# Minor Details that Annoy You in Fiction
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-details-that-annoy-you-in-fiction/660016
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [June 3, 2013, 9:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-details-that-annoy-you-in-fiction/660016 "2013-06-03T09:13:44Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2013, 9:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-details-that-annoy-you-in-fiction/660016/1 "2013-06-03T09:13:44Z")
We all read books or watch movies and television programs and sometimes they get minor details incorrect. This thread is all about those minor details that would have little to no consequence on the plot but nevertheless are impossible for you to ignore.
In the novel _Extinction Point_ the near extinction of the human race is preceded by a blood like rain of extra-terrestrial origin that falls on most of the Earth. Emily Baxter, ostensibly the only survivor in New York City, picks up a fire axe to break into her neighbor’s apartment. The axe is described as weighing nearly thirty pounds. The axe didn’t feel like it weighed thirty pounds that’s what the weight was described as. That’s way too heavy for an axe as most people wouldn’t be able to use it.
In the novel _The Last Policeman_ the world has about six months to go before a four mile in diameter asteroid ruins everyone’s day. Detective Palace goes to a military base in New Hampshire (US Army of course) where one of the guards raises his AK47 and point’s it at his chest. Why would a US soldier on guard duty be armed with an AK47?
I told you this was a bout minor details that annoyed you. In both of the above examples it just took me right out of the story and it took me some time to get back into it.
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### Author:  [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2013, 9:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-details-that-annoy-you-in-fiction/660016/2 "2013-06-03T09:21:54Z")
When novels set in the UK use constructions like “three-hundred sixty-five”, “in back” and “write my father”. Many otherwise impeccably-researched books have fallen down at these tiny tiny hurdles. I’m sure it works the other way round too - I recall Neil Gaiman being mildly twitted on these boards for making an American character say “pack of cigarettes”
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### Author:  [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2013, 9:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-details-that-annoy-you-in-fiction/660016/3 "2013-06-03T09:32:52Z")
> [@Aspidistra](#):
>
> When novels set in the UK use constructions like “three-hundred sixty-five”, “in back” and “write my father”. Many otherwise impeccably-researched books have fallen down at these tiny tiny hurdles. I’m sure it works the other way round too - I recall Neil Gaiman being mildly twitted on these boards for making an American character say “pack of cigarettes”
I’ve often heard Americans refer to a “pack of cigarettes.” My father for one. You used to be able to buy cigarettes in singe packs or in cartons which held multiple packs. But I can see your point. That’d be a minor detail that would annoy me as well.
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### Author:  [@Terr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terr)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2013, 10:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-details-that-annoy-you-in-fiction/660016/4 "2013-06-03T10:09:19Z")
Overuse of certain words / phrases. R. R. Martin’s (I think) “he’s not wrong”. “Wheel of Time”'s Nynaeve “tugs her braid”. Same place - females constantly “sniff”. Most writers have those obsessive word twitches, but good editors probably note them and fix them. But not in R. R. Martin’s and Robert Jordan’s cases.
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### Author:  [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2013, 10:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-details-that-annoy-you-in-fiction/660016/5 "2013-06-03T10:18:39Z")
In every superhero movie ever made, somewhere along the way a person falls from a great height, and is safely caught a few feet above the ground. Apparently, all superheroes have a magic inertial dampening field that allows instant, safe deceleration into their arms. In fact, mere touch is usually enough–grabbing a hand moments before impact is just fine.
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### Author:  [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2013, 10:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-details-that-annoy-you-in-fiction/660016/6 "2013-06-03T10:37:37Z")
> [@Aspidistra](#):
>
> I recall Neil Gaiman being mildly twitted on these boards for making an American character say “pack of cigarettes”
What the hell do yanks call a pack of cigarettes if not a ‘pack of cigarettes’? (Or pack of smokes, or pack of cigs, or pack of _something_.)
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### Author:  [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2013, 10:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-details-that-annoy-you-in-fiction/660016/7 "2013-06-03T10:41:20Z")
A carton, apparently. Don’t ask me, it’s just my vague memory of another thread…
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### Author:  [@Terr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terr)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2013, 10:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-details-that-annoy-you-in-fiction/660016/8 "2013-06-03T10:50:32Z")
> [@Aspidistra](#):
>
> A carton, apparently. Don’t ask me, it’s just my vague memory of another thread…
A carton is 10 packs IIRC.
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### Author:  [@Grumman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumman)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2013, 10:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-details-that-annoy-you-in-fiction/660016/9 "2013-06-03T10:56:22Z")
Two from the same novel:
An Apache being used for medevac. This is an attack helicopter that doesn’t have room to be used as an ambulance.
The phrase “hungry, but not for food” being used after the phrase had been thoroughly ruined by _Fifty Shades of Gray_.
