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** ButtMonkey: Raj[[hottip:*:Also FunnyForeigner the lovable foreigner who struggles to understand our ways and fails.]]
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** ButtMonkey: Raj[[hottip:*:Also a lovable FunnyForeigner the lovable foreigner who struggles to understand our ways and fails.]]
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*** Not just the finger, the MOVING FINGER!
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*** Not just the finger, the MOVING FINGER!'''''moving finger!'''''
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Changed line(s) 240 (click to see context) from:
* InnocentInnuendo: Sheldon will often say things without making the connection that what he said is inappropriate or just sounds strange.
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* InnocentInnuendo: Sheldon will often say things without making the connection that what he said is inappropriate or just sounds strange. One time Sheldon was on the receiving end when Leonard told him about his date with Amy that went well, although he hurt himself while dancing the Hokey Pokey. "Turns out she really knows how to get a guy to relax and have a good time. Though truth be told my groin is a little worse for wear."
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** For a treat to their studio audience they organized a [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72AS5zybR4I Flash Mob]], dancing to "Call Me Maybe" and other songs.
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** Raj goes from the typical {{Nerd}}[=/=]FunnyForeigner who couldn't speak to women in earlier seasons, to a full-fledged closeted homosexual in seasons 4 and 5.
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* JerkassHasAPoint: Wheaton said this just to win a bowling match, but he was right in that leading Leonard on would be more cruel than breaking up with him. Given later seasons, it feels like Penny is still stringing him along, since she is a lot more unsure about her own feelings than he is.
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* HilariouslyAbusiveChildhood: Sheldon. Also Leonard, to a degree.
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* HilariouslyAbusiveChildhood: Sheldon. Also Leonard, to the point where the government would have taken him away from his mother they known about the psychological torments she put him through. Sheldon to a degree.lesser extent, being more of a case of a loving family to which he was well out of step (as evidenced by his complaints about not receiving a titanium centrifuge as a child, as no child would wants a dirt bike). Though all the male characters appear to have been regularly bullied in school.
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** A quick Google search shows that one bedroom apartments in buildings the seem classy enough to repair an elevator within a decade of its breaking/exploding would run $12,000 to $18,000 a year, two bedrooms about $18,000 to $24,000. We can probably assume that the gang lives at the lower end of the scale. More web research shows a waitress could make $24,000 and up, which would fit with her struggling to get by. On the other hand, at Caltech, even instructors (below professors) make about $45,000, Assistant Professors and above around a hundred grand and up. Overall, I'd say that more than "not as bad as it could be", this trope is completely averted.
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* InsomniaEpisode: In one episode Sheldon is unable to sleep as long as he's left a specific science problem, one he's having a lot of trouble with, unsolved. Over the course of the episode he steals peas, then makes diagrams with marbles, and when those are not big enough he breaks into a generic Chuck E Cheese type place to use the balls from the ball pit.
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** Despite being presented as "exceptionally brilliant", he seems almost depressingly clueless to anything that isn't science-related (especially the most basic of social situations) making him something of a GeniusDitz.
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** Wil Wheaton (at least, his character, not the man himself) for intentionally increasing the wedge between Penny and Leonard, just to get back at Sheldon.
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** Wil Wheaton (at ([[MeanCharacterNiceActor at least, his character, not the man himself) himself]]) for intentionally increasing the wedge between Penny and Leonard, just to get back at Sheldon.
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* [[FourTemperamentEnsemble Five-Temperament Ensemble]]: Sheldon (choleric), Leonard (phlegmatic), Howard (sanguine), Raj (leukine), and Stuart (melancholic).
** Among the women: Penny (choleric), Bernadette (sanguine), and Amy (leukine).
** Among the women: Penny (choleric), Bernadette (sanguine), and Amy (leukine).
Changed line(s) 42,43 (click to see context) from:
* FourTemperamentEnsemble: Sheldon is choleric; Leonard is phlegmatic; Howard is sanguine; Raj is leukine; Stuart is melancholic.
** Among the women, Penny is choleric, Bernadette sanguine, and Amy leukine.
** Among the women, Penny is choleric, Bernadette sanguine, and Amy leukine.
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* FourTemperamentEnsemble: Sheldon is choleric; Leonard is phlegmatic; Howard is sanguine; Raj is leukine; Stuart is melancholic.
** Among the women, Penny is choleric, Bernadette sanguine, and Amy leukine.See Five-Temperament above.
** Among the women, Penny is choleric, Bernadette sanguine, and Amy leukine.
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** Pretty much every scene Raj and Stewart have together in season six....
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* FourTemperamentEnsemble: Sheldon is Choleric, Leonard is Phlegmatic, Howard is Sanguine, Raj is Melancholic.
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* FourTemperamentEnsemble: Sheldon is Choleric, choleric; Leonard is Phlegmatic, phlegmatic; Howard is Sanguine, sanguine; Raj is Melancholic.leukine; Stuart is melancholic.
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Changed line(s) 21 (click to see context) from:
** Sheldon also determined the four guys' roles in a Four Man Band. He is [[TheSmartGuy "the smart one"]], Howard is [[FunPersonified "the funny one"]], Raj is the [[FunnyForeigner "lovable foreigner who struggles to understand our ways and fails"]], and therefore Leonard is [[TheBigGuy "the muscle"]] by default.
to:
** Sheldon also determined Although the four guys' roles in a Four Man Band. He trope itself is [[TheSmartGuy "the smart one"]], Howard is [[FunPersonified "the funny one"]], Raj is the [[FunnyForeigner "lovable foreigner who struggles to understand our ways and fails"]], and therefore Leonard is [[TheBigGuy "the muscle"]] by default.generally averted (see FourManBand).
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* FourManBand: Even lampshaded when Sheldon determined the roles of this trope.
** OnlySaneMan: Leonard[[hottip:*:He is also [[TheBigGuy the muscle.]]
** TheSmartGuy: Sheldon
** The Pervert: Howard[[hottip:*: He is also [[FunPersonified the funny one.]]
** ButtMonkey: Raj[[hottip:*:Also FunnyForeigner the lovable foreigner who struggles to understand our ways and fails.]]
** OnlySaneMan: Leonard[[hottip:*:He is also [[TheBigGuy the muscle.]]
** TheSmartGuy: Sheldon
** The Pervert: Howard[[hottip:*: He is also [[FunPersonified the funny one.]]
** ButtMonkey: Raj[[hottip:*:Also FunnyForeigner the lovable foreigner who struggles to understand our ways and fails.]]
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Changed line(s) 82 (click to see context) from:
** The Egg Salad Equivalency ends with Penny revealing she bought a pair of nerd glasses in order to invoke this. Leonard's skeptical at first... and then she puts them on.
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** The "The Egg Salad Equivalency Equivalency" ends with Penny revealing she bought a pair of nerd glasses in order to invoke this. Leonard's skeptical at first... and then she puts them on.
Changed line(s) 207 (click to see context) from:
-->'''Mrs. Wolowitz''': You should've seen me when I was young, Sheldon. The fella's used to line up and give me boxes of candy. Why did I eat it all?!
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-->'''Mrs. Wolowitz''': You should've seen me when I was young, Sheldon. The fella's fellas used to line up and give me boxes of candy. Why did I eat it all?!
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* FourTemperamentEnsemble: Sheldon is Choleric, Leonard is Phlegmatic, Howard is Sanguine, Raj is Melancholic.
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* FourTemperamentEnsemble: Sheldon is Choleric, Leonard is Phlegmatic, Howard is Sanguine, Raj is Melancholic.Melancholic.
** Among the women, Penny is choleric, Bernadette sanguine, and Amy leukine.
** Among the women, Penny is choleric, Bernadette sanguine, and Amy leukine.
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making a handy back-link
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''Series/TheBigBangTheory''
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* FakeCrossover: ''TheLateLateShow'' with CraigFerguson did a ColdOpening where he was applying to be friends with the group, filled with quite a few character bits (Raj didn't like his accent) and SelfDeprecation. Craig later interviewed Johnny Galecki that same night.
--> '''Sheldon:''' It was a humorous conceit on the violation of the fourth wall and I did NOT care for it.
* FakeHigh: In one episode Raj starts hitting on Creator/SummerGlau (and skillfully at that), until Howard points out the beer was non-alcoholic, and he can't continue.
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* FakeCrossover: ''TheLateLateShow'' with CraigFerguson did a ColdOpening where he was applying to be friends with the group, filled with quite a few character bits (Raj didn't like his accent) and SelfDeprecation. Craig later interviewed Johnny Galecki that same night.
--> '''Sheldon:''' It was a humorous conceit on the violation of the fourth wall and I did NOT care for it.
* FakeHigh: In one episode Raj starts hitting on Creator/SummerGlau (and skillfully at that), until Howard points out the beer was non-alcoholic, and he can't continue.
--> '''Sheldon:''' It was a humorous conceit on the violation of the fourth wall and I did NOT care for it.
* FakeHigh: In one episode Raj starts hitting on Creator/SummerGlau (and skillfully at that), until Howard points out the beer was non-alcoholic, and he can't continue.
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* JustOneMoreLevel: Penny in "[[ShowWithinAShow The Barbarian Sublimation]]".
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* JustOneMoreLevel: Penny in "[[ShowWithinAShow The Barbarian Sublimation]]".
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Changed line(s) 9 (click to see context) from:
--> '''Sheldon:''' It was a humorous conceit on the violation of the fourth wall and I did NOT care for it.* FakeHigh: In one episode Raj starts hitting on Creator/SummerGlau (and skillfully at that), until Howard points out the beer was non-alcoholic, and he can't continue.
to:
--> '''Sheldon:''' It was a humorous conceit on the violation of the fourth wall and I did NOT care for it.it.
* FakeHigh: In one episode Raj starts hitting on Creator/SummerGlau (and skillfully at that), until Howard points out the beer was non-alcoholic, and he can't continue.
* FakeHigh: In one episode Raj starts hitting on Creator/SummerGlau (and skillfully at that), until Howard points out the beer was non-alcoholic, and he can't continue.
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Changed line(s) 9,10 (click to see context) from:
--> '''Sheldon:''' It was a humorous conceit on the violation of the fourth wall and I did NOT care for it.
* FakeHigh: In one episode Raj starts hitting on Creator/SummerGlau (and skillfully at that), until Howard points out the beer was non-alcoholic, and he can't continue.
* FakeHigh: In one episode Raj starts hitting on Creator/SummerGlau (and skillfully at that), until Howard points out the beer was non-alcoholic, and he can't continue.
to:
--> '''Sheldon:''' It was a humorous conceit on the violation of the fourth wall and I did NOT care for it.
it.* FakeHigh: In one episode Raj starts hitting on Creator/SummerGlau (and skillfully at that), until Howard points out the beer was non-alcoholic, and he can't continue.
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** The Egg Salad Equivalency ends with Penny revealing she bought a pair of nerd glasses in order to invoke this. Leonard's skeptical at first...and then she puts them on.
--> '''Penny:''' Molecules.
--> '''Leonard:''' Oh my god you look so smart and hot!
--> '''Penny:''' Molecules.
--> '''Leonard:''' Oh my god you look so smart and hot!
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** The Egg Salad Equivalency ends with Penny revealing she bought a pair of nerd glasses in order to invoke this. Leonard's skeptical at first... and then she puts them on.
--> ---> '''Penny:''' Molecules.
--> ---> '''Leonard:''' Oh my god you look so smart and hot!
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* JustOneMoreLevel: Penny in "[[ShowWithinAShow The Barbarian Sublimation]]".
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* JustOneMoreLevel: Penny in "[[ShowWithinAShow The Barbarian Sublimation]]".
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** The Egg Salad Equivalency ends with Penny revealing she bought a pair of nerd glasses in order to invoke this. Leonard's skeptical at first...and then she puts them on.
--> '''Penny:''' Molecules.
--> '''Leonard:''' Oh my god you look so smart and hot!
--> '''Penny:''' Molecules.
--> '''Leonard:''' Oh my god you look so smart and hot!
