Anyone see CSI last night?

[astro]

Is it just me or are writers getting lazier or sillier.

End of the show- dialog with bad guy (Nevada State Trooper) who killed some other criminals for $ 250,000 in cash. He's in his late 20's or early 30's, and while in custody, as he stares at the money he killed for, says plaintively ... "More money than I'd ever see in a lifetime"

IIRC most State Troopers (with some overtime) and about 10 years on the job make around 50K+ per year. So year if was only going to live another 4 years he might have a point. Isn't someone reading the script for factual clunkers like these?

[Lamia]

In fairness, could he have meant more money than he'd ever see at once in his lifetime?

[astorian]

Mathematically, you're right, but that doesn't make it a bad line.
People are ALWAYS using expressions that aren't literally true.

If, in a baseball movie, someone screamed at the umpire, "You're as blind as a bat," would you condemn the screenwriter, on the grounds that bats aren't really blind?

Or, in a movie set in the Tropics, if a character said "Look at me I'm sweating like a pig," would you condemn the screenwriter, on the grounds that pigs don't sweat?

No, of course not. Even though those phrases are technically inaccurate, they sound like things real people would say. Similarly, while $250,000 is NOT more money than a cop would make in a lifetime, I could easily imagine a corrupt cop SAYING something like that.

[David B]

I have to go with Lamia on this one. Certainly, he would make more money than that, but would he see it? No.

I have made over $300,000 (probably more, since that's a very rough estimate) since I started at my current job. But I sure as hell haven't seen it!