# 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:** 169
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2024, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/3362 "2024-03-05T15:04:06Z")
> [@Yllaria](#): > > the only family member to beat cousin Buster in the ‘good ways to go’ category Okay, give. > [@Asuka](#): > > HOWEVER I have heard it said both the SBD Dauntless, F4U Corsair and P-51 Mustang gave us a similar whine in a dive due to the shape of their wings. I have read that in the F4U it was due to the air inlets on the leading edge of the wings. The Japanese facing it called it ‘Whistling Death.’ [It’s not as loud](https://youtu.be/IBUKiKvl29Q?t=46) as the Ju-88. ---
**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:** [March 5, 2024, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/3363 "2024-03-05T15:37:33Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Something like this happened on _ **The Sopranos** _ the other night. Christopher was trying to score some H from a Puerto Rican gang when they jumped him and stole his Suburban. > > He used the line “Do you know who I am?” and they didn’t give a shit either. They mugged him real good! It always makes me think of Eddie Izzard’s Star Wars Canteen bit. “This is not a game of who the fuck are you.” > [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](#): > > > [@kayaker](#): > > > > My buddy Michael always talks about how he’s had sex 3 times with his wife. It’s a funny bit, because he has three kids. > > The Two Ronnies had a bit like that in their “Boring Accountant” sketch: > > > Three children? So that’s three times you _haven’t_ been boring… Also in the “Every Sperm is Sacred” portion of _The Meaning of Life._ ---
**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 5, 2024, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/3364 "2024-03-05T15:41:40Z")
The SBD had dive brakes on its wings, as did the A-36 Apache (the dive-bomber variant of the P-51). ---
**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:** [March 5, 2024, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/3365 "2024-03-05T15:49:34Z")
> [@DesertDog](#): > > Okay, give. Cousin Buster was elderly and retired and liked to keep up his little garden. He worked in it nearly every day. He took the shovels and rakes and implements of destruction out to it in a wheelbarrow. He’d also take along something to drink and a snack. He’d work until he was tired, then he’d set the wheelbarrow upright to give himself some shade, and he’d sit in it to have a little rest. One day, it got to be dinnertime, and the neighbors looking through their kitchen window noticed that he was still napping. They went over to check and he had passed away. I’ve never been sure about the next part of the story. This happened in Oregon, and the story had been repeated through a number of people before it got to me. The story is that when the ambulance or pickup van came, the gurney couldn’t get down the gravel pathway to the garden. The story is that they trundled him down to the curb in the wheelbarrow. That might have been embellishment. His wife, Doris, would not have objected. She wouldn’t have objected to adding it to the story either, though. So I’ll never really know. ---
**Author:** ![Toxylon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f05b48/32.png) [@Toxylon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toxylon)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2024, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/3366 "2024-03-05T16:17:12Z")
> [@BrickBat](#): > > Alternatively, Otis the town drunk can pour a small hip flask of moonshine into a water cooler, and deputy Barney Fife gets drunk enough to slur and stagger after having two small cups of spiked water from said cooler. But has that trope happened in a movie after about 1930? ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2024, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/3367 "2024-03-05T16:51:13Z")
**Dumbo** , 1941? ---
**Author:** ![Toxylon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f05b48/32.png) [@Toxylon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toxylon)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2024, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/3368 "2024-03-05T16:53:34Z")
Should children’s movies be excluded from this consideration, given that extremely antiquated tropes get recycled in them, long after their best before-date? I don’t know. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2024, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/3369 "2024-03-05T17:01:26Z")
> [@Yllaria](#): > > His wife, Doris, would not have objected. She wouldn’t have objected to adding it to the story either, though. So I’ll never really know. I come from a long line of story-tellers. If you get 80% true in one, that’s doing pretty good. ---
**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:** [March 5, 2024, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/3370 "2024-03-05T17:17:53Z")
> [@Yllaria](#): > > Cousin Buster was elderly and retired and liked to keep up his little garden. {snip} That’s a great story. Thanks for sharing. I’d like to leave like that (and wouldn’t mind about the wheelbarrow). ---
**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:** [March 5, 2024, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/3371 "2024-03-05T17:23:07Z")
It was my father’s favorite family story, even if it was from Mom’s side of the family. He thought of it as the perfect way to go - including the wheelbarrow. I come from a practical people. ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2024, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/3372 "2024-03-06T00:51:03Z")
> [@smithsb](#): > > **“Do you know who I am?”** > > Delivered by: > Older, rich, entitled woman or > Older, rich, pompous fart gentleman or > Young, self-important, diva/celebrity or > Hot shot businessman/evil character sure to get his later! When said to an airport airline helpdesk operative who could not get said demanding twerp onto a full plane; she picks up the mike and broadcasts: “We have a gentlemen here who does not know who he is! Will his carer please step forward!”. ---