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** Amy figured that she could best assimilate herself as a romantic interest to Sheldon by influencing him with all the things that he loves. Thus they have a romantic evening with music from SuperMarioBrothers, Strawberry Nesquik and [[ContinuityNod spaghetti with hot dogs cut up in it]]. Sheldon surprised himself with how well it was working, and the subplot ended with Amy dressed up as [[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries Nurse Chapel]] and "playing doctor" with Sheldon Franchise/StarTrek-style.
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** Amy figured that she could best assimilate herself as a romantic interest to Sheldon by influencing him with all the things that he loves. Thus they have a romantic evening with music from SuperMarioBrothers, ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros'', Strawberry Nesquik and [[ContinuityNod spaghetti with hot dogs cut up in it]]. Sheldon surprised himself with how well it was working, and the subplot ended with Amy dressed up as [[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries Nurse Chapel]] and "playing doctor" with Sheldon Franchise/StarTrek-style.''Franchise/StarTrek''-style.
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---> '''KateeSackhoff''': Howard, do you have latent homesexual tendencies?
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---> '''KateeSackhoff''': Howard, do you have latent homesexual homosexual tendencies?
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trope was renamed
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* FelonyMisdemeanor: In-universe and PlayedForLaughs. When Leonard is invited to see the Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland on Valentine's Day and insists on making it a romantic holiday with Penny, instead of taking Sheldon as was agreed to in the Roommate Agreement, Sheldon is very angry and plays a driving game with him called "Traitors" where he names three historical traitors and Leonard is to put them in the order of the magnitude of their treachery. First round: Benedict Arnold, [[Literature/TheBible Judas]], and Dr. Leonard Hofstadter. When Leonard protests against being included in the same category as these men, Sheldon even hints that Judas ranks somewhere ''below'' Leonard.
** When talking about the horrible things that would happen at his birthday parties, Sheldon confessed to Penny with great anguish that he got a motorized dirtbike instead of a titanium centrifuge. Sheldon simply could not understand what child would like such a gift, and was genuinely perplexed when Penny said that most kids would love it.
** When talking about the horrible things that would happen at his birthday parties, Sheldon confessed to Penny with great anguish that he got a motorized dirtbike instead of a titanium centrifuge. Sheldon simply could not understand what child would like such a gift, and was genuinely perplexed when Penny said that most kids would love it.
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** "Fish Guts Displacement" has Howard asking Leonard and Raj if they knew how to fish, which they laughed over. Howard then asked "Who are we going to find that knows how to do this kind of manly stuff?" Cut to the guys at Penny's door, who opens wearing an oversized t-shirt and eating a slice of cold pizza. "What?"
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** [[NoSocialSkills Sheldon]] once claimed that Barry Kripke "lacks the basic social skills that we take for granted", accused Leonard of having [[ItsAllAboutMe Narcissistic Personality Disorder]] and when Howard refused to take him home because he didn't want to use a [[AfraidOfGerms hospital bathroom]], complained that their friendship is "[[IResembleThatRemark all give and no take]]".
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** [[NoSocialSkills Sheldon]] once claimed that Barry Kripke "lacks the basic social skills that we take for granted", accused Leonard of having [[ItsAllAboutMe Narcissistic Personality Disorder]] and when Howard refused to take drive him home because he didn't want to use a [[AfraidOfGerms hospital bathroom]], bathroom, Sheldon complained that their friendship is not supposed to be "[[IResembleThatRemark all give and no take]]".
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Changed line(s) 173 (click to see context) from:
** [[NoSocialSkills Sheldon]] once claimed that Barry Kripke "lacks the basic social skills that we take for granted". He also accused Leonard of having Narcissistic Personality Disorder.
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** [[NoSocialSkills Sheldon]] once claimed that Barry Kripke "lacks the basic social skills that we take for granted". He also granted", accused Leonard of having [[ItsAllAboutMe Narcissistic Personality Disorder.Disorder]] and when Howard refused to take him home because he didn't want to use a [[AfraidOfGerms hospital bathroom]], complained that their friendship is "[[IResembleThatRemark all give and no take]]".
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* HybridMonster: Sheldon mentions a desire to create a Griffin and a "Dog-topus". Mankind is thankful he hasn't... ''yet''.
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* InnocentInnuendo: Sheldon will often say things without making the connection that what he said is inappropriate or just sounds strange.
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* InnocentInnuendo: Sheldon will often say things without making the connection that what he said is inappropriate or just sounds strange.
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** Sheldon and Long Island ice tea. "Best tea I've ever had!"
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* Website/{{Facebook}}: The others are surprised Sheldon uses the website.
-->'''Sheldon''': I'm in favor of anything that tries to replace actual human contact.
* FastForwardGag: Played with; when the main characters buy a TimeMachine replica, they ''pretend'' they're moving in fast forward.
* FateWorseThanDeath: In a purely silly sense, it's taking care of Sheldon when he's sick, or if someone aside from Leonard drives him to work.
** Or sits in his spot or changes his schedule...
* FawltyTowersPlot: Subverted in an episode where the lie works perfectly, but Sheldon overcomplicates it when he notices minute flaws in it. The lie never actually falls apart.
** Also subverted in "The Recombination Hypothesis" Leonard ended up having to explain to Sheldon why he was returning to the apartment at 3 in the morning, when Sheldon was getting out of the bathroom. The real reason was [[spoiler:Penny dragged Leonard over to her apartment to have sex and start seeing each other again]] but Leonard didn't want to tell Sheldon about it. So it slowly got more and more implausible as Sheldon poked holes into the explanation, until Leonard actually had some evidence to back up his claim (an [[ChekhovsGun asthma inhaler brought up in the previous scene]]).
* FakeCrossover: ''TheLateLateShow'' with CraigFerguson did a ColdOpening where he was applying to be friends with the group, filled with quite a few character bits (Raj didn't like his accent) and SelfDeprecation. Craig later interviewed Johnny Galecki that same night.
--> '''Sheldon:''' It was a humorous conceit on the violation of the fourth wall and I did NOT care for it.
* FakeHigh: In one episode Raj starts hitting on Creator/SummerGlau (and skillfully at that), until Howard points out the beer was non-alcoholic, and he can't continue.
* FirstKiss: Sheldon gets one from a drunken Amy. It's mostly awkward for both of them.
** Sheldon received one earlier from a drunk Mrs. Hoffstader. No one really wants to talk about it after the fact.
* FiveManBand: Done through ConversationalTroping, Sheldon has grouped the cast into his own ''Star Trek''-based version and crossing over into the CommandRoster.
-->'''Sheldon''': If you fail at this relationship, and history suggests you will, then we risk losing the medical officer our landing party has always needed.\\
'''Leonard''': What landing party?\\
'''Sheldon''': You're [[TheKirk Kirk]], I'm [[TheSpock Spock]], Wolowitz is Scotty, Koothrappali is [[RedShirt the guy who always gets killed]] [looking at Leonard's doctor girlfriend at the time] and now we've got [=McCoy=].
** Sheldon also determined the four guys' roles in a Four Man Band. He is [[TheSmartGuy "the smart one"]], Howard is [[FunPersonified "the funny one"]], Raj is the [[FunnyForeigner "lovable foreigner who struggles to understand our ways and fails"]], and therefore Leonard is [[TheBigGuy "the muscle"]] by default.
* {{Flanderization}}: The local Comic Book Store owner, Stuart, was originally just a very normal guy who successfully asked Penny out. It was a key plot point that in terms of being a decent, normal guy he was virtually identical to Leonard. While he remained a friendly guy he later gained some neurotic ticks, low self-esteem and has a lot more trouble talking to women than before. The change can probably be explained that "nice, normal guy" doesn't leave things too open for comedy and they wanted him to stand apart from Leonard.
** In the case of Stuart, it's implied in the show that he hit a string of bad relationships in addition to financial problems ''and'' health issues. Getting crushed by Penny (who said Leonard's name while they were making out) in addition to living in the comic book store probably destroyed his self-esteem.
** An inversion of this trope is done in the WholeEpisodeFlashback to when Leonard and Sheldon first met. The Sheldon of the series has all sorts of quirks but still makes awkward attempts at social interaction and understanding how normal people think, the Sheldon of the {{flashback}} was basically a flanderization of his current personality where his Control Freak and Insufferable Genius mannerisms were about all he was. While not really elaborated upon, it's suggested that being friends with Leonard is the reason Sheldon of today is even remotely workable.
* FleetingPassionateHobbies: Sheldon after losing his job. One of them has him ''at a loom.''
-->'''Leonard''': This one is particularly disturbing.
** [[BrickJoke Brought back in season 4]], Leonard does say that he got good at it and made them matching serapes.
--->'''Raj:''' "I still wear mine when there's a nip in the air."
* FlippingTheBird: Played with. After Sheldon made an insult about Wolowitz's robotic arm, he gave it a command and it held up the peace sign, which confused Sheldon and Howard tries fixing the code.
** Sheldon once quoted the Rubiyat to Penny after she made him miss an autograph signing with Creator/StanLee, making dramatic poses with his ''index'' finger in the air. When he left the room Penny felt like he gave her the finger in some way.
*** Not just the finger, the MOVING FINGER!
* FoodAndAnimalAttraction: In one episode, Sheldon is chased by a vicious dog because it can smell the hot dogs Sheldon was hiding in his pants.
* FootFocus:
** In general, Penny DoesNotLikeShoes except for flip-flops.
*** Although a point is often made about how many shoes she buys, she never actually seems to wear them.
** The episode explaining how Leonard and Sheldon met had this in the present day sequences.
* FourTemperamentEnsemble: Sheldon is Choleric, Leonard is Phlegmatic, Howard is Sanguine, Raj is Melancholic.
* ForScience
-->'''Leonard''': You put ground-up moth in my food?!\\
'''Sheldon''': ForScience!
* FreakyFashionMildMind: Alice from "The Good Guy Fluxuation" was a female geek (very rare on the show) and dressed in a combination of punk rocker and goth, along with a noticeable [[TattooAsCharacterType tattoo on her chest]] and a wide assortment of piercings. She turned out to be really friendly and well-mannered in addition to her geeky passions.
* FreezeFrameBonus: Howard's mother, never actually seen before on the show, can be seen from above in the zoom out from Howard's wedding in the Season 5 Finale.
* FreudianExcuse: Averted by Raj, when he decides to be a douche for no apparent reason on the penultimate episode of season 4.
-->'''Raj '''(amused)''':''' You’d think it’s because my parents didn’t love me, but actually they loved me a great deal.
** The reason why Leonard is so needy in relationships, likely comes from the fact that his mother maintains a cold detachment from him and treats him as more like a test-subject. His need for intimacy resulted in him building a ''hugging machine'' as a child.
* FreudianTrio: Confirmed by WordOfGod, the Penny/Leonard/Sheldon relationship was designed to be like this. Sheldon is TheSpock, who represents "logic" and the aspirations of science over all else. Penny is TheMcCoy, who represents "emotion" and the promise of a full life to experience. Leonard is TheKirk, who is torn between those two worlds.
** Amy incidently describes the trope when depressed and analyzing her relationship with Bernadette and Penny, but done in her own neurobiology terms. Penny is the creative and spontaneous right half of the brain while Bernadette is the scientific and analytical other half. Amy is the one of the group caught between the two halves, but her comparison comes out to her being a tumor.
* TheFriendNobodyLikes: Sheldon frequently takes this role.
** Barry Kripke.
* FriendshipMoment: With regularity. They like to prank each other and often don't get along, but all the guys came from the geek end of the social pool and so they've banded together really tight. Sheldon, in particular, did not have many friends growing up and when the moment comes he is very grateful for the friends he has. This happened as early as the second episode, where Penny freaked out over a violation of privacy (Sheldon cleaned her apartment while she was sleeping). After thinking it over she forgave them, and even told Leonard everything was okay when he came over to apologize.
* FriendsRentControl: It's not as bad as it could be, since they aren't living in a luxury New York suite, but a smaller building with a broken elevator in Pasadena. Sheldon mentions that if he could afford it he wouldn't have Leonard as a roommate. Penny seems to mostly afford her apartment on a waitress paycheck (and tips) with little trouble, at least until it's plot relevant. Unlike other examples of this trope, rent issues are relatively common. Penny has had to leave work from time to time because of the guys, and she always points out that losing a day's pay is not helpful.
