Tropescilloscope: Loophole Abuse

Blatant cheating through semantics. (read more at tvtropes.org)

More Tropes Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking Bury Your Gays Russian Films Eyepatch of Power Parental Incest Fire-Forged Friends Evil Is Hammy Belligerent Sexual Tension Rasputinian Death Darker and Edgier Hooker with a Heart of Gold Line-of-Sight Name Hypocritical Humor Corpsing Would Hurt a Child Mythology Gag Token Minority Vitriolic Best Buds Intrepid Reporter Made of Explodium Drives Like Crazy Dramatic Gun Cock Police Brutality Race Against the Clock Twist Ending Not Quite Dead Took a Level in Jerkass Faux Affably Evil Real Life Meaningful Background Event Villain Protagonist Lighter and Softer Dark Action Girl Chewing the Scenery Enemy Mine Earn Your Happy Ending Easily Forgiven Award-Bait Song Composite Character A Date with Rosie Palms Bitch in Sheep's Clothing Scenery Porn Make It Look Like an Accident Big Brother Instinct Toilet Humour aka: Toilet Humor Continuity Nod The Sociopath Eldritch Abomination Wham Shot Everyone Has Standards Insult Backfire Too Dumb to Live Slasher Smile Extremely Short Timespan Leave the Camera Running The Dog Bites Back Funny Background Event Serious Business Training Montage Toplessness from the Back Together in Death Funny Foreigner Hollywood Darkness A Father to His Men Greater-Scope Villain Brutal Honesty Plucky Comic Relief Redshirt Army Heroic BSoD Leaning on the Fourth Wall Break the Haughty Big-Bad Ensemble War Is Hell Smoking Is Cool Meaningful Name Daylight Horror Call-Forward Anyone Can Die I'm a Humanitarian Gory Discretion Shot Shell-Shocked Veteran Bond One-Liner Badass Longcoat Title Drop Insistent Terminology A Minor Kidroduction The Un-Favourite aka: The Un Favorite Captain Ersatz Epic Fail Dwindling Party Real Life Writes the Plot Calling the Old Man Out Love Triangle Music Stories Colour-Coded for Your Convenience aka: Color Coded For Your Convenience Green-Eyed Monster Meet Cute The Power of Love Totally Radical Adults Are Useless Morality Pet Cat Fight Badass in a Nice Suit "Well Done, Son!" Guy Precision F-Strike Improbable Infant Survival aka: Infant Immortality Empathic Environment Gender Flip Almost Kiss Punch-Clock Villain Wrong Genre Savvy Horror Comedy Despair Event Horizon Death Seeker Determinator aka: The Determinator Freudian Excuse Same Language Dub Action Genre Not So Stoic Woman Scorned Villain with Good Publicity Fun with Acronyms Combat Pragmatist Deliberate Values Dissonance The '80s Suspiciously Similar Substitute Dramatic Irony Dark Reprise Beauty Is Never Tarnished Exact Words He Knows Too Much Heel Realization Jerkass Has a Point Flashback Show Within a Show All Girls Want Bad Boys After the End Woman in White No Celebrities Were Harmed Kill 'em All Decoy Protagonist The Place Rule of Funny Honor Before Reason She's Got Legs Deus ex Machina Shoot the Shaggy Dog Reality Has No Subtitles Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil In Name Only Jerkass What Happened to the Mouse? Dark and Troubled Past Kick the Dog Mugging the Monster It's Personal Why Don't You Just Shoot Him? Evil Sounds Deep Dogged Nice Guy Apocalypse How Have a Gay Old Time Slap-Slap-Kiss Serial Killer Broken Bird Video Credits Wham Line Jitter Cam Anguished Declaration of Love All There in the Manual Romantic Comedy Adaptation Dye-Job Gone Horribly Right You Have Failed Me Flipping the Bird Whole Plot Reference Guile Hero Small Name, Big Ego Punny Name An Aesop Off with His Head! Pay Evil unto Evil Vomit Discretion Shot Suspiciously