# 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:** 90
**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:** [August 1, 2022, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/1782 "2022-08-01T19:45:09Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > Even if it’s a plainclothes officer in an unmarked car, it creates a bit of a “panopticon effect”. You know “narcs” sometimes patrol the neighborhood during drinking hours. But can you always be sure when and who? There’s a liquor store down the street from where I live, where I have stopped after work, if we are having guests for Shabbat. I have seen people opening cans in their cars and driving off while taking their first sips. Unless there is a cop car parked across the street. > [@Bonum\_Legatum](#): > > Has anyone crossed a farm field and been chased by a bull? For that matter, has anyone ever been chased across a junkyard by a scruffy mutt? > [@ftg](#): > > Not really a country kid, but been in rural areas enough. Put me in the category of “knowing when to not go into _that_ field.” Been in fields with dairy cows a lot. A certified city kid (Manhattan), I find the country terrifying. Would much rather walk down a dark alley in a big city, than a cornfield, at night. Or in the day, for that matter. And cows are scary too. They have big eyes, but unless they are tied to the fence, I am not petting them. Ditto goats. > [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](#): > > I’ve never known any woman to keep her bra on for a second longer than needed. Hell, Mrs. SMV loses hers the minute she walks in the house, even if she has nothing more planned for the evening than eating pizza and binge-watching _This Is Us._ Two thumbs up! ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2022, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/1783 "2022-08-01T20:23:24Z")
Well, maybe a special sexy black one, but your point is valid. > [@RivkahChaya](#): > > A certified city kid (Manhattan), I find the country terrifying. Would much rather walk down a dark alley in a big city, than a cornfield, at night. Or in the day, for that matter. And cows are scary too. They have big eyes, but unless they are tied to the fence, I am not petting them. Ditto goats. I am sorry, but having worked on the family farm for a few summers as a kid, this did make me chuckle. 😀 On the farm, even our bull wasn’t so bad, but you DID NOT want to fall into the pig pen when they were feeding. I _was_ scared of the geese, but then was trained. ---
**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:** [August 1, 2022, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/1784 "2022-08-01T21:05:15Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > For that matter, has anyone ever been chased across a junkyard by a scruffy mutt? I can’t say I was chased by a mutt, but I was once sprawled out half in and half out of a car trying to dig something out from under the instrument panel when I felt a nose poking into my neither regions. (I almost jumped through the car and out the door on the other side.) The dog trotted away, and I swear it was snickering. ---
**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:** [August 1, 2022, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/1785 "2022-08-01T23:04:37Z")
Nothing ever jarred my senses so much as the first time I walked onto the grounds of a county fair in S. Indiana. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2022, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/1786 "2022-08-01T23:52:34Z")
Yeah, I get it, That is why every kid needs to spend a summer on a working family farm. You need to know where your food comes from. ---
**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:** [August 1, 2022, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/1787 "2022-08-01T23:55:50Z")
I knew when I was 10 years old that I would be a vegetarian. ---
**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:** [August 2, 2022, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/1788 "2022-08-02T12:24:48Z")
> [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](#): > > Hell, Mrs. SMV loses hers the minute she walks in the house, even if she has nothing more planned for the evening than eating pizza and binge-watching _This Is Us._ What amazes me is that Magic Trick women have of removing the bra without taking their shirt off. It’s like a live demonstration of Topology In Action. Much sexier than removing a vest while your jacket’s still on [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/x1K8cAs-tLo/hqdefault.jpg "A Mathematician's Guide to Vest Removal") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1K8cAs-tLo) ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2022, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/1789 "2022-08-02T13:00:13Z")
> [@Procrustus](#): > > Correct, I was inpercise. But 21 shots, as I recall from my FILs funeral. I think there were seven shooters, three shots each. > They picked up the casings and presented them to the family That’s how it was for my father. The 7 guys though came behind us as we where listening to some speeches. We didn’t even know they where there until they fired the first salvo. Didn’t even know that this was going to happen. Scared the shit out of me. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2022, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/1790 "2022-08-02T15:15:53Z")
> [@zbuzz](#): > > And to add something else that almost never happens in real life > > “Bartender, gimme a whiskey. Leave the bottle.” I know it’s a bit late, but to expand on this a little, the idea that someone just goes to a bar and says “Give me a double” or “A beer please”. I’m not a barfly or anything, but I’ve spent some time in bars, and I’ve NEVER run across anyone who has just ordered generically like that. I’ve definitely heard someone order something very mass-market and generic- “Miller Lite please” , or “Give me a double of Jack”, but never just generic “beer” or “whiskey”. I have seen mixed drinks ordered like that though- people may ask for a vodka tonic or a whiskey sour, which is always followed up by some sort of inquiry from the bartender as to _what_ sort of vodka or whiskey is desired. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2022, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/1791 "2022-08-02T15:40:33Z")
Along with the “bra in bed”, women on TV always have a bra on under their pajama top / bed tshirt / etc. I have never seen that outside of TV. ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2022, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/1792 "2022-08-02T16:39:08Z")
> [@bump](#): > > I have seen mixed drinks ordered like that though- people may ask for a vodka tonic or a whiskey sour, which is always followed up by some sort of inquiry from the bartender as to _what_ sort of vodka or whiskey is desired. I’ve ordered mixed drinks like that before, and I’ve never gotten that inquiry before as I can recall. As I understand it if you don’t specify what kind, by default you’ll get whatever the bar’s “well brand” is, usually some lower end brand. ---
