# What is extremely common in TV or movies but almost never happens in real life? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 6, 2021, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311 "2021-02-06T04:16:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 144
**Author:** ![Biotop](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biotop/32/321_2.png) [@Biotop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biotop)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2023, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/2862 "2023-10-01T19:56:15Z")
I don’t know if this has been mentioned or if it happens in real life, but I think if it is your job to take a wealthy and or infirm person their breakfast, you need to be trained not to drop the tray when you find them murdered. Just makes a bad situation worse. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2023, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/2863 "2023-10-01T19:56:54Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > When my kids were little I made an African Stew with meat, yams, and prunes. It was amazingly delicious. Sounds tasty. Next morning, things probably did run free however. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2023, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/2864 "2023-10-01T20:17:41Z")
Each serving had 3 or 4 prunes. The yams probably contributed more fiber. Prunes get a bad name, but I love them. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2023, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/2865 "2023-10-01T20:26:38Z")
Nice. So do I. They are tasty, ---
**Author:** ![Zyada](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zyada/32/3028_2.png) [@Zyada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zyada)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2023, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/2866 "2023-10-01T20:26:53Z")
And chloroform ---
**Author:** ![Zyada](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zyada/32/3028_2.png) [@Zyada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zyada)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2023, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/2867 "2023-10-01T20:33:38Z")
Prunes also have sorbitol which has a mild laxative effect. ---
**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:** [October 1, 2023, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/2868 "2023-10-01T21:19:52Z")
How would licking my lips make my mouth moist? 😕 ---
**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:** [October 1, 2023, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/2869 "2023-10-01T21:21:57Z")
> [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > Romance heroines are always biting their bottom lip. I imagine they get pretty chapped. A chick biting her lower lip looks uber-hot! 😘 ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2023, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/2870 "2023-10-01T22:01:05Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > When my kids were little I made an African Stew with meat, yams, and prunes. It was amazingly delicious The late lamented The Egg and Eye restaurant (upstairs from the Folk Art Museum) had an awesome African omelet with those ingredients, plus peanuts, in a delicious spicy sauce. I still get occasional cravings for it decades later. ---
**Author:** ![JohnnyEcks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnnyecks/32/18197_2.png) [@JohnnyEcks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnnyEcks)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2023, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/2871 "2023-10-01T22:10:47Z")
Should’ve just said dried plum. ---
**Author:** ![smithsb](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smithsb/32/12107_2.png) [@smithsb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smithsb)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2023, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/2872 "2023-10-01T22:17:01Z")
Torches, torches everywhere, lighting up the scene far beyond the means of mortal tar soaked rags. I get it, caves, castles and the like are dark after sundown. Torch lighting and construction as professions must have provided huge employment back in the days before gas and electricity. And they are so handy for our explorers, protagonists, townsfolk. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2023, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/2873 "2023-10-01T22:22:55Z")
The Sunsweet company renamed prunes exactly this as a PR measure. As for @kayaker’s stew, for me the yams would have a greater laxative effect, assuming he used sweet potatoes instead of “real” yams, which are very starchy. ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2023, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/2874 "2023-10-01T22:26:15Z")
chicks do not have lips. ---
**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:** [October 1, 2023, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/2875 "2023-10-01T23:13:51Z")
> [@smithsb](#): > > Torches, torches everywhere, lighting up the scene far beyond the means of mortal tar soaked rags. I get it, caves, castles and the like are dark after sundown. Torch lighting and construction as professions must have provided huge employment back in the days before gas and electricity. And they are so handy for our explorers, protagonists, townsfolk. I’ve always wondered who kept the torches lit for explorers to find inside caves and such. Did they have advanced warning that they were coming? ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2023, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/2876 "2023-10-01T23:39:34Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > I’ve always wondered who kept the torches lit for explorers to find inside caves and such. Did they have advanced warning that they were coming? The same people who set up the traps beforehand, of course. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/Cwu1rCjb1Fk/maxresdefault.jpg "The Guys Who Set Up Ancient Booby Traps") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cwu1rCjb1Fk) ---
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2023, 8:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/2877 "2023-10-02T08:50:06Z")
A cop/investigator shows up to a crime scene of a man who was just shot to death and upon seeing the bullets wounds exclaims “9mm, the same bullet wounds as the last guy, it must be related!” Two things, great detective work guessing the most commonly used bullet in crime, second how exactly do you know it’s not 38 special, or .380, or .40, or .45? That really only rules out like .22s and shotgun pellets. ---
**Author:** ![Toxylon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f05b48/32.png) [@Toxylon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toxylon)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2023, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/2878 "2023-10-02T13:04:22Z")
> [@echoreply](#): > > The character is so anxious/stressed/scared/angry whatever that they bite their lip until it bleeds. > > Does anybody actually do that in real life? Yes. It’d take some effort to compile out of 3 000 messages, but perusing through this thread over the months (years?) there has been a load of entries where the “almost never happens in real life” part is more like “not too common, but still happens a lot”. Like the “springing upright in bed after seeing a particularly bad nightmare”. Yep. Happened to me, too. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2023, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/2879 "2023-10-02T16:20:46Z")
> [@Asuka](#): > > A cop/investigator shows up to a crime scene of a man who was just shot to death and upon seeing the bullets wounds exclaims “9mm, the same bullet wounds as the last guy, it must be related!” > > Two things, great detective work guessing the most commonly used bullet in crime, second how exactly do you know it’s not 38 special, or .380, or .40, or .45? That really only rules out like .22s and shotgun pellets. As someone who has shown up for those calls you would have to be psychic. That would be a great help to a detective. ---
**Author:** ![Rebo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rebo/32/13005_2.png) [@Rebo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rebo)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2023, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/2880 "2023-10-02T19:14:42Z")
The biting the lip thing reminded me - I’m not sure it shows up in lots of movies, but some Stephen King characters inevitably clench their hands so hard, they leave bloody fingernail marks in the palms. It happens quite often in his books. ---
**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:** [October 2, 2023, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/2881 "2023-10-02T19:30:51Z")
Like the “psychic” on _ **Who Wants to Be a Millionaire** _ who often helped the local police … and then got her first question wrong. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311.md?page=143) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311.md?page=145)