Specific Denial Male Gaze Mind Screw There Is No Kill Like Overkill "Shaggy Dog" Story Auto Erotica Cat Scare Names to Run Away from Really Fast Interrupted Suicide Knife Nut Bittersweet Ending Defiant to the End Dissonant Serenity No Name Given Unusually Uninteresting Sight Hate Sink Broken Pedestal Kick the Son of a Bitch Not So Above It All Mystery and Detective Films Affably Evil Mr. Fanservice Canon Foreigner Playing Gertrude The Great Depression Dirty Old Man Off-into-the-Distance Ending Casting Gag Pre-Asskicking One-Liner N-Word Privileges Better to Die than Be Killed Fantasy Films Eagleland Red Eyes, Take Warning Australian Movies Break the Cutie Visual Pun Diabolus ex Machina Coming-of-Age Story All Men Are Perverts Cool Car Fatal Flaw Our Vampires Are Different Hypocrite Facial Horror Dying Moment of Awesome Camp Gay Wretched Hive Sudden Sequel Death Syndrome Nice Job Breaking It, Hero! Pragmatic Adaptation The Stoic A.I. Is a Crapshoot Your Cheating Heart Once More, with Clarity! Overprotective Dad Hell Is That Noise Rule of Symbolism Gilligan Cut The Musical Only Sane Man Call-Back Nice Job Fixing It, Villain! The Stoner Children Are Innocent Actually Pretty Funny Spiteful Spit Captain Obvious The '70s Bloody Hilarious Men Are the Expendable Gender For the Evulz Actor Allusion The Vamp Amusing Injuries Bloodier and Gorier Accidental Misnaming Older Than They Look Dirty Coward Cool Shades Body Horror Sequel Hook Needs Wiki Magic Love Improbable Weapon User Vomit Indiscretion Shot Bad Boss Improbable Aiming Skills The Alleged Car It Can Think Time Skip Unwitting Instigator of Doom Foregone Conclusion Downer Ending Gorn Disproportionate Retribution Evil vs. Evil Brother–Sister Incest Plot Hole Darkest Hour Black Dude Dies First Batman Gambit Noodle Incident Karmic Death Ominous Latin Chanting Not Even Bothering with the Accent Cluster F-Bomb Index of Film Westerns Brainless Beauty Fiery Redhead Friend to All Children Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane Adaptational Attractiveness Posthumous Character Victoria's Secret Compartment Advertised Extra Ship Tease Scare Chord Take a Third Option Comically Missing the Point The Hero Betty and Veronica Catapult Nightmare Blonde, Brunette, Redhead Pretty in Mink Smug Snake Big Eater Nothing Is Scarier Expository Hairstyle Change Refuge in Audacity Does Not Like Shoes Unresolved Sexual Tension Mama Bear Reality Ensues Sinister Minister Martial Arts Movie Sanity Slippage Psychopathic Manchild Mad Scientist Married to the Job Accidental Murder Truth in Television Destination Defenestration Evil Laugh Defrosting Ice Queen Put on a Bus It Will Never Catch On Vacation Films Anachronism Stew Crucified Hero Shot Ambiguously Gay Fanservice Stepford Smiler Bavarian Fire Drill Fatal Family Photo Jump Scare Cool Guns Dropped a Bridge on Him The Reveal Random Events Plot Badass Normal Say My Name Spell My Name with an "S" Deliberately Monochrome Roger Ebert: Great Movies List Pragmatic Villainy Failed a Spot Check An Axe to Grind Neck Snap Demonic Possession Rule of Three Authority Equals Asskicking Historical Hero Upgrade Not Using the "Z" Word Kill It with Fire Dirty Cop Manipulative Bastard Madness Mantra Man on Fire Blood Knight Fainting What You Are in the Dark Rousing Speech Sports Stories Rewatch Bonus Meaningful Echo Historical-Domain Character B-Movie Intergenerational Friendship The Smart Guy Abhorrent Admirer Mood Whiplash Never Trust a Trailer An Arm and a Leg Italian Films Offscreen Moment of Awesome Handicapped Badass Spiritual