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Sabotutor: Sometimes happens in abusive relationships. In a more benign case, happens when the teacher realizes the person he's teaching is not going to use the skill for anything good (e.g. a gun instructor realizes his student is planning on committing a murder) and tries to make sure the person will be as ineffective as possible, while also likely notifying authorities if need be. Also an Enforced Trope (sometimes by Moral Guardians and other times by law) in almost all televised or otherwise demonstrated drug chemistry, explosive chemistry, and similarly dangerous activities that require a process of steps or ingredients or the like - even in depictions intended for adults' eyes only. Important ingredients, process steps, etcetera will be left out, in the hopes that, say, people can't learn how to make methamphetamine from Breaking Bad or that kids watching an educational show about science won't accidentally create a bomb with mentos and Coke. Famously Lampshaded by the MythBusters when cooking up Thermite: "don't mix blur with blur."
Sacred Hospitality: In much of the world for a very long time, hospitality was required of people in this way. In fact, the reason for the story of the destruction of Sodom in The Bible was not homosexuality but was that the residents of Sodom were cruel and xenophobic rather than hospitable, to the extent of raping guests who had the temerity to stay in order to humiliate them.
Sacrificed Basic Skill for Awesome Training: The amount of time you need to spend to become an expert on something is, on average, around 10,000 hours^note1 year, 51 days and 16 hours. That time has come from somewhere - usually socialization.
Sad Clown: Many people use humor to cope through hard times. It's safe to say a strong percentage of people has made fun of themselves or an unfortunate event that has happened to them.
Sadistic Choice: One of the more common and more nasty Dirty Social Tricks. One key to escaping it is remembering that there is almost always a third option, even if the third option would risk your health/life/finances/etc as much as one or both of the offered options, it might actually be worth it to avoid the person making you make such choices.
Sadist Teacher: A few have existed.
Safe, Sane, and Consensual: The ethical approach to sexual activity, especially sexual activity that could involve risk beyond the usual.
Safe Word: Yes, people do use them. And if people don't, you should probably not be doing BDSM play with them.
Saintly Church: Most churches would see themselves this way, and a good many of them are right, but even so, real life examples are not allowed for moral reason. They are too common anyway.
Samaritan Syndrome: The more you do, the more you notice what you're not doing.
Samurai: Like the knights, they are a very real military class of warriors who fought for their lords, their clans and their families.
Samus Is a Girl: People do tend to assume a person (whether real or fictional) is male unless explicitly told/shown otherwise, even when it makes little sense to do so (women make up roughly half the human race, so, at the very least, there is usually at least a 1/2 chance a given person is female.)
Sand Bridge at Low Tide: Mont Saint-Michel, a French islet near the coastline of Normandy. The Bering Strait at one point.
Sand In My Eyes: In places and cultures where Men Don't Cry is in effect, this is often invoked as a way to get away with Manly Tears.
Sanity Slippage: Because when people become The Mentally Disturbed in real life, it's often a slow, agonizing public process for things like Alzheimer's dementia, uncontrolled addictions, or schizophrenia (e.g. everyone involved knows something is wrong, often including the sufferer himself/herself), or a slow, subtle, private process until the illness is moderate to severe (anxiety, functional addictions, depression, and OCD often fall in here - in the milder stages of depression, for example, you might just feel a bit hopeless and pessimistic, and no one around you can tell your inner state).
Sarcasm-Blind: Young age or unfamiliarity with a language or a culture and its means of sarcasm can cause this. Often also affects people on the autism spectrum; in principle, it can happen in general. One might want to think before possibly drawing such a blank.
Sarcasm Failure: Sometimes, even the most snarky people can be overwhelmed by something so tragic or stupid there is no point in snark, either because it is not funny, or because the situation is so stupid it snarks itself.
Sarcastic Confession: Happens far more often than you think, and sometimes, it works.
Satan Is Good: The belief of some theistic and non-theistic Satanists, and of some other Left Hand Path beliefs.
Satanic Panic: Although no examples have been substantiated of actual Satanic cult abuse, the fear of them is unfortunately extremely real.
The Savage South: Until recent times, areas near the equator were seen by many Europeans and Americans as not only unpleasantly hot but also arid or sopping wet and full of dangerous large animals like panthers and lions. If the heat or animals did not kill you, the diseases borne by biting flies or mosquitoes would. Modern advances in dealing with disease and wild animals have resulted in a more "friendly" outlook on these places as the risks are more easily managed.
Savage Spinosaurs: Intimidating as any other theropod dinosaurs, if not more so - Spinosaurus, Baryonyx, Suchomimus, Oxalaia, Siamosaurus, and Irritator were all vicious enough carnivores and resembled huge crocodilians - Spinosaurus was large enough to be capable of gulping down humans whole, with Oxalaia being potentially close in size. Some species, moreso than others did, were equipped for tearing just about whatever they wanted to open with their rather large hand-claws.
Saved by the Awesome: Just like the Cowboy Cop and Military Maverick can be found in Real Life, so can this; this being the reason they exist in the first place.
Say It with Hearts: Some people on the internet tend to love using heart emoticons.
Scam Religion: They have existed. No real life examples are allowed, but people throughout history have used religion or even created religions or sects with the express or at least secondary intent of separating followers from their money.
The Scapegoat: Sadly true and happens in real life to people or groups, hell you may have even been one at one time.
Scare Campaign: How many political campaigns are run, because fear, uncertainty, and doubt appeals to low-information voters.
Scare Chord: Pianos, organs, and harpsichords can all create accidental examples of such whenever someone screws up either while playing one of them, pressing a damaged key, or dropping one down onto something or someone from a great height.
Scary Amoral Religion: Some followers of monotheistic scripture-based beliefs believe any religion that doesn't have a strict code of law and a deity that enforces it as this, because "how can you be good without (our) God?" Alternately, followers of religions with a hedonistic, humanistic, polytheistic, and/or pantheistic view see monotheistic religion with scripture-based beliefs as this - "if we rely on a book to always give us our ethics and morals, we are giving up our responsibility as individual moral beings to those who interpret that book."
Scenery Censor: This can be easily achieved, and often used in nude photography, in a creative and artistic manner.
Schizo Tech: Around us every day in most places, though at its most extreme in developing countries or places of poverty or disaster. That said, if you're reading this page on a desktop computer while in a 1970s-built building, drinking a beer (ancient) or a soda (early 1900s) as you do so, while checking a text on your smartphone, you are an example right now.
Schmuck Bait: Some people are easy to lure into obvious traps, whether through temptation or being downright Too Dumb to Live.
School Bullying Is Harmless: This is the attitude held in many schools and is often why bullies get away with their bullying while their victims receive No Sympathy.
School Newspaper Newshound: At least at the high school and college levels, this trope has surprisingly become more Truth in Television over time, since schools are often somewhat less bound to corporate media interests, there are less consequences for someone who hasn't become established in official media yet, and citizen journalism + No Such Thing as Bad Publicity has become popular among younger people. The result is that especially at the college level, a college paper reporter might have far more latitude to investigate and write a hard-hitting investigative piece and/or freelance write it for the local alternative weekly or an internet site than an establishment reporter with a long career that could be damaged beyond repair from the wrong backlash.
Schoolyard Bully All Grown Up: Not all school bullies mature and have remorse for their bullying, and they remain that way in adulthood.
Scissors Cuts Rock: Even if one element can extinguish another, you still need enough of the former to put out the latter. For instance, imagine trying to stop a raging wildfire with a water pistol. In terms of Tactical Rock–Paper–Scissors - as explained by Skallagrim - skill level, experience, and phsyical fitness matter far more than innate advantages of one weapon over another.
Scope Snipe: Carlos Hathcock pulled this off during the Vietnam War, but it's near impossible to do unless under the exact conditions.
Screaming Birth: Because giving birth is not a fun or enjoyable or painless experience for most, especially with natural childbirth.