**Author:** ![Limmin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f04885/32.png) [@Limmin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Limmin)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2024, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/3373 "2024-03-06T00:59:39Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > He used the line “Do you know who I am?” and they didn’t give a shit either. They mugged him real good! Just watched that clip on YT, thanks! It was hilarious. They beat him with a xylophone. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2024, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/3374 "2024-03-07T00:57:51Z")
> [@People, mostly older, who get peeved by retail and service workers saying "No problem" instead of "You're welcome"](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-mostly-older-who-get-peeved-by-retail-and-service-workers-saying-no-problem-instead-of-youre-welcome/998517/79): > > Would you call a guy who comes to fix your sink “Plumber Smith?” > No, but why Doctor Smith? Might it be that doctors are more full of themselves? Hopping threads to ask…do any farmers actually go by “Farmer [Lastname]”? ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2024, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/3375 "2024-03-07T01:03:36Z")
I’ll bet if someone called him “Farmer Brown”, he’d ask “So, city boy, whatchoo tryin’ to sell me?” (Same if they rang the doorbell on the front door, instead of knocking on the back door like decent folk do) ---
**Author:** ![Wallaby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/dc4da7/32.png) [@Wallaby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallaby)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2024, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/3376 "2024-03-07T03:00:01Z")
Some chefs get called ‘Chef firstname’. Nurses are called ‘Nurse Lastname’. ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2024, 7:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/3377 "2024-03-07T07:36:35Z")
A variant of “don’t you know who I am” happened at the art store where I worked. Just after the manager locked the doors they loudly thump. I look over but there’s nothing. Manager goes out a side exit to look around while I close out the registers. Turns out a pompous lawyer had plowed right into the locked doors assuming we were still open. He angrily accused us of closing valuable minutes too early saying “I bill out at $400 an hour!” 🙄 The doors opened outward, BTW. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2024, 8:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/3378 "2024-03-07T08:30:23Z")
I have had, “Don’t you know who I am?” in real life. I’ve done it. My local sports bar, where I’m a regular. Hell, I’m more than a regular; I’m there so often, that I’m sure that I pay the light bill and/or the phone bill monthly. I once received mail there, the sender not knowing where else to send it. Anyway, I’m in my usual place at the bar. My beer is in front of me on the bar, my coat is on the back of the barstool. I head for the washroom. When I come back, about three yahoos have occupied my barstool, and the two barstools either side. “Excuse me, that’s my seat,” I said politely. “Fuck you, we’re here now. Take off.” “I don’t think so. That’s my beer,” I pointed, “and that’s my coat,” I pointed again. “Yeah, well, I know the owner, and he said this was fine.” “Do you know who I am?” I asked. “You’re just some asshole. My buddy owns this place.” “Is that so? Rob?” I called over Rob the owner, who was a personal friend. “You know these guys?” “Never seen them before,” Rob said. “They giving you trouble?” “Yeah.” Rob hollered for the bouncer who escorted the guys out. Once they were gone, Rob said to me, “They obviously didn’t know who you were.” 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2024, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/3379 "2024-03-08T14:37:31Z")
> [@Spoons](#): > > …Rob hollered for the bouncer who escorted the guys out. Once they were gone, Rob said to me, “They obviously didn’t know who you were.” > > 🙂 Great story, thanks for sharing! ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2024, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/3380 "2024-03-08T16:17:27Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Quicksand is a naturally occurring _fluidized bed_, in which the individual particles of sand are supported by upwelling water. As such, you’re not going to find it in the desert (like that scene in _Lawrence of Arabia_ where one of Lawrence’s twin helpers sinks into the sand as they’re going from Aqaba to the Red Sea), but you can encounter it near the sea shore or natural springs. [quasi-zombie reply] But deserts can have [Dry quicksand](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dry_quicksand) which can be almost as bad if not worse (since you cannot float on the dry kind). ---
**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 10, 2024, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/3381 "2024-03-10T18:48:47Z")
> [@John\_DiFool](#): > > But deserts can have [Dry quicksand](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dry_quicksand) which can be almost as bad if not worse (since you cannot float on the dry kind). I note from the Wikipedia page you cite that > [@](#): > > Historically, the existence of dry quicksand was doubted, and the reports of humans and complete caravans being lost in dry quicksand were considered to be [folklore](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folklore). In 2004, it was created in the laboratory,[[1]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dry_quicksand#cite_note-lohse2004-1) but it is still not clear what its actual prevalence in nature is. It sounds as if upwelling air takes the place of upwelling water in “dry quicksand”, and I have to think that’s a pretty uncommon circumstance. I’m surprised to learn that it occurs at all. If pressed, I would have guessed that “dry quicksand” would be the outcome of incredibly fine-grained sand. which can practically flow. I once worked in a factory making refractory cement, and the stuff was so finely ground that it was like this. Instead of piling up it tended to flow into thin layers. The damned stuff got everywhere, including into your breathing mask. I had to take two baths after I got home. I don’t know how the stuff would react in bulk, but I suspect if you got into a deep deposit of anything like this you wouldn’t need the air or water welling up from underneath. The saving grace is that such finely ground stuff is probably rare in nature. (Although – who knows? – may it’d be like fine corn starch, acting as a thixotropic fluid.) [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=168) [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=170)