group in the history of ''forever''.
* [[Rain of Arrows]]: A key strategy of the English during the Hundred Years' War and of the Chinese.
** [[
* [[Randomly Drops]]: Dollar stores, thrift/consignment shops, and lost and found are this trope's [[Real Life]] counterpart. Also, in large cities or other places with a lot of people, people will often drop or forget things from loose change to occasionally expensive or hard to acquire items.
** Thieves (and on the other side of the coin, police raids of thieves or drug dealers) also run into this trope - things stolen or acquired in a raid can range from absolutely useless even for resale, to incredibly valuable and/or rare.
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* [[Roboteching]]: Many guided weapons actually do this.
* [[Rock Beats Laser]]: Though not common, superior tactics or sheer weight of numbers have defeated superior technology. This was apparently one of the reasons the Japanese won in the Russo-Japanese war, too. There's also the Whack-a-Mole theory: wherever you wipe out insurgency one place, they'll just pop up somewhere else, ad infinitum. Iraqi insurgents, the Viet Cong, and Afghanistan over the last 50 years are examples.
* [[Romantic Two-Girl Friendship]]: It is [
* [[Runaway Bride]]: An anonymous bride left the groom at the altar ''and ran away with his witness '''who was also his best friend'''.'' And they all lived happily ever after (except the groom).
* [[Ruptured Appendix]]: Yes, it happens in [[Real Life]]. And it IS fatal if untreated (this is why, if you have severe stomach pain in the lower right side or that started there and spread, you go to an emergency room, and you DO NOT take a laxative.)
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* [[The Savage South]]: Until recent times, areas near the equator were seen by many Europeans and Americans as not only unpleasantly hot but also arid or sopping wet and full of dangerous large animals like panthers and lions. If the heat or animals did not kill you, the diseases borne by biting flies or mosquitoes would. Modern advances in dealing with disease and wild animals have resulted in a more "friendly" outlook on these places as the risks are more easily managed.
* [[Sand Bridge At Low Tide]]: Mont Saint-Michel, a French islet near the coastline of Normandy.
* [[Saved
* [[Schoolgirl Lesbians]]: If you're in high school or college, you probably know a few. Aka "LUGs" (Lesbian Until Graduation) or "Daddy's money lesbians". Bisexuality is the new "I'm soooo drunk".
* [[Secondary Fire]]: Many weapons have burst and autofire modes or even grenade launchers attached to the gun.
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* [[Screw the Rules, I'm Beautiful]]: Paris Hilton in jail... complaining that the food wasn't good enough. And refusing to eat it. Sure it's bad, but everyone else has to eat it...Also behind the [[Double Standard]] regarding student/teacher affairs. If the teacher is female and hot, tends to get a lot more sympathy from media (and the kid will get "hi fives" from a lot of guys.) If the teacher is male, he's a monster.
* [[Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right]]: The only one here that isn't [[Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism|cynical]].
* [[Sealed Evil in
* [[Seinfeldian Conversation]]: It is arguable that there is ''nothing'' more realistic than this trope. Indeed, an argument over that would be the perfect example. Absolutely ''any'' conversation will turn into this if entered in the middle.
* [[Self-Fulfilling Prophecy]]: There are many cases when it has happened. See the article.
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* [[Slave Mooks]]: Unfortunately so.
* [[Somebody Else's Problem]]: Fascinating to sociologists, not so much for the victims. Most notably the case of Kitty Genovese.
* [[Smite Me,
* [[Snipe Hunt]]: A very common form of hazing or practical joke is to send someone on a search for something nonexistent.
* [[Something's Different About You Now]]: People change over time. That fat nerd you knew? Dropped the weight and became hot. That man you knew? Was actually [[
* [[Solar-Powered Magnifying Glass]]: Unfortunately, for our six-legged friends.
* [[Solid Gold Poop]]: Ambergris is whale vomit. It's also extremely valuable for use in perfumes. Guano. Not as valuable now as it used to be. For centuries, it was used to make saltpeter and phosphorous, which was used for explosives and gunpowder. Now, it's mostly used for fertilizer, and some of the world's ''best'' coffees owe their rich flavor to this particular fertilizer.