Screw the Money, I Have Rules!: Some people cannot be bought, and this is why sometimes offering a bribe can get someone nowhere except in deeper trouble.
Screw Politeness, I'm a Senior!: Because of dementia, or sometimes because of feeling as if one has earned the right not to respect younger people.
Screw the Rules, I Have Connections!: The reason why celebrities often get off the hook.
Screw the Rules, I Have Money!: Because only the richest can bribe their way to victory.
Screw the Rules, I Make Them!: Politicians, corporations, and the interplay between them.
Screw the Rules, I'm Beautiful!: Behind the Double Standard regarding student/teacher affairs and Double Standard Rape: Female on Male - if the pedophile or ephebophile is female and hot, she often gets sympathetic treatment from the media and the victim is celebrated as somehow having "scored" rather than being a victim. If the pedophile/ephebophile is male or an unattractive woman, they are evil and the victim is seen as a tragic, Defiled Forever victim.
Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: Along with Screw the Money, I Have Rules!, the only two here that aren't cynical.
Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Severe weather quite often invokes this trope, for very good reason. Here is one of the many examples where a tornado is headed for a news station
Screw Yourself: Is possible via realdoll or other sufficiently realistic mannequin/wax doll/etcetera, or having an explicit content roleplay with someone whose avatar looks exactly like your own in Second Life or World of Warcraft.
Scrub: They exist everywhere and not just in gaming, but in anything where someone can be (falsely or rightly) accused of cheating or gaming the system or not playing "by the right rules."
Sdrawkcab Alias: Often used for corporate naming or for places people aren't creative or interested enough in inventing a creative pseudonym.
Sealed Evil in a Can: Certain substances or eradicated pathogens that have been stored and heavily guarded have the risk of becoming such, and scientists and other people in charge are very aware of it. Efforts are being taken to ensure that whatever warnings are placed on the storage of such substances is still understood as dangerous even thousands of years in the future.
Sealed Good in a Can: The Svalbard seed vault and other heirloom and traditional seed and plant vaults and storages - the only hope of the world to avoid starving to death in the event of anything from nuclear war to a genetic modification mistake. Reserves of vaccines, medications, and other necessary health items so if there is a pandemic or a major disaster that reduces healthcare to pre 20th century levels, there's some chance at saving lives from it and/or bringing conditions back to their pre-disaster levels.
Secondary Fire: Many weapons have burst and autofire modes or even grenade launchers attached to the gun.
Second Law of Gender-Bending: Applies to many if not most real life transgender people, even if they aren't able to pass fully or their life as who they are is more difficult than had they just "not changed," etcetera.
Second Love: Some people who have moved on from their First Love, can find this person at some point.
Secret Identity: Instead of superheroes who do this in real life, though, it is people such as spies (who have to create new personas and identities wherever they go), identity thieves, and various internet trolls. Though it's also done by non-trolls on the internet who want to have one identity to engage in conduct that their family or boss might not approve of, or for an argument with or activity against people one does not wish to be personally identified to (e.g. one is arguing with or organizing action against Neo-Nazis or violent homophobes) among many other reasons.
Secret-Keeper: Some people do keep their friends or family members' secrets. Lawyers and priests are legally bound, in many places, to absolute confidentiality - anything you tell your lawyer or a priest/monk/similar is off limits to anyone else unless you choose to release the information. Spouses are also allowed to invoke this privilege at least in the US. Medical professionals including therapists can vary - their records can be accessed and subpoenaed easier than a lawyer's or priest's, for example, and if they themselves feel you are a threat (or sometimes, a drug user/drug seeker) they can act to inform law enforcement - but there is some level of confidentiality as long as you are not discussing anything related toward violence directed toward others or yourself, or the use/sale/possession/seeking of controlled or banned substances.
Secret Secret-Keeper: Sometimes done by people trying to maintain a Transparent Closet for example, other times, done when the secret is an Old Shame or an insult to be brought up to the person.
Secret Test of Character: Sometimes this is done to judge trustworthiness in an employment situation, for example. It's not a very reliable method, at least when done with small-value items (e.g. the person might pick up the pen left on the desk thinking they're given free to all interviewees, or the unpaid intern might steal the occasional office supplies/take home the leftover coffee or food/pocket a dropped quarter from the floor but is otherwise highly trustworthy.)
Secular Hero: Belief in God or gods is not necessary for someone to save lives and/or property, as the many atheist or agnostic police officers, firefighters, and emergency medical technicians and emergency medicine/trauma surgery doctors (among many other professions that protect life and property) will happily tell you.
Security Blanket: Several children, and even some adults have a blanket, stuffed animal, toy, or any item they hold close to them.
Seen-It-All Suicide: Some have happened. Can also happen when the person who is at the top realizes everything is about to crumble out from under them and they are at the best moment of their life right then and there.
Seinfeldian Conversation: It is arguable that there is nothing more realistic than this trope. Indeed, an argument over that would be the perfect example. Absolutely any conversation will turn into this if entered in the middle.
Self-Defense Ruse: There have been cases where a person, especially a Corrupt Cop or regime, has claimed self-defense when the grounds are at least flimsy if not contradictory.
Selective Enforcement: It happens by any law enforcement agency ever. Sometimes, it's a good thing (if every petty law was enforced to its full extent at every possible moment in the most literal way, there would be no one who was not a criminal, which is actually why Zero Tolerance is such a bad idea), and other times not so much (when money or political influence allows people who should be arrested and prosecuted to get away with their crimes, while poorer or more stupid people are vacuumed up for doing far less and sentenced far more harshly to fill the jails, e.g. someone who shoplifts $50 worth of food or clothes is arrested and jailed, someone who steals five billion dollars is a bank CEO who is given a congratulatory pat on the back and a bailout)
Self-Guarding Phlebotinum: Most of the worst nuclear sources that could be used to create a viable nuclear weapon but aren't already encased within one and even most of the radioactive sources that could create a "dirty bomb" or widespread serious contamination are so radioactive they would kill any terrorist or criminal who tried to make one or spread the contamination - meaning only the suicidal, who don't tend to be the most educated and capable scientists, would even try - and their lack of knowledge and skill would only hasten their deaths. It's argued that this is the reason why there hasn't been, to this day, a nuclear terror attack: the building of nuclear weapons or even nuclear dispersal devices is just too dangerous and no country that can make them is willing to sell them.
Self-Harm: As mentioned on the main page, plenty of people in real life deliberately hurt themselves for any number of reasons.
Self-Made Man: There are a few people who can qualify as such, particularly athletes and artists who come from and have nothing until their hard work and talent starts being noticed in their respective sports/fields.
Seme: Some gay and bisexual men are exclusive tops, and some of those are also dominant in the BDSM sense of the term, and someone falling into both groups (exclusive top, BDSM dominant) would technically make them this. That said, most of them wouldn't actually use this term for themselves.
Senseless Violins: The 2008 Northern Illinois University shooter managed to bypass the campus security by packing a pair of shotguns inside a guitar case.
Sensual Spandex: Played with by the vogue for compression wear to reinforce and stabilize muscles, which can either play this trope straight or not depending upon how the materials are patterned. Also, "Leggings as pants". The look certainly has its opponents.
Sentimental Homemade Toy: Some homemade toys are deeply treasured by their owners—because they're family heirlooms, because they spent a good chunk of their childhood attached to said toy, or both.
Serenade Your Lover: Some people have done this.
Serendipitous Symphony: There are musical pieces based on this, and the concept of "everything is an instrument" in Noise music and in some forms of electronic music takes it up to eleven.
Serial Killer: Way too many to list.
Serial Rapist: Also way too many to list.
Serial Romeo: Some people don't want to settle down with one person.
Serial Spouse: In places where divorces are easy to obtain (and in some where they aren't) these do exist.
Serious Business: Unsung rule of life, the universe and everything: if it exists, somebody out there is taking it VERY seriously.
Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness: As noted in the entry, Williams Syndrome. Some forms of autism and Asperger's Syndrome will cause this as well.