Successor Author Appeal My Beloved Smother Psycho for Hire Race Lift Red Oni, Blue Oni Final Girl Japanese Films Unspoken Plan Guarantee Paper-Thin Disguise Deadpan Snarker Genre Shift Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique Public Domain Feature Films Amoral Attorney What the Hell, Hero? The Casanova Chase Scene Cool Old Lady folderlabel Chekhov's Skill Hollywood Law Skewed Priorities Unusual Euphemism Spared by the Adaptation Hope Spot Death Glare Film Series Impaled with Extreme Prejudice The Ace The '60s Artistic License – Law Artistic License – Biology Neck Lift Jerk with a Heart of Gold Yandere "The Reason You Suck" Speech Rated M for Manly Left the Background Music On The '90s Ragtag Bunch of Misfits Alpha Bitch Catch-Phrase Horror Doesn't Settle for Simple Tuesday Character Development Boom, Headshot! Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping Henpecked Husband Shipper on Deck Contrived Coincidence The Alcoholic Those Two Guys Mr. Exposition For Want of a Nail Spanner in the Works Adorkable Stealth Hi/Bye Jerk Jock Screw the Rules, I Have Money! The Starscream Alas, Poor Villain Evil Brit Card-Carrying Villain Creepy Child Sassy Black Woman Monumental Damage From Bad to Worse Developing Doomed Characters The Cameo Covers Always Lie '80s Hair O.O.C. Is Serious Business Kubrick Stare Implacable Man Superhero Shown Their Work Works Set in World War II Extreme Doormat Action Film, Quiet Drama Scene Overly Long Gag Psychological Thriller Deconstruction Attempted Rape Evil-Detecting Dog British Films Five-Man Band Hoist by His Own Petard Adaptation Distillation Maybe Ever After Sealed Evil in a Can Getting Crap Past the Radar Dramedy Animal Motifs Bunny-Ears Lawyer 20 Minutes into the Future Eiffel Tower Effect In Medias Res MacGuffin Fingore Informed Ability Good Is Not Nice The Mafia Chekhov's Gunman Laser-Guided Karma Annoying Younger Sibling Cowboy Cop Beard of Evil Fate Worse than Death Scary Black Man Get Out! Scenery Gorn Fake Shemp Action Girl Car Fu Artistic License – History Curb-Stomp Battle Our Zombies Are Different My God, What Have I Done? French Films The Voiceless "Awesome McCool" Name Gainax Ending The Smurfette Principle Straight Gay Oh, Crap! The Quiet One Every Car Is a Pinto Cassandra Truth Arranged Marriage A God Am I Thriller Running Gag Film Noir Room Full of Crazy Ms. Fanservice Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds Tranquil Fury Ghost Fiction NO INDOOR VOICE Not What It Looks Like Gold Digger Moment Killer Pre-Mortem One-Liner She Cleans Up Nicely Only a Flesh Wound Berserk Button Brick Joke Laughing Mad One-Man Army All Just a Dream Very Loosely Based on a True Story Major Injury Underreaction Self-Deprecation Evil Plan Villain Song Crapsack World Humiliation Conga Humans Are Bastards Affectionate Parody Logo Joke Face–Heel Turn The Atoner Lampshade Hanging Bar Brawl Historical In-Joke Villain Ball Big Applesauce Bilingual Bonus Broken Aesop Bond Villain Stupidity True Companions Properly Paranoid Well-Intentioned Extremist La Résistance The End... Or Is It? No Antagonist Police are Useless Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass Obfuscating Stupidity I Need a Freaking Drink No OSHA Compliance Immune to Bullets Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right! Ass Shove Corrupt Corporate Executive Bi the Way Country Matters Animal Title Index Male Frontal Nudity The Film of the Book Hidden Depths Non-Indicative Name Evil Counterpart Department of Redundancy Department Red Shirt Danny Peary Cult Movies List Up