# Stupid errors that crop up repeatedly in TV shows and movies **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 29, 2014, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-errors-that-crop-up-repeatedly-in-tv-shows-and-movies/684866 "2014-03-29T23:33:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 13
**Author:** ![nevadaexile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb8c5e/32.png) [@nevadaexile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nevadaexile)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2014, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-errors-that-crop-up-repeatedly-in-tv-shows-and-movies/684866/241 "2014-04-02T22:59:30Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > OK, I forgot that Seven (Se7en, really?) was set in “The City” and not a real place, but I always felt like it was supposed to be New York or some other east coast city. Not much rain in LA. That said, any decent-sized library system that I know of switched to a computer system by 1990 at the latest. And “The City” in Seven was supposed to be pretty big. John Doe’s whole thing was that he was sickened by society’s attitudes in such a large metropolis. The end of _ **Se7en** _ clearly takes place in an area where there is a desert with hills in the background. The credits state that it was Mojave,CA, so “The City” had to be Los Angeles. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2014, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-errors-that-crop-up-repeatedly-in-tv-shows-and-movies/684866/242 "2014-04-02T23:02:26Z")
> [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](#): > > I don’t have time to answer that question, I got regulars to serve. > [@AncientHumanoid](#): > > Engaging in sloth. I’m gonna ask both of you not to leave town until my investigation is over. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2014, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-errors-that-crop-up-repeatedly-in-tv-shows-and-movies/684866/243 "2014-04-02T23:02:39Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#): > > Not true, though it probably won’t matter to you that librarians use the same criteria for determining the title of a film. Untrue. Librarians use the title used on the case. As both “Seven” and “Se7en” have been used on the film’s case, both titles are used in cataloging: [http://www.worldcat.org/title/se7en/oclc/55089980/editions?referer=di&editionsView=true](http://www.worldcat.org/title/se7en/oclc/55089980/editions?referer=di&editionsView=true) ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2014, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-errors-that-crop-up-repeatedly-in-tv-shows-and-movies/684866/244 "2014-04-02T23:09:09Z")
> [@adhemar](#): > > regarding library information, I had a friend who worked at our local library who was able to look up a specific book and see that a mutual acqaintince had “lost” the book, paying the original price for a book that is now runnin over $1000.00 for a copy. this was quite a few years ago (at least 15 years ago). as far as I can remember our libraries have been on the computer system for a long time, definately prior to 1995. I don’t see why therefore that someone can’t run a query on the library database looking for who checked out what subject of books. Because the two searches you describe have nothing to do with each other. I suppose it would be _possible_ for a library to keep a database of every book that every patron had ever checked out and to make this database searchable by the subject headings of the books, but no library where I’ve ever worked did this, I’ve never heard of a library that did, and I can’t think of any good reason why any library would even want to. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2014, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-errors-that-crop-up-repeatedly-in-tv-shows-and-movies/684866/245 "2014-04-02T23:12:44Z")
It’s a pet peeve, really, but…errors in naming conventions. For ships, mostly, sometimes other vehicles. Y’see, a number of vessels in the real world follow, at least halfway closely, actual set naming conventions. Space Shuttle Orbiters after exploratory vessels, US ballistic missile submarines after US States, etc. Like I said, there _are_ exceptions, but often ones that can be at least [rationalized](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uss_enterprise), or at least obviously high-profile enough to make sense. I mean, you probably wouldn’t have an HMS _Trafalgar_, HMS _Jutland_, and HMS \*Pablo Neruda \* built in the same class of ships, or possibly even the same navy, in a serious work of fiction. It’s especially grating when there are actual _prexisting official lists_ of candidate names that were runners up to existing vessel names. I’ve seen fictional space shuttles named _Gettysburg_ and _Camelot_—but no [_Chatham, Resolution, Trieste,_ or _Endurance_.](http://www2.gcs.k12.in.us/bholt/Proposed%20Names.htm) Hell, not even _Calypso_ or _Hokule’a_. 