Sex at Work: People actually do screw around at the workplace occasionally.
Sex Changes Everything: For some couples. Not all.
Sex, Drugs, and Rock & Roll: A definite Truth in Television for some artists and musicians, and even justified slightly in that sometimes the use of mind-altering substances can be seen as necessary to access inspiration or work on a nigh-impossible schedule or the like, and that having consensual sex with lots of different people or with Friends with Benefits is very much an individual preference which some people might choose over a more stable or "normal" relationship, especially if their lifestyle (long tours, being a workaholic) would ensure the failure of a more traditional relationship.
Sex for Solace: If this coping mechanism is an option and no other choices are immediately available, people may resort to sex to feel better. This usually happens when someone is depressed from relationship troubles.
Sex Is Evil: Believed by some people, be it for religious or political reasons, to be a necessary evil for procreation alone, or evil unless kept within very strict rules and bounds.
Sex Is Good: Believed by some of those same people for their specific type(s) of allowed sex. Believed by most people in general who aren't asexual (and by most asexual people who believe it is, it's just not for them).
Sex Is Interesting: At least in the minds of advertising executives, who will happily use the nebulous promise of it to sell anything.
Sexless Marriage: For a variety of reasons: Incompatible Orientation or simply falling out of love or interest in sex being some more common ones, but religion and long-term separation can also cause this.
Sex Miseducation Class: One of the reasons this became a trope is because of how terrible real life sex education classes can be.
Sex Slave: Unfortunately. If you suspect someone is one, there are often resources for human trafficking and it's a good idea to contact such a resource.
Sex Tourism: Exists on a spectrum of squick, from couples resorts, cruises, and other ventures to connect consenting adults, all the way to pedophiles seeking children overseas.
Sexual Extortion: One of the most common forms of sexual harassment and sexual harassment lawsuits.
Sexy Flaw: Various imperfections and deformities often serve as an erotic "turn-on".
Sexy Whatever Outfit: Rule 34's SFW (or not as NSFW) version.
Shaking the Rump: Many dances have this as a component, most prominently twerking.
Shameless Fanservice Girl: Many female nudists enjoy showing off their bodies.
Shaped Like What It Sells: A common advertising method in real life.
Shared Family Quirks: Since people usually spend a decent chunk of their lives learning habits from their parents, not to mention the genetic similarities, most people have these.
Share the Male Pain: It happens, similar to vomiting making others feel sick.
She Is Not My Girlfriend: Has happened to some people, especially children who have an aversion to romance.
Shields Are Useless: If you're already completely covered in plate armor, a shield won't do much more than weigh you down further. If the other guy's packing a firearm of some sort, you might as well discard it and run for cover.
Shipper on Deck: Very common in schools and other social groups.
Shipping Goggles: As you know if you were ever in a large fandom with a lot of shippers, people have these.
Ship-to-Ship Combat: One of the more common causes of drama and Flame War.
Shirtless Scene: A lot of men go shirtless at some point or another. Often, in real life, more Fan Disservice than fanservice unless you happen to like lots of hair and fat.
Shoddy Knockoff Product: All the knockoffs of real products. Mostly from Southeast Asia, Hong Kong, or China (never Japan or Korea). During the Cold War, they came from Eastern Europe.
Shoe Slap: In Mexico, la chancla ("the sandal") is commonly used by mothers or grandmothers to hit misbehaving children, usually by throwing the sandal at them with pinpoint accuracy. Eventually, this became a very common practice for the Chicano community in the U.S., and subject to many jokes and memes by adult Latinos. As a result, Mexican and Mexican-American audiences absolutely howled when they first saw la chancla being used in Coco.
Shoot the Builder: Common practice in Nazi Germany, North Korea, and many other fascistic or otherwise restrictive regimes.
Short-Lived Leadership: Many historical leaders have had notably short reins, usually due to just being in the position at the worst possible time.
Short Cuts Make Long Delays: Oh, they DO. Especially if they contain things that can injure you or damage a vehicle or both, if the way is really obstructed and you have to turn back, if it places you somewhere your maps or GPS won't help you and you get lost...
Shotgun Wedding: They have existed, and sometimes still do, though the "shotgun" in more modern times tends to be social pressure on the woman (to prevent her from becoming the victim of public ridicule) and/or on the man (to prevent him from abandoning her).
Showdown at High Noon: Though actually rare in the Wild West, there has been some cases of duels that went this way. Most famous are the duels between Wild Bill Hickok and Davis Tutt, as well as the duel between Luke Short and Jim Courtright, as well as many others.[1]
Showing Off the Perilous Power Source: Don't look directly at the sun, a solar eclipse, a nuclear explosion, or something being welded, and wear your ski goggles. A lesser degree of this with easy recovery (as an example of why you shouldn't) can be induced by staring at any light source (from a match to a lightbulb) for a few minutes. And don't stand too close to a steam engine that is discharging steam either!
Shrinking Violet: Shy people exist.
Shut Up, Hannibal!: A few have been delivered in real life. The example of Native Americans giving one to Nazi Germany in the real life section is probably the best example. Namely, if you are conducting a racially based genocide, trying to get a population that was and was even at the time still being victimized by one to support you is not the best of ideas unless you want to be very angrily cut off at the pass.
Shy Bladder: It's called paruresis, and people have been fired because of it when they couldn't pee for a drug test. And yes, before you ask, there have been lawsuits.
Sibling Rivalry: It's very common for siblings to quarrel.
Sibling Seniority Squabble: Common in royalty and feudal societies where being firstborn was often very important for inheritance reasons.
Sickbed Slaying: One of the most underreported and underinvestigated forms of murder when it takes place, along with other people who are easily written off to dying as a result of their lifestyle/other causes/suicide (the Disposable Sex Worker, drug users, the homeless, The Mentally Disturbed, prisoners...)
Side Effects Include...: A quite large amount of pharmaceutical advertising is like this, and you've likely seen one ad or more.
Signed with a Kiss: Although handwritten letters are less prominent in the 21st century, many love letters are signed with kiss marks. In the digital age, paramours also sign their texts with the kiss mark emoji.
Significant Name Shift: It's pretty common to change what you call someone when you view them differently than you did before.
Signs of Disrepair: As a look around Fail Blog and occasionally where you live can tell you.
Silence of Sadness: Some people really do go quiet when they're sad.
Silk Hiding Steel: Any society that places a premium on property has had women who do this. An example would be the wives and daughters of ship captains in 19th Century New England.
Silly Rabbit, Cynicism Is for Losers!: This will be the kind of response people will use to reprove those who are negative and pessimistic about certain aspects of life, often because some people frown upon other people who are negative.
- Excess cynicism can take a toll on your mental health, and while it's important to have a little cynicism to keep a sharp mind, too much cynicism can make you feel too jaded to improve the well-being of others and yourself, and a little idealism won't hurt.
Silly Reason for War: Quite a few ancient and medieval (and early modern) wars were for reasons that most people looking back today would find silly or outright stupid and pointless.
- Arguments on the internet are the same way. Two people can agree on almost every point in the discussion, but end up on a ferocious tangent arguing about one inconsequential element that they happen to disagree about.
Singing in the Shower: Many people do this whether they admit it or not.
Single-Biome Planet: Mars (desert), Jupiter (Cloud), Neptune (Cloud), the moons Europa and Enceladus (Ice) and Io (Volcano).
Single Mom Stripper: Usually due to economic reasons, those being that stripping is one of the few careers that doesn't require extensive experience, has somewhat flexible hours, and pays far more than welfare or child support in general.
Single Parents Are Undesirable: It's quite common for single parents to have a hard time dating (particularly those who are under the age of 30), especially when there are some people who have no interest in children.
Single Sex Offspring: Though rare in real life, some people really do only have kids of a single gender.
Single-Target Sexuality: Not heard often, but there are people who have had only one true love in their life.
Single-Task Robot: Most real-life robots only have as many functions as certain people need from them.
