# 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:** 155
**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:** [December 21, 2023, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/3082 "2023-12-21T21:09:42Z")
I’ve been on quicksand and mud. The trick on both is to lay out as flat as you can. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2023, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/3083 "2023-12-21T21:22:33Z")
> [@Ranger\_Jeff](#): > > I’ve never had to be concerned about quicksand. I got stuck in it once. It was messy and annoying as all fuck. I sank to my thighs. Hard to get out. I was in no danger of being pulled under of course. > [@Ulfreida](#): > > We were shaken up and my God so wet and filthy. I remember getting back to the stable so cold and up to my neck muddy. Yep. Not that dangerous but nasty and filthy. ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2023, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/3084 "2023-12-21T22:38:28Z")
> [@Biotop](#): > > I wonder how often in real life someone has to exit a perilously high room in a skyscraper, slide along on the convenient but thin ledge outside the window, balance around a sharp corner and then somehow get through the unlocked window of another neighboring apartment/office? I am guessing not so often at all. And at no point in real life does a person ever make this choice for comedic effect. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2023, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/3085 "2023-12-21T23:00:09Z")
> [@Asuka](#): > > Police being armed with hand grenades (the explosive kind not flash bangs) > > Seems like every single monster movie from the 50s to 80s has local police bust out the hand grenades at some point once the monster gets too big. Did police keep heavy anti-riot ordnance back in the day? When labor strikes were treated as incipient Communist uprisings, machine-gunning rioters was a thing. ETA: although brief research shows this was more likely to be Army/ National Guard than civil police. In the original _Half-Life_ game you get hand grenades long before you can get an ordinary shotgun. I’ve wondered: seriously, a security post where they keep hand grenades? ---
**Author:** ![Al128](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/al128/32/16541_2.png) [@Al128](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Al128)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2023, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/3086 "2023-12-21T23:16:02Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > They usually empty their service revolvers into it first, even after it’s clear they have no effect. Then the monster gets really angry and consumes or otherwise eliminates them. in between the throw the “empty” revolver at the monster ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2023, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/3087 "2023-12-22T00:17:28Z")
> [@Al128](#): > > its not vaseline that helps, its VapoRub … a heavily scented (mentolatum) paste … it contains prob. vaseline, but that is irrelevant in this case, the very aromatic mentolatum does the olfactorial heavy lifting here. There’s a product like VapoRub that’s marketed to morgue/police personnel called Carry On. My DIL told me about it, after trying it. She didn’t think it improved things, just added to the smell. She didn’t notice that the product name was a pun. ---
**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:** [December 22, 2023, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/3088 "2023-12-22T00:26:37Z")
> [@Yllaria](#): > > She didn’t notice that the product name was a pun. You mean, like, _ **Carry On, Coroner!** _? ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2023, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/3089 "2023-12-22T00:50:15Z")
That sounds like a TV show. I don’t know if the product was ever sold, or only market tested. ---
**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:** [December 22, 2023, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/3090 "2023-12-22T00:52:25Z")
I’m guessing carrion. ---
**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:** [December 22, 2023, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/3091 "2023-12-22T01:27:57Z")
Movie, actually. > **[Carry On (franchise)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carry_On_(franchise))** > > Carry On is a British comedy franchise comprising 31 films, four Christmas specials, a television series and stage shows produced between 1958 and 1992. Produced by Peter Rogers, the Carry On films were directed by Gerald Thomas and starred a regular ensemble that included Sid James, Kenneth Williams, Charles Hawtrey, Joan Sims, Kenneth Connor, Peter Butterworth, Hattie Jacques, Terry Scott, Bernard Bresslaw, Barbara Windsor, Jack Douglas, and Jim Dale. The humour of Carry On was in the Britis... ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2023, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/3092 "2023-12-22T19:34:39Z")
Neighbors being hyper-competitive over Christmas decorations. Or is that a thing that really happens? ---
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2023, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/3093 "2023-12-22T19:59:47Z")
The movie Eraser also has corporate security guards with hand grenades, which seems like overkill for office building security guards. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2023, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/3094 "2023-12-22T20:03:58Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > Neighbors being hyper-competitive over Christmas decorations. Or is that a thing that really happens? Looking at the ever increasing Xmas decoration orgies around here, I would say yes. But maybe that’s a consequence of the media and the people got their clues from the Griswolds or the Simpsons. ---
**Author:** ![Al128](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/al128/32/16541_2.png) [@Al128](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Al128)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2023, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/3095 "2023-12-22T22:48:19Z")
plus that seems a deeply american more/louder/faster/one-upper thing … I’ve never seen much of that outside the states, … ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2023, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/3096 "2023-12-22T23:40:14Z")
Well, I’m posting from Germany, where it has taken over… ---
**Author:** ![Al128](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/al128/32/16541_2.png) [@Al128](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Al128)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2023, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/3097 "2023-12-23T02:17:12Z")
well, everything that is BUSINESS eventually does that … don’t get me started on Halloween 😉 ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2023, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/3098 "2023-12-23T02:34:52Z")
> [@Al128](#): > > well, everything that is BUSINESS eventually does that … I think 99% of the Xmas kitsch is produced in China, so Americans don’t profit from their cultural influence. ---
**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:** [December 23, 2023, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/3099 "2023-12-23T02:38:10Z")
Who’s selling the stuff? ---
**Author:** ![Al128](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/al128/32/16541_2.png) [@Al128](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Al128)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2023, 10:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/3100 "2023-12-23T10:57:18Z")
yep - aliexpress is ripe with those 1 dollar products … ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2023, 11:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/3101 "2023-12-23T11:14:04Z")
I’m gonna guess that having ledges wide enough to walk on and conveniently located right under the window is something mostly common in TV or movies. Architecturally speaking, what (besides maybe being decorative) would be the reason for wide ledges anyway? [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=154) [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=156)