Tangengially, people should stop using the trendy word "trope" to mean 'recurring thing'. It's only valid in a metaphorical sense.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/mind-your-language/2011/sep/...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/mind-your-language/2011/sep/...
The "trendy" meaning of trope, is, as far as I can tell, not one easily replaced by another word. It's not a motif so much as a kind of generalization of what archetype is to a character. In its narrative sense it refers to the sort of "tools" and "parts" the story teller uses to construct their tale, and I absolutely love the extension of meaning to refer to UX... tropes (what word would you use here? Motif? That suggests to me more aesthetic design elements than things like pull-to-refresh)
Probably 'pattern', I guess. I agree, I think it's a very practical new usage which doesn't introduce much ambiguity elsewhere, so I'm all for it.
> But wait: Oxford Dictionaries online, while giving a similar definition – "a figurative or metaphorical use of a word or expression" – adds a second: "a significant or recurrent theme; a motif: she uses the Eucharist as a pictorial trope".