Single Woman Seeks Good Man: Many people prefer to be in a relationship with someone who has a lot of positive characteristics.
Sink or Swim Mentor: Live fire training and chemical weapons training for military members, as well as the Navy SEAL and the SERE courses for elite military members in the US. For firefighters, training inside a real burning building.
Sink the Lifeboats: Various wars throughout human history are rife with incidents of armies sinking lifeboats carrying soldiers from opposing sides. Under the Geneva Convention, lifeboats are considered protected, and attacking them is a war crime.
Sir Swears-a-Lot: Fuck, a lot of fuckers - and enough people not as bad - do this way too fucking much.
Situational Sociability: For some people, especially those who are shy or have social anxiety, it's easier to socialize with others on the internet than in person.
Slave Mooks: Unfortunately so - conscription and drafting still happen in militaries throughout the world.
Slap-Slap-Kiss: Some abusive relationships and unhealthy relationships are like this.
Sleep Cute: Mothers and their babies oftentimes sleep together on sofas, rocking chairs, and hammocks.
Sleeps with Both Eyes Open: Sleepwalkers keep their eyes open to see their way around.
Sleeps with Everyone but You: Just because someone may sleep around, doesn't mean everyone is interesting or sexy to them.
Slippery Soap: Why many people prefer shower gels or other options to bar soap.
Slow Transformation: From infant to adult. Takes 17-18 to 20-21 years, depending on culture, region, and more.
Slurpasaur: Many Real Life living and extinct species such as Komodo Dragons, frilled lizards, salt-water crocodiles, Jackson's Chameleons, Dimetrodon, Edaphosaurus, Shringasaurus, Postosuchus, and Moschops physically resemble famous fictional examples of this trope to varying extents.
Slut-Shaming: Unfortunately, and became a trope because of its occurrence in reality.
Small Name, Big Ego: Examples are too numerous and insulting to be listed, but we've all seen them.
Smart People Play Chess: Chess is actually a fairly difficult game to learn how to play correctly unless you have some degree of intelligence.
Smelly Skunk: Skunks stink.
Smite Me, O Mighty Smiter: This is why many people are atheists.
Smoking Hot Sex: Some smokers do tend to smoke after sex. If you're a man it's a good idea to wait until afterward - nicotine can cause impotence both in the short and long term because it causes constriction of blood flow.
Smoking Is Cool: To some, and that is part of why complete abolition of tobacco seems almost an impossible task despite the health benefits of cutting global smoking rates to zero. The Forbidden Fruit trope also ensures that too strong of efforts to portray it as uncool or to ban it entirely or make it illegal will unfortunately only make this trope stronger.
Smoking Is Edgy: Cynical people are the ones most likely to take up a routine of smoking, while simultaneously being aware that Smoking Is Not Cool.
Smoking Is Not Cool: Heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, erectile dysfunction, loss of fertility, birth defects, COPD, cancer in any number of organs, and all sorts of other nasty ailments provide very good reason for anyone to avoid smoking, or to fight like hell to quit if they already are.
Smoldering Shoes: Explosions sometimes blow off shoes, and Moral Guardians and Squick usually ensure that the shoes with body parts still in them can't be shown in newscasts or in official news outlet images. Hence, cameramen and photographers look for images with the least gore as possible (or alternately, the most they can get past the radar, or both at the same time) and blown-off (or abandoned so someone could run faster) shoes match that standard.
Smug Snake: Adolf Hitler, Hideki Tojo, and the BTK Serial Killer among others. Very common with psychopaths, who tend to be extremely self-confident and extremely lacking in common sense.
Snipe Hunt: A very common form of hazing or practical joke is to send someone on a search for something nonexistent.
Snooty Sports: Sports such as golf and fencing are played by wealthy older men and is seen as boring in reality.
Snow Means Cold: It generally does. Averted by fake snow and trucked-in snow during spring or summer.
Snow Means Death: Homeless people and others caught out on cold, snowy nights (especially if they are underdressed) are at risk of hypothermia and death from it, as are, depending on how cold the temperatures are, people in unheated dwellings.
So Beautiful, It's a Curse: Some people are treated with less respect or assumed to be hired based on appearance if their appearance is incredibly beautiful. Also, some beautiful people who aren't necessarily interested in dating other perfectly beautiful people (e.g. a twink that finds fat bears attractive) are often limited to them, either due to the disbelief less than perfect people would have at being approached by them or the social stigma that comes from "trading down" to a person viewed as less desirable than oneself. Sometimes they aren’t interested in dating anyone at all, and hate the undesired attention.
Sobriquet Sex Switch: Many transgender people either keep their birth name if it's gender-neutral or change it to a feminine/masculine form.
The Sociopath: Unfortunately, people who engage in antisocial behavior with a Lack of Empathy do exist. Professional psychologists/psychiatrists diagnose these people with "Antisocial Personality Disorder", while "Psychopath" and "Sociopath" are colloquial terms used by the general public.
Soda Can Shakeup: Shaking a can/bottle with carbonated drink and then opening it will result in a soda-shower, though not necessarly one as explosive as often seen in fiction.
Solar-Powered Magnifying Glass: Unfortunately, for our six-legged friends.
Solid Gold Poop: Ambergris is whale vomit. It's also extremely valuable for use in perfumes. Guano. Not as valuable now as it used to be. For centuries, it was used to make saltpeter and phosphorous, which was used for explosives and gunpowder. Now, it's mostly used for fertilizer, and some of the world's best coffees owe their rich flavor to this particular fertilizer.
Solve the Soup Cans: Standardized testing are claimed by some to be the real life version of this.
Somebody Doesn't Love Raymond: People with disorders such as Borderline Personality Disorder that mean they feel an extreme need to be liked. Narcissists tend to live off of this. Unfortunately, that view can make people who are justly concerned with the opinions of others seem narcissistic when they want to be not sure they are universally loved, but sure that they are not universally or offensive.
Sorry Ociffer: The reason why, if you are drunk or high, not talking to the police by stating your right to silence and need for a lawyer, and then shutting up (if you live somewhere where you have this right) is the best legal advice you can possibly ever follow. And you got it here free.
Soul Brotha: A stereotype in media portrayals, but one embraced by some real black men (usually entertainers of various sorts), much like Camp Gay is embraced by some gay men.
Soul-Sucking Retail Job: Ask anyone who has worked at Wal-Mart what they thought of working that job if you have a few hours to kill and high quality earplugs.
Soup of Poverty: Soup is cheap to buy in a can, easy to make in big batches to serve to many people, and can be made at home with a wide variety of ingredients.
Sour Outside, Sad Inside: Many people who are feeling hurt or angry are proactively rude to others because they want them to leave them alone. Also, while it doesn't excuse their actions, some people abuse others because they are miserable people who take their anger out on their victims so that they can feel powerful, as a coping mechanism.
Spammer: Unwanted commercial or promotional messages, fraud, harassment with multiple unwanted messages, ad nauseum happens to any new method of communication once people figure out how to do it - and then it becomes a Lensman Arms Race between people wanting to spread tons of crap and people wanting to stop it or not receive it. It happened with mail (junk mail), phones (telemarketers, various con artists, crank calls), and then reached e-mail, instant messages, text messages, and any other source it possibly could. If someone ever were to develop a form of cybernetic telepathy, it would be highly likely that within weeks, people would be getting overloaded with telepathic spam. The aggressive commercialization and exploitation of any available means of communication in real life is, in fact, what made the trope.
Spanner in the Works: It's common enough that there's a Real Life page on the trope page. After all, it's often said that no plan survives first contact with the enemy; all it takes is one small thing being unaccounted for to tear the best-laid plans to dust.
Spartan Sibling: In abusive families, it's common for parents or siblings to show no concern for their children or their siblings' problems, expecting them to deal with them without their support.
Speak Ill of the Dead: Some people do this, either out of an inability to drop old grudges, the desire to avoid someone being rewritten as something better and holier, etc than they were, or out of new information being revealed as a result of the death or an investigation or the like afterward.
