From: mdhangton@gmail.com   
      
   J.Pascal used his keyboard to write :   
   > 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.   
   >   
   > 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?"   
   >   
   Let us say we have occasion for a tertiary character where more than a   
   minimal description would be distracting.  It happens that the   
   character is Asian.  "He smiled like a Buddha" would be a stereotypical   
   image, I think, but it's very common for authors to do that.   
      
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