Basic Trope: Someone drops something on the floor, picks it up, points out it wasn't there long, and eats it.
- Played Straight: Bob drops a potato chip on the floor, then picks it up, declares "Five second rule", and eats it.
- Exaggerated:
- Bob drops something likely to pick up dirt from the floor, like a greasy cheeseburger or a lollipop that's been in his mouth. He shrugs, picks it up, and eats it.
- Bob finds something that's been on the floor an indeterminate amount of time, shrugs, and eats it.
- Bob licks the floor after spilling his booze.
- Downplayed: Bob had just finished sanitizing the floor and dropped a candy bar he'd just opened.
- Justified:
- Bob is literally starving to death, and figures that food is food, no matter if it's on the floor or not.
- The food is Bob's Trademark Favorite Food, and he doesn't want to waste it.
- The floor has been cleaned relatively recently, and Bob is aware of this.
- Bob was already very drunk when he decided it'd be a great idea to lick up booze from the floor.
- Inverted:
- Bob is so much of a Neat Freak that he'll throw away a potato chip dropped on a clean table.
- Somehow, Bob thinks it's safer to eat the dropped potato chip if he leaves it on the floor for a while.
- Subverted: Bob dropped a piece of food, but decides it's not worth bending over.
- Double-Subverted: ...But John decides he'll eat it.
- Parodied:
- Bob is a fantasy creature who eats rocks straight from the ground, but when he accidentally drops one on the exact same ground, he insists that it's only okay to eat it if he follows the five-swcond rule.
- Bob drops a potato chip. Cue a clip of anthropomorphic germs looking at their watches, waiting politely for the five seconds to be up so that they can go on the chip.
- Zig-Zagged: ???
- Averted: Bob discards the dropped potato chip.
- Enforced: ???
- Lampshaded: ???
- Invoked: ???
- Exploited: ???
- Defied: Little Bob drops a potato chip on the floor and picks it back up to eat it, claiming it's fine because it only spent a few minutes on the floor. His parents explain that it doesn't work that way and make him throw it away instead.
- Discussed: ???
- Conversed: ???
Back to Five-Second Rule.
