From: mdhangton@gmail.com   
      
   J.Pascal wrote :   
   > On Sunday, April 12, 2015 at 3:56:48 PM UTC-6, William Vetter wrote:   
   >> What do you think is the difference between these in SF?   
   >>   
   >> There is a website TV Tropes.  It has some science fictional stuff   
   >> listed in it, and a lot of people on internet cite it when they talk   
   >> about SF cliches.  I don't think the word "trope" is used correctly   
   >> there.  I don't think it appeared in the OED as a synonym for motif   
   >> until 2007.  Trope = motif doesn't appear in many dictionaries.  I   
   >> haven't seen trope = cliche in any dictionary.   
   >   
   >   
   > Trope is used on TV Tropes such that it might be applied to a single   
   > instance.  Which I think is absurd, but the site isn't supposed to be deep,   
   > it's supposed to be funny.   
   >   
   > Also, for one thing, there's nothing wrong with a trope or with using a   
   > trope.  Sort of like archtype.  They're useful.   
      
   This is the issue I've been thinking about.   
   >   
   > Contrast cliche or stereotype... they might exist "for a reason" but are   
   > generally experienced as lazy and usually inaccurate.  "No, I don't have to   
   > actually explain how this guy is the villian... didn't you notice that he's a   
   > priest?"   
   >   
   I thought motif was a recurrent image across literature, like The   
   Grisly Murder is discovered beside a lighthouse.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)