# 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:** 229
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2025, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4567 "2025-01-18T18:11:05Z")
> [@solost](#): > > Death by scarf misadventure has actually happened, when [Isadora Duncan’s long scarf wrapped around a car axle](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isadora_Duncan#Death), That’s exactly what Mark N 1’s post made me think of, and I had the same reaction-- disposals have no center axle. Duncan was in a 1927 sports car with open spokes, and an open rear axle that came out several inches from under the car. With everything that happens on TV anymore, I’m kinda surprised that the only time I’ve seen someone die from a scarf caught In an auto axle was once when the biopic of Duncan with Vanessa Redgrave was broadcast. No one in an episode of any crime or hospital show has ever died from a scarf caught in some kind of axle? ---
**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:** [January 18, 2025, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4568 "2025-01-18T18:42:14Z")
The film editor in _Hail Caesar_ is almost strangled when her scarf gets caught on a film reel, but she manages to rewind it in time. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2025, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4569 "2025-01-18T18:49:18Z")
There’s no few accident videos of people being wrapped up in lathes, etc by loose clothing. One shows how a woman was scalped when her hair was caught in her car’s fan belt. Even long beards can be hazard. Those old washing machines had an emergency-stop bar at the top, due to the origin of the expression “don’t get your tit in a wringer.” [![](https://ingeniumcanada.org/sites/default/files/2019-06/252_wringer_washer.jpg) ](https://ingeniumcanada.org/sites/default/files/2019-06/252_wringer_washer.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2025, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4570 "2025-01-18T19:17:24Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > With everything that happens on TV anymore, I’m kinda surprised that the only time I’ve seen someone die from a scarf caught In an auto axle was once when the biopic of Duncan with Vanessa Redgrave was broadcast. > > No one in an episode of any crime or hospital show has ever died from a scarf caught in some kind of axle? IIRC, one Monk episode features someone who hadn’t _planned_ on murdering anyone — and, in fact, was about to help a guy extricate himself from a difficult situation — but, hey: so long as you obligingly got your necktie caught in the vehicle’s whirring machinery when you took a look under the hood, could I try for the perfect crime by, well, simply _not_ helping with my hands, while instead just moving my _feet_ from, y’know, here to there? Yep, that did the trick. ---
**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:** [January 18, 2025, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4571 "2025-01-18T19:57:01Z")
I’d thought I’d read _somewhere_ that someone noteworthy besides Isadora Duncan had died from a caught scarf, but I’m drawing a blank. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2025, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4572 "2025-01-18T20:38:11Z")
Maybe [Mark Fidrych?](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Fidrych) “13 April 2009 The 54-year-old former Major League Baseball pitcher of the Detroit Tigers died while working underneath his dump truck. His clothes became entangled with the power take- offdrive shaft, suffocating him.” ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2025, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4573 "2025-01-18T22:30:02Z")
This happened just a few days ago. > **[Factory worker strangled to death by scarf caught in industrial machinery](https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/factory-workers-scarf-caught-conveyor-34492855)** > > A 55-year-old woman has tragically died after her scarf appears to have become caught in the sorting belt of machinery at a factory near Huelva in southern Spain There are a few other instances > **[Man, 91, strangled by his own scarf after it got tangled in drill during DIY](https://metro.co.uk/2023/03/17/man-91-strangled-by-his-own-scarf-after-it-got-tangled-in-drill-18463377/)** > > The freak accident happened at his home in Italy. > **[‘Sweet’ girl, 15, strangled by headscarf in tragic go-karting accident](https://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/ruwaida-adan-died-headscarf-gokarting-accident-inquest-capital-karts-barking-b1035694.html)** > > Ruwaida Adan suffered a fatal brain injury when the hijab she was wearing became entangled in the exposed rear axel of her go-kart Here’s a case of death by scarf caught in food processor, so garbage disposal is not impossible. > **[Mother strangled by food processor when scarf gets caught in it](https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7672357/Mother-strangled-food-processor-scarf-gets-caught-cake-son.html)** > > A 58-year-old mother has died after she was strangled when her scarf became tangled in a food processor. She was making a cake with her 15-year-old son in Saint-Etienne, eastern France. > **[Factory worker suffered serious injuries to neck and throat when her ponytail...](https://www.abacus-law.co.uk/blog/factory-worker-suffered-serious-injuries-to-neck-and-throat-when-her-ponytail-and-scarf-became-entangled-in-conveyor/)** > > Reports Mark Duell in today’s Daily Mail… A coat hanger factory worker suffered serious injuries to her neck and throat that almost resulted in her death when her hair and scarf became entangled in the chain and drive of a conveyor. Kelly Nield, 24,... ---
**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:** [January 19, 2025, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4574 "2025-01-19T01:29:07Z")
I know a guy who watched a skiier get the oversized hood of an army polar jacket sucked into the gears of a rope tow (this was back in the '40s, so no safety gate). ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2025, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4575 "2025-01-19T02:15:37Z")
Hm, it’s starting to seem like “strangulation by a scarf getting caught in machinery” is something that is extremely common in real life but almost never happens in TV or movies. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2025, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4576 "2025-01-19T02:24:13Z")
> [@markn\_1](#): > > Hm, it’s starting to seem like “strangulation by a scarf getting caught in machinery” is something that is extremely common in real life but almost never happens in TV or movies. They did it in a Batman comic book: the soon-to-be-dead guy is in costume as a WWI aviator, complete with a long and fancy scarf, and, well, the movie business being what it is, maybe going for authenticity with those old-timey biplanes wasn’t the wisest choice… ---