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### Author:  [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2013, 11:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-details-that-annoy-you-in-fiction/660016/10 "2013-06-03T11:01:12Z")
> [@Aspidistra](#):
>
> A carton, apparently. Don’t ask me, it’s just my vague memory of another thread…
A carton is ten packs.
Everyone calls a pack a pack.
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### Author:  [@Steophan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steophan)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2013, 11:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-details-that-annoy-you-in-fiction/660016/11 "2013-06-03T11:08:14Z")
The one that gets me in films is if the music’s from the wrong period. In Brokeback Mountain, for example, in the scene where Ennis is dancing in the bar with the waitress, the song they dance to (Steve Earle’s The Devil’s Right Hand) wouldn’t be released for another ten years.
It may seem like a minor detail, but it takes me out of the film every time.
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### Author:  [@VanillaGorilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VanillaGorilla)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2013, 11:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-details-that-annoy-you-in-fiction/660016/12 "2013-06-03T11:15:49Z")
> [@Aspidistra](#):
>
> When novels set in the UK use constructions like “three-hundred sixty-five”, “in back” and “write my father”. Many otherwise impeccably-researched books have fallen down at these tiny tiny hurdles. I’m sure it works the other way round too - I recall Neil Gaiman being mildly twitted on these boards for making an American character say “pack of cigarettes”
So help a non native English speaker out. What’s “wrong”, or non English about these phrases? ⭕)
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### Author:  [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2013, 11:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-details-that-annoy-you-in-fiction/660016/13 "2013-06-03T11:21:05Z")
The UK usages are:
“Three-hundred **and** sixty-five”
“in **the** back” or “out **the** back”
“write **to** my father”
As an ESL speaker though, feel free to use whichever version you want. It’s only inauthentic when attributed to a Brit.
(also - you guys have so weirded me out over the “pack of cigarettes” thing that I went searching to see if I could find the original post- and I couldn’t. But I swear I remember someone griping about it. My mind is going, Dave…)
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### Author:  [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2013, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-details-that-annoy-you-in-fiction/660016/14 "2013-06-03T11:30:08Z")
Maybe he said ‘packet’, which is rather more distinctly British? (Though I don’t think I’ve ever heard it for cigarettes…)
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### Author:  [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2013, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-details-that-annoy-you-in-fiction/660016/15 "2013-06-03T11:41:30Z")
Now, if the American character has asked for fags, then we would have something. But as even sniggering schoolchildren are aware of that particular language quirk, I believe we can safely rule out that Gaiman had done that.
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### Author:  [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2013, 11:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-details-that-annoy-you-in-fiction/660016/16 "2013-06-03T11:45:22Z")
> [@Odesio](#):
>
> I’ve often heard Americans refer to a “pack of cigarettes.” My father for one. You used to be able to buy cigarettes in singe packs or in cartons which held multiple packs. But I can see your point. That’d be a minor detail that would annoy me as well.
Cigarettes are no longer sold by the pack? That’s news to anyone who recently bought a pack.
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### Author:  [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2013, 11:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-details-that-annoy-you-in-fiction/660016/17 "2013-06-03T11:45:35Z")
> [@VanillaGorilla](#):
>
> So help a non native English speaker out. What’s “wrong”, or non English about these phrases? ⭕)
Not ‘wrong’, just American. British/Australian English would be:
“three-hundred **and** sixty-five”, “in **the** back” and “write **to** my father”.
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### Author:  [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2013, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-details-that-annoy-you-in-fiction/660016/18 "2013-06-03T11:47:12Z")
> [@panache45](#):
>
> Cigarettes are no longer sold by the pack? That’s news to anyone who recently bought a pack.
I don’t think I said that. But, okay.
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### Author:  [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2013, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-details-that-annoy-you-in-fiction/660016/19 "2013-06-03T19:20:18Z")
> [@Aspidistra](#):
>
> “Three-hundred **and** sixty-five”
Interesting. Most Americans I know use _and_ in numbers. I was taught not to use “and” only in the specific context of precise mathematical dictation so the person writing the value knows where the decimal point goes (it goes at the “and”).
So:
Three hundred sixty five = 365
Three hundred sixty five and twelve thousandths = 365.012
Three hundred and sixty five = 300. \ 365.
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### Author:  [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2013, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-details-that-annoy-you-in-fiction/660016/20 "2013-06-03T19:25:55Z")
> [@iamthewalrus\_3](#):
>
> I was taught not to use “and” only in the specific context of precise mathematical dictation so the person writing the value knows where the decimal point goes (it goes at the “and”).
I was beginning to think I had hallucinated being told this in the fifth grade.
Also, I believe [this post](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=14317695&postcount=62) is the Neil Gaiman cigarette offense. It’s “packet” they take objection to.
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