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* [[Stout Strength]]: Incredibly strong men often look more rotund than body-building. Just watch the weightlifting portion of the Olympics. Or sumo wrestling.
* [[Stylish Protection Gear]]: Silk has properties that allow for diminished arrow penetration (note: there would still be ''non-lethal'' wounds). It was used by Mongol warriors and samurai. It's also fireproof.
* [[
* [[Street Urchin]]: One of the most serious social problems everywhere in the world.
* [[Succession Crisis]]: Plenty of historical examples. There was even a whole war called "The War of Austrian Succession".
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* [[Suicide Attack]]: Kamikaze and suicide bombers.
* [[Super-Persistent Predator]]: Humans with their persistence hunting during the majority of the stone age.
* [[Sure, Let's Go
* [[Surrounded
* [[Sweet Polly Oliver]]: Joan of Arc, Mulan (the REAL one).
* [[Tail Slap]]: Even horses can makes use of it to an extent. With elephants, it can be fatal.
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* [[Televisually-Transmitted Disease]]: Strangely, many of the miraculous recoveries you see in medical dramas actually have happened.
* [[That Poor Car]]: Disasters will cause this.
* [[The Password Is Always Swordfish]]: One of the most common passwords is... "password" or "password1" (since now most registrars require letters and numbers). The most common varies in length but is some form of ascending number
* [[There Are No Therapists]]: Teen suicide rates are much higher than they should be, but it's more because they don't WANT to see a therapist for fear of rejection. Also because since they think with their amygdalas, which is the emotional part of their brain, not the logical part.
** Bad experiences with therapy can lead people to ''never seek help again,'' even when it is urgently and severely needed. A bad therapist can be even worse than ''no'' therapist, for this reason.
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* [[Those Two Guys]]: [[Those Two Guys]] are in every high school, workplace, band... anywhere one doesn't remember people by name.
* [[Time Capsule]]
* [[Tongue
* [[Too Dumb to Live]]: Everyone has met them at some point. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bG_Vbh8arNM Rad Girls.] ([[NSFW]])
** The whole point behind the Darwin Awards website: [http://www.darwinawards.com/ darwinawards.com]
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* [[Transparent Closet]]: Sometimes those of us who are LGBTQIA are the last to know for real. Other times, we just don't really care about creating a "closet" or have been lucky enough to have lived in a situation that has never imposed or demanded one.
* [[Trash of the Titans]]: As you can see in [http://www.squalorsurvivors.com/ this site]. It's called Collyer Bros Syndrome.
* [[Trigger]]: Almost everyone has them in some form. Some far, far more distressing than others. See it's [[
* [[Trigger Happy]]: The reason a lot of shootings (whether by police or civilians) happen. Especially if one feels as if one is in mortal danger, it is an instinct borne of paranoia that can be ''very difficult'' to override.
* [[Troll]]: An undeniable
* [[True Art Is Angsty]]: Angst tends to make art be seen as "more serious." Note that [[Oscar Bait]] is usually angsty.
* [[True Art Is Incomprehensible]]: This is one of those annoying ones that reinforces itself.
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* [[Undisclosed Funds]]: Swiss bank accounts. Also, talking about money was once viewed as crass, so people used these methods to do so.
* [[The Unpronounceable]]: Indians working in call centers with American customers typically use adopted "American" names. It's also very common for immigrants to have an Americanized nickname, especially if they're from the Middle East or Asia.
* [[
* [[United We Chant]]: Can happen often in sports arenas or anywhere many people gather; Barack Obama's US presidential run was littered with "yes we can!" and sports arenas often get "U!S!A!" or chant a player/team name.
* [[Unsportsmanlike Gloating]]: TD dances.
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* [[Useful Notes]]: Useful ''because'' they're true.
* [[Utopia Justifies the Means]]: Stalin, Mao, Robespierre, Pol Pot...
** Subjective. It's not clear who really fits this trope and who was just pretending to fit
== V-Z ==
* [[Verbal Tic]]: It happens, just not with every single person.
** Americans use [[Like Is, Like, a Comma|"like", like, every five words]]. And not just, like, the [[Valley Girl]] types (thanks to MTV).
** English-speaking Canadians [[Canada, Eh?|will often append "eh?" to the ends of their sentences]]. It's become a pastime of many Canadians to play it up when around Americans.
* [[Vindicated By History]]: More than a few people. There are several politicians who were widely hated during their term but are now fondly remembered by history books.▼
** Francophone Canadians often say "lá" ("there") at the end of each sentence.
** Mexicans do the same with "wey" and "ese" ("dude" and "this", respectively).
** Argentinians start their phrases with "che".
▲* [[Vindicated
* [[Violation of Common Sense]]: Happens quite often in [[Real Life]].
* [[Violent Glaswegian]]: Glasgow is the murder capital of Western Europe.
* [[Visual Kei]]: Some artists and fans dress in the style and/or even maintain complete personas offstage.
* [[Virtual Celebrity]]: A few of them are around like [[Vocaloid
* [[Virtual Ghost]]: Programmers working with the band [[X Japan]] made a hologram of a late member (lead guitarist hide) that was both a [[Virtual Celebrity]] and very, very close to this idea. Programmers also did this to bring [[Tupac Shakur]] to Coachella 2012.
* [[Vocal Dissonance]]: Radio DJs, Mike Tyson, [[Steve Blum]], and several others do ''not'' look how you would expect them to based on their voice, and vice versa. This was a very real problem back in the days when "talkie" movies were new, and many actors lost their jobs because their voices were so silly.
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* [[Whammy Bid]]
* [[What the Fu Are You Doing?]]: The usual result of someone trying to invoke [[I Know Mortal Kombat]]
* [[What the Heck Is An Aglet?]]?: Cruciverbalists of the world have been through this all too much. Which is why there's a huge market for [http://www.amazon.com/Million-Word-Crossword-Dictionary/dp/0060517565 Crossword Puzzle-specific dictionaries].
* [[Whoa, Bundy!]]
* [[Why Couldn't You Be Different?]]: Many parents of special needs children often feel this way, especially if it's their first child. This trope is why 4 out of 5 parents of autistic children divorce. Even if they don't outwardly say it to the degree it's portrayed in fiction, they often feel this way inside, because, yes, life ''would'' be a lot simpler and cheaper if their kid were different.
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* [[With Great Power Comes Great Insanity]]: Turkmenbashi was a very... eccentric ruler. Yes, he was a dictator. But he didn't have gulags and didn't violate any human rights. He was just weird.
* [[Wizard Needs Food Badly]]: The need for food is universal among animals and humans, and larger amounts of and specific kinds (more nutritious in specific ways, or providing of certain ingredients) of food are needed for those whose occupations or hobbies are physically (and in some cases mentally) demanding.
* [[Wolverine Claws]]: Ninjas used the [http://www.freepatentsonline.com/D0510121-0-large.jpg Nekode]{{Dead link}} and Indians used the Tiger's Claw for fighting
* [[The Worf Effect]]: Used by police to break up fights and riots before they really start.
* [[Worthless Foreign Degree]]: Sadly true.
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* [[Wounded Gazelle Gambit]]: Happens a fair bit online, more rarely but scarily in real life.
* [[Wretched Hive]]: Somalia. The slums of Rio in Brazil. Lagos. West Africa. A few very bad neighborhoods in the United States. Hell, look hard enough, and you ''will'' find them all over the world.
* [[Yiddish
* [[You Can't Go Home Again]]: Examples can range from personal to those which affect the entire countries.
* [[You Can Panic Now]]: Locked-In Syndrome. <s>Global Warming</s> Climate change. Nuclear war. Leprosy. Jack the Ripper. ''The goblin's gonna getcha if you don't... watch... OUT!''
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{{reflist}}
[[Category:Tropes of Legend]]
[[Category:Nonfiction]]
[[Category:The Shades of Fact]]
[[Category:
▲[[Category:Tropes]]
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