** It might have more to do with the fact he needs Leonard to drive him to work than to pay for the apartment. He seems to have more than enough money as he doesn't cash his paychecks. Leonard and Sheldon are both single, degreed professionals who should logically be able to afford their apartment with little difficulty.
*** Moreover, Sheldon has both been at [=CalTech=] longer and is higher on the career ladder than Leonard.
* FriendsWithBenefits: [[DiscussedTrope Discussed]], with [[{{Asexual}} Sheldon]] not really understanding the concept. "What exactly does that expression mean, 'Friends with Benefits?' Does he provide her with health insurance?"
-->'''Sheldon:''' Are you and Leonard "Friends With Benefits?"\\
'''Penny:''' No! Did he say we were?\\
'''Sheldon:''' Leonard said nothing, but who knows what goes on over here when he pretends your mail was misdelivered.\\
'''Penny:''' What? Just mail, no benefits. [[hottip:*:In a HilariousOuttakes moment, Kaley Cuoco accidentally switched the phrase, saying "Just benefits, no mail... [[ThatCameOutWrong wait?]]
* FromBadToWorse: see EvilGloating.
* FullNameBasis: Amy is often referred to by her full name, Amy Farrah Fowler.
* FunTShirt: There's even [[http://www.sheldonshirts.com/ a website]] that keeps track of the characters' shirts and where you can buy them. In one episode, a gag was about Raj having a shirt with a speaker built into it. It could play everything from the Imperial March to the Final Jeopardy theme. You can get it [[http://www.thinkgeek.com/tshirts-apparel/interactive/a5bf/ here.]]
* FunWithAcronyms: In "The Bat Jar Conjecture" the guys decide to enter the university's Physics Bowl and have a debate on what to name their team. Sheldon prefers the Army Ants while Howard suggests Perpetual Motion Squad. Later, Sheldon has a fallout with the others and actually enters the Physics Bowl against them... so it's AA vs. PMS.
** Sheldon's suggestion for the name of Leonard's iPhone app.
---> "'''S'''uprisingly '''H'''elpful '''E'''quation '''L'''ink '''D'''ifferential '''O'''ptimise '''N'''umerator"
* FunWithSubtitles: Howard knows sign language. He's a terribly lazy translator.
* GamerChick: Penny isn't a gamer, but in S1 Ep07, "The Dumpling Paradox", she fills in for Howard for the guys' ''VideoGame/{{Halo}}'' night, and the first time she picks up an XBox controller, she manages to outclass all of them on her first try. And yes, the guys are 30-year-old geeks who play ''VideoGame/{{Halo}}'' religiously. However, considering Penny's more rounded characterization, this is surely less PositiveDiscrimination and more RuleOfFunny.
-->'''Penny:''' (As Sheldon tries to leave for his bedroom) Wait, wait! Sheldon, come back! You forgot something!\\
'''Sheldon:''' What?\\
'''Penny:''' This [[StickyBomb plasma grenade!]] (Sound of large explosion) Ha! Look! It's raining YOU!
** Sheldon clearly doesn't believe in this trope.
---> '''Sheldon''': I don't know how, but she is cheating. Nobody can be that attractive and this skilled at a video game.
** S2 Ep03, "The Barbarian Sublimation," also has Penny getting addicted to ''AgeOfConan''.
* GeekPhysique: Both Sheldon and Howard are very skinny, and once Howard boasted of having 3% body fat (described by Raj as a "Human Chicken Wing"). Raj and Leonard are of average size (though there is a reason we rarely see Leonard barechested or in simple t-shirts, as Johnny Galecki is in pretty good shape). The only "geek" on the show who is overweight is the [[LivingProp minor background character]] "Captain Sweatpants."
* GeekReferencePool: Averted. Their pool runs deep, although they seldom leave it.
* GeekyAnalogy: Most explanations of anything involving social conventions.
** At one point ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKXBqs1flqQ Penny]]'' is the one delivering it, leading to a [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone realization]] of CharacterDevelopment moment for her (and rapt cheering from the studio audience).
* GeekyTurnOn: To be expected given the premise of the show. One episode had Raj and Sheldon together with Sheldon holding a Franchise/GreenLantern Power Battery and it actually attracted the attention of a couple of girls, thinking it was cool. An unfortunate side-effect of this trope shows up when [[spoiler: Leonard and Penny are together in bed and Penny references a line from ''Franchise/StarWars'' and even knew [[Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack the exact movie]]. Leonard was so excited being with her in that moment he said a premature "I Love You" and it caused a storm of awkwardness that lead to them breaking up.]]
** When dating, Penny suggested that she and Leonard make out on Sheldon's spot on the couch. This was seen as quite a taboo thing to do.
** Amy figured that she could best assimilate herself as a romantic interest to Sheldon by influencing him with all the things that he loves. Thus they have a romantic evening with music from SuperMarioBrothers, Strawberry Nesquik and [[ContinuityNod spaghetti with hot dogs cut up in it]]. Sheldon surprised himself with how well it was working, and the subplot ended with Amy dressed up as [[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries Nurse Chapel]] and "playing doctor" with Sheldon Franchise/StarTrek-style.
** "The Holographic Excitation" had Penny admit to Bernadette and Amy that she really did not understand what Leonard does as an experimental physicist. After some prodding she surprised him at work and asked to see some of his experiments. When he gave her a short presentation musing on a theory of the universe she was awestruck and said "Sometimes I forget how smart you are." They ended up fooling around in his lab and apparently repeated the pattern of science project/sex over the next few days.
* GenreSavvy: Penny manipulates Sheldon into re-rolling dice by pointing out "Doubles. Roll again."
* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: The show actually gets away with a lot of surprising jokes. One memorable joke comes from "The Pants Alternative".
-->'''Penny:''' So, Sheldon, will you let us be your X-Men?
-->'''Sheldon:''' No, the X-Men were named because of the beginning letter of the last name of Charles Xavier. Since my last name is Cooper, you will be my C-Men. (the other characters get very quiet)
-->'''Raj:''' (later in the episode) How can Sheldon be nervous? He's surrounded by his C-Men!
** What about from "The Plimpton Stimulation"? A couple of jokes from that episode...
--->'''Sheldon:''' What am I supposed to believe? That you somehow tripped and fell into her lady parts?
--->(later) '''Penny:''' No, no, you don't have to drive me to work. It's OK! It's not like I'm afraid you're going to trip over and get me pregnant.
*** Oh, and the end where Dr. Plimpton tried to get the boys into a foursome.
** Don't forget "The Bat Jar Conjecture". The team was called PMS. What made this hilarious was what the back of the shirt said. ''We can go all night.'' Howard proudly shows off his shirt.
** [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQrUZ1e0yaE&feature=related This happened.]]
** In the fifth season finale the group learns that Leonard stupidly [[spoiler: proposed to Penny in the middle of sex]]. Howard's response was "Did you get on one knee or were you already there?"
** In "The 43 Peculiarity" Leonard was worried over Penny spending time with a male classmate and Sheldon suggested that if the guy was a skilled hypnotist Penny may be performing sexual acts on him with her thinking she is just "a chicken pecking for corn." Upon getting a very disturbed look from Leonard, Sheldon "helpfully" pantomimes the action.
* GilliganCut: The Nerdvana Annihilation
-->'''Sheldon''': "I still don't understand why no one else bid on the (what he thinks is a minature) time machine". (Switch to the foursome standing around the recently delivered full-size time machine) "I understand why no one else bid on the time machine."
* GirlfriendInCanada: Amy Farrah Fowler admits she once told her family she had a boyfriend who was a miniature horse breeder. The lie unravelled when she was asked where they met. She panicked and said "Woodstock".
* GirlOnGirlIsHot: Averted, when a very tipsy Amy gave Penny a mouth kiss ("Come here, Bestie, give me some sugar") it was not only very ''under''played but Penny even gave an embarrassed laugh after it happened. In addition, there wasn't any rising laughter by the LaughTrack.
** A similarly understated moment happens when Penny and Bernadette discuss the awkward things Amy likes to talk about with them such as painting fertility symbols on Bernadette's naked body as being a wedding ritual. The guys noticeably quiet down after they say that, with Raj in particular (being silent anyway) subtly staring off into space.
* GiveGeeksAChance: As the show has continued it has actually started [[DeconstructedTrope poking holes]] into this trope with the relationship between Leonard and Penny. Both are worried that the other will grow tired of the other, Leonard for the fact Penny is so much more attractive than him and Penny for the ''massive'' intellectual gap between them. Then the show tries [[{{Reconstruction}} putting it back together]] showing both Penny trying to understand his work and Leonard dealing with his insecurities.
* GodzillaThreshold: In one episode involving a war between Sheldon and Penny, Leonard gives Penny what is more or less (as he described it) Sheldon's [[Franchise/{{Superman}} kryptonite]]. His justification for doing so is that it would "cut five years off the war and save millions of lives". Said kryptonite being [[spoiler: the phone number of Sheldon's mother.]]
* GoldDigger: Raj's DisabledLoveInterest lets him shower her with many, many gifts. Penny also muses that Raj is hotter now that she knows he's rich.
* GoneHorriblyRight: The foam in Kripke's office was supposed to be a prank on just Kripke, Sheldon didn't expect it to fall on the president of the university and the board of directors.
* GoodIsNotNice:
** Very much DependingOnTheWriter, Sheldon. He's sometimes bad, sometimes good, and very rarely nice.
** And Leonard, starting at the end of season two and well into season three with [[spoiler: the Arctic incident,]] for example.
** Also Penny & Howard can be pretty mean at times.
* GoofyPrintUnderwear: On one episode Howard talks Leonard and Raj into being his wingman at a bar. They all change out of their standard Superhero symbol boxer shorts .... just in case.
* GoshDarnItToHeck: Sheldon when drunk at Howard's bachelor party starts saying "Jeepers!".
--> '''Leonard''': Whoa, its a little early to be dropping ''J-Bombs'', don't you think?
* GravityIsAHarshMistress: Almost mentioned by name.
-->'''Sheldon''': Oh gravity thou art a heartless bitch.
* GrayAndGreyMorality: In "The Speckerman Recurrence," Penny, Bernadette and Amy have a change of heart after nearly taking clothes from a donation bin. [[spoiler: Bernadette goes back for suede boots, screaming her justification, "It's OK, I serve soup to poor people!"]]
* GroinAttack: Sheldon's sister's method of keeping Sheldon in line.
** Penny administers one to the guy who hacked Sheldon's ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' account in "The Zarnecki Incursion".
** Howard sets Leonard up with a date that knows 100 ways to rip a guy's nuts off. She's not shy about demonstrating them in a restaurant.
* HairTodayGoneTomorrow: In the flashback episode late in season three, Leonard had long, wavy locks, Howard had a [[FunnyAfro Jewish Afro]] and Raj had something of a mullet. Sheldon was the only one with the same hair-style, and with the exception of Howard their current looks are big improvements.
* HalloweenCosplay: The group, plus Penny's then-current boyfriend dress up as the Justice League of America for a costume contest
* HardOnSoftScience
-->'''Amy''': If your friends are unconvincing, this year’s donations might go... say, the geology department.\\
'''Sheldon''': Oh dear, not the dirt people!\\
'''Amy''': Or worse, it could go to... the liberal arts.\\
'''Sheldon''': No.\\
'''Amy''': Millions of dollars being showered on poets, literary theorists and students of gender studies.\\
'''Sheldon''': [[MemeticMutation Oh, the Humanities!]]
* {{Headdesk}}:
-->'''Sheldon:''' Why is Leonard softly banging his head against his bedroom door?
* HeartbreakAndIceCream: Raj {{Bookends}} a brief relationship with a DisabledLoveInterest by comforting himself first with pie then with cheesecake.
** In one early episode Penny is seen eating an entire tub of ice cream while crying her eyes out due to a breakup.
* HeelFaceTurn:
** In "The Russian Rocket Reaction," one of Sheldon's mortal enemies crosses himself off of Sheldon's list.
* HeliumSpeech: Kripke fills Sheldon's office with helium while the latter is on call for an Creator/{{NPR}} interview. The pitch of his voice increases throughout the entire interview.
