# 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:** 27
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2021, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/521 "2021-02-15T06:02:12Z")
> [@Aspidistra](#): > > I think we can all agree it would be pretty unpleasant to get thrown through _that_ . There used to be a kid at a place I worked, who had worked out how to punch out those panes. And when he was bored or ratty, that’s what he would do. ---
**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:** [February 15, 2021, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/522 "2021-02-15T06:30:30Z")
Those folks in the movies sure can swim a long way under water without coming up for air. ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2021, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/523 "2021-02-15T06:55:03Z")
> [@Melbourne](#): > > There used to be a kid at a place I worked, who had worked out how to punch out those panes. And when he was bored or ratty, that’s what he would do. This wouldn’t happen to be a school for kids who were having trouble in the ordinary State School system, would it? Because I used to (briefly) work in a place like that… ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2021, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/524 "2021-02-15T06:56:24Z")
> [@Biotop](#): > > Those folks in the movies sure can swim a long way under water without coming up for air. And everyone can easily open their eyes underwater to see where they’re going. IDK, maybe I’m the weird one here, but I would sure have a lot of trouble with that. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2021, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/525 "2021-02-15T07:02:04Z")
> [@Aspidistra](#): > > school for kids who were having trouble Not as such. The kids with acquired brain injury would get angry when they tried to think, but some of the others were just playing. A lot of them would be ‘mainstreamed’ in the present system. ---
**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:** [February 15, 2021, 7:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/526 "2021-02-15T07:07:48Z")
And underwater movie heroes can swim deeply into the wreck, search about, unscrew something or pull down a lever, wrench lose and finally recover whatever they desperately needed and finally come up gasping for air but clutching whatever critical thing they dove down for. And if they do manage to get hooked on something and trapped in the murky deep someone else will just swim on down and rescue them. That second person, however, may tragically die. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2021, 8:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/527 "2021-02-15T08:41:00Z")
> [@digs](#): > > > [@Nars\_Glinley](#): > > > > What about getting thrown through a plate glass window? > > > [@Broomstick](#): > > > > running through plate glass > > > [@Aspidistra](#): > > > > And not by the plate glass window… > > Why the distinction “plate” glass? Is there some way for a large glass window to be “non-plate” glass? Plate glass is regular glass. When it breaks it breaks into razor-sharp shards. There is also tempered glass, which costs more but is not only harder to break, but when it does break it fragments into sort of cube-shaped not-sharp chunks. These are far less likely to kill you. ---
**Author:** ![Bonum\_Legatum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bonum_legatum/32/6183_2.png) [@Bonum\_Legatum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bonum_Legatum)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2021, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/528 "2021-02-15T11:59:59Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > > [@doreen](#): > > > > But here people have mentioned others being told “you won’t see Christmas” > > Wait long enough, and someone here will swear they were told “don’t buy any long-playing records.”\* > > \*or in more modern terms, “don’t bother with any extended downloads.” On the other side, the British TV show “Bless Me Father” had a scene where the young curate is examined by a doctor who asks “Is that a new shirt you’re wearing?” (Answer - Yes) “Well, don’t worry, you’ll live to wear it out.” ---
**Author:** ![Tripler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripler/32/21807_2.png) [@Tripler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tripler)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2021, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/529 "2021-02-15T12:45:06Z")
On the plate glass issue: invariably, whenever workers are either carrying a sheet of glass, or installing it, there is a car or foot chase that directly results in the aforementioned sheet’s destruction. Tripler . . . and glass always accompanies chickens in crates, for “full-feathered effect.” ---
**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:** [February 15, 2021, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/530 "2021-02-15T16:11:12Z")
> [@Biotop](#): > > Those folks in the movies sure can swim a long way under water without coming up for air. And cartoon characters always spit out big arcing geysers of water when they swim on their backs. ---
**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:** [February 15, 2021, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/531 "2021-02-15T16:53:58Z")
Doctors are usually giving a top-of-the-bell-curve number, which means roughly half of his patients can expect to live longer. ---