**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:** [January 19, 2025, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4577 "2025-01-19T03:24:36Z")
> [@markn\_1](#): > > Hm, it’s starting to seem like “strangulation by a scarf getting caught in machinery” is something that is extremely common in real life but almost never happens in TV or movies. “No capes!” ~ Edna Mode ---
**Author:** ![iamatractorboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iamatractorboy/32/21261_2.png) [@iamatractorboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamatractorboy)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2025, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4578 "2025-01-19T12:25:02Z")
Ha, good one. See also _Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom_ ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2025, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4579 "2025-01-19T14:06:43Z")
> [@markn\_1](#): > > …extremely common in real life but almost never happens in TV or movies. Hmm, might make for a good spinoff thread… Somebody has a cough— and it’s _ **not** _ a harbinger of death! It’s just a mild cold or minor throat irritation. A young woman of childbearing age throws up— and she’s _ **not** _ pregnant! She just has Norovirus. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2025, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4580 "2025-01-19T14:17:02Z")
I think SNL once did a bit with a well-adjusted Vietnam veteran: everyone is having a good time at a backyard barbecue, until the guy in question drops to the ground as a helicopter passes overhead — because he, y’know, saw a _coin_ on the ground right then, and was picking it up with a _smile,_ without actually noticing that helicopter. And, of course, the whole skit just goes on like that from there… ---
**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:** [January 19, 2025, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4581 "2025-01-19T16:02:27Z")
> [@solost](#): > > Somebody has a cough— and it’s _ **not** _ a harbinger of death! It’s just a mild cold or minor throat irritation. Mitchell & Webb did it: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/xQJOmT6J7N4/maxresdefault.jpg "It's Just a Cough - Mundane Media") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQJOmT6J7N4) ---
**Author:** ![Toxylon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f05b48/32.png) [@Toxylon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toxylon)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2025, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4582 "2025-01-19T17:01:28Z")
Somebody takes a dump wins that thread, IMHO. ---
**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:** [January 19, 2025, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4583 "2025-01-19T19:13:47Z")
Seconded that we need a spin-off thread: Police detectives are called to the scene of a homicide. It turns out to be a dirt-common impulse killing after a drunken argument escalated into a fight. ---
**Author:** ![vislor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/vislor/32/5933_2.png) [@vislor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vislor)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2025, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4584 "2025-01-19T21:42:36Z")
With as many responses as this thread has, I’m sure this has been mentioned, so please point me to them. I’m rewatching White Collar, up to s5, and while there might be more, two things have happened that get to me. The first is when a character makes big motions to make it obvious to the audience but the person looking right at them doesn’t notice or react. In this case, Burke was being talked to by someone and Burke turns and looks at Caffrey. This goes on for several seconds, with Burke shaking his head no, right in front of the person talking to Burke. They never turn to look at who Burke is looking at, nor does anyone with them. It’s so egregious. The second thing is a double, I guess? In TV, all evidence has to point to guilty, naming the bad guy, or catching them in the act, when sometimes it’s a lot of circumstantial evidence. By the time of s5, there are so many examples of Burke looking the other way, of Neal being close to where a crime happened, that it should have ended the deal a long time ago. At a minimum, Caffrey has too much freedom, with only an anklet. Further, Burke’s close rate was stated to the in the 80s without Caffrey and in the 90s with. Would he get a deal when Burke is already a top closer? Thanks for the discussion! ---
**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:** [January 20, 2025, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4585 "2025-01-20T00:05:53Z")
police officer who spends - for months - his days, nights and weekends to follow the bad guy around. Do they just work on one case at a time… 😉 IF they HAVE to work on another case, it miraculously ends up being somehow related to the first. My guess IRL, cops do what they can within a given amount of time/resources to solve any crime that life throws at them, and then move on to the next crime the next day with the same attitude - “juggling” a portfolio of 10-20 cases (e.g. coroner’s report with potentially relevant information coming in next week, etc…). ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2025, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4586 "2025-01-20T00:25:27Z")
> [@Al128](#): > > police officer who spends - for months - his days, nights and weekends to follow the bad guy around. Yeah. No Chief of Detectives will let one of their detectives work for years on a case about a stolen loaf of bread. If it is super high profile- liek the assassination of a politician, there will be a team. Each detective has a large caseload- so this idea that they will fight like tigers to keep a case from being transferred away is ridiculous . > [@Al128](#): > > My guess IRL, cops do what they can within a given amount of time/resources to solve any crime that life throws at them, and then move on to the next crime the next day with the same attitude - “juggling” a portfolio of 10-20 cases (e.g. coroner’s report with potentially relevant information coming in next week, etc Yep. I laughed when I watched Longmire the series and the detective who made it his life’s work to track down whoever killed a scum druggie killer. His Boss would pull him off within a week. [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=228) [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=230)