All The Tropes:Trope Decay

Sometimes, the idea of what a Trope is actually about gets lost somewhere along the way. Either new entries miss the point somehow, or the author just read the trope title and thought they got the gist of it. This includes things like describing just anything remotely scary as Nightmare Fuel, when Nightmare Fuel was originally intended to be things you found unintentionally scary as a kid. (Hence why Accidental Nightmare Fuel was created and Nightmare Fuel repurposed) Remember though, that Tropes Are Flexible—what you think is decay may just be unusual usage on second glance.

When this gets too bad, it may be necessary to rename the trope to avoid confusion, or remove the Trope, or completely rewrite it. The Trope Repair Shop is where these cleanup discussions happen.

See also Canonical List of Subtle Trope Distinctions and Square Peg, Round Trope.