Speed Dating: Such events are often held (usually at a bar or coffee shop) to assist those who don't have time for traditional dating and/or find it to be too difficult. Though, they do have a tendency of attracting the Hopeless Suitor and Casanova Wannabe types.
Speed Sex: According to 9GAG a couple from Yucatan, Mexico got the Guinness World Record for fastest sexual intercourse at 7.8 seconds.
Spelling for Emphasis: Sometimes, people do emphasize words by spelling them.
Spikes of Doom: Caltrops, which aren't in and of themselves that deadly but are used to blockade areas for air or infantry assault, so if you see them, you're likely not going to survive. Also, some people have made spike pit traps.
Spin to Deflect Stuff: Hundreds of years ago, before there were guns, martial artists claimed they could spin their staffs fast enough to deflect oncoming arrows.
The Spiny: Sea urchins.
Spit Take: Yes, people often do this in reaction to a shocking image or piece of information.
Split-Personality Merge: One of the recommended forms of therapy for real-life dissociative identity disorder - to integrate the personalities into one.
Split-Personality Takeover: Invoked by some high-demand religious and other organizations and abusive situations: a person is forced to dissociate via abuse and/or More than Mind Control techniques, and they will become angrier, more judgemental, quicker to violent solutions, less capable of independent thought, and/or possibly even develop learned helplessness and timidity as well as or instead of those. The concept has a name of the "cult personality," though it isn't only so-called "cults" that can invoke it.
Spock Speak: Asperger's Syndrome and legalese (though usually not to this degree). Justified in the legalese case, when the document has to be airtight. Still funny, though.
Spoiled Brat: There are children like this. Some adults, too.
Spoiled Sweet: There are children and adults like this as well.
Spontaneous Human Combustion: HIGHLY debated whether the traditional variant actually happens or not (e.g. internal forces causing a human to burst into flame). More likely true is the "hidden flame" variant, with a small flame catching the fat of the body on fire and burning it quickly.
Spotlight-Stealing Squad: One of the biggest spotlight stealers ever is sauces and sugar. In cooking, dough is essentially the main character, but who cares about him? He's bland and tasteless on his own and his side characters of sauces and sugar are the reason why you're there in the first place.
- Celebrities. Arguably, the news media disproportionately focuses on events in the lives of famous people, often to the point that it actually takes attention away from important events like say a war or a political corruption scandal. Sometimes celebrities use the fact that they are a spotlight-stealing squad to help other people, like by using their fame to draw attention to important issues like poverty or disease.
Spousal Privilege: One of the subcategories of Secret-Keeper above - spouses do not, generally, have to testify against their spouse unless they choose to do so.
Springtime for Hitler: Because you can try very hard to fail and yet have pure dumb luck contrive to make you succeed anyway.
Stage Mom: See I Coulda Been a Contender!.
Stag Party: Bachelor and bachelorette parties.
Stairs Are Faster: Sometimes, especially with six or under floors and a slow elevator/one that stops at each floor.
Stalker with a Crush: Erotomanic stalking is one of the main types of stalking.
Stalking Mission: Detective work involves a lot of this for both police detectives and private detectives. Probably even more for the latter, because their cases involve more of the things where stakeouts/tracking/etcetera are valid investigative tools.
Standing Between the Enemies: Police officers and peacekeeping forces sometimes do this, either metaphorically or even literally in the few times they don't just shoot everyone. Conflict mediators and negotiators of various sorts also try to do this by talking both sides down. It's also the point of having a workable legal system - lawyers and judges and juries handle conflicts as intermediaries.
Star-Crossed Lovers: "Things just didn't work out."
Starfish Aliens: It is most likely that if non-Earth based life is ever discovered, it will be this: anything from bacteria to bugs to other life that bears no resemblance to humanity, because evolutionary conditions on non-Earthlike planets are different, and the conditions of other planets (atmospheres unbreathable to humans, temperatures too hot or cold) demand extremophile creatures - which humans really are not. Even given a perfectly Earth-like planet, there is no reason evolution would have to develop human or humanoid or ape-like creatures instead of reptiles or dolphins or cockroaches.
Stargazing Scene: All that's needed is a night with a clear sky, and anyone can go outside and admire the stars.
Starstruck Speechless: It's not everyday someone meets a person they admire, and the lack of preparation can make people say some pretty silly things out of nervousness.
Starter Marriage: Some first marriages are this.
Start of Darkness: If you want to be really, really depressed, realize just how many of these are happening in abusive homes alone, every single day.
State Sec: The NKVD/KGB and the Stasi on the left, the kempetai and Nazi informants on the right. Among many, many, MANY others.
Stating the Simple Solution: Happens quite a lot in various environments (such as militaries and politics) where jargon and complicated plans tend to rule the day. People who do this often don't tend to last very long in such environments because they are seen as "too idealistic" or not playing the game properly.
Statuesque Stunner: Most female models and supermodels are expected to be tall as well as very thin.
Status Quo Is God: To some people in real life.
Stay in the Kitchen: Unfortunately, pretty much everywhere until the mid to late 20th century, and it still isn't completely gone today.
Steam Never Dies: A lot of heritage railways have steam trains working on them.
Stealth Hi/Bye: It happens when you're distracted and don't notice when someone is entering or leaving the room.
Stealthy Cephalopod: Most cephalopods, especially the octopus, really are masters of stealth. As noted on that page, the octopus is extremely intelligent, and it and other cephalopods have camouflage, ink, and other abilities to help them hide from predators and sneak up on prey.
Stepford Smiler: There are entire cultural settings where this is a requirement, as anyone who's seen demands for "bubbly, cheerful" people will know.
Stepford Suburbia: There are places like this in real life, but the more common are tourist locations, because they have to keep up good press far more than suburbs.
Stern Teacher: Many of them exist.
Steven Ulysses Perhero: There have been and are people like this. One of the most famous was Thomas Crapper, co-inventor of the toilet.
Sticky Fingers: Some thieves are like this - they steal for reasons other than major profit.
Stone Soup: Can be an effective way (if a bit manipulative) to prompt cooperation.
Stone Wall: A military tactic used if defenses are better than anything else. Also common in sports if the defense is better than the offense.
"Stop Having Fun" Guys: They exist in real life as well.
Stopped Dead in Their Tracks: Many do in fact stop what they are doing abruptly when faced with some armor-piercing words, contemplating what to do next. Even more common are those who walk away from situations they don't want to face.
Story Reset: Writers can and often will retcon just a few events rather than an entire story. In nonfictional media, corrections are this: correcting false or misleading information already published, in the hopes the correction will be read (or is at least there to be pointed out)
- Also why Encyclopedias get new editions every year, and why textbooks are constantly updated. As new information comes to light or perspectives/points of view on things like history, science, literary criticism or other fields of knowledge change, the cultural/intellectual narrative changes with it, creating an effective story reset. This, for instance, would be why many accepted theories or facts taught in universities fifty years ago would largely be considered outdated or discredited ideas by this point in time.
Stout Strength: Incredibly strong men often look more rotund than body-building. Just watch the weightlifting portion of the Olympics. Or sumo wrestling.
Straight Edge Evil: Abstinence, self-discipline and orderly living can make a saint, but it can just as well make a monster.
Straight Gay: Contrary to historical portrayals, most gay people appear and act just like most straight people.
Stranger in a Familiar Land: Step 1: Go abroad for work/study/etc. Step 2: Stay there a couple of years, if not months. Step 3: Go back home and try to fit back in.
Straying Baby: Babies crawl, or toddle, long before they learn any sense.
Street Urchin: One of the most serious social problems everywhere in the world.
Stronger with Age: Many species, including us humans, achieve this effect via ontogeny, though typically not to the extent oftentimes seen in fiction.
Strong Family Resemblance: Sometimes family members do look exactly alike. Obviously, twins and other multiples qualify. We gotta get our looks from somewhere, right?