* HerCodeNameWasMarySue: The episode where Penny becomes addicted to ''AgeOfConan'' everyone's characters were clearly named after them: Sheldon was Sheldor (The Conqueror), Penny was (Queen) Penelope and Howard was... Sir Howard of Wolowitz.
* HeroicBSOD: Sheldon when he discovers that Leonard, Howard and Raj lied to him about the results of his experiments at the North Pole ''after'' he has already boasted about changing the face of physics to ''everyone'', earning him a ton of ridicule when he has to print a retraction.
** Then Penny's attempt to cheer him up, by comparing his situation to when Young Spock was teased for being half-Vulcan, leave him in further despair when he discovers even ''[[ClosetGeek she]]'' has seen ''Film/StarTrek'' before him.
* HeroicSacrifice: Sheldon in "The Skank Reflex Hypothesis."
** "Geology is not a real science!", with Platoon style "death"
* HeterosexualLifePartners: Howard and Raj argue like a married couple, and are generally paired together in team activities and usually serve as each others "wingman." Leonard and Sheldon are a more mild version, as Leonard can only stand Sheldon for limited periods of time.
* HiddenDepths: Sheldon proves to be surprisingly understanding and helpful when hearing about his friends' love or financial problems.
* HilariouslyAbusiveChildhood: Sheldon. Also Leonard, to a degree.
* HilariousOuttakes: You can only imagine the slip-ups that occur due to all of the terminology the characters throw around. Jim Parsons in particular had no end of trouble with the "Rock, Paper, Scissors, Lizard, Spock" explanation, just by the sheer length, the hand motions, timing and not letting the audience laughter throw him off.
* HollywoodDateless: We are supposed to believe Leonard is awkward with women, and in a way he is. However, his dating history includes many hot women - Penny, Dr. Stephanie, the Korean spy, Leslie and now Priya - so one has to wonder why would he think he is unlucky with women.
** Also part of his rather obvious CharacterDevelopment during the show is that he gets better around women thanks to spending time with Penny. Same with Howard. Averted with Raj, who still can't speak to women who aren't relatives without drugs.
* HollywoodNerd: Type 1 is first played straight in the pilot where Leonard pines after Penny, and he and Sheldon get bullied and humiliated via ComedicUnderwearExposure trying to get her TV back from her stereotypically JerkJock ex-boyfriend. Later, we learn that scientists, academics, comic book geeks, and Creator/WilWheaton are perfectly capable of picking on each other without outside help.
* HollywoodPudgy: Poked at when the guys managed to convince Penny and her date Zach to join them at a costume party as the JusticeLeagueOfAmerica. Penny got upset over things both overt and subtle and refused to go, and Sheldon tried to convince her to come by claiming to know why she was upset... that she thought she looked fat in the WonderWoman costume. That was obviously not the reason she was upset (and [[{{Fanservice}} clearly not the case]] in the show) but Penny then started to worry that maybe she did look fat... and Sheldon tried to "comfort" her saying it doesn't matter since [[AmazonianBeauty Amazons were supposed to be "beefy gals."]]
** Invoked again by Sheldon when, after Penny takes the last dumpling, supposedly one reserved for a guest of honor, he curtly tells her, "I've seen your mother. Keep eating." The downcast look on Penny's face says she really took that one to heart.
** Averted as practically the poster child for the trope, Sara Rue, guest starred in a short story arc in season two as a LoveInterest for Leonard (and briefly Howard). She is depicted as being exceptionally attractive and that Leonard was lucky to have her.
* HomoeroticSubtext:
** Lots -- A disproportionate amount is between Rajesh and Howard. In Leonard's case, it often borders on FoeYay, as when he describes one of Penny's [[RomanticFalseLead boyfriends]] as "dreamy."
** One episode featured a dream of Sheldon's where Wolowitz and Raj [[ItMakesSenseInContext had stopped holding desperately to the Ring of Power]], [[SleepCute and were instead holding each other.]]
** How about this gem?
---> '''Raj (to Howard)''': Last night I had a dream, we got so rich from the app we made, you and I bought matching side by side mansions. [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything But, there was a secret tunnel connecting your front yard to my back yard.]] [[FreudWasRight What do you think it means?]]\\
'''Howard''': It means next time we play squash I'm showering at home.
** Leonard's mother has never been wrong about anything in her psychiatric evaluations of the cast, therefore her ideas about Howard and Raj must be correct as well.
** There's also some between Amy Farrah Fowler and Penny. For example, in "The 21-Second Excitation", Amy thinks that at slumber parties, [[GirlOnGirlIsHot girls often experiment with lesbianism]], and tries it on Penny. It is increasingly overt as she makes references to Penny's bosom defying the laws of physics and brings up "bridesmaid traditions" that involve stripping down and washing each other.
** This goes all the way into the DVD Special Features. In "Set Tour with Simon and Kunal" they talk about how the stairway set doesn't have much space down below, forcing them to cuddle close to not appear on camera (complete with demonstration). And when the two find Johnny Galecki in the main apartment set, they end up [[SleepCute snuggling together while asleep]].
** Taken to ridiculous lengths in the second episode of season 5 when Raj and Howard use a simulator to make out with each other.
** Later in season 5, Howard mentions that he can't imagine receiving a massage from another man.
--->'''Raj''': Really? What was I doing to your neck last night while playing Xbox?
** Leonard ends up taking Raj to Switzerland on Valentine's day, who squees at discovering the champagne and chocolates meant for Penny.
---> '''Leonard''': Yeah, sorry. I forgot about all of that.
---> '''Raj''': But I never will.
** Howard in one of his masturbation fantasies imagines KateeSackhoff, Bernadette... and Creator/GeorgeTakei.
---> '''KateeSackhoff''': Howard, do you have latent homesexual tendencies?
---> '''Howard''': Of course not!
---> '''Creator/GeorgeTakei''': So you say... ''yet here I am''!
* HoneyTrap: As found out through flashbacks, Joyce Kim.
* HotMom: Apparently, what Dr. Gablehauser thinks of Sheldon's mother... [[AnythingThatMoves and so does Howard.]]
** Sheldon and Leonard's mom, although on a purely mental level. Sheldon even keeps in touch with her, to the point that he knows things Leonard is surprised by.
** Raj's mother is a more classical example.
* HumorlessAliens: Frequently referenced when people call Sheldon an alien, ask what planet he's from, etc.
* HypocriticalHumor:
-->'''Leonard''': Sheldon, you can't be selfish. We all paid for it so it belongs to all of us. Now get out of the way so I can sit in my time machine.
** While she ''is'' normally very sweet and bubbly, Bernadette once raked Raj over the coals for implying there was something between them:
--->'''Raj''': "You are always so nice to me."\\
'''Bernadette''': "[[BewareTheNiceOnes I'M NICE TO EVERYONE!!!]]"
** [[NoSocialSkills Sheldon]] once claimed that Barry Kripke "lacks the basic social skills that we take for granted". He also accused Leonard of having Narcissistic Personality Disorder.
** Sheldon calls Kripke childish for having called dibs on Professor Rothman's now-vacant office... roughly thirty seconds after having done so himself. When Leonard points this out, Sheldon irritatedly tells him to "Shut it!"
** When on a "non-date" as friends hanging out, Leonard and Penny argued over the things they hated doing together (Leonard doing karaoke at 2AM and Penny watching a documentary). But when trying to strike up a conversation with other people, they used those same things to make themselves seem more interesting.
** When Sheldon points out that Hindu customs mean that Raj ''does'' get to say who Priya dates. Also that by disobeying it, she'd be "reborn as a jackal with many diseases". She counters that by eating beef, Raj would have to "live with a cow for several months and drink their urine".
---> '''Raj''': Some of it makes sense and some of it is crazy, the point is I forbid you to date Leonard!
** Amy once said that Penny and Leonard are the strangest couple ever. While they have have some unusual quirks because of the massive educational gap between them, Amy and Sheldon's relationship is bound by a written contract.
* IHaveThisFriend: While Penny admits it's her own story, she tells Sheldon in "The Flaming Spittoon Acquisition" about how she never took the chance to tell a guy about her feelings for him until it was too late. It's fairly obvious to the audience she was talking about Leonard (the episode even shows her with signs of depression by [[TheAlcoholic drinking excessively]]) but Sheldon [[ComicallyMissingThePoint mistakes "the guy" she liked as being him]], which she corrects him for.
* IKnowMortalKombat: Scattered around various episodes are claims of knowing how to perform a certain sport by practicing with video games. Sometimes not even that, Sheldon claims to know how to swim by practicing in the living room.
** Inverted in that Sheldon claims to be good at archery on the Wii because his father taught him actual archery.
* TheILoveYouStigma: In a moment in bed, Penny quotes ''Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack'' and [[GeekyTurnOn Leonard told her he loved her]]. This led to a great deal of awkwardness because Penny wasn't expecting that and knew Leonard was waiting for a reply...
** This comes up a second time in the sixth season when they start dating again and Raj finds out she's never said it to Leonard. [[spoiler: When she was in an exasperated mood in "The 43 Peculiarity" she said "You know I love you, so could you please relax because you are driving me crazy!" and they both freeze as they realize what she said]].
* InnocentInnuendo: Sheldon will often say things without making the connection that what he said is inappropriate or just sounds strange.
* IOweYouMyLife: [[spoiler:When Sheldon saved Leonard from the rocket fuel explosion that destroyed the elevator]], the main reason Leonard lets Sheldon get away with as many demands as he does.
* IResembleThatRemark: When Leonard's mother claimed that Howard and Raj were in an "ersatz homosexual marriage", they are bothered by this... and instantly start arguing the point LikeAnOldMarriedCouple.
-->'''Howard''': "DO YOU REALLY THINK YOUR LIPS IN MY EAR IS HELPING???"
** When Penny and Leonard had a fight, Sheldon goes to Penny to try and rectify the situation, only to end up confessing to her that Leonard is highly annoyed by some of her habits but has never told her because, according to Leonard, Penny "is overly sensitive and has a temper". Penny's response is to tell Sheldon to tell Leonard to drop dead.
** Howard often responds to his mother's treating him like a child by reminding her that he is 26 years old. Followed by agreeing for her to bring him a popsicle.
* ITakeOffenseToThatLastOne:
** Subverted, when playing a 20 Questions game Raj managed to guess Leonard's item of [[Franchise/StarWars C-3PO]] by saying "Does he look like a shiny Sheldon?" Sheldon perks up as Raj guesses correctly and appears at first miffed, only to say that he is flattered but doesn't see the resemblance.
** In defense of having Amy around, Sheldon once listed off all the things he had to silently put up with having Penny around. Leonard didn't argue any of the things listed, but got rather upset with the "silently" part.
* IThinkYouBrokeHim: In one episode, Penny is giving Sheldon acting lessons, and they are acting out a ''Star Trek'' fanfic Sheldon wrote when he was 10. He is acting as his mother, and begins to improvise, relating it to his real life. When he breaks down and starts crying, Penny calls up his mother and says, "Mrs. Cooper? Hey, it's Penny. Yeah, I think I broke your son," and hands the phone to Sheldon. "Mommy, I love you!" *sobs* "Don't let Spock take me to the future!"
* IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy:
** Penny breaking up with Leonard because she didn't want to hurt someone so vulnerable and inexperienced at long-term relationships. It was Creator/WilWheaton who planted the idea in her head just to win a bowling match, but [[StrawmanHasAPoint that doesn't, necessarily, mean there wasn't truth in that reasoning]].
** Somewhere between this and CantSpitItOut, Penny doesn't want Leonard to leave to go to the North Pole with the other guys but at that moment Leonard and Penny had no commitment to each other. She didn't want to interfere with his science projects and also wasn't ready to confess her feelings for him.
* IWantYouToMeetAnOldFriendOfMine: There are several people on this show who also featured in ''Series/{{Roseanne}}'', first and foremost Johnny Galecki as Leonard. Sara Gilbert plays Leslie Winkle who briefly dates Leonard and Laurie Metcalf plays Sheldon's mom. Galecki also pointed out at a convention that his first kiss was with Mayim Bialik when he guest starred on ''{{Blossom}}'' years ago.
* IWasQuiteALooker: Mrs. Wolowitz, apparently...