'Nother example I can think of was an NCIS episode featuring the American nuclear carrier _Seahawk_. Well, unless that was named after _President_ Seahawk, _Admiral_ Seahawk, or possibly Congressman or Senator Seahawk, I’m not seeing it happening. :dubious: So, yeah, fellow writers…just remember that there sometimes actually _is_ a rationale behind what a ship gets named, beyond “it sounds pretty.” :smack: ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2014, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-errors-that-crop-up-repeatedly-in-tv-shows-and-movies/684866/246 "2014-04-02T23:22:28Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > Untrue. Librarians use the title used on the case. As both “Seven” and “Se7en” have been used on the film’s case, both titles are used in cataloging: > > [http://www.worldcat.org/title/se7en/oclc/55089980/editions?referer=di&editionsView=true](http://www.worldcat.org/title/se7en/oclc/55089980/editions?referer=di&editionsView=true) I can’t lay my hands on a copy of the _AACR2R_ at the moment, but I’ve found several sources which quote it as saying that > [@](#): > > The chief source of information for motion pictures and > videorecordings is (in this order of preference): > a) the item itself (e.g., the title frames) > b) its container (and container label) if the container is an integral part > of the piece (e.g., a cassette) In other words, it a poor job of cataloging was done by the person who decided to catalog the film based on what the case said, because that’s not the top-preferred source. It’s like taking the title of a book from its cover instead of the title page and t.p. verso, like you’re supposed to. N.b., RDA may say something different, I really haven’t bothered trying to understand it. ---
**Author:** ![the\_diego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@the\_diego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_diego)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2014, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-errors-that-crop-up-repeatedly-in-tv-shows-and-movies/684866/247 "2014-04-02T23:36:45Z")
They still say “over and out” on the radio, right? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2014, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-errors-that-crop-up-repeatedly-in-tv-shows-and-movies/684866/248 "2014-04-02T23:51:40Z")
> [@](#): > > Quoth **Ranchoth** : > > It’s a pet peeve, really, but…errors in naming conventions. For ships, mostly, sometimes other vehicles. > > Y’see, a number of vessels in the real world follow, at least halfway closely, actual set naming conventions. > … That’s one thing I like about the Honor Harrington books: If you see a heavy cruiser named “Scimitar”, then it’s a pretty safe bet that that navy will also have heavy cruisers named “Rapier”, “Claymore”, and “Gladius”, and certainly if ships by those names exist, they’ll all be heavy cruisers. Likewise for ships named after great historical admirals, or ships named after dangerous predatory animals, and so on. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2014, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-errors-that-crop-up-repeatedly-in-tv-shows-and-movies/684866/249 "2014-04-02T23:56:59Z")
> [@Ranchoth](#): > > . . . a number of vessels in the real world follow, at least halfway closely, actual set naming conventions. . . . It is fun to play the naming game within those conventions. After the real HMS Trafalgar, I made up the HMS Tobruk, and after the real USS Tarawa, I made up the USS Tinian. At least I’ve got some verisimilitude. (I also ran my chapter past an actual USN officer…who spotted any number of blunders!) ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2014, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-errors-that-crop-up-repeatedly-in-tv-shows-and-movies/684866/250 "2014-04-03T00:23:26Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > First, thanks for the link to the unaired pilot; I’ve wanted to see it. Second, that’s an example of there being about four moves left in a nearly solved cube, by way of Chronos’ second suggestion. Notice the camera cuts as he takes the cube and puts it back. The whole thing just seemed weird the second time I watched it. ---
**Author:** ![Grestarian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grestarian/32/3227_2.png) [@Grestarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grestarian)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2014, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-errors-that-crop-up-repeatedly-in-tv-shows-and-movies/684866/251 "2014-04-03T00:24:10Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > Here’s a specialty one that bugs me. When a character who is signing on TV (and _Switched an Birth_ is guilty, but it just happens to be a show with lots of signing, so I won’t pick on it especially; it happens every time there’s signing), the captions are always a really poor reflection of what is being signed. I’m sure it’s because the writers write, and then the Deaf actors do their own interpretations of the script, some of them making it very much ASL. As a result, there are better English translations than the original script, but the captions are taken from the script, not a reinterpretation of what the characters actually end up signing. > > It’s especially obvious when some American idiom, like “I’ll be your wing-man” appears in the captions. There’s no ASL equivalent of the idiom, so that character says something literal, like “I’ll support you,” or “I’ll help you,” but the caption still says “I’ll be your wing-man.” …though I must say this was done hilariously in Four Weddings and a Funeral [and, for that matter, Soul Man] –G! ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2014, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-errors-that-crop-up-repeatedly-in-tv-shows-and-movies/684866/252 "2014-04-03T01:22:14Z")
> [@](#): > > Part of the check-out process was the librarian examining your library card and the signed book card(s). If she couldn’t read a book card, she’d correct it. You can’t send the book overdue notice if you can’t read the card. It’s probably because I grew up in New York, but the only time I’ve seen something like this was in a school library. > [@WhyNot](#): > > In the 80s in my library system, they’d gone high tech. There was a machine that went kathunk as it stamped your library card number onto the index card that belonged to the book. The kathunket machine was my favorite part of the checking out process. There was a system kind of like this at the public library ( even in the 70s)- except the machine didn’t stamp a number, it took a photo of the library card and the book card together. And when the book wasn’t returned on time, they mailed you a copy of the photo. The photos were ordered by checkout date/due date, not the book or cardholder. So you couldn’t look up all the books I checked out, or all the people who checked out a particular book. But you could get a list of books checked out on May 17 1978 ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2014, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-errors-that-crop-up-repeatedly-in-tv-shows-and-movies/684866/253 "2014-04-03T02:17:01Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > Untrue. Librarians use the title used on the case. As both “Seven” and “Se7en” have been used on the film’s case, both titles are used in cataloging: > > [http://www.worldcat.org/title/se7en/oclc/55089980/editions?referer=di&editionsView=true](http://www.worldcat.org/title/se7en/oclc/55089980/editions?referer=di&editionsView=true) How do you alphabetize “Se7en”? > [@the\_diego](#): > > They still say “over and out” on the radio, right? 😛 ---
**Author:** ![HumanMonkeyGod](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c67d28/32.png) [@HumanMonkeyGod](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HumanMonkeyGod)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2014, 10:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-errors-that-crop-up-repeatedly-in-tv-shows-and-movies/684866/254 "2014-04-03T10:11:41Z")
Spaceship control rooms (flight deck? whatever it’s called) that, when taking enemy fire, start sparking and smoking like crazy, yet the electronics all continue functioning. In a similar vein, the “rerouting” of electrics, hydraulics or anything else in conduit that typically would only be installed with one route. And shields, I don’t claim to understand the technology but somehow even when shields are up enemy fire results in some physical bumping around inside the ship. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2014, 11:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-errors-that-crop-up-repeatedly-in-tv-shows-and-movies/684866/255 "2014-04-03T11:08:26Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > How do you alphabetize “Se7en”? You use “Seven,” like any normal right-thinking person. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2014, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-errors-that-crop-up-repeatedly-in-tv-shows-and-movies/684866/256 "2014-04-03T12:41:09Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > You use “Seven,” like any normal right-thinking person. Actually it comes right in between Se6en and Se8en. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2014, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-errors-that-crop-up-repeatedly-in-tv-shows-and-movies/684866/257 "2014-04-03T12:47:25Z")
> [@HumanMonkeyGod](#): > > And shields, I don’t claim to understand the technology but somehow even when shields are up enemy fire results in some physical bumping around inside the ship. Especially when the inertia dampeners are off-line. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2014, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-errors-that-crop-up-repeatedly-in-tv-shows-and-movies/684866/258 "2014-04-03T12:50:14Z")
Sorry, but the biggest plot hole in Seven/Se7en is Brad Pitt’s motivation - he is from a small town and wants to live in “the City”, but “the City” is a fucking hellhole. Why would anybody _want_ to live there? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2014, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-errors-that-crop-up-repeatedly-in-tv-shows-and-movies/684866/259 "2014-04-03T13:01:58Z")
> [@Cayuga](#): > > Every single person who teaches at a college, no matter how young they are, is a full professor, and is always addressed as “Professor” or “Professor [name].” And in the Land of the Free according to certain genres, 1/4 of the adult population got at least two PhDs before the age where one would be expected to graduate HS; 1/4 are career petty criminals (the head honchos are all imported); 1/4 work in law enforcement. I assume the other quarter is the wives of the petty criminals. ---
**Author:** ![Flywheel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Flywheel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flywheel)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2014, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-errors-that-crop-up-repeatedly-in-tv-shows-and-movies/684866/260 "2014-04-03T13:19:30Z")
> [@the\_diego](#): > > They still say “over and out” on the radio, right? I’ll tell you, **the\_diego** , but you really should end each transmission with the word “over.” Over! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-errors-that-crop-up-repeatedly-in-tv-shows-and-movies/684866.md?page=12) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-errors-that-crop-up-repeatedly-in-tv-shows-and-movies/684866.md?page=14)