Stubborn Mule: Donkeys and mules generally have a stronger sense of self-preservation than horses, which to unfamiliar humans comes across as stubbornness. If a donkey or mule refuses to budge, that means it perceives an obstacle as too dangerous to safely overcome. It's this self-preservation, along with their hardiness, that makes them invaluable on mountain expeditions.
Student–Master Team: Sometimes people do train apprentices or new workers to replace them. Bands also provide some great examples of this: one of the fastest ways to improve your skill as a musician is to get into a band or be a roadie for a band where you are directly working with the person who is very, very skilled at your instrument or role if he or she is willing to teach you.
Stuff Blowing Up: If there's hypergolics around, almost anything they are accidentally on or in can become explosive, even the ground itself. A good example of this is the Pepcon Disaster where hypergolic rocket fuel managed to create a huge chain reaction of Stuff Blowing Up.
Stuffed into a Locker: Happened back when lockers could contain people.
Stuffy Old Songs About the Buttocks: They exist because the human posterior is, for a lot of people in a lot of cultures, a very sexual sight or image - and because as many people have discovered in various ways, the anorectal-perineal area has quite a lot of very sensitive nerve endings. Obviously, with the role the region has in human sexuality (even if it's denied) it will make its way into music about said sexuality.
Stupid Scientist: Although in real life, the stupidity is often the result of working towards a predetermined result desired by a patron for fiscal or political reasons.
Stylistic Suck: People do this as a form of parody.
Stylish Protection Gear: Silk has properties that allow for diminished arrow penetration (there would still be non-lethal wounds). It was used by Mongol warriors and samurai. It's also fireproof.
Subculture of the Week: News programs tend to do this very often, and they were the first to create the trope.
Succession Crisis: Plenty of historical examples. There was even a whole war called "The War of Austrian Succession".
Suckiness Is Painful: There are some musical notes, bad color/pattern combinations, and other things that literally can cause people to feel dizzy or nauseous or, in the case of sound, actual pain.
Sugar-and-Ice Personality: There are people like this. Usually they are more guarded with strangers and more warm to people they know well, though the reverse is true sometimes in people with abusive families or with friends that would happily betray them - being more guarded with these "familiar" people and being more open with people who don't seem to be threatening.
Suddenly Always Knew That: Since not everyone always lets you know everything they know.
Suddenly Shouting: Real-world British Royal Guards have a reputation for stoicism, but if you try to mess with them or stand in their way while marching, they will very loudly command you to step back.
Suicide Attack: Kamikaze and suicide bombers were and are infamous aspects of World War II and terrorism.
Suicide by Cop: Both intentional and accidental types exist, and happen almost every day.
Suicide Dare: Unfortunately very common for people to tell this to other people who are suffering. A lot of this can happen on the internet.
Suicide is Shameful: Many cultures have strongly stigmatized suicide, viewing it as an act of selfishness, cowardice, or, according to certain religious sects, a mortal sin against God. Not only is it harshly discouraged, but it is also illegalized, although the criminalization of it in western societies had declined.
Suicide Watch: In some jurisdictions, suicidal people can be detained in mental hospitals until their urges are either finished, or the patient is undergoing treatment. They might be subjected to an involuntary psychiatric hold, where it's the authorities who are doing the guarding. Alternately, the authorities have their hands on a particularly crooked individual who would rather avoid trial by any means necessary and need to keep them around to ensure they testify.
Super Fly Reflexes: Some people have swatted flies in midair. It's easier with moths and mosquitoes, though, as they're slower - most people can swat one of them in midair.
Super-Persistent Predator: Humans with their persistence hunting during the majority of the stone age.
Supreme Chef: A lot chefs in the world who make the most delicious foods in the world. Many of them are celebrities in their own right.
Sure, Let's Go with That: You've said it and you know it.
Surprisingly Creepy Moment: Life is full of this. Even things you didn't think were creepy once can later take on that tone (e.g. one of the neighbors who had the house every kid in the neighborhood hung out at was arrested, years later, for child sexual abuse)
Surprisingly Gentle Song: Many many MANY bands and artists (even some of the hardest Hard Rock / Heavy Metal bands, and some of the most hardcore badass image rappers among others) will have one of these. It often tends to overlap with Grief Song or Silly Love Songs.
Surprisingly Sudden Death: The aptly-named sudden death syndrome. An instantaneous death from a heart attack also qualifies.
Surrounded by Idiots: Everyone who's ever had a day job can attest to this, or at least start to comprehend this feeling. Or been in ~~Public~~ ~~High~~ School.
Survivor Guilt: In all of its forms including "I survived this accident/disaster and my family/friend didn't," "We did the same things, why was I the lucky one to live?" and "Why wasn't I there to save him/why couldn't I have brought him here sooner?" one of the most common sources of grief and suffering in the world. One so bad that people have been Driven to Suicide by it.
Suspiciously Specific Denial: Bad liars will sometimes do this.
Swamps Are Evil: To a degree, as "Swamps are dangerous" is more accurate when discussing real-life swamps. They tend to attract a lot of insects, which can carry diseases; they are difficult to navigate on foot; all the water makes them prone to heavy fog; and dangerous animals like crocodiles, alligators, venomous snakes, and piranhas, have made swamps their home.
Sweet Dreams Fuel: Sometimes, many mundane details are seen throughout our daily lives such as a starry night sky with a full moon shining, warm food or drinks, mounted dinosaur fossils in a natural history museum, visiting the zoo to see cute captive animals, domestic cats sleeping on top of one of their owners' abdomens, and an infant managing to fall asleep in someone's arms all tend to make us inexplicably smile.
Sweet Polly Oliver: Joan of Arc, Mulan (yes, it was based on a true story).
Swiss-Cheese Security: Because not all people and not all buildings can afford the very best of security and maintaining the highest level of security practices is often unnecessarily paranoid and counterproductive for some industries. For example, in many lower end retail contexts such as groceries and big-box stores, it's far cheaper to have a certain level of shoplifting than it is to implement security so intense that it costs tons of money for guards and cameras and taking each case to court and the like, not to mention the angry non-shoplifter customers when they get patted down on leaving the store or followed everywhere in it.
Sycophantic Servant: Many people acting like this can be found in many places, and not just serving bad people.
Sympathetic Murderer: Again, no specific real life examples, but some murderers have fallen into this. Generally, it tends to be people who for some reason or another were not aware of the gravity of their act (e.g. they were children or teens and didn't know better/didn't have the impulse control they later developed, they were manipulated by a high-demand organization or an abuser giving them orders, they were/are mentally ill) or who were aware of the gravity of their act but felt as if they had no other choice (e.g. abused spouses, borderline self-defense cases, law enforcement officers). It also tends to be very subjective: for example, police officers will see the police officer who killed in the line of duty as this, while others will just call it Police Brutality, and some people will see children who are murderers as needing help and treatment, while others will see them as proof that they are already beyond the Moral Event Horizon.

Tae Kwon Door: Doors can definitely cause damage to a person. Slam them hard enough and you might just threaten someone's life.
Tail Slap: Even horses can make use of it to an extent. With elephants, it can be fatal.
Take a Third Option: Because there is almost always one, including inaction itself, walking away from the situation, asking for advice, and so on - and sometimes taking the third option even if it doesn't seem workable or reasonable is the best idea.
Take Over the World: Cliched now, but Adolf Hitler did want to do this via Lebensraum, and Emperor Hirohito and Hideki Tojo wanted to take over half of it via "The Greater East Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere," and technically, for much of the 20th century, the US and the Soviet Union actually accomplished it halfway for each. After the Soviet Union collapsed, the US actually did it for the most part (in a cultural, political and war-threatening sense) for a while - and part of one of the biggest debates in the world right now is if that was for good or ill, and if other nations gaining power again should be seen as a threat to the US... or simply as a legitimate balance of power that the world hasn't had.
Take That!: There are a LOT of these in real life, as insulting people is a common thing.
Take Up My Sword: Has happened, especially in antiquity and feudal times when war was waged by families.
