Tropescilloscope: Loophole Abuse

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

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