# Tiny errors that drive you insane **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 29, 2016, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-errors-that-drive-you-insane/747557 "2016-02-29T19:58:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2016, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-errors-that-drive-you-insane/747557/21 "2016-03-01T00:22:42Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > Re: the beret - are you talking about that (IMO) stupid looking flop over the brow look? Since all of the army started to ape Special Forces/Airborne/Rangers, I find that more irritating than any misrepresentation on screen! ;D Yeah, that looks dorky, regardless the branch. Um, except in the case of the Canadian military! Then it’s sexy and tough and not the least bit stupid looking! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2016, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-errors-that-drive-you-insane/747557/22 "2016-03-01T00:52:28Z")
It drives me crazy when I hear someone use the word “worse” instead of “worst” (e.g. “worse case scenario”), but to be fair they do sound pretty similar. ---
**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:** [March 1, 2016, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-errors-that-drive-you-insane/747557/23 "2016-03-01T01:09:59Z")
> [@rsat3acr](#): > > In speaking all sergeants are referred to as sergeant unless they are a first sergeant or sergeant major. In writing they would be addressed by rank; SGT SSG SFC MSG 1SG SGM CSM The incident in question did indeed involve a fax. ---
**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:** [March 1, 2016, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-errors-that-drive-you-insane/747557/24 "2016-03-01T01:14:43Z")
> [@Flyer](#): > > The idea that a beret is useful or practical in any sense whatsoever is utterly laughable. The current Civil War (_Union_)–style US Army uniforms are not just laughable, they’re hideous. Yecch! :mad: ---
**Author:** ![Seanette](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/seanette/32/9139_2.png) [@Seanette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seanette)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2016, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-errors-that-drive-you-insane/747557/25 "2016-03-01T01:48:05Z")
Phrases like “should of”, “off of”, and so on. Substitution of “of” for “have” is bad enough, but “off of” is just awful, IMO. ---
**Author:** ![Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aji_de_gallina/32/260_2.png) [@Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aji_de_Gallina)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2016, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-errors-that-drive-you-insane/747557/26 "2016-03-01T01:58:59Z")
I’m not mad it’s always a red-tailed hawk. I’m mad every freaking time they show an eagle, hawk, or falcon, they screech. Most digital cameras, apparently still make the sound of a film camera with an autowinder. ---
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2016, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-errors-that-drive-you-insane/747557/27 "2016-03-01T02:08:44Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Whenever a grunt acknowledges a direct order with nothing more than a nod of his head. Of course, it would blow the entire budget if he said _“Yes, sir!”_ or \*“Yes, Sergeant!” \* :smack: Not the entire budget, no, but unless the Nameless Grunt is always the same actor, those little bits of realism can add up quickly. ---
**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:** [March 1, 2016, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-errors-that-drive-you-insane/747557/28 "2016-03-01T02:40:44Z")
> [@j666](#): > > Not the entire budget, no, but unless the Nameless Grunt is always the same actor, those little bits of realism can add up quickly. So? Have the same guy be the nameless grunt in every such shot. In uniform, and with a quick makeup change, it’s unlikely anyone would notice, especially since he’ll be on screen for only three or four seconds at a time. ---
**Author:** ![Daylate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9dc877/32.png) [@Daylate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daylate)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2016, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-errors-that-drive-you-insane/747557/29 "2016-03-01T02:42:02Z")
> [@](#): > > Quote: > Originally Posted by Chefguy View Post > For a real nitpick: you don’t pour concrete, you place it. Even when it’s being pumped to the top of a building and comes sliding down a chute, it’s being ‘placed’. I suspect there are few outside of the construction game who know that. > > Well, to be fair, it’s not just movies or TV that does this, a quick Google search shows many instances of this, from Handyman magazine to Home Depot, to [concretenetwork.com](http://concretenetwork.com) (in this case, the title is Pouring Concrete - How Concrete is Placed, but it still uses pouring in the article itself). It may be one of those common usage things that changes the definition of a word, like tragedy. Gotta disagree with the OP. I was an engineer with a large consulting firm back in the day, and spent a lot of time as inspector on some huge concrete jobs (40,000+ yards). Almost always heard the word “pour” used instead of “placed”. The word “placed” was used, but rarely. I will say, one of the things that frosts my gourd is to hear a civilian refer to something like a “cement” sidewalk. It’s a “concrete” sidewalk, dammit! “Cement” is what you put into the mix of sand, gravel, and water to make concrete. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2016, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-errors-that-drive-you-insane/747557/30 "2016-03-01T04:26:37Z")
When East Coast highways are referred to as “The ##”. ---
