# 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:** 91
**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, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/1802 "2022-08-04T21:37:05Z")
Actual school volcanoes: [![](https://hvparent.com/_content/articles/20995.JPG) ](https://hvparent.com/_content/articles/20995.JPG) ---
**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 4, 2022, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/1803 "2022-08-04T23:40:14Z")
I remember having to make a volcano out of clay at some point in elementary school, but it didn’t erupt. I just inscribed some lava flows and painted it green. I think I used it to make a contour map when it was finished. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2022, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/1804 "2022-08-05T00:03:33Z")
Has anyone ever seen a person walking around with a toilet plunger securely attached to their head? ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2022, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/1805 "2022-08-05T00:18:22Z")
When my daughter was an infant, she had a suction cup toy that stuck on her high chair tray. In an attempt to keep her amused, I once stuck it onto my forehead. It was a frantic struggle to remove it and it “left a mark”. ---
**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 5, 2022, 11:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/1806 "2022-08-05T11:12:11Z")
> [@Andy\_L](#): > > 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. I don’t think I’ve seen this in real life, either. What’s interesting is that a"baking soda + vinegar" volcano is but a very poor, pale, weak cousin to the REAL Science Fair Volcano that they used to do in the 1950s and into the 1960s. The Ammonium Dichromate Volcano. This baby was the real deal. You lit it with a real flame and it would burn and throw out 'lava bombs" and molten “lava” and generate its own ash cone. They stopped doing it because it’s toxic and carcinogenic. But you can watch YouTube videos of science geks who still make these and film the results: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/zBfe4DXfHa4/maxresdefault.jpg "Ammonium Dichromate Volcano - Cool Chemical Experiment") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBfe4DXfHa4) [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/s5u-doG--ho/maxresdefault.jpg "Volcano Reaction - Ammonium Dichromate Decomposition") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5u-doG--ho) ---
**Author:** ![Folacin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folacin/32/3195_2.png) [@Folacin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folacin)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2022, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/1807 "2022-08-05T14:13:44Z")
> [@WildaBeast](#): > > Now if you’re talking about being actually _assigned_ a project to make a volcano, specifically, you’re right, that never happened. I have three volcanoes in my basement from the mid-90s that say you are wrong. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2022, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/1808 "2022-08-06T04:00:43Z")
I wore a bra to bed for several months after my breast surgery in 2017. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2022, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/1809 "2022-08-06T04:01:31Z")
My mother has told the story many times of doing that to amuse me when I was a baby. Nice to know she wasn’t the only one. ---
**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 9, 2022, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/1810 "2022-08-09T13:04:25Z")
I’m not going to search the entire thread, so forgive me if this has already been mentioned **Someone hiding in the Back Seat of your car suddenly pops up** Unless you’ve got a big car with deep back seats, probably an antique, there just isn’t enough room back there to hide yourself so that someone getting into the car won’t see you. Yet I’ve seen this in several movies and TV shows (like **Strange Invaders** ) It didn’t used to bother me, until I really thought about it and noticed how tough it would be. I’m frequently reminded of this when I get in my car. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2022, 8:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/1811 "2022-08-10T08:55:17Z")
> [@bump](#): > > > [@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. I assume the reason they do that on TV and movies is they aren’t providing free product placement for beverage companies. ---
**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:** [August 10, 2022, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/1812 "2022-08-10T13:11:01Z")
I suspect that in the actual frontier days a small outpost might have only one type of beer or whiskey, in which case that makes some sense, but the vast majority of us don’t live in small outposts so we have to be more specific. ---
**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 10, 2022, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/1813 "2022-08-10T13:24:14Z")
> [@solost](#): > > **“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. Absolutely this! Mostly “something science”. In the 1950’s the cause was “something atomic”. In the 1980 it was “toxic waste”. I seem to have missed “genetic engineering”. But any day now I expect it will be “some virus”. (Hoping it will NOT be - “aftereffect of a vaccine”.) Cue Vincent Price intoning “There are some things man is not meant to know…” ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2022, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/1814 "2022-08-10T13:45:06Z")
It has been a long time since I’ve been to one - but my memory is that there were “old man bars” that had only one beer on tap. They had slightly more variety in cans and bottles but if someone ordered a “beer” , they weren’t looking for a can or a bottle. And they didn’t ask any questions when a mixed drink was ordered - if you wanted a particular brand of rum with your coke, you would have ordered it that way by saying “Bacardi and coke” rather than “rum and coke”. ---
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2022, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/1815 "2022-08-10T14:39:16Z")
Man gets caught outside in his boxers/underwear, immediately acts like this is the most embarrassing thing of all time and proceeds to hide in bushes as he has to slowly cross town to get to a friend’s house to get clothes. Cops chase him and want to arrest him for public indecency, while people run around and try to take photos of him. ---
**Author:** ![Boycott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boycott/32/6741_2.png) [@Boycott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boycott)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2022, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/1816 "2022-08-10T15:16:41Z")
Movie/showbiz executives called Marty ---
**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 10, 2022, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/1817 "2022-08-10T18:56:54Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > assume the reason they do that on TV and movies is they aren’t providing free product placement for beverage companies. Case in point, [Heisler Beer](https://fictionalcompanies.fandom.com/wiki/Heisler_Beer), a fictional brand, [one of many](https://studiographics.us/beer-2/) offered by Independent Studio Services ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2022, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/1818 "2022-08-10T19:30:02Z")
Another thing I see all the time in movies and on TV but have never personally seen IRL: Doorways with beaded curtains. ---
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2022, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/1819 "2022-08-10T19:42:41Z")
They were pretty popular in the 60’s and early 70’s. ---
**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 10, 2022, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/1820 "2022-08-10T19:47:39Z")
Yeah. I saw them a lot in the early 70s. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2022, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/1821 "2022-08-10T20:00:17Z")
Heck… as common as it is in television shows, I’m half surprised someone hasn’t tried to buy the name and make an actual beer. [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=90) [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=92)