**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:** [February 15, 2021, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/532 "2021-02-15T16:54:17Z")
> [@Superdude](#): > > > [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > > > At least you didn’t have an exploding vagina candle. > > Someone call Gwyneth Paltrow. I have a marketing idea for her… Yeah, I’ve heard of Paltrow’s vagina candle but…was the “exploding vagina candle” a reference to something entirely different? I’m a little afraid to google “exploding vagina candle”. ---
**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:** [February 15, 2021, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/533 "2021-02-15T16:59:19Z")
> [@Tripler](#): > > On the plate glass issue: invariably, whenever workers are either carrying a sheet of glass, or installing it, there is a car or foot chase that directly results in the aforementioned sheet’s destruction. Related: the inevitable crash into a fruit stand during a car chase, resulting in a colorful explosion of fruits and vegetables flying everywhere, but no injury to the owner of the stand or any other bystanders. ---
**Author:** ![Toxylon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f05b48/32.png) [@Toxylon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toxylon)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2021, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/534 "2021-02-15T17:04:57Z")
> [@Lurking\_Quahog](#): > > Post-coitus bedroom scenes were the woman is still wearing her bra. It is jarringly unrealistic, every single time, or roughly several times per every film or at least once per every TV episode watched. We’re not talking about seconds after heat-of-the-moment quickies in the backseat of a car, but couples lying in the privacy of their own beds after extensive lovemaking. It is also obvious and very understandable why this is. The vast majority of actresses don’t want to appear topless on screen. ---
**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:** [February 15, 2021, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/535 "2021-02-15T17:05:14Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > Doctors are usually giving a top-of-the-bell-curve number, which means roughly half of his patients can expect to live longer. That’s assuming it is a bell curve, which it may well not be. I am reminded of the case of Stephen Jay Gould, who in 1982 was diagnosed with a form of cancer “with a median mortality of only eight months after discovery,” and who went on to die in 2002 of an unrelated form of cancer. > **[The Median Isn’t the Message](https://journalofethics.ama-assn.org/article/median-isnt-message/2013-01)** > >   My life has recently intersected, in a most personal way, two of Mark Twain’s famous quips. One I shall defer to the end of this essay. The other (sometimes attributed to Disraeli) identifies three species of mendacity, each worse than the one... ---
**Author:** ![Filbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/filbert/32/3433_2.png) [@Filbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Filbert)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2021, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/536 "2021-02-15T17:09:56Z")
On the ‘doctors giving people x time to live’ hijack, my Grandpa’s best friend was told he had about 6 months left, and actually died 6 days later. He had lung cancer- I don’t know any more details. That definitely doesn’t happen in the movies. ---
**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:** [February 15, 2021, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/537 "2021-02-15T17:11:35Z")
I was thinking of that too, and almost said something about the “wall.” Let’s say, physicians give the average. Roughly half of the patients will live longer than average. Actually, probably somewhat more will live less than average, and fewer, longer than average, just because of the possibility of an outlier who lives a very long time, but no possibility of an outlier who goes back in time to die before diagnosis. ---
**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:** [February 15, 2021, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/538 "2021-02-15T17:13:02Z")
> [@Filbert](#): > > That definitely doesn’t happen in the movies. Except when they commit suicide. That happens both in real life and the movies. Not sure which is more common. ---
**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:** [February 15, 2021, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/539 "2021-02-15T17:17:49Z")
> [@Toxylon](#): > > It is also obvious and very understandable why this is. The vast majority of actresses don’t want to appear topless on screen. That’s what the L-shaped bedsheet is for. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2021, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/540 "2021-02-15T17:23:02Z")
> [@solost](#): > > > [@Tripler](#): > > > > On the plate glass issue: invariably, whenever workers are either carrying a sheet of glass, or installing it, there is a car or foot chase that directly results in the aforementioned sheet’s destruction. > > Related: the inevitable crash into a fruit stand during a car chase, resulting in a colorful explosion of fruits and vegetables flying everywhere, but no injury to the owner of the stand or any other bystanders. Roger Ebert’s column used to have a movie glossary where such things were noted. I think one movie even had a Siskel & Ebert fruit stand. [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=26) [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=28)