Taking the Bullet: Liviu Lebrescu, the professor who blocked the door during the Virginia Tech shooting, and principal Dawn Hochsprung at the Sandy Hook massacre - among many, many others who intentionally got in the way of people trying to shoot others in order to stop them or delay them.
Taking You with Me: Kamikaze from World War II and some terrorists, among many, many other suicide attackers. Stalkers and domestic abusers also can and will engage in this - which is why they are so dangerous.
Take This Job and Shove It: The JetBlue flight attendant incident is a very recent example.
Talking Animal: Humans. Many species of parrot can also mimic human speech.
Talking Down the Suicidal: Something many of us are quite capable of doing, and in some cases have done. Suicide prevention isn't solely for the professionals - in fact, many more suicides have been prevented with a friend as the "first responder" rather than a therapist or especially a police officer, because people are more inclined to listen to and believe their friends even in bad states (or at least to not want to cause them pain), and because while therapists and police officers can force people to get treatment against their will, forced treatment often doesn't do anywhere near as good in the long term as truly voluntary seeking of help.
Talking in Your Dreams: Relatively common, and more so if the sleep is induced by anesthetics/drugs. Which is why it's a good idea to make sure no one with recording devices around if you're in such a state, if possible.
Talking the Monster to Death: Civil disobedience, diplomacy, hostage negotiation and other forms of negotiation, mediation, and other ways of resolving problems, even with violent or threatening people, somewhat nonviolently.
Talking to the Dead: Most people who have lost someone dear have probably done this at some point. Additionally, anytime somebody writes a letter to the dead and leaves it on the grave could be considered this; said practice dates all the way back to Ancient Egypt. On a related note, the ancestor shrines of Asian religions also fall into this territory.
Talking to Themself: While talking to oneself is common, it is known as a social taboo.
Talking Your Way Out: Negotiators and spies are trained to do this.
Tampon Run: If you've ever lived with a menstruating lady (or have been one yourself) you've likely had to go get pads or tampons.
Tangled Family Tree: Anything from adoptions and affairs to incest or polygamy can cause this, as well as lack of information.
Tank Goodness: World War II, the last war in which tanks actually were a decisive battle weapon. The Soviet military until the end of the Cold War boasted a deadly tank fleet that worried NATO.
Tantrum Throwing: Angry or overworked parents and some children are prone to doing this.
Tarnishing Their Own Beauty: Naturally attractive individuals do make themselves less pretty to avoid unwanted attention because of low self-esteem and not wanting to stand out in the crowd.
A Taste of the Lash: Flogging was a commonly used punishment in many real-world cultures.
Taught by Experience: You know that your mistakes have left a mark on you, probably a scar.
Tautological Templar: They exist, and it's often an argument for My Country, Right or Wrong.
Teacher's Unfavorite Student: Some students and teachers just don't get along. There are Sadist Teachers, there are troublemaking students, and sometimes a student and a teacher aren't even trying to antagonize each other, but have a personality clash anyway. Children also have easily hurt feelings, and may feel like a teacher is picking on them even if they're not trying to.
Tear Jerker: There is no normal life that is free of sadness.
Tears of Remorse: People do grieve their own wrongs.
Technical Virgin: It happens, ironically enough, often due to abstinence-only education.
Technicolor Toxin: Toxic iodine has a bright purple color in its liquid and gaseous form, chlorine gas is a particularly noxious respiratory irritant that just so happens to be yellowish green in colour, Scheele's Green and the chemically-related Paris Green gained notoriety for their toxicity, automotive antifreeze containing the toxic substance ethylene glycol is usually dyed green, and trifluoronitrosomethane is a toxic gas with a characteristic deep blue color, just to name a few examples.
Teen Genius: Either as a former Child Prodigy who has hit puberty or an exceptionally bright young man or woman whose intelligence was discovered during their teens.
Teen Hater: There are people who despise teenagers, be them adults, younger kids, and even teenagers themselves. This is often due to negative stereotypes around them.
Teens Are Monsters: Anyone who's gone to high school would know that some teens can be malicious bullies. However, as with prepubescent children, this is not the case with all teenagers.
Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Because proximity often does not mean friendship.
Televisually Transmitted Disease: Strangely, many of the miraculous recoveries you see in medical dramas actually have happened.
Tender Tomboyishness, Foul Femininity: When you're a young boy constantly surrounded by girls, you'll inevitably meet a tomboy who regularly takes you out into peaceful meadows to cuddle you and help you take naps (together with a female Phoneaholic Teenager who constantly grabs you by your nipples and threatens you with violence).
Test Subject for Hire: some people really do make a living testing medicines. Clinical trials often offer to pay participants for their time as a way to get more test subjects into the study.
Thanatos Gambit: Suicide attackers, again. People who want to frame others as responsible for their deaths.
Thank Your Prey: Happens in some cultures and religions.
That Poor Car: Disasters will cause this.
The Kids Are American: Since the end of the 20th century, America's status as an entertainment and cultural hyperpower alongside new technology making it easy for children around the world to consume American made media means that a large portion of them are going to grow up primarily hearing American English outside of English language classes, making it likely that they'll adopt American English accents and slang when speaking the language, imitating the people they watched.
Therapy Is for the Weak: Sadly, many people have this viewpoint towards people who seek help.
There Are No Therapists: Teen suicide rates are much higher than they should be, but it's more because they don't WANT to see a therapist for fear of rejection. Also because since they think with their amygdalas, which is the emotional part of their brain, not the logical part.
- Bad experiences with therapy can lead people to never seek help again, even when it is urgently and severely needed. A bad therapist can be even worse than no therapist, for this reason.
They Look Just Like Everyone Else!: Most "evil" people in Real Life are not Obviously Evil and fit into society like a glove, as anyone who watches the news could attest to.
Theme Naming: The Emperor Constantine's children. The Duggars' children all have names that start with J. Multiples (twins, triplets, etc) frequently get theme named. Retired heavyweight boxing champion/electric-grill pitchman George Foreman has named all of his children of both sexes "George".
Things That Go "Bump" in the Night: When the darkness of the night dulls your senses, any noises heard during that time can be initially perceived as monsters hiding somewhere in your house waiting to Jump Scare the ever-loving crap out of you.
This Is Not a Drill: Because of a phenomenon called "warning fatigue," sometimes it's very necessary to tell people that this alarm is for real and obeying it is important.
Third Law of Gender-Bending: Many real life transgender individuals do tend to gravitate towards the clothes and mannerisms of their new gender.
Threatening Mediator: Authority figures like parents and teachers play this role when dealing with conflict between two or more people.
Tidally Locked Planet: One side of the Moon always faces Earth.
Time Abyss: Many species of plants and microorganisms have extremely long or unlimited lifespans, protons are ultimately stable and live forever, several British stone circles are around 5,000 years old, and the aptly-named immortal jellyfish are a few examples.
Time Capsule: More common in the past. Sometimes they last, other times they... don't. Or their contents are incomprehensible.
Tiny Guy, Huge Girl: In most arthropod, bird, and reptile species, females are larger than males.
Tomboyish Ponytail: For many tomboys, this is an easy-to-do style that gets their hair out of the way. Additionally, back when girls just didn't have boy hair (no matter what), ponytails were a way for tomboys to rebel against the curls their mothers wished they'd worn.
Tomboy with a Girly Streak: Due to societal or natural construction, or certain other factors, many people are too complex for mere binary labels, and thus, many real-life tomboyish girls will sometimes act girly or having feminine interests, out of curiosity, or conforming to societies' norms.
Tongue on the Flagpole: Yes, it does work. Check YouTube if you don't believe it. Or, better yet, try it yourself! Be sure to carry some hot water with you, though.
Too Dumb to Live: Everyone has met them at some point, have they not? Rad Girls. (NSFW) This is the whole point behind the Darwin Awards website: darwinawards.com
Too Good for This Sinful Earth: Look at the news and you’ll see this happening a lot.