-->'''Mrs. Wolowitz''': You should've seen me when I was young, Sheldon. The fella's used to line up and give me boxes of candy. Why did I eat it all?!
* IdiotBall: Leonard turned a non-date "hanging out" activity with Penny into an opportunity to confess to all the things that he let her get away with when they dated, generally acting very obnoxious and the evening turned into dirty laundry being aired out. Leonard later apologized for his behavior, only to learn except for the "dirty laundry" part Penny liked seeing him take charge and stand up for himself (showing [[ShipTease signs of attraction]] to him). As they parted ways for the evening, he mused to himself "I am such an asthmatic dumbass."
* IdiosyncraticEpisodeNaming: Episodes are titled as theorems, postulates, conjectures, etc. And it is usually descriptive ie "The Nerdvanna Annihilation" involves Leonard contemplating selling his nerdy collection. Sometimes it's about something major to the plot, other times it's a [[TitleDrop throwaway line]].
* ImagineSpot: The episode "The Recombination Hypothesis" has a big one, [[spoiler: almost the entire episode is Leonard considering whether to ask Penny out and the consequences that would follow.]] Later at the end, [[spoiler: Penny imagines herself at a ShotgunWedding heavily pregnant and at Leonard's side. She promptly decides to stop at the drug store before meeting up at the real date.]]
** Leonard imagines how he could have handled a situation with Penny differently in "The Nerdvanna Annihilation" and has him become the hero by opening the elevator shaft and taking her down himself.
** Raj has a series of daydreams about how Bernadette could leave Howard and they get together. Each one starts off normal only to progressively become weirder, culminating in a {{Bollywood}} dance number.
* ImStandingRightHere:
-->'''Penny''': Howard, you're going to throw away a great girl like Bernadette just because you're holding out for some ridiculous fantasy?
-->'''Howard''': Hey, just because you settled doesn't mean I have to.
-->'''Leonard''': Excuse me, I'm ''sitting'' here.
-->'''Penny''': Hey, I didn't ''settle'' for Leonard. I mean, obviously he isn't the kind of guy I usually go out with. You know, physically.
-->'''Leonard''': Again, I'm right here!
-->'''Penny''': My point is, I do not judge a book by its cover. I'm interested in the person underneath.
-->'''Leonard''': (To Sheldon) I am here, right? You see me.
** Raj gives a silent one, when everyone went to bed and turned off the lights, forgetting Raj was ''still'' there.
* ImprobablyPredictable: In "The Lunar Excitation":
--> '''Sheldon:''' Please. Even assuming you could answer any question the way I would, the algorithms used by matchmaking sites are complete hokum.
--> '''Howard:''' And that's exactly the answer we gave to the question, "What is your attitude towards online dating?"
--> '''Raj:''' Howard wanted to write mumbo jumbo, but I said no, our Sheldon would say hokum.
* InSovietRussiaTropeMocksYou: "You don't screw [[SeriousBusiness the roommate agreement.]] The roommate agreement screws you!"
* IncrediblyLamePun: Raj is full of them.
-->(''to Penny'') Welcome to the Raj Mahal!
* InsaneTrollLogic: Sheldon hates being wrong and when he can't refute something with normal logic he resolves to this trope to get his way, such as claiming to be a new evolution of mankind that are far more intelligent but incapable of [[DrivesLikeCrazy driving properly]].
** It appears that Sheldon and Amy's made-up game "Counterfactuals" runs on this trope. For example, a question asks "In a world where mankind is ruled by a giant intelligent beaver, what food is no longer consumed?" The correct answer is "cheese danish" rather than "cinnamon" which is made of tree bark. They explain this as because of the Dams built to worship and appease the Beaver overlord, which would have left low-lying countries like Denmark completely flooded and thus deprived the world of it's namesake confectionary.
* InsistentTerminology: Shows up from time to time, especially with Sheldon who prefers it when accurate terms are used. One of the more notable things he prefers is to refer to sexual intercourse as 'coitus', probably to separate it from sex as in 'male or female'. (Note: Coitus actually strictly refers to heterosexual intercourse in which a vagina is penetrated by a penis and nothing else so calling any other type of sex this is inaccurate).
** Sheldon does not play "pranks"; he subjects people to his ''classic'' pranks.
* InstantExpert:
** A mild example: Penny, at computer games.
** Sheldon often thinks he's this. His attempts at learning Mandarin [[MyHovercraftIsFullOfEels met with failure]].
** Penny also beats Leonard at chess the first time she plays it.
* InstantWebHit: Penny Blossoms and the "fighting physicists" video.
* InsufferableGenius: There's a reason why Sheldon is the page image.
--> '''Missy:''' I am so proud to tell friends my brother's a rocket scientist.\\
'''Sheldon:''' [[ITakeOffenseToThatLastOne You tell them I'm a rocket scientist?]] I'm a theoretical physicist!
* InterruptedIntimacy: Sheldon is quite happy to interrupt Leonard and whoever his partner is in the middle of the act- for example, with Joyce Kim. Sheldon decided to interrupt by knocking on the door. Leonard was thinking of ignoring him, but Sheldon knew he was being ignored. Sheldon then came in to remind Leonard of their Roommate Agreement. Due to its terms, Joyce decided to leave.
** By definition, this happened with [[spoiler: Raj and Penny with the cliffhanger scene from the end of Season 4, showing them in bed together naked. However, Raj reveals in the Season 5 opener that they didn't actually have sex; Raj climaxed prematurely. Penny uses this information on him later to get him to stick with a reasonable explanation for the incident.]]
* IntoxicationEnsues: Several examples.
** "I drank milk that tasted funny."
** ''Everyone'' (except Sheldon) in "The Adhesive Duck Deficiency" - Leonard, Howard and Raj through [[spoiler:"special" cookies]] and Penny through painkillers.
** Sheldon's diet virgin Cuba Libres "turned out to be kinda slutty."
*** [[Theatre/FiddlerOnTheRoof TO LIFE! TO LIFE! L'CHAIM!]]
* {{Irony}}: In the fourth season Penny realizes that her love life has tanked (due to both lingering feelings for Leonard and the fact her standards of intelligent conversation jumped significantly) while Leonard, Howard and even ''Sheldon'' are doing better than her.
* ItWillNeverCatchOn: "I assure you, you'll be sorry you wasted your money on an iPod when Microsoft comes out with theirs."
* ItsAllAboutMe: Sheldon, thy [[{{Pride}} vanity]] knows no bounds.
--> '''Leonard''': Did I tell you that you'd have to make arrangements to get to work for the next few weeks?
--> '''Sheldon''': You did.
--> '''Leonard''': ...And?
--> '''Sheldon''': I didn't. [Beat, as Leonard collapses on the couch] Let's go!
** Amy is this about Howard and Bernadette's wedding. This goes so far as wearing her dress to City Hall complaining about her missed opportunity when the wedding might be put on hold.
* {{Jerkass}}:
** Of the five major characters, [[InsufferableGenius Sheldon]].
** Almost anyone who fits into a role as a RomanticFalseLead, including most of Penny's boyfriends and hookups (except notably for Zack, who is just an idiot).
** Leslie Winkle is this toward Sheldon.
** Barry [[MeaningfulName Kripke]] and many minor characters.
** Wil Wheaton (at least, his character, not the man himself) for intentionally increasing the wedge between Penny and Leonard, just to get back at Sheldon.
--->'''Sheldon:''' YOU DID THIS, didn't you!\\
'''Wil Wheaton:''' Do you really think I would break up a couple, just to win a bowling match?\\
'''Sheldon:''' No... I suppose not.\\
'''Wil Wheaton:''' Good. Keep thinking that.\\
'''Sheldon:''' Wheeeeeatooooon!
** Jimmy Speckerman, who bullied Leonard in junior high. He gets drunk and apologizes but the following morning he demonstrates he's a JerkWithAHeartOfJerk.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Sheldon is this at times, particularly towards Penny.
* JewishMother: Howard's.
* JewsLoveToArgue: Howard and his mother. A lot.
* {{Joisey}}: Leonard is from NJ, which comes up from time to time. Sheldon boasts of his Texan upbringing as making him an expert at retribution, but Leonard manages to turn a prank back on Sheldon.
--> '''Leonard''': You may be from Texas, but I'M from JERSEY!
* JustOneMoreLevel: Penny in "[[ShowWithinAShow The Barbarian Sublimation]]".
-->'''Sheldon''': I'm in favor of anything that tries to replace actual human contact.
* FastForwardGag: Played with; when the main characters buy a TimeMachine replica, they ''pretend'' they're moving in fast forward.
* FateWorseThanDeath: In a purely silly sense, it's taking care of Sheldon when he's sick, or if someone aside from Leonard drives him to work.
** Or sits in his spot or changes his schedule...
* FawltyTowersPlot: Subverted in an episode where the lie works perfectly, but Sheldon overcomplicates it when he notices minute flaws in it. The lie never actually falls apart.
** Also subverted in "The Recombination Hypothesis" Leonard ended up having to explain to Sheldon why he was returning to the apartment at 3 in the morning, when Sheldon was getting out of the bathroom. The real reason was [[spoiler:Penny dragged Leonard over to her apartment to have sex and start seeing each other again]] but Leonard didn't want to tell Sheldon about it. So it slowly got more and more implausible as Sheldon poked holes into the explanation, until Leonard actually had some evidence to back up his claim (an [[ChekhovsGun asthma inhaler brought up in the previous scene]]).
* FakeCrossover: ''TheLateLateShow'' with CraigFerguson did a ColdOpening where he was applying to be friends with the group, filled with quite a few character bits (Raj didn't like his accent) and SelfDeprecation. Craig later interviewed Johnny Galecki that same night.
--> '''Sheldon:''' It was a humorous conceit on the violation of the fourth wall and I did NOT care for it.
* FakeHigh: In one episode Raj starts hitting on Creator/SummerGlau (and skillfully at that), until Howard points out the beer was non-alcoholic, and he can't continue.
* FirstKiss: Sheldon gets one from a drunken Amy. It's mostly awkward for both of them.
** Sheldon received one earlier from a drunk Mrs. Hoffstader. No one really wants to talk about it after the fact.
* FiveManBand: Done through ConversationalTroping, Sheldon has grouped the cast into his own ''Star Trek''-based version and crossing over into the CommandRoster.
-->'''Sheldon''': If you fail at this relationship, and history suggests you will, then we risk losing the medical officer our landing party has always needed.\\
'''Leonard''': What landing party?\\
'''Sheldon''': You're [[TheKirk Kirk]], I'm [[TheSpock Spock]], Wolowitz is Scotty, Koothrappali is [[RedShirt the guy who always gets killed]] [looking at Leonard's doctor girlfriend at the time] and now we've got [=McCoy=].
** Sheldon also determined the four guys' roles in a Four Man Band. He is [[TheSmartGuy "the smart one"]], Howard is [[FunPersonified "the funny one"]], Raj is the [[FunnyForeigner "lovable foreigner who struggles to understand our ways and fails"]], and therefore Leonard is [[TheBigGuy "the muscle"]] by default.
* {{Flanderization}}: The local Comic Book Store owner, Stuart, was originally just a very normal guy who successfully asked Penny out. It was a key plot point that in terms of being a decent, normal guy he was virtually identical to Leonard. While he remained a friendly guy he later gained some neurotic ticks, low self-esteem and has a lot more trouble talking to women than before. The change can probably be explained that "nice, normal guy" doesn't leave things too open for comedy and they wanted him to stand apart from Leonard.
** In the case of Stuart, it's implied in the show that he hit a string of bad relationships in addition to financial problems ''and'' health issues. Getting crushed by Penny (who said Leonard's name while they were making out) in addition to living in the comic book store probably destroyed his self-esteem.
** An inversion of this trope is done in the WholeEpisodeFlashback to when Leonard and Sheldon first met. The Sheldon of the series has all sorts of quirks but still makes awkward attempts at social interaction and understanding how normal people think, the Sheldon of the {{flashback}} was basically a flanderization of his current personality where his Control Freak and Insufferable Genius mannerisms were about all he was. While not really elaborated upon, it's suggested that being friends with Leonard is the reason Sheldon of today is even remotely workable.
* FleetingPassionateHobbies: Sheldon after losing his job. One of them has him ''at a loom.''
