# The mundane unrealistic details that take you out of the batshit fantastically unrealistic setting **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 23, 2015, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mundane-unrealistic-details-that-take-you-out-of-the-batshit-fantastically-unrealistic-setting/715755 "2015-03-23T02:44:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2015, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mundane-unrealistic-details-that-take-you-out-of-the-batshit-fantastically-unrealistic-setting/715755/21 "2015-03-23T15:02:54Z")
I’ve said it before – Steven Spielberg utterly shattered by Suspension of Disbelief at the beginning of **Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom** when he has Indy, Willi, and Short Round jump out of the falling plane in an inflatable raft, which falls none too softly on the snow, careens down the snowpack of the edge of a cliff into a river, lands in the river and goes through roaring rapids. And nobody gets hurt. There should be multiple broken bones at a minimum, and a triple death more likely, but they have not a scratch. Bothered me mightily, that did. And this in a movie with magical glowing shankara stones, a guy reaching into another guy’s chest and pulling out his heart, the guy’s chest wall magically healing, and the now-heartless guy not expiring. Not to mention a cave full of insects with no obvious means of support. None of that bothered me all that much, but I had a hard time getting over that raft parachuting. ---
**Author:** ![RikWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2015, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mundane-unrealistic-details-that-take-you-out-of-the-batshit-fantastically-unrealistic-setting/715755/22 "2015-03-23T15:19:34Z")
> [@TCMF-2L](#): > > \*“Why, you stuck-up, half-witted, scruffy-looking **nerd-herder**!” > > “Who’s scruffy-looking?”\* > > **Princess Leia Organa and Han Solo** > > TCMF-2L It was nerf-herder. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2015, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mundane-unrealistic-details-that-take-you-out-of-the-batshit-fantastically-unrealistic-setting/715755/23 "2015-03-23T15:26:29Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > In a fantasy novel, I can accept that the book is written in English, but the conceit is the characters aren’t actually talking in English. It’s “translated” even though that’s not really what is happening. > > I accept all that, that is, until a particular turn of phrase, a colloquialism that has a definitive earth-history origin, is spoken by one of the characters. So the evil dark elf wizard says “That’s putting the cart before the horse!” or the Queen of Durrendale Kingdom says “Don’t count your chickens before they’re hatched!” > > It is glaring. What annoys me is in almost exactly the opposite direction. I just read **The Goblin Emperor** , a lovely new book of court intrigue. Except. Characters were variously identified by some combination of their first names, their last names, and their titles. All of these were multisyllabic and idiosyncratically inflected according to a system the author came up with. First name and last name, I can barely deal with. But don’t invent a whole new word for “Sir” and “Madame,” goddammit. The whole book is presumably translated from whatever language the goblins and elves speak; go ahead and translate the words for “Sir” and “Madame” while you’re at it! Same for words like “Advisor” and “Guard”: your fancy schmancy elven words for these job positions can get translated along with everything else. ---
**Author:** ![Foggy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foggy/32/1082_2.png) [@Foggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Foggy)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2015, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mundane-unrealistic-details-that-take-you-out-of-the-batshit-fantastically-unrealistic-setting/715755/24 "2015-03-23T15:30:47Z")
> [@RikWriter](#): > > It was nerf-herder. …but **nerd-herder** is more accurate, at least now a days. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2015, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mundane-unrealistic-details-that-take-you-out-of-the-batshit-fantastically-unrealistic-setting/715755/25 "2015-03-23T15:39:03Z")
> [@Foggy](#): > > …but **nerd-herder** is more accurate, at least now a days. 😛 I always thought the line was “nerve-hurter”, which actually makes more sense. (What the hell is a “nerf”??) ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2015, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mundane-unrealistic-details-that-take-you-out-of-the-batshit-fantastically-unrealistic-setting/715755/26 "2015-03-23T15:42:15Z")
> [@buddha\_david](#): > > I always thought the line was “nerve-hurter”, which actually makes more sense. (What the hell is a “nerf”??) It’s the soft, doughy creature from which Nerf Balls and the projectiles of Nerf Guns are harvested. Don’t worry – it doesn’t hurt them, and the Nerf grows back in time for the next harvest. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2015, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mundane-unrealistic-details-that-take-you-out-of-the-batshit-fantastically-unrealistic-setting/715755/27 "2015-03-23T15:46:01Z")
