Licking Off the Floor

When a food such as ice cream falls on the floor, the character licks it off. It's because many people consider it disgusting to lick food off the floor, and in particular why humans don't. It could also signify someone is a slob or a Big Eater. This trope may serve as a Furry Reminder if the character licking food off the floor is an anthropomorphic animal. Bonus points if it includes a Gross Up Close-Up on the food.

On the other hand, it could represent how poor and hungry the characters are. It adds a dramatic element that will help the viewers empathize with them and despise the system that's against them and won't let them eat.

If it's used for a slob or big eater, then this is normally Played for Laughs.

Anime and Manga

• Dinosaur King: In "Child's Play" (Season 1 Episode 14), the dinosaurs lick the pudding that is spilled on the floor.
• Hamtaro: Averted in "The Sweet Paradise" (Episode 195), Maxwell and Hamtaro taste the jelly river in the episode's namesake and it is delicious.
• Junji Ito: In "Ice Cream Bus" (Volume 10 Chapter 1), the children melt into ice cream, which Tomoki happily licks up from the ground.
• Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt: In "Pulp Addiction" (Season 1 Episode 6), Chuck licks the spilled milk and the milkman's blood after the dog is struck by the man's bike.

Comic Books

• In My Little Pony: Ponyville Mysteries Issue 3, Scootaloo discovers traces of prickly pear and peanut butter and licks them off the floor, much to the other Cutie Mark Crusaders' disgust.

Film

• Yu Yu Hakusho (Black Angel): In Volume 1, Mayo is The Alcoholic. At her lowest point, she angrily flings a glass of booze away from her, but then, realizing what she had done, starts licking the liquor off the barroom floor.
• Bolt: The titular character has been a Hollywood Hero for so long that he's forgotten how to be a dog. Mittens the cat has to educate him about dogginess, including gobbling up anything that falls to the floor. "Falls to the ground: belongs to the hound." Bolt seems squicked by this, as all his meals had been heretofore served in stainless steel bowls.
• Invoked in Four Brothers when Victor Sweet punishes Evan by pushing his food on the floor, then making him eat it from there. Victor even makes Evan's wife join him when she stands up for her husband.
• A tragic version is seen in The Pianist. After the Nazis cut off the Jewish Ghetto from the rest of Warsaw, the inmates begin to starve, with one incident of a man being seen trying to steal the rations from a woman. When the food falls on the street because of their fighting, the man bends down and starts scooping it into his mouth.
• In the made-for-TV movie Picture Perfect, two inept corporate spies want to know what Barrett Soda's new flavor is. At the conclusion, one of the heroes taunts them by pouring said soda onto the ground. The spies proceed to lick it off the ground, declaring it to be chocolate-flavored.
• A suggestion of Demon's toothache in Snow Dogs is when he is searching through Ted's bag and comes across his toothpaste. Demon steps on the tube, and he licks the contents off the floor after they splattered onto the ground.
• The final Zatoichi film has the titular character being introduced in a prison cell, during lunchtime. His rice gets spilled onto the prison's wet floor, and he promptly kneels and slurps the food. The amount of Hiroshima on this draft, though...

Literature

• In The Famous Five, Timmy the dog frequently licks food off the floor, which saves Anne from clearing up the mess.

Live Action TV

• The Big Bang Theory: At the beginning of "The Barbarian Sublimation" (Season 2 Episode 3), Penny has her car key stuck into the lock of her apartment door and she cannot enter. Sheldon comes to her to find out what is happening and sees her at the end of her rope. Meanwhile, her paper bag tears up and her groceries drop onto the floor. Sheldon begrudgingly asks her into his apartment. A moment later Leonard comes up the stairs and spots a calico cat licking up the spilled and melted ice cream off the hall floor.
• Friends: In "The One With All the Cheesecakes" (Season 7 Episode 11), Rachel and Chandler become obsessed with a cheesecake delivered to their apartment by mistake. At the end of the episode, as they fight over another, it falls on the hallway floor. After a moment's hesitation, they get on the floor and try to eat what's salvageable. That's when Joey walks in on them... and takes out a fork and joins in.
• Ghosts (US): Discussed in a first-season episode. Jay doubts that his wife Sam can really see and hear the numerous ghosts haunting their mansion, but when they tell her they saw Jay pick up an Oreo cookie that fell on the floor and *eat* it(!), Jay has to admit, uneasily, that this is more evidence Sam is telling the truth.
• The Punisher (2017): In "Infiltration into Fort Bryon", Morty Bennett kneels on the ground, licking the wine that is spilled by his mistress.