-->'''Leonard''': This one is particularly disturbing.
** [[BrickJoke Brought back in season 4]], Leonard does say that he got good at it and made them matching serapes.
--->'''Raj:''' "I still wear mine when there's a nip in the air."
* FlippingTheBird: Played with. After Sheldon made an insult about Wolowitz's robotic arm, he gave it a command and it held up the peace sign, which confused Sheldon and Howard tries fixing the code.
** Sheldon once quoted the Rubiyat to Penny after she made him miss an autograph signing with Creator/StanLee, making dramatic poses with his ''index'' finger in the air. When he left the room Penny felt like he gave her the finger in some way.
*** Not just the finger, the MOVING FINGER!
* FoodAndAnimalAttraction: In one episode, Sheldon is chased by a vicious dog because it can smell the hot dogs Sheldon was hiding in his pants.
* FootFocus:
** In general, Penny DoesNotLikeShoes except for flip-flops.
*** Although a point is often made about how many shoes she buys, she never actually seems to wear them.
** The episode explaining how Leonard and Sheldon met had this in the present day sequences.
* FourTemperamentEnsemble: Sheldon is Choleric, Leonard is Phlegmatic, Howard is Sanguine, Raj is Melancholic.
* ForScience
-->'''Leonard''': You put ground-up moth in my food?!\\
'''Sheldon''': ForScience!
* FreakyFashionMildMind: Alice from "The Good Guy Fluxuation" was a female geek (very rare on the show) and dressed in a combination of punk rocker and goth, along with a noticeable [[TattooAsCharacterType tattoo on her chest]] and a wide assortment of piercings. She turned out to be really friendly and well-mannered in addition to her geeky passions.
* FreezeFrameBonus: Howard's mother, never actually seen before on the show, can be seen from above in the zoom out from Howard's wedding in the Season 5 Finale.
* FreudianExcuse: Averted by Raj, when he decides to be a douche for no apparent reason on the penultimate episode of season 4.
-->'''Raj '''(amused)''':''' You’d think it’s because my parents didn’t love me, but actually they loved me a great deal.
** The reason why Leonard is so needy in relationships, likely comes from the fact that his mother maintains a cold detachment from him and treats him as more like a test-subject. His need for intimacy resulted in him building a ''hugging machine'' as a child.
* FreudianTrio: Confirmed by WordOfGod, the Penny/Leonard/Sheldon relationship was designed to be like this. Sheldon is TheSpock, who represents "logic" and the aspirations of science over all else. Penny is TheMcCoy, who represents "emotion" and the promise of a full life to experience. Leonard is TheKirk, who is torn between those two worlds.
** Amy incidently describes the trope when depressed and analyzing her relationship with Bernadette and Penny, but done in her own neurobiology terms. Penny is the creative and spontaneous right half of the brain while Bernadette is the scientific and analytical other half. Amy is the one of the group caught between the two halves, but her comparison comes out to her being a tumor.
* TheFriendNobodyLikes: Sheldon frequently takes this role.
** Barry Kripke.
* FriendshipMoment: With regularity. They like to prank each other and often don't get along, but all the guys came from the geek end of the social pool and so they've banded together really tight. Sheldon, in particular, did not have many friends growing up and when the moment comes he is very grateful for the friends he has. This happened as early as the second episode, where Penny freaked out over a violation of privacy (Sheldon cleaned her apartment while she was sleeping). After thinking it over she forgave them, and even told Leonard everything was okay when he came over to apologize.
* FriendsRentControl: It's not as bad as it could be, since they aren't living in a luxury New York suite, but a smaller building with a broken elevator in Pasadena. Sheldon mentions that if he could afford it he wouldn't have Leonard as a roommate. Penny seems to mostly afford her apartment on a waitress paycheck (and tips) with little trouble, at least until it's plot relevant. Unlike other examples of this trope, rent issues are relatively common. Penny has had to leave work from time to time because of the guys, and she always points out that losing a day's pay is not helpful.
** It might have more to do with the fact he needs Leonard to drive him to work than to pay for the apartment. He seems to have more than enough money as he doesn't cash his paychecks. Leonard and Sheldon are both single, degreed professionals who should logically be able to afford their apartment with little difficulty.
*** Moreover, Sheldon has both been at [=CalTech=] longer and is higher on the career ladder than Leonard.
* FriendsWithBenefits: [[DiscussedTrope Discussed]], with [[{{Asexual}} Sheldon]] not really understanding the concept. "What exactly does that expression mean, 'Friends with Benefits?' Does he provide her with health insurance?"
-->'''Sheldon:''' Are you and Leonard "Friends With Benefits?"\\
'''Penny:''' No! Did he say we were?\\
'''Sheldon:''' Leonard said nothing, but who knows what goes on over here when he pretends your mail was misdelivered.\\
'''Penny:''' What? Just mail, no benefits. [[hottip:*:In a HilariousOuttakes moment, Kaley Cuoco accidentally switched the phrase, saying "Just benefits, no mail... [[ThatCameOutWrong wait?]]
* FromBadToWorse: see EvilGloating.
* FullNameBasis: Amy is often referred to by her full name, Amy Farrah Fowler.
* FunTShirt: There's even [[http://www.sheldonshirts.com/ a website]] that keeps track of the characters' shirts and where you can buy them. In one episode, a gag was about Raj having a shirt with a speaker built into it. It could play everything from the Imperial March to the Final Jeopardy theme. You can get it [[http://www.thinkgeek.com/tshirts-apparel/interactive/a5bf/ here.]]
* FunWithAcronyms: In "The Bat Jar Conjecture" the guys decide to enter the university's Physics Bowl and have a debate on what to name their team. Sheldon prefers the Army Ants while Howard suggests Perpetual Motion Squad. Later, Sheldon has a fallout with the others and actually enters the Physics Bowl against them... so it's AA vs. PMS.
** Sheldon's suggestion for the name of Leonard's iPhone app.
---> "'''S'''uprisingly '''H'''elpful '''E'''quation '''L'''ink '''D'''ifferential '''O'''ptimise '''N'''umerator"
* FunWithSubtitles: Howard knows sign language. He's a terribly lazy translator.
* GamerChick: Penny isn't a gamer, but in S1 Ep07, "The Dumpling Paradox", she fills in for Howard for the guys' ''VideoGame/{{Halo}}'' night, and the first time she picks up an XBox controller, she manages to outclass all of them on her first try. And yes, the guys are 30-year-old geeks who play ''VideoGame/{{Halo}}'' religiously. However, considering Penny's more rounded characterization, this is surely less PositiveDiscrimination and more RuleOfFunny.
-->'''Penny:''' (As Sheldon tries to leave for his bedroom) Wait, wait! Sheldon, come back! You forgot something!\\
'''Sheldon:''' What?\\
'''Penny:''' This [[StickyBomb plasma grenade!]] (Sound of large explosion) Ha! Look! It's raining YOU!
** Sheldon clearly doesn't believe in this trope.
---> '''Sheldon''': I don't know how, but she is cheating. Nobody can be that attractive and this skilled at a video game.
** S2 Ep03, "The Barbarian Sublimation," also has Penny getting addicted to ''AgeOfConan''.
* GeekPhysique: Both Sheldon and Howard are very skinny, and once Howard boasted of having 3% body fat (described by Raj as a "Human Chicken Wing"). Raj and Leonard are of average size (though there is a reason we rarely see Leonard barechested or in simple t-shirts, as Johnny Galecki is in pretty good shape). The only "geek" on the show who is overweight is the [[LivingProp minor background character]] "Captain Sweatpants."
* GeekReferencePool: Averted. Their pool runs deep, although they seldom leave it.
* GeekyAnalogy: Most explanations of anything involving social conventions.
** At one point ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKXBqs1flqQ Penny]]'' is the one delivering it, leading to a [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone realization]] of CharacterDevelopment moment for her (and rapt cheering from the studio audience).
* GeekyTurnOn: To be expected given the premise of the show. One episode had Raj and Sheldon together with Sheldon holding a Franchise/GreenLantern Power Battery and it actually attracted the attention of a couple of girls, thinking it was cool. An unfortunate side-effect of this trope shows up when [[spoiler: Leonard and Penny are together in bed and Penny references a line from ''Franchise/StarWars'' and even knew [[Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack the exact movie]]. Leonard was so excited being with her in that moment he said a premature "I Love You" and it caused a storm of awkwardness that lead to them breaking up.]]
** When dating, Penny suggested that she and Leonard make out on Sheldon's spot on the couch. This was seen as quite a taboo thing to do.
** Amy figured that she could best assimilate herself as a romantic interest to Sheldon by influencing him with all the things that he loves. Thus they have a romantic evening with music from SuperMarioBrothers, Strawberry Nesquik and [[ContinuityNod spaghetti with hot dogs cut up in it]]. Sheldon surprised himself with how well it was working, and the subplot ended with Amy dressed up as [[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries Nurse Chapel]] and "playing doctor" with Sheldon Franchise/StarTrek-style.
** "The Holographic Excitation" had Penny admit to Bernadette and Amy that she really did not understand what Leonard does as an experimental physicist. After some prodding she surprised him at work and asked to see some of his experiments. When he gave her a short presentation musing on a theory of the universe she was awestruck and said "Sometimes I forget how smart you are." They ended up fooling around in his lab and apparently repeated the pattern of science project/sex over the next few days.
* GenreSavvy: Penny manipulates Sheldon into re-rolling dice by pointing out "Doubles. Roll again."
* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: The show actually gets away with a lot of surprising jokes. One memorable joke comes from "The Pants Alternative".
-->'''Penny:''' So, Sheldon, will you let us be your X-Men?
-->'''Sheldon:''' No, the X-Men were named because of the beginning letter of the last name of Charles Xavier. Since my last name is Cooper, you will be my C-Men. (the other characters get very quiet)
-->'''Raj:''' (later in the episode) How can Sheldon be nervous? He's surrounded by his C-Men!
** What about from "The Plimpton Stimulation"? A couple of jokes from that episode...
--->'''Sheldon:''' What am I supposed to believe? That you somehow tripped and fell into her lady parts?
--->(later) '''Penny:''' No, no, you don't have to drive me to work. It's OK! It's not like I'm afraid you're going to trip over and get me pregnant.
*** Oh, and the end where Dr. Plimpton tried to get the boys into a foursome.
** Don't forget "The Bat Jar Conjecture". The team was called PMS. What made this hilarious was what the back of the shirt said. ''We can go all night.'' Howard proudly shows off his shirt.
** [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQrUZ1e0yaE&feature=related This happened.]]
** In the fifth season finale the group learns that Leonard stupidly [[spoiler: proposed to Penny in the middle of sex]]. Howard's response was "Did you get on one knee or were you already there?"
** In "The 43 Peculiarity" Leonard was worried over Penny spending time with a male classmate and Sheldon suggested that if the guy was a skilled hypnotist Penny may be performing sexual acts on him with her thinking she is just "a chicken pecking for corn." Upon getting a very disturbed look from Leonard, Sheldon "helpfully" pantomimes the action.
* GilliganCut: The Nerdvana Annihilation
-->'''Sheldon''': "I still don't understand why no one else bid on the (what he thinks is a minature) time machine". (Switch to the foursome standing around the recently delivered full-size time machine) "I understand why no one else bid on the time machine."
* GirlfriendInCanada: Amy Farrah Fowler admits she once told her family she had a boyfriend who was a miniature horse breeder. The lie unravelled when she was asked where they met. She panicked and said "Woodstock".
* GirlOnGirlIsHot: Averted, when a very tipsy Amy gave Penny a mouth kiss ("Come here, Bestie, give me some sugar") it was not only very ''under''played but Penny even gave an embarrassed laugh after it happened. In addition, there wasn't any rising laughter by the LaughTrack.
** A similarly understated moment happens when Penny and Bernadette discuss the awkward things Amy likes to talk about with them such as painting fertility symbols on Bernadette's naked body as being a wedding ritual. The guys noticeably quiet down after they say that, with Raj in particular (being silent anyway) subtly staring off into space.