> [@buddha\_david](#): > > In Peter Jackson’s _The Lord of the Rings,_ when Minas Tirith is shown as a giant walled city towering high above a flat, featureless, thoroughly uninhabited plain, my first thought always is: “Where do these people grow their crops?” They eat out a lot. 🙂 (sorry, b\_d) ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2015, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mundane-unrealistic-details-that-take-you-out-of-the-batshit-fantastically-unrealistic-setting/715755/28 "2015-03-23T15:53:40Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > Yeah, they used to have this town called Osgiliath down on the river; it’s suffering a bit of an orc infestation as we see in The Two Towers. Osgiliath is a perfect example of what the OP is asking about. In Jackson’s movies, Frodo and Sam use the sewers of Osgiliath to cross undetected under the river. Except … why is there a sewer UNDER THE RIVER? Where is it flowing to? You build sewers to drain INTO rivers, not underneath them. My wife has heard me rant about this many times. ---
**Author:** ![xizor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xizor/32/102_2.png) [@xizor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xizor)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2015, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mundane-unrealistic-details-that-take-you-out-of-the-batshit-fantastically-unrealistic-setting/715755/29 "2015-03-23T16:53:32Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > Because the _phrase_ has an origin you can pinpoint here in our very specific and genuine history of Earth, not on the fantastical World of Erania. One thousand times yes GuanoLad! This is my most hated thing about _The Chronicles of Riddick_, when they tell him he is “all ‘back of the bus’”. Back of the bus is such an Earth-centric phrase it makes my ears do a record scratch sound when used in a alien world setting. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2015, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mundane-unrealistic-details-that-take-you-out-of-the-batshit-fantastically-unrealistic-setting/715755/30 "2015-03-23T17:16:26Z")
> [@The\_Hamster\_King](#): > > In Jackson’s movies, Frodo and Sam use the sewers of Osgiliath to cross undetected under the river. They do? Not in any bit I can remember - they are already on the Eastern shore when Faramir finds them. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2015, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mundane-unrealistic-details-that-take-you-out-of-the-batshit-fantastically-unrealistic-setting/715755/31 "2015-03-23T18:27:11Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > What annoys me is in almost exactly the opposite direction. I just read **The Goblin Emperor** , a lovely new book of court intrigue. > > Except. > > Characters were variously identified by some combination of their first names, their last names, and their titles. All of these were multisyllabic and idiosyncratically inflected according to a system the author came up with. > > First name and last name, I can barely deal with. But don’t invent a whole new word for “Sir” and “Madame,” goddammit. The whole book is presumably translated from whatever language the goblins and elves speak; go ahead and translate the words for “Sir” and “Madame” while you’re at it! Same for words like “Advisor” and “Guard”: your fancy schmancy elven words for these job positions can get translated along with everything else. Right, either translate it all or dont. And since you pretty much have to translate it- go all the way. I like the way Vance used to do it with an occasional “untranslatable” word which was always footnoted. Nice. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2015, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mundane-unrealistic-details-that-take-you-out-of-the-batshit-fantastically-unrealistic-setting/715755/32 "2015-03-23T18:34:12Z")
> [@The\_Hamster\_King](#): > > Osgiliath is a perfect example of what the OP is asking about. > > In Jackson’s movies, Frodo and Sam use the sewers of Osgiliath to cross undetected under the river. > > Except …why is there a sewer UNDER THE RIVER? Where is it flowing to? You build sewers to drain INTO rivers, not underneath them. > > My wife has heard me rant about this many times. Its possible. UNLIKEY mind you but possible. You kind of need special geological/geopgraphic conditions. So, I still feel your pain. ---
**Author:** ![Long\_Time\_First\_Time](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ad7895/32.png) [@Long\_Time\_First\_Time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Long_Time_First_Time)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2015, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mundane-unrealistic-details-that-take-you-out-of-the-batshit-fantastically-unrealistic-setting/715755/33 "2015-03-23T18:37:12Z")
What ruins stuff for me is when they have animals perform behaviors that are not natural. Horses do not whinny all the time, yet in every movie they play a horse whinny to alert the viewer that horses are coming. A scared horse/cow/bunny/90% of all prey animals don’t make noises when they are trapped or hurt. ---