Video Games

• On page 11 of the Living Books game Arthur's Reading Race, Pal licks the ice cream that drips onto the floor from DW's cone.
• Plants vs. Zombies: Crazy Dave has mentioned several times that he eats food off the floor.
• In Putt-Putt Saves the Zoo: Pep licks the cotton candy vomit Putt-Putt throws up after eating ten consecutive cotton candies. This can only be done by modifying the hegames.ini under the Saves the Zoo section to add this line, UpChuck=71595.

Web Comics

• In [this] Awkward Zombie comic, Link transforms into his wolf form to lick Chu jelly from the ground since he doesn't have an empty bottle.

Web Original

• Angry Birds Toons: In "Cordon Bleugh!" (Season 1 Episode 7), the pigs eat the stew off the floor after Matilda pushes the cauldron off the cliff.
• Happy Tree Friends: In "Easy Come, Easy Go" (TV Episode 11.3), after the sprinkler turns on and melts the cotton candy, Nutty sadly licks it off the ground until his head is impaled by the sprinkler.
• Om Nom Stories: In "Cheese Power" (Season 18 Episode 3), Om Nom and Nibble Nom spill milk which attracts Kitten's attention.

Western Animation

• Arthur:
  • In "Arthur's Knee" (Season 2 Episode 14B), Pal licks the ice cream dripping from D.W's cone on the floor.
  • In "Shelter from the Storm" (Season 18 Episode 10), Sadie licks the ice cream from the floor after Steve drops his cone.
  • In the movie, "An Arthur Thanksgiving," Petunia licks the pesto paw prints off the ground that are left by Pal.
• Atomic Puppet: In "Survival Of The Feltest" (Season 1 Episode 12A), the raccoon licks the trail of cheese on the ground that is left by AP.
• The Casagrandes: In the short "Meet the Mercado" (Short 4), Lalo licks the horchata from the floor after it is spilled when Carl and CJ drink it.
• Caillou: In Caillou's Milk Run (Season 3, Episode 5E), Gilbert licks milk after Caillou spills it.
• Clifford the Big Red Dog (2000): In "Screaming for Ice Cream" (Season 1 Episode 26B), When Samuel notices that Emily Elizabeth and Charley missed a spot of ice cream puddle on the floor, Clifford licks it up.
• Courage the Cowardly Dog: In "Katz Kandy" (Season 2 Episode 6B), Eustance licks a trail of jam on the beach sand.
• Curious George: In "Your Churn" (Season 11 Episode 9A), Howie licks milk off the floor after George tips the jar over.
• Family Guy:
  • In "I Take Thee Quagmire" (Season 4 Episode 21), Stewie pumps Lois' breasts, but spills the infant formula and desperately licks it up.
  • Conversed in "Quagmire's Baby" (Season 8 Episode 6), Brian and Stewie's clones melt into a puddle of goop, and Brian says that he has the urge to lick it up despite the baby's disgust.
  • In "Brian and Stewie" (Season 8 Episode 17), Brian mentions that the only thing he ate today was a grape Chris dropped at breakfast, and that it took him a half-hour to get it off the floor.
• Futurama: In "Jurassic Bark" (Season 4 Episode 7), after some tomato sauce spills on the floor as Panucci ladles it onto the pizza dough, Seymour licks the sauce.
• Hamster and Gretel: In "Bayou Barb" (Season 1 Episode 26A), Gretel asks Kevin to taste the maple syrup on the ground, but he declines. Hamster lick it afterwards.
• Horrid Henry: In "Horrid Henry and the Secret Club" (Season 1 Episode 19), Henry and Margaret mixes the bowl of glop too fast that the glop falls on the floor. Fluffy tastes it, but it was too spicy.
• The Loud House:
  • In "Missed Connection" (Season 3 Episode 9B), Lalo cleans the mess on the floor with his tongue after it is splattered due to a freezer malfunction.
  • In "Snoop's On" (Season 4 Episode 25B), the goats lick the nacho cheese trail on the floor followed by Leni after Lincoln and Luan leave a trail to the barn.
  • In "Flying Solo" (Season 5 Episode 10B), Nepurrtiti licks the batter on the floor after Clyde spills the mix on him.
  • In "Sofa, So Good" (Season 6 Episode 8B), Lana uses Cliff to clean the floor by having him lick the spilled milk.
• Martha Speaks:
  • In "Martha Gives Advice" (Season 1 Episode 1B), Martha licks applesauce off the floor after Jake drops it.
  • In "Camp Truman" (Season 4 Episode 5B), Martha licks soda off the ground to clean it up.
• Mr. Bean: In "Car Trouble" (Season 2 Episode 11), Wicket drops the milk bottle in shock while flying in a balloon, causing the bottle to break. Scrapper happily drinks the spilled milk.
• My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic:
  • In "The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000" (Season 2 Episode 15), Rainbow Dash really wants a mug of the Apple family's cider, but they keep running out before she can get any. When Flim and Flam come to town, they show off how fast they're able to make cider with their machine and offer her a mug, but Applejack accidentally knocks it out of her hoof before she can get a sip. A desperate Rainbow Dash licks up the dirt the cider was spilled on.