* GiveGeeksAChance: As the show has continued it has actually started [[DeconstructedTrope poking holes]] into this trope with the relationship between Leonard and Penny. Both are worried that the other will grow tired of the other, Leonard for the fact Penny is so much more attractive than him and Penny for the ''massive'' intellectual gap between them. Then the show tries [[{{Reconstruction}} putting it back together]] showing both Penny trying to understand his work and Leonard dealing with his insecurities.
* GodzillaThreshold: In one episode involving a war between Sheldon and Penny, Leonard gives Penny what is more or less (as he described it) Sheldon's [[Franchise/{{Superman}} kryptonite]]. His justification for doing so is that it would "cut five years off the war and save millions of lives". Said kryptonite being [[spoiler: the phone number of Sheldon's mother.]]
* GoldDigger: Raj's DisabledLoveInterest lets him shower her with many, many gifts. Penny also muses that Raj is hotter now that she knows he's rich.
* GoneHorriblyRight: The foam in Kripke's office was supposed to be a prank on just Kripke, Sheldon didn't expect it to fall on the president of the university and the board of directors.
* GoodIsNotNice:
** Very much DependingOnTheWriter, Sheldon. He's sometimes bad, sometimes good, and very rarely nice.
** And Leonard, starting at the end of season two and well into season three with [[spoiler: the Arctic incident,]] for example.
** Also Penny & Howard can be pretty mean at times.
* GoofyPrintUnderwear: On one episode Howard talks Leonard and Raj into being his wingman at a bar. They all change out of their standard Superhero symbol boxer shorts .... just in case.
* GoshDarnItToHeck: Sheldon when drunk at Howard's bachelor party starts saying "Jeepers!".
--> '''Leonard''': Whoa, its a little early to be dropping ''J-Bombs'', don't you think?
* GravityIsAHarshMistress: Almost mentioned by name.
-->'''Sheldon''': Oh gravity thou art a heartless bitch.
* GrayAndGreyMorality: In "The Speckerman Recurrence," Penny, Bernadette and Amy have a change of heart after nearly taking clothes from a donation bin. [[spoiler: Bernadette goes back for suede boots, screaming her justification, "It's OK, I serve soup to poor people!"]]
* GroinAttack: Sheldon's sister's method of keeping Sheldon in line.
** Penny administers one to the guy who hacked Sheldon's ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' account in "The Zarnecki Incursion".
** Howard sets Leonard up with a date that knows 100 ways to rip a guy's nuts off. She's not shy about demonstrating them in a restaurant.
* HairTodayGoneTomorrow: In the flashback episode late in season three, Leonard had long, wavy locks, Howard had a [[FunnyAfro Jewish Afro]] and Raj had something of a mullet. Sheldon was the only one with the same hair-style, and with the exception of Howard their current looks are big improvements.
* HalloweenCosplay: The group, plus Penny's then-current boyfriend dress up as the Justice League of America for a costume contest
* HardOnSoftScience
-->'''Amy''': If your friends are unconvincing, this year’s donations might go... say, the geology department.\\
'''Sheldon''': Oh dear, not the dirt people!\\
'''Amy''': Or worse, it could go to... the liberal arts.\\
'''Sheldon''': No.\\
'''Amy''': Millions of dollars being showered on poets, literary theorists and students of gender studies.\\
'''Sheldon''': [[MemeticMutation Oh, the Humanities!]]
* {{Headdesk}}:
-->'''Sheldon:''' Why is Leonard softly banging his head against his bedroom door?
* HeartbreakAndIceCream: Raj {{Bookends}} a brief relationship with a DisabledLoveInterest by comforting himself first with pie then with cheesecake.
** In one early episode Penny is seen eating an entire tub of ice cream while crying her eyes out due to a breakup.
* HeelFaceTurn:
** In "The Russian Rocket Reaction," one of Sheldon's mortal enemies crosses himself off of Sheldon's list.
* HeliumSpeech: Kripke fills Sheldon's office with helium while the latter is on call for an Creator/{{NPR}} interview. The pitch of his voice increases throughout the entire interview.
* HerCodeNameWasMarySue: The episode where Penny becomes addicted to ''AgeOfConan'' everyone's characters were clearly named after them: Sheldon was Sheldor (The Conqueror), Penny was (Queen) Penelope and Howard was... Sir Howard of Wolowitz.
* HeroicBSOD: Sheldon when he discovers that Leonard, Howard and Raj lied to him about the results of his experiments at the North Pole ''after'' he has already boasted about changing the face of physics to ''everyone'', earning him a ton of ridicule when he has to print a retraction.
** Then Penny's attempt to cheer him up, by comparing his situation to when Young Spock was teased for being half-Vulcan, leave him in further despair when he discovers even ''[[ClosetGeek she]]'' has seen ''Film/StarTrek'' before him.
* HeroicSacrifice: Sheldon in "The Skank Reflex Hypothesis."
** "Geology is not a real science!", with Platoon style "death"
* HeterosexualLifePartners: Howard and Raj argue like a married couple, and are generally paired together in team activities and usually serve as each others "wingman." Leonard and Sheldon are a more mild version, as Leonard can only stand Sheldon for limited periods of time.
* HiddenDepths: Sheldon proves to be surprisingly understanding and helpful when hearing about his friends' love or financial problems.
* HilariouslyAbusiveChildhood: Sheldon. Also Leonard, to a degree.
* HilariousOuttakes: You can only imagine the slip-ups that occur due to all of the terminology the characters throw around. Jim Parsons in particular had no end of trouble with the "Rock, Paper, Scissors, Lizard, Spock" explanation, just by the sheer length, the hand motions, timing and not letting the audience laughter throw him off.
* HollywoodDateless: We are supposed to believe Leonard is awkward with women, and in a way he is. However, his dating history includes many hot women - Penny, Dr. Stephanie, the Korean spy, Leslie and now Priya - so one has to wonder why would he think he is unlucky with women.
** Also part of his rather obvious CharacterDevelopment during the show is that he gets better around women thanks to spending time with Penny. Same with Howard. Averted with Raj, who still can't speak to women who aren't relatives without drugs.
* HollywoodNerd: Type 1 is first played straight in the pilot where Leonard pines after Penny, and he and Sheldon get bullied and humiliated via ComedicUnderwearExposure trying to get her TV back from her stereotypically JerkJock ex-boyfriend. Later, we learn that scientists, academics, comic book geeks, and Creator/WilWheaton are perfectly capable of picking on each other without outside help.
* HollywoodPudgy: Poked at when the guys managed to convince Penny and her date Zach to join them at a costume party as the JusticeLeagueOfAmerica. Penny got upset over things both overt and subtle and refused to go, and Sheldon tried to convince her to come by claiming to know why she was upset... that she thought she looked fat in the WonderWoman costume. That was obviously not the reason she was upset (and [[{{Fanservice}} clearly not the case]] in the show) but Penny then started to worry that maybe she did look fat... and Sheldon tried to "comfort" her saying it doesn't matter since [[AmazonianBeauty Amazons were supposed to be "beefy gals."]]
** Invoked again by Sheldon when, after Penny takes the last dumpling, supposedly one reserved for a guest of honor, he curtly tells her, "I've seen your mother. Keep eating." The downcast look on Penny's face says she really took that one to heart.
** Averted as practically the poster child for the trope, Sara Rue, guest starred in a short story arc in season two as a LoveInterest for Leonard (and briefly Howard). She is depicted as being exceptionally attractive and that Leonard was lucky to have her.
* HomoeroticSubtext:
** Lots -- A disproportionate amount is between Rajesh and Howard. In Leonard's case, it often borders on FoeYay, as when he describes one of Penny's [[RomanticFalseLead boyfriends]] as "dreamy."
** One episode featured a dream of Sheldon's where Wolowitz and Raj [[ItMakesSenseInContext had stopped holding desperately to the Ring of Power]], [[SleepCute and were instead holding each other.]]
** How about this gem?
---> '''Raj (to Howard)''': Last night I had a dream, we got so rich from the app we made, you and I bought matching side by side mansions. [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything But, there was a secret tunnel connecting your front yard to my back yard.]] [[FreudWasRight What do you think it means?]]\\
'''Howard''': It means next time we play squash I'm showering at home.
** Leonard's mother has never been wrong about anything in her psychiatric evaluations of the cast, therefore her ideas about Howard and Raj must be correct as well.
** There's also some between Amy Farrah Fowler and Penny. For example, in "The 21-Second Excitation", Amy thinks that at slumber parties, [[GirlOnGirlIsHot girls often experiment with lesbianism]], and tries it on Penny. It is increasingly overt as she makes references to Penny's bosom defying the laws of physics and brings up "bridesmaid traditions" that involve stripping down and washing each other.
** This goes all the way into the DVD Special Features. In "Set Tour with Simon and Kunal" they talk about how the stairway set doesn't have much space down below, forcing them to cuddle close to not appear on camera (complete with demonstration). And when the two find Johnny Galecki in the main apartment set, they end up [[SleepCute snuggling together while asleep]].
** Taken to ridiculous lengths in the second episode of season 5 when Raj and Howard use a simulator to make out with each other.
** Later in season 5, Howard mentions that he can't imagine receiving a massage from another man.
--->'''Raj''': Really? What was I doing to your neck last night while playing Xbox?
** Leonard ends up taking Raj to Switzerland on Valentine's day, who squees at discovering the champagne and chocolates meant for Penny.
---> '''Leonard''': Yeah, sorry. I forgot about all of that.
---> '''Raj''': But I never will.
** Howard in one of his masturbation fantasies imagines KateeSackhoff, Bernadette... and Creator/GeorgeTakei.
---> '''KateeSackhoff''': Howard, do you have latent homesexual tendencies?
---> '''Howard''': Of course not!
---> '''Creator/GeorgeTakei''': So you say... ''yet here I am''!
* HoneyTrap: As found out through flashbacks, Joyce Kim.
* HotMom: Apparently, what Dr. Gablehauser thinks of Sheldon's mother... [[AnythingThatMoves and so does Howard.]]
** Sheldon and Leonard's mom, although on a purely mental level. Sheldon even keeps in touch with her, to the point that he knows things Leonard is surprised by.
** Raj's mother is a more classical example.
* HumorlessAliens: Frequently referenced when people call Sheldon an alien, ask what planet he's from, etc.
* HypocriticalHumor:
-->'''Leonard''': Sheldon, you can't be selfish. We all paid for it so it belongs to all of us. Now get out of the way so I can sit in my time machine.
** While she ''is'' normally very sweet and bubbly, Bernadette once raked Raj over the coals for implying there was something between them:
--->'''Raj''': "You are always so nice to me."\\
'''Bernadette''': "[[BewareTheNiceOnes I'M NICE TO EVERYONE!!!]]"
** [[NoSocialSkills Sheldon]] once claimed that Barry Kripke "lacks the basic social skills that we take for granted". He also accused Leonard of having Narcissistic Personality Disorder.
** Sheldon calls Kripke childish for having called dibs on Professor Rothman's now-vacant office... roughly thirty seconds after having done so himself. When Leonard points this out, Sheldon irritatedly tells him to "Shut it!"
** When on a "non-date" as friends hanging out, Leonard and Penny argued over the things they hated doing together (Leonard doing karaoke at 2AM and Penny watching a documentary). But when trying to strike up a conversation with other people, they used those same things to make themselves seem more interesting.
** When Sheldon points out that Hindu customs mean that Raj ''does'' get to say who Priya dates. Also that by disobeying it, she'd be "reborn as a jackal with many diseases". She counters that by eating beef, Raj would have to "live with a cow for several months and drink their urine".
---> '''Raj''': Some of it makes sense and some of it is crazy, the point is I forbid you to date Leonard!
** Amy once said that Penny and Leonard are the strangest couple ever. While they have have some unusual quirks because of the massive educational gap between them, Amy and Sheldon's relationship is bound by a written contract.
* IHaveThisFriend: While Penny admits it's her own story, she tells Sheldon in "The Flaming Spittoon Acquisition" about how she never took the chance to tell a guy about her feelings for him until it was too late. It's fairly obvious to the audience she was talking about Leonard (the episode even shows her with signs of depression by [[TheAlcoholic drinking excessively]]) but Sheldon [[ComicallyMissingThePoint mistakes "the guy" she liked as being him]], which she corrects him for.