to Eleven Translation Convention Stylistic Suck Stalker with a Crush Back from the Dead Central Theme Heroic Sacrifice Take That! Product Placement Killed Mid-Sentence More Dakka Nice Guy Big "NO!" Politically Incorrect Villain Malevolent Masked Men The Faceless Rape as Drama Based on a True Story I Did What I Had to Do Badass Bookworm Punctuated! For! Emphasis! Suddenly SHOUTING! One Steve Limit You Have Got to Be Kidding Me! It's All About Me Daddy's Girl Mercy Kill Retired Badass Dutch Angle Horror Films The Dreaded Armor-Piercing Question And the Adventure Continues Reality Is Unrealistic Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas Never Trust a Trailer aka: Trailers Always Lie Eye Scream Taking You with Me Camera Abuse Never My Fault Grievous Bottley Harm Drugs Are Bad Cool Old Guy Action Prologue The Bully Bland-Name Product Domestic Abuse Aww, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other Femme Fatale Adult Fear Pet the Dog Idiot Ball Famous Last Words Red Right Hand Chuck Cunningham Syndrome Death of a Child The X of Y Pimped-Out Dress Insane Troll Logic Sadistic Choice Bowdlerise Did Not Get the Girl Your Head A-Splode Beware the Nice Ones Love at First Sight All There in the Script Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy Early Installment Weirdness Beta Couple Badass Grandpa Disney Death Badass Boast Sir Not-Appearing-in-This-Trailer Sacrificial Lion Foreshadowing Stealth Pun The Cavalry Fat Bastard Does This Remind You of Anything? Manic Pixie Dream Girl Double Entendre Ugly Guy, Hot Wife Book-Ends Bound and Gagged Sci-Fi Horror The Lancer Revenge Heel–Face Turn Only in It for the Money This Is Gonna Suck Manly Tears Cruel and Unusual Death Heterosexual Life-Partners My Greatest Failure Costume Porn Becoming the Mask Let's Get Dangerous! Historical Villain Upgrade I Just Shot Marvin in the Face Animated Credits Opening Exactly What It Says on the Tin All for Nothing And Starring As Himself Nice Hat Adaptational Badass Fourth Date Marriage Creator Cameo Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold Depraved Bisexual Parental Substitute Distracted by the Sexy Fan Disservice Framing Device Even Evil Has Standards Why Did It Have to Be Snakes? Rule of Cool Adapted Out Reckless Gun Usage Dies Wide Open Pun aka: Incredibly Lame Pun Reasonable Authority Figure Pyrrhic Victory Mistaken for Gay No Ending Screw This, I'm Outta Here! Author Avatar Awesome, but Impractical As You Know Shout-Out Shirtless Scene Genre Throwback Mighty Whitey Frame-Up Half the Man He Used to Be Asshole Victim Anti-Hero Re-Cut Soundtrack Dissonance Big Damn Heroes Death by Irony Ambiguous Disorder Riddle for the Ages Deal with the Devil Wicked Cultured Black Comedy Ironic Echo Artistic License – Military Adaptational Heroism Only One Name Freeze-Frame Bonus The Lost Lenore Crazy-Prepared Ripped from the Headlines Be Careful What You Wish For Eureka Moment Instant Death Bullet Groin Attack Expy BFG Hero Antagonist Ambiguous Ending Military and Warfare Films Blatant Lies Cain and Abel Anachronic Order Motor Mouth Blood from the Mouth Dumb Blonde Television Movie Index Dark Is Not Evil Zombie Stories No-Holds-Barred Beatdown Shut Up, Hannibal! Hair-Trigger Temper Slasher Movie Face Death with Dignity Storming the Castle Imagine Spot Big Bad May–December Romance I Have Your Wife Parental Neglect Retcon Naked People Are Funny Sexy Discretion Shot Tempting Fate Obviously Evil Bring My Brown Pants The Ghost Made of Iron One-Word Title Recycled IN SPACE! Trailers Always Spoil Mooks Disney