Too Many Cooks Spoil the Soup: This is a common outcome when too many people are involved in the decision-making process.
Too Much Information: Eventually, a great many of you will hear something or see something you wish you could erase from ever having been aware of.
Toothy Bird: Archaeopteryx, Ichthyornis, Hesperornis, and other prehistoric birds once sported toothy mouths.
Too Upset to Create: Depression can make people lose interest in things they once enjoyed, and this includes creative endeavors.
Tough Love: Parents often give this to their children as means of discipline, usually as a last resort to control their behavior.
Tourism-Derailing Event: Many disasters and public health emergencies have taken a large toll from the economy of many touristic destinations (one such case being the COVID-19 Pandemic in 2020 and 2021).
The Tourney: While it tends to stick to jousting, there were historical eras when that was the commonest form of fighting in tourneys.
Toxic Friend Influence: As many juvenile delinquents can attest to, and why people who are trying to stay abstinent from alcohol or drugs are often advised to no longer spend time with those who actively use the substance.
Trademark Favorite Food: If not everyone (including you) has that one food you love to eat the most, they have multiple favorites.
Translation Punctuation: English uses an exclamation point to represent sounds from other languages for which English has no equivalent. An example would be the clicks used in the Bushmen tongue.
Transparent Closet: Sometimes those of who are LGBT are the last to know for real. Although it can also be that there has never really been a demand to put up a "real closet" in the first place.
- Other times, especially with celebrities, LGBT people might be well aware of who they are, and it might be obvious to pretty much everyone that they're gay or bisexual, but they just might not feel comfortable being publicly open about it because they don't want any attention for it, or they just don't think it's the public's business to know anything about their personal life, or they fear that actually coming out and stating their sexuality will negatively affect their ability to get roles. Sometimes they aren't closeted at all and are living openly with a same-gender partner but the media acts like they're closeted because they never held a press conference to announce their sexuality.
Tranquil Fury: Yes, some people do get calmer the angrier they become. There can be a phase when they first yell and shout and then go still and cold.
Trapped at the Dinner Table: A common punishment for children who won't eat their dinner.
Trash of the Titans: As you can see in this site, and any episode of Hoarders or Clean House or similar shows. It's called "hoarding" or "Collyer Brothers Syndrome."
Treated Worse than the Pet: Not every abusive person treats animals as badly as they treat people. Some people care more about their pets than their children/spouses/etc.
T. Rexpy: Two of Tyrannosaurus rex's closest cousins, Tarbosaurus and Zhuchengtyrannus, appeared nearly identical to him in life and likewise operated in similar manners to him on a day-to-day basis.
Trigger-Happy: The reason a lot of shootings (whether by police or civilians) happen. Especially if one feels as if one is in mortal danger, it is an instinct borne of paranoia that can be very difficult to override.
Trojan Horse: The strategy used by Greeks of antiquity continues to the Information Age as a form of malware named after the Trojan Horse (also known simply as "trojans"): viruses that appear and function as innocuous programs until they deliver their payload.
Trojan Veggies: Hiding vegetables in other food is one method employed by parents to get reluctant children to eat them. Even some adults prefer to mix their vegetables with other food instead of eating them raw.
Troll: An undeniable Truth In New Media. If you spend any prolonged amount of time on the internet, you will see them, and you will likely interact with some even if it's just trying to banhammer them or keep them out - or you may be one yourself.
Trophy Child: Needless to say, not every parent sees their children as individuals.
Troubled Fetal Position: This is a natural defensive reflex against physical attack (it protects your belly, throat and eyes) and by extension against many sorts of psychological stress and trauma, in the same manner that both physical and psychological trauma can prompt an adrenaline rush.
Troubled Toybreaker: It is common for traumatized children to vent their anger by playing roughly with or destroying toys as Percussive Therapy, or using them to roleplay the situations they went through.
True Art Is Angsty: Angst tends to make art be seen as "more serious." Oscar Bait is usually angsty.
True Art Is Incomprehensible: This is one of those annoying ones that reinforces itself.
True Companions: True friends do exist, even if they bicker sometimes. Usually, there are people who have stayed with you since early age, such as school or high school, and they will be your friends even if you spend years without contact. It's not uncommon for a group of True Companions to live near each other till even old age.
Truth in Television: Sometimes, TV does a good job of portraying reality.
Tsundere: Most real life Jerkasses are this.
TV Tropes Will Ruin Your Life: You will go on a wiki walk sooner or later. It will last longer than you expect. Chances are, you are on a Wiki Walk RIGHT NOW.
Two First Names: A lot of people have a first name for a last name.

The Ugly Guy's Hot Daughter: There are quite a few.
Ugly Guy, Hot Wife: According to this article, women tend to marry men who are less attractive and in some cases, not as smart. At the very least, it would lead to a happier marriage or long term relationship. The reason is because men value beauty and women value emotional support. If a man finds his wife beautiful, or at least more attractive than him, then he will be happier, not cheat on her (since he knows he likely won't find anyone better) and dote on her more, giving her emotional support, which makes her happier as well. A more attractive man is more likely to feel he can do better or be more tempted to seek other women as he knows they find him attractive. Because of that, he becomes unhappy and gives his wife less support, resulting in her being unhappy as well. This is not universal, however.
Ultimate Job Security: Having a relative at the company will make your coworkers hate you, but at least you'll never be fired.
- Tenure for education professionals is very close to this - it is very hard for a tenured educator to get fired.
- If your bank is "too big to fail" and you are "too big to jail," your work in the financial industry is this.
- Police unions are generally relatively strong. This means that firing police officers or demoting them aside from being Kicked Upstairs is often highly difficult, even for officers caught in Police Brutality or in being absolutely useless or corrupt.
The Unapologetic: It's unfortunately common of some people to never apologize or even feel sorry for their misdeeds, either due to pride, guilt, embarrassment, or because they enjoy it.
Undisclosed Funds: Swiss bank accounts. Also, talking about money was once viewed as crass, so people used these methods to do so.
The Unfettered: There are those out there that will trample ethics, moral standards, and the rights of everyone to get what they want. On the flipside, this comes at the cost of making them unpopular and gaining much less respect as a result.
Ungrateful Bastard: It happens.
The Unpronounceable: Indians working in call centers with American customers typically use adopted "American" names. It's also very common for immigrants to have an Americanized nickname, especially if they're from the Middle East or Asia. This is also associated with Eastern European consonant clusters, such as "Bydgoszcz." And good luck trying to say something if you don't know the pronunciation rules of the language.
Unwise Owl: Contrary to their usual depiction in Western fiction, owls have average intelligence by bird standards. Corvids^Examples and psittacines^ExamplesParrots, macaws and cockatoos are often considered to be the most intelligent birds.
Upper-Class Twit: Paris Hilton, Kim Kardashian, and any socialite. Buddha was also one of such before leaving his castle.
United We Chant: Can happen often in sports arenas or anywhere many people gather; Barack Obama's US presidential run was littered with "yes we can!" and sports arenas often get "U!S!A!" or chant a player/team name.
Unsportsmanlike Gloating: TD dances.
Unwanted Assistance: Backseat drivers and GPS often cause more problems for drivers. Some charity efforts that actually hurt or get in the way of helping. Autocorrect and autocomplete. And as of recently, people who like speaking for minority groups but often end up causing more trouble than help.
Urban Segregation: The Independencia Avenue in Guadalajara, Mexico divides the city in two: the West side is the rich side, home to all the trendy malls, while the East side is the poor side, filled with gritty factories and impoverished ghettos.
Used to Be a Sweet Kid: Even Adolf Hitler used to be a sweet kid.
Used to Be More Social: Some people who were mostly extroverted and sociable often become less so, especially if they're focusing on their own careers or are going through difficult times in their personal lives. This can be common with a group of friends asking the person why they haven't answered the phone for a couple of months or so.
Utopia Justifies the Means: Stalin, Mao, Robespierre, Pol Pot...

Truth In Television / S to U

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