* IKnowMortalKombat: Scattered around various episodes are claims of knowing how to perform a certain sport by practicing with video games. Sometimes not even that, Sheldon claims to know how to swim by practicing in the living room.
** Inverted in that Sheldon claims to be good at archery on the Wii because his father taught him actual archery.
* TheILoveYouStigma: In a moment in bed, Penny quotes ''Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack'' and [[GeekyTurnOn Leonard told her he loved her]]. This led to a great deal of awkwardness because Penny wasn't expecting that and knew Leonard was waiting for a reply...
** This comes up a second time in the sixth season when they start dating again and Raj finds out she's never said it to Leonard. [[spoiler: When she was in an exasperated mood in "The 43 Peculiarity" she said "You know I love you, so could you please relax because you are driving me crazy!" and they both freeze as they realize what she said]].
* InnocentInnuendo: Sheldon will often say things without making the connection that what he said is inappropriate or just sounds strange.
* IOweYouMyLife: [[spoiler:When Sheldon saved Leonard from the rocket fuel explosion that destroyed the elevator]], the main reason Leonard lets Sheldon get away with as many demands as he does.
* IResembleThatRemark: When Leonard's mother claimed that Howard and Raj were in an "ersatz homosexual marriage", they are bothered by this... and instantly start arguing the point LikeAnOldMarriedCouple.
-->'''Howard''': "DO YOU REALLY THINK YOUR LIPS IN MY EAR IS HELPING???"
** When Penny and Leonard had a fight, Sheldon goes to Penny to try and rectify the situation, only to end up confessing to her that Leonard is highly annoyed by some of her habits but has never told her because, according to Leonard, Penny "is overly sensitive and has a temper". Penny's response is to tell Sheldon to tell Leonard to drop dead.
** Howard often responds to his mother's treating him like a child by reminding her that he is 26 years old. Followed by agreeing for her to bring him a popsicle.
* ITakeOffenseToThatLastOne:
** Subverted, when playing a 20 Questions game Raj managed to guess Leonard's item of [[Franchise/StarWars C-3PO]] by saying "Does he look like a shiny Sheldon?" Sheldon perks up as Raj guesses correctly and appears at first miffed, only to say that he is flattered but doesn't see the resemblance.
** In defense of having Amy around, Sheldon once listed off all the things he had to silently put up with having Penny around. Leonard didn't argue any of the things listed, but got rather upset with the "silently" part.
* IThinkYouBrokeHim: In one episode, Penny is giving Sheldon acting lessons, and they are acting out a ''Star Trek'' fanfic Sheldon wrote when he was 10. He is acting as his mother, and begins to improvise, relating it to his real life. When he breaks down and starts crying, Penny calls up his mother and says, "Mrs. Cooper? Hey, it's Penny. Yeah, I think I broke your son," and hands the phone to Sheldon. "Mommy, I love you!" *sobs* "Don't let Spock take me to the future!"
* IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy:
** Penny breaking up with Leonard because she didn't want to hurt someone so vulnerable and inexperienced at long-term relationships. It was Creator/WilWheaton who planted the idea in her head just to win a bowling match, but [[StrawmanHasAPoint that doesn't, necessarily, mean there wasn't truth in that reasoning]].
** Somewhere between this and CantSpitItOut, Penny doesn't want Leonard to leave to go to the North Pole with the other guys but at that moment Leonard and Penny had no commitment to each other. She didn't want to interfere with his science projects and also wasn't ready to confess her feelings for him.
* IWantYouToMeetAnOldFriendOfMine: There are several people on this show who also featured in ''Series/{{Roseanne}}'', first and foremost Johnny Galecki as Leonard. Sara Gilbert plays Leslie Winkle who briefly dates Leonard and Laurie Metcalf plays Sheldon's mom. Galecki also pointed out at a convention that his first kiss was with Mayim Bialik when he guest starred on ''{{Blossom}}'' years ago.
* IWasQuiteALooker: Mrs. Wolowitz, apparently...
-->'''Mrs. Wolowitz''': You should've seen me when I was young, Sheldon. The fella's used to line up and give me boxes of candy. Why did I eat it all?!
* IdiotBall: Leonard turned a non-date "hanging out" activity with Penny into an opportunity to confess to all the things that he let her get away with when they dated, generally acting very obnoxious and the evening turned into dirty laundry being aired out. Leonard later apologized for his behavior, only to learn except for the "dirty laundry" part Penny liked seeing him take charge and stand up for himself (showing [[ShipTease signs of attraction]] to him). As they parted ways for the evening, he mused to himself "I am such an asthmatic dumbass."
* IdiosyncraticEpisodeNaming: Episodes are titled as theorems, postulates, conjectures, etc. And it is usually descriptive ie "The Nerdvanna Annihilation" involves Leonard contemplating selling his nerdy collection. Sometimes it's about something major to the plot, other times it's a [[TitleDrop throwaway line]].
* ImagineSpot: The episode "The Recombination Hypothesis" has a big one, [[spoiler: almost the entire episode is Leonard considering whether to ask Penny out and the consequences that would follow.]] Later at the end, [[spoiler: Penny imagines herself at a ShotgunWedding heavily pregnant and at Leonard's side. She promptly decides to stop at the drug store before meeting up at the real date.]]
** Leonard imagines how he could have handled a situation with Penny differently in "The Nerdvanna Annihilation" and has him become the hero by opening the elevator shaft and taking her down himself.
** Raj has a series of daydreams about how Bernadette could leave Howard and they get together. Each one starts off normal only to progressively become weirder, culminating in a {{Bollywood}} dance number.
* ImStandingRightHere:
-->'''Penny''': Howard, you're going to throw away a great girl like Bernadette just because you're holding out for some ridiculous fantasy?
-->'''Howard''': Hey, just because you settled doesn't mean I have to.
-->'''Leonard''': Excuse me, I'm ''sitting'' here.
-->'''Penny''': Hey, I didn't ''settle'' for Leonard. I mean, obviously he isn't the kind of guy I usually go out with. You know, physically.
-->'''Leonard''': Again, I'm right here!
-->'''Penny''': My point is, I do not judge a book by its cover. I'm interested in the person underneath.
-->'''Leonard''': (To Sheldon) I am here, right? You see me.
** Raj gives a silent one, when everyone went to bed and turned off the lights, forgetting Raj was ''still'' there.
* ImprobablyPredictable: In "The Lunar Excitation":
--> '''Sheldon:''' Please. Even assuming you could answer any question the way I would, the algorithms used by matchmaking sites are complete hokum.
--> '''Howard:''' And that's exactly the answer we gave to the question, "What is your attitude towards online dating?"
--> '''Raj:''' Howard wanted to write mumbo jumbo, but I said no, our Sheldon would say hokum.
* InSovietRussiaTropeMocksYou: "You don't screw [[SeriousBusiness the roommate agreement.]] The roommate agreement screws you!"
* IncrediblyLamePun: Raj is full of them.
-->(''to Penny'') Welcome to the Raj Mahal!
* InsaneTrollLogic: Sheldon hates being wrong and when he can't refute something with normal logic he resolves to this trope to get his way, such as claiming to be a new evolution of mankind that are far more intelligent but incapable of [[DrivesLikeCrazy driving properly]].
** It appears that Sheldon and Amy's made-up game "Counterfactuals" runs on this trope. For example, a question asks "In a world where mankind is ruled by a giant intelligent beaver, what food is no longer consumed?" The correct answer is "cheese danish" rather than "cinnamon" which is made of tree bark. They explain this as because of the Dams built to worship and appease the Beaver overlord, which would have left low-lying countries like Denmark completely flooded and thus deprived the world of it's namesake confectionary.
* InsistentTerminology: Shows up from time to time, especially with Sheldon who prefers it when accurate terms are used. One of the more notable things he prefers is to refer to sexual intercourse as 'coitus', probably to separate it from sex as in 'male or female'. (Note: Coitus actually strictly refers to heterosexual intercourse in which a vagina is penetrated by a penis and nothing else so calling any other type of sex this is inaccurate).
** Sheldon does not play "pranks"; he subjects people to his ''classic'' pranks.
* InstantExpert:
** A mild example: Penny, at computer games.
** Sheldon often thinks he's this. His attempts at learning Mandarin [[MyHovercraftIsFullOfEels met with failure]].
** Penny also beats Leonard at chess the first time she plays it.
* InstantWebHit: Penny Blossoms and the "fighting physicists" video.
* InsufferableGenius: There's a reason why Sheldon is the page image.
--> '''Missy:''' I am so proud to tell friends my brother's a rocket scientist.\\
'''Sheldon:''' [[ITakeOffenseToThatLastOne You tell them I'm a rocket scientist?]] I'm a theoretical physicist!
* InterruptedIntimacy: Sheldon is quite happy to interrupt Leonard and whoever his partner is in the middle of the act- for example, with Joyce Kim. Sheldon decided to interrupt by knocking on the door. Leonard was thinking of ignoring him, but Sheldon knew he was being ignored. Sheldon then came in to remind Leonard of their Roommate Agreement. Due to its terms, Joyce decided to leave.
** By definition, this happened with [[spoiler: Raj and Penny with the cliffhanger scene from the end of Season 4, showing them in bed together naked. However, Raj reveals in the Season 5 opener that they didn't actually have sex; Raj climaxed prematurely. Penny uses this information on him later to get him to stick with a reasonable explanation for the incident.]]
* IntoxicationEnsues: Several examples.
** "I drank milk that tasted funny."
** ''Everyone'' (except Sheldon) in "The Adhesive Duck Deficiency" - Leonard, Howard and Raj through [[spoiler:"special" cookies]] and Penny through painkillers.
** Sheldon's diet virgin Cuba Libres "turned out to be kinda slutty."
*** [[Theatre/FiddlerOnTheRoof TO LIFE! TO LIFE! L'CHAIM!]]
* {{Irony}}: In the fourth season Penny realizes that her love life has tanked (due to both lingering feelings for Leonard and the fact her standards of intelligent conversation jumped significantly) while Leonard, Howard and even ''Sheldon'' are doing better than her.
* ItWillNeverCatchOn: "I assure you, you'll be sorry you wasted your money on an iPod when Microsoft comes out with theirs."
* ItsAllAboutMe: Sheldon, thy [[{{Pride}} vanity]] knows no bounds.
--> '''Leonard''': Did I tell you that you'd have to make arrangements to get to work for the next few weeks?
--> '''Sheldon''': You did.
--> '''Leonard''': ...And?
--> '''Sheldon''': I didn't. [Beat, as Leonard collapses on the couch] Let's go!
** Amy is this about Howard and Bernadette's wedding. This goes so far as wearing her dress to City Hall complaining about her missed opportunity when the wedding might be put on hold.
* {{Jerkass}}:
** Of the five major characters, [[InsufferableGenius Sheldon]].
** Almost anyone who fits into a role as a RomanticFalseLead, including most of Penny's boyfriends and hookups (except notably for Zack, who is just an idiot).
** Leslie Winkle is this toward Sheldon.
** Barry [[MeaningfulName Kripke]] and many minor characters.
** Wil Wheaton (at least, his character, not the man himself) for intentionally increasing the wedge between Penny and Leonard, just to get back at Sheldon.
--->'''Sheldon:''' YOU DID THIS, didn't you!\\
'''Wil Wheaton:''' Do you really think I would break up a couple, just to win a bowling match?\\
'''Sheldon:''' No... I suppose not.\\
'''Wil Wheaton:''' Good. Keep thinking that.\\
'''Sheldon:''' Wheeeeeatooooon!
** Jimmy Speckerman, who bullied Leonard in junior high. He gets drunk and apologizes but the following morning he demonstrates he's a JerkWithAHeartOfJerk.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Sheldon is this at times, particularly towards Penny.
* JewishMother: Howard's.
* JewsLoveToArgue: Howard and his mother. A lot.
* {{Joisey}}: Leonard is from NJ, which comes up from time to time. Sheldon boasts of his Texan upbringing as making him an expert at retribution, but Leonard manages to turn a prank back on Sheldon.
--> '''Leonard''': You may be from Texas, but I'M from JERSEY!
* JustOneMoreLevel: Penny in "[[ShowWithinAShow The Barbarian Sublimation]]".