**Author:** ![Quercus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/7ab992/32.png) [@Quercus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2015, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mundane-unrealistic-details-that-take-you-out-of-the-batshit-fantastically-unrealistic-setting/715755/34 "2015-03-23T18:43:54Z")
> [@gallows\_fodder](#): > > On that note, I get really, really bugged by fantasy authors using phrases from the Bible. Your fantasy characters set in a different world from ours should not be saying things like “swords into plowshares,” “cast pearls before swine,” “wolf in sheep’s clothing,” “you reap what you sow,” etc. Can’t we assume there was a classic well-known and quoted-to-the-point-of-cliché book in the fantasy world with a similar-meaning phrase, and the translator did a good job? I mean, if someone was translating from Spanish, and the original had a similar phrase from Don Quixote, wouldn’t using a similar-meaning Shakespeare quote be the best translation? So assume there’s an equivalent book in the fantasy world. > [@buddha\_david](#): > > In Peter Jackson’s _The Lord of the Rings,_ when Minas Tirith is shown as a giant walled city towering high above a flat, featureless, thoroughly uninhabited plain, my first thought always is: “Where do these people grow their crops?” IIRC, In the books, they invaders are explicitly described as burning haystacks and farms in the plain. > [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > First name and last name, I can barely deal with. But don’t invent a whole new word for “Sir” and “Madame,” goddammit. The whole book is presumably translated from whatever language the goblins and elves speak; go ahead and translate the words for “Sir” and “Madame” while you’re at it! Same for words like “Advisor” and “Guard”: your fancy schmancy elven words for these job positions can get translated along with everything else. s always, [Relevant XCKD](https://xkcd.com/483/) ---
**Author:** ![Grumman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/43a26b/32.png) [@Grumman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumman)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2015, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mundane-unrealistic-details-that-take-you-out-of-the-batshit-fantastically-unrealistic-setting/715755/35 "2015-03-23T18:49:52Z")
> [@xizor](#): > > One thousand times yes GuanoLad! This is my most hated thing about _The Chronicles of Riddick_, when they tell him he is “all ‘back of the bus’”. Back of the bus is such an Earth-centric phrase it makes my ears do a record scratch sound when used in a alien world setting. Riddick used an Earth idiom because Earth explictly exists in the Riddick movies: > [@](#): > > JOHNS: What the hell are these? > > PARIS: Maratha crow-bill war-picks from Northern India. Very rare. > > ZEKE: An’ this? > > PARIS: Blow-dart hunting stick from Papua New Guinea. Very very rare, since the tribe’s extinct. > > ZEKE: 'Cuz they couldn’t hunt shit with these things, be my guess. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2015, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mundane-unrealistic-details-that-take-you-out-of-the-batshit-fantastically-unrealistic-setting/715755/36 "2015-03-23T19:09:53Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > They do? Not in any bit I can remember - they are already on the Eastern shore when Faramir finds them. Yup. He does find them east of Osgiliath, but then he takes them to the western shore of the city. (This is a deviation from the books. In the books he doesn’t take them to Osgiliath at all.) The eastern shore of the city is held by the forces of Mordor and there’s a whole amphibious assault bit later where the orcs cross the river in boats to attack the men on the western shore. Faramir even describes the silliness explicitly: _“This is the old sewer. **It runs right under the river through to the edge of the city**. You’ll find cover in the woods there.”_ :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2015, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mundane-unrealistic-details-that-take-you-out-of-the-batshit-fantastically-unrealistic-setting/715755/37 "2015-03-23T19:40:12Z")
Middle Earth is so old, they build their rivers on the ruins of old cities, then they build new cities on top of that. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2015, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mundane-unrealistic-details-that-take-you-out-of-the-batshit-fantastically-unrealistic-setting/715755/38 "2015-03-23T19:56:34Z")
I don’t know if this is exactly what the OP is looking for, but I hate when fantasy worlds are almost-but-not-quite geographically Earth, so that I feel like I’m spending most of my brainpower separating fact from fiction rather than just enjoying the fiction. ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2015, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mundane-unrealistic-details-that-take-you-out-of-the-batshit-fantastically-unrealistic-setting/715755/39 "2015-03-23T20:20:49Z")
> [@The\_Hamster\_King](#): > > Faramir even describes the silliness explicitly: _“This is the old sewer. **It runs right under the river through to the edge of the city**. You’ll find cover in the woods there.”_ :dubious: The word he actually used in his native Westron would likely have been _nîn-phûru_; the literal translation is “water-delving”. Faramir was probably using it to mean “river tunnel”–an escape or sally tunnel that passed under the river. The term would have been somewhat dated, but given that the tunnel was an old construction, an archaic place-name would not be out of place. The translators of the _Red Book_ have a tradition of attention to detail, but perhaps we can forgive such a small slip as taking an archaic word for “water tunnel” to mean “sewer”. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2015, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mundane-unrealistic-details-that-take-you-out-of-the-batshit-fantastically-unrealistic-setting/715755/40 "2015-03-23T20:35:04Z")
Some ludicrously large lizard lumbering about lower Manhattan without its stomping setting off car alarms. And that was in the _previews_. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mundane-unrealistic-details-that-take-you-out-of-the-batshit-fantastically-unrealistic-setting/715755.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-mundane-unrealistic-details-that-take-you-out-of-the-batshit-fantastically-unrealistic-setting/715755.md?page=3)