Villain Death Guns Akimbo Mundane Made Awesome Bald of Evil Last-Name Basis Dressing as the Enemy Light Is Not Good The Bad Guy Wins Ungrateful Bastard Outrun the Fireball Early-Bird Cameo Chiaroscuro Damsel in Distress Ax-Crazy The Chessmaster The Load Not So Different Ascended Extra Hero of Another Story Soft Glass Evil Is Petty Even Evil Has Loved Ones Silent Movie Age Lift Drowning My Sorrows The Dragon Took a Level in Badass Mexican Standoff Parental Abandonment Tap on the Head Genre Savvy Grey and Gray Morality Wounded Gazelle Gambit Red Herring Villainous Breakdown Homage Retirony Redemption Equals Death Antagonist Title Sliding Scale of Idealism vs. Cynicism Action Survivor Lock and Load Montage Setting Update Those Two Bad Guys Worthy Opponent The Ditz And I Must Scream Faking the Dead Disguised in Drag Those Wacky Nazis Creative Closing Credits Epic Movie The Chick Bloodless Carnage Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep" The Remake Fanservice Extra Large Ham Adaptational Villainy Demoted to Extra Protagonist Title Stock Footage Dual Wielding Heroes Want Redheads Bullying a Dragon Disappeared Dad Four-Temperament Ensemble Karma Houdini Offscreen Teleportation Documentary Hong Kong Films Happily Married Blackmail Black and Gray Morality Didn't Think This Through You Have Outlived Your Usefulness Agony of the Feet Aluminum Christmas Trees Double-Meaning Title Celebrity Paradox The Big Guy Establishing Character Moment Leitmotif Peek-a-Boo Corpse Air-Vent Passageway Taking the Bullet Novelization Cold-Blooded Torture Black Comedy Rape Death by Sex Irony Screw the Money, I Have Rules! Super Strength The Stinger Match Cut Market-Based Title Missing Mom The Un-Reveal The Mole Determinator Artistic License – Gun Safety Stuff Blowing Up Credits Gag Driven to Suicide Bottomless Magazines Anti-Villain Undying Loyalty Manchild Pretty Little Headshots The '50s Due to the Dead Roaring Rampage of Revenge Death by Adaptation timeperiod Knight Templar Poor Communication Kills Loads and Loads of Characters Narrator Science Fiction Films Fantastic Racism Really Gets Around Artistic License – Physics Butt-Monkey I Want My Beloved to Be Happy "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue Girl-on-Girl Is Hot Arc Words Film Noir Index Conspicuous CG Star-Crossed Lovers Bad "Bad Acting" Only Known by Their Nickname Obstructive Bureaucrat Big Fancy House As Long as It Sounds Foreign Canadian Movies You Killed My Father In the Back Tagline Chekhov's Gun Gratuitous English Curse Cut Short Adaptation Name Change Improvised Weapon Drill Sergeant Nasty He Who Fights Monsters Shower Scene Abusive Parents How We Got Here Fish out of Water Babies Ever After Here We Go Again! Never Found the Body Sir Swears-a-Lot Would Hit a Girl Recap / RiffTrax aka: Riff Trax Movies Kids Are Cruel Crazy Jealous Guy Arch-Enemy Biopic Dull Surprise As the Good Book Says... Sole Survivor Aside Glance Important Haircut Foil Vampire Fiction Cloudcuckoolander Papa Wolf The Hero Dies Big Bad Duumvirate Bait-and-Switch Word of God Throwing Your Sword Always Works No Good Deed Goes Unpunished Black Best Friend Romantic False Lead Alliterative Name The Brute From Nobody to Nightmare No-Sell Slashed Throat Adaptation Expansion Bare Your Midriff Unreliable Narrator Breaking the Fourth Wall Evil Cannot Comprehend Good Loophole Abuse Christmas Movies Index Silence Is Golden Bolivian Army Ending World of Ham Rich Bitch German Films Artistic License – Geography Closed Circle Villain Opening Scene Sequel Escalation The Oner Naïve Newcomer