**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:** [August 2, 2022, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/1793 "2022-08-02T16:39:47Z")
I have, but I enjoy a little kinkiness on occasion. 😉 ---
**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:** [August 2, 2022, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/1794 "2022-08-02T16:55:19Z")
If it’s just something like scotch and soda, they’ll make it for you there, but more complicated drinks, that are fairly commonly ordered, like Long Island iced tea, and mixed by the pitcher beforehand, and just the Collins mix and Coke are put together right when it’s ordered. If you specified what type of rum, what type of gin, what type of triple sec, etc. that you wanted in your Long Island, you’d get dirty looks from the bartender, who’d either refuse, or do it with the hopes of a big tip, and if he didn’t get one, you are going to get EXTREMELY bad service the rest of the night. In fact, if I were with you, I’d tip for you to make sure I didn’t get my drink spit in. ---
**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:** [August 2, 2022, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/1795 "2022-08-02T18:01:22Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > What amazes me is that Magic Trick women have of removing the bra without taking their shirt off. It’s like a live demonstration of Topology In Action. Yeah, the first time my girlfriend did that with me I was simultaneously fascinated and disappointed. I had no idea. ---
**Author:** ![Eclipse\_Chaser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@Eclipse\_Chaser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eclipse_Chaser)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2022, 8:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/1796 "2022-08-03T08:08:01Z")
When I was just getting together with my partner we watched one of the Crocodile Dundee movies where his girlfriend did it, and Partner was transfixed. Later on that evening, that scene helped. ---
**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:** [August 3, 2022, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/1797 "2022-08-03T13:23:29Z")
A couple related tropes that are _ **extremely** _ common in movies and TV, but ~~almost~~ _ **never** _ happen in real life: **“Thing that in real life would seriously damage or kill human / living creature, instead makes creature larger/stronger/ gives them superpowers”** In the 50s and 60s it was radiation, since it was fascinating yet poorly understood. You had your giant spiders, ants or Godzillas borne of some accidental exposure to those ionizing rays, going on to terrorize the populace. Also, of course, a common superhero trope. Spiderman was bitten by a radioactive spider (retconned to a genetically modified spider later). Bruce Banner was exposed to gamma rays and turned into the Hulk (I don’t remember if, in the Hulk movies, the gamma rays were changed to some other thing, like genetic engineering again, which became the big bugaboo of the 90s on. At least genetic engineering is _ **slightly** _ more likely to cause superpowers than radiation, I suppose.). The Fantastic 4 exposed to space radiation…so on. **“More Dangerous after Death”** An evil person has passed on. No longer a problem for us good citizens, right? Wrong. They sometimes become evil spirits, with various powers, most of which they didn’t have when they were alive-- telekinesis, ability to be invisible or appear at will, and, naturally, pass through solid walls. And of course the modern zombie. Living people have a very complicated system of organs and blood vessels taking oxygen directly to almost every individual cell in the body. So if any part of that system is damaged, the person’s ability to do harm, or do anything at all, is neutralized, or at least severely compromised. But not the zombie! Shoot them multiple times in the chest-- they keep coming! Shoot them in the leg-- even if you fracture a leg bone, they will keep dragging themselves after you. They’re relentless! There are variations on zombies, but it’s pretty universal that the only thing that will ‘kill’ or stop them is a head shot. Who needs all those organs after you’re dead? ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2022, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/1798 "2022-08-04T19:47:18Z")
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a student make a “volcano” with baking soda and sand - but it’s a standard on every TV show episode that even mentions a school science project. ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2022, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/1799 "2022-08-04T20:49:36Z")
There were always a couple of “volcano” entries in the science fair when I was in elementary school in the mid to late 1980s. They never won, because there isn’t really much of a science experiment there, but some kids made them. Now if you’re talking about being actually _assigned_ a project to make a volcano, specifically, you’re right, that never happened. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2022, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/1800 "2022-08-04T21:08:34Z")
> [@WildaBeast](#): > > There were always a couple of “volcano” entries in the science fair when I was in elementary school in the mid to late 1980s Thanks. Those were probably inspired by TV (The Brady Bunch had an episode with one in the early 70s). ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2022, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/1801 "2022-08-04T21:35:33Z")
> [@solost](#): > > (I don’t remember if, in the Hulk movies, the gamma rays were changed to some other thing, like genetic engineering again, which became the big bugaboo of the 90s on. At least genetic engineering is _ **slightly** _ more likely to cause superpowers than radiation, I suppose.) In the Ang Lee movie, they changed it so his dad had done genetic experiments on himself, which were passed on to his son, but weren’t activated until he was accidentally bombarded with gamma radiation. In the MCU, Bruce Banner tried to replicate the Super Soldier serum using gamma rays instead of “vita rays.” Which… didn’t work great. > [@WildaBeast](#): > > Now if you’re talking about being actually _assigned_ a project to make a volcano, specifically, you’re right, that never happened. When I was in the fourth grade, we did a unit on the Spanish missions in California, which culminated in us making a bunch of models of the missions out of sugar cubes. Which isn’t all that different from doing a geology unit that caps off with baking powder volcano models. [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=89) [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=91)