It used to be easier to write books in the old days. Even fiction books – at least because readers in those blessed times when there was no access to all human knowledge literally on the go often had to take the author’s word for it.
On the other hand, preparing to write a lot of educational videos and texts used to be much more difficult without the internet. Today, a person can even write a good travel guide to a city they have never been to by just using Google Street View. And yet, human negligence knows no bounds. This viral thread in the AