History Main / MayIBorrowACupOfSugar

** In ''Duck, Rabbit, Duck!'', Daffy asks Bugs for a cup of blackstrap molasses as an excuse for Bugs to come out and get shot by Elmer. The shot punctures the cup instead, and Bugs comments that "I didn't think molasses would flow in January."

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Hilda}}'': Hilda's aunt Astrid lives next-door to a shapeshifting creature called Pooka, and every day he comes to her house to ask for various items. When she refuses, he changes his shape and tries again, but this never works due to MorphicResonance. [[spoiler:This proves unfortunate in the GrandFinale as Astrid is unable to answer a phone call from Johanna because she's busy dealing with Pooka's latest request.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Hilda}}'': Hilda's aunt Astrid lives next-door to a shapeshifting creature called Pooka, and every day he comes to her house to ask for various items. [[spoiler:This proves unfortunate in the GrandFinale as Astrid is unable to answer a phone call from Johanna because she's busy dealing with Pooka's latest request.]]

* This literally happened in ''Film/TheRoom''. Like so many things in the movie, it contributes nothing to the plot and is never mentioned again

* A man is under arrest for the brutal murder of his wife and mother-in-law. The judge says
-->You stand accused of killing your wife and disposing of the body with a lawnmower.
Someone in the audience yells
-->You bastard!
The judge calls for quiet and goes on
-->You also stand accused of the same to your mother-in-law.
The same voice in the audience is heard
-->You asshole!
The judge looks for the heckler and says
-->Sir, I understand your anger, but I must have order. You were a relative of the victims, I take it?
And the man in the audience answers
-->No, your Honor. But twelve years now I've been this piece of shit's neighbor, and every time I asked if I could borrow his lawn mower, he told me he didn't have one!

* In ''Series/ToTheManorBorn'', Mrs. Polouvicka uses borrowing a cup of sugar as an excuse to meet her new neighbor -- who, unknown to her, is none other than Audrey fforbes-Hamilton. At the end of their encounter, she confesses that she didn't need the sugar, and tips it back into Audrey's bowl with a grandiloquent "Keep it -- with the compliments of Cavendish Foods!"

* The scenario desceribed under "Jokes" appears in an early ''Series/SesameStreet'' skit, when Ernie [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5CNMB4IRn4 is outside Herbert Birdsfoot's door]], hoping to borrow his vacuum cleaner. Just before he knocks, he wonders if Herbert is in the bath, and if he'll be annoyed that he had to get out of the bath, and will not only ''not'' lend him the vacuum cleaner but will tell everyone to never lend Ernie anything. He finally does knock, but just to say "Oh, yeah? Well, if that's the way you feel about it, you can just ''keep'' your rotten old vacuum cleaner! So there!" and storms off. Herbert, who shows no signs of even having been in the bath in the first place, is bewildered.

* On one ''WesternAnimation/DonaldDuck'' cartoon, Donalds new neighbor Pete asks to borrow some ice cubes... and while he's at it, he also borrows a cube of butter, some cucumbers, and on and on until he empties Don's fridge.

* Played for laughs in ''Film/BadBoys''.

* The scenario desceribed under "Jokes" appears in an early ''Series/SesameStreet'' skit, when Ernie [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5CNMB4IRn4 is outside Herbert Birdsfoot's door]], hoping to borrow his vacuum cleaner. Just before he knocks, he wonders if Herbert is in the bath, and if he'll be annoyed that he had to get out of the bath, and will not only ''not''' lend him the vacuum cleaner but will tell everyone to never lend Ernie anything. He finally does knock, but just to say "Oh, yeah? Well, if that's the way you feel about it, you can just ''keep'' your rotten old vacuum cleaner! So there!" and storms off. Herbert, who shows no signs of even having been in the bath, is bewildered.

* The scenario desceribed under "Jokes" appears in an early ''Series/SesamStreet'' skit, when Ernie [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5CNMB4IRn4 is outside Herbert Birdsfoot's door]], hoping to borrow his vacuum cleaner. Just before he knocks, he wonders if Herbert is in the bath, and if he'll be annoyed that he had to get out of the bath, and will not only ''not''' lend him the vacuum cleaner but will tell everyone to never lend Ernie anything. He finally does knock, but just to say "Oh, yeah? Well, if that's the way you feel about it, you can just ''keep'' your rotten old vacuum cleaner! So there!" and storms off. Herbert, who shows no signs of even having been in the bath, is bewildered.

A character comes over to borrow a cup of sugar, or something else like flour, a hedge trimmer, or whatever from their neighbor and this is used to set up a plot thread of some sort:

* Alice Kravitz uses the NosyNeighbor excuse version fairly frequently in ''Series/{{Bewitched}}''.

* A man goes to his neighbor, because he wants to borrow a hammer. But on the way there, [[
Premature Aggravation he gets some doubt whether the neighbor would do that. He becomes angry thinking over it]], and when the neighbor opens the door, he shouts: "Stick your hammer up your...!"

* A man goes to his neighbor, because he wants to borrow a hammer. But on the way there, he gets some doubt whether the neighbor would do that. He becomes angry thinking over it, and when the neighbor opens the door, he shouts: "Stick your hammer up your...!"

* ''WebAnimation/HomestarRunner'' - Strongbad_email.exe: Disc Five
-->'''Marzipan:''' Hi, Strong Bad. This is your next-door neighbor the crocodile. Can I borrow a cup of sugar? I'm going to make some puppy-dough cookies tonight...

* In ''Albert the Muffin-Maker'', a book from a children's educational picture book series called ''Mouse Math'', Albert is [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOntheTin making muffins.]] However, he quickly finds that he doesn't have the ingredients he needs, so he borrows pretty much ''everything'' from neighbors because he's been told that "it's nice to share," his bemused sister Wanda forcing him to stop borrowing from one particular neighbor, Mrs. Nibble, after he borrows no less than four different ingredients from her. Once the muffins are done, she has him take a muffin to each of the ten individuals he borrowed stuff from, leaving them with two to each have one.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': Homer Simpson tends to borrow or outright ''steal'' things from Ned Flanders.

* ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000: PodPeople''. Little Tommy walks into a cave that's glowing bright red, while holding the cup he normally uses to collect specimens. Crow jumps to conclusions:

[[folder:Newspaper Comics]]
* ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes'': The usual order of events is inverted in the June 3, 1990 strip (with the joke coming first), in which Suzie Derkins goes over to Calvin's house and finds him caught up in one of his "Stupendous Man" fantasies, deciding to just leave after he runs off to continue it. It's not until the last panel shows her coming home that we find out it's this trope, when her mother asks "Did they have an egg you could borrow?", and Suzie claims nobody was home.
[[/folder]]

* ''The True Story of the Three Little Pigs'', a retelling of the classic fairy tail features this. The wolf was only trying to borrow sugar from the three pigs but as he had a bad cold and the pigs had poorly constructed houses he kept sneezing the houses down - and the dead pigs? He's still a wolf, waste not want not.

* In ''Series/NotGoingOut'' this appears to be a MeetCute, but turns out to be [[spoiler:the excuse version]] of sorts when a girl who [[spoiler:thinks she is Lee's daughter]] appears, [[spoiler:[[StatusQuoIsGod of she isn't its a sitcom]]]]. When a guy shows up at the end of the episode asking to borrow some milk Lee tells him there's a Tesco nearby and shuts the door on him.
* ''Series/TheYoungOnes :

* On an episode of ''Series/TheYoungOnes'' when they are freezing in their unheated house in winter, Vivien keeps borrowing cups of sugar from the neighbour, who comments that she would like her cups back at some point. It turns out [[RuleOfFunny Vivien is burning the cups to keep warm]].