Rainbow Dash: "Is this some kind of cruel joke?"

• • In "It's About Time" (Season 2 Episode 20), Spike eats an ice cream scoop after he drops it on the floor.
• My Little Pony Tales: In Springfield's only appearance in the show's premiere (Slumber Party), she licks dessert off the floor while the ponies have at dinnertime.
• PAW Patrol: In "Tracker Joins the Pups!" (Season 3 Episode 15), Zuma licks the coconut milk on the ground after the giant coconut breaks.
• Phineas and Ferb: In "Misperceived Monotreme" (Season 3 Episode 9), Perry the Platypus licks coffee off the floor after Doofenshmirtz spills it, and then he is released by a remote falling off the table.
• Pound Puppies (2010): In "The Ruff Ruff Bunch" (Season 2 Episode 7), the dogs make a couple drop their ice cream cones on the floor, then lick up the mess.
• Robotboy: In "Cast Iron Constantine" (Season 2 Episode 11B), the kids lick up chocolate sauce on the floor after Constantine the chef spills it from the bucket.
• Rugrats (1991):
  • In "Weaning Tommy" (Season 1 Episode 10A), Stu tries to give Tommy cups of milk, but Tommy hits them to the ground, breaking some glasses of milk (much to his parents' dismay) and Spike licks the milk that was spilled onto the floor.
  • In "Touchdown Tommy" (Season 1 Episode 11A), Spike licks chocolate milk after it drips to the ground.
• Sanjay and Craig In "Dog Wave" (Season 1 Episode 2B), some dogs lick "Mr. Noodman's Own Blueberry Jam" after every dog knocks the jam bottles to the ground.
• Talking Tom and Friends In "Beach Day in the Desert" (Season 5 Episode 9), after the ice pops have melted, Ginger licks them off the ground.
• The Simpsons:
  • In "Days Of Wine And Dohses Days of Wine and Dohses" (Season 11 Episode 18), Barney licks beer off the floor.

Barney: Precious alcohol! Soaking into shag!

• • In "Woo-hoo Dunnit" (Season 30 Episode 22), Homer licks spaghetti sauce off the ground after he makes a mess in the kitchen. As Snowball starts licking it, he pushes her aside.
• SpongeBob SquarePants:
  • In "Hocus Pocus" (Season 4 Episode 16B), Patrick licks ice cream that has melted onto the floor.
  • In "Ghoul Fools" (Season 8 Episode 10), Patrick licks orange soda from the floor after a bottle of it breaks.
  • In "Life Insurance" (Season 10 Episode 6A), Squidward licks an ice cream cone that has recently been dropped on the floor by a tough guy.
  • In "Krusty Kleaners" (Season 11 Episode 18B), Spongebob and Patrick lick the milkshake stains on the carpet after the former drops their meal and makes a mess.
  • "A Place for Pets" (Season 13 Episode 1A), has muliple sceces where people act like pets, licking and eating off the floor.
  • In the Season 14 movie "Kreepaway Kamp," Patrick licks pies off the floor that was dropped after Sandy Cheeks says, "Help us!"
• Total DramaRama: In "Cone in 60 Seconds" (Season 1 Episode 11), Owen licks ice cream off the ground after he drops the scoop.
• T.U.F.F. Puppy: In "Cruisin' For a Bruisin'" (Season 1 Episode 2A), Verminious Snaptrap plans to use his mobile iceberg to sink the T.U.F.F. cruise ship. The iceberg has a built-in salad bar with iceberg lettuce, and when Snaptrap serves himself some salad, a lettuce leaf falls onto the icy floor. Snaptrap tries to lick it up, claiming the five-second rule, but his tongue gets stuck on the floor.
• Yabba-Dabba Dinosaurs: In "Yabba-Dabba Don't!" (Season 1 Episode 3A), after Pebbles Flintstone, Bamm-Bamm Rubble and Dino throw honeycombs out of the window and the giant Beeasaurus takes them away, the dinosaur licks the honey on the floor that was dripped from the honeycombs, while being stuck in it.
• Young Justice: In "Leverage" (Season 3 Episode 15), on November 16 at 17:17 PST at Star City, when Baby Lian calls to Artemis Crock to show her something funny, gooey food falling out of her mouth, Brucely licks it off.