**Author:** ![DorkVader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/73ab20/32.png) [@DorkVader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DorkVader)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2016, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-errors-that-drive-you-insane/747557/31 "2016-03-01T04:30:49Z")
> [@ivylass](#): > > Heh. Ivygirl was just saying after graduation that she’d have to wet her beret again. She said they hold their shape for about three days. the beret thing the op mentioned drives me nuts too, plus the way they just plop the insignia where ever, usually dead center of the forehead like some sort of targeting reticule. Holy crap and if there is more than one “soldier” wearing a beret…they could at least try to be consistent from person to person on how they wear the thing. ivylass, that’s weird to me and Mrs. Guest, never had that problem ever with ours. shaved and shaped our berets once and it was good forever. wonder if they changed the material or something at some point. (took an entire day of walking around with wet wool on the head, stroking it periodically to shape it juuuust right) ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2016, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-errors-that-drive-you-insane/747557/32 "2016-03-01T04:42:39Z")
Not so tiny and ok, the whole series is an anachronism but… The Ministry of Time is a TVE (Spanish PBS) series about a government agency whose duty is to keep history the way it was. Huge things such as people sagely spouting “you cannot travel ahead” when the people present are in 2016 and include people from the 15th, 16th and 19th centuries don’t bother me near as much as people referencing “christmas tree bulbs” in Madrid in 1920 or saying that a picture of a man and a woman from the 19th century must be of their wedding because she’s wearing something old, something new, and something borrowed which the speaker knows to be blue (at the time, a bride would have been in black. Black. Black. Head to toes black. And the four things tradition reached Spain with American Pie!). Or, oh yeah, El Cid’s men being in uniform. Clean new uniforms, at that… (never mind that the actress playing 50sh Doña Jimena looked to not even be 40). ---
**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:** [March 1, 2016, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-errors-that-drive-you-insane/747557/33 "2016-03-01T04:44:54Z")
> [@Seanette](#): > > Phrases like “should of”, “off of”, and so on. Substitution of “of” for “have” is bad enough, but “off of” is just awful, IMO. **[SCOTTISH ACCENT]** Gi’ us an example there, lass? :dubious: ---
**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:** [March 1, 2016, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-errors-that-drive-you-insane/747557/34 "2016-03-01T04:47:16Z")
> [@](#): > > Quoth **california jobcase** : > > Whenever I read someone is an alum, I wonder how he could be an aluminum potassium sulfate. Might he be used in pickles? > > Finishing the word with -nus (or -na for a female) really wouldn’t be that hard. And just speaking English instead of Latin isn’t that hard either, and has the twin advantages that it’s gender-neutral and people know how to pluralize it. Just because “alumn” has “alumnus” in its etymology, doesn’t mean that it’s the same word. What bugs me in movies? When they show the night sky, and it isn’t any night sky ever visible from Earth. OK, I understand that cameras have much less dynamic range than eyes, so they can’t just shoot the actual night sky. I understand that they have to put in a simulated sky. But is there any reason that the simulated sky can’t simulate the real constellations? ---
**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:** [March 1, 2016, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-errors-that-drive-you-insane/747557/35 "2016-03-01T04:47:48Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > Not so tiny and ok, the whole series is an anachronism but… > > The Ministry of Time is a TVE (Spanish PBS) series about a government agency whose duty is to keep history the way it was. [Voyager - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voyagers)! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2016, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-errors-that-drive-you-insane/747557/36 "2016-03-01T04:49:27Z")
Perhaps they could use stock photographs? Bit of CGI if you want it to move and that’s it. ETA: **terentii** , sorry but do you mean we should add it to that list somewhere or that some of the things in that list are about time jumpers? ---
**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:** [March 1, 2016, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-errors-that-drive-you-insane/747557/37 "2016-03-01T04:54:08Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > What bugs me in movies? When they show the night sky, and it isn’t any night sky ever visible from Earth. OK, I understand that cameras have much less dynamic range than eyes, so they can’t just shoot the actual night sky. I understand that they have to put in a simulated sky. But is there any reason that the simulated sky can’t simulate the real constellations? The problem is that most people (including the graphic artists) have no clue as to what part of the sky is suitable for a particular shot. I’m thinking here in particular of the closing shot of that _ **TNG** _ episode where Picard’s nephew was gazing at Orion, which was appropriate neither for the latitude or season in which the story took place. ---
**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:** [March 1, 2016, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-errors-that-drive-you-insane/747557/38 "2016-03-01T04:55:36Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > ETA: **terentii** , sorry but do you mean we should add it to that list somewhere or that some of the things in that list are about time jumpers? I was merely noting the apparent similarity between the two series. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2016, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-errors-that-drive-you-insane/747557/39 "2016-03-01T05:01:20Z")
Which? Your link is to one of those “here are twenty things that can be filed as ‘voyager’” pages. ---
**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:** [March 1, 2016, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-errors-that-drive-you-insane/747557/40 "2016-03-01T05:07:06Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > [Voyager - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voyagers)! 😃 Sorry. The exclamation point was placed outside the command (a peculiarity of the site, not my fault): [Voyager - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voyagers)! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-errors-that-drive-you-insane/747557.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-errors-that-drive-you-insane/747557.md?page=3)