Thread:Mesektet/@comment-27729149-20160128170019/@comment-3581997-20160602145336

Discredited tend to be things like blatantly untrue stereotypes as well as tropes applied so often in the past that they will cause even the most genre blind to roll their eyes at the cliche'.

A Dead Horse Trope is a passe. Something that can not exist in the present. Like putting a dunce cap on a student or a full grown adult who has no idea how to operate a computer or a housewife squealing like a ninny at the sight of a mouse. Tropes that were once used with complete sincerity but which can not be used with any level of plausibility today.

Forgotten Tropes are one step beyond even this, tropes which not only no longer apply but that writers haven't used in decades and have gone entirely out of style and function. Either because of collective style or educational advancements. For example, no one believes brain-fever exists anymore, getting sick doesn't also make you crazy unless you contract a disease, simple germs can not do that. And no one is going to break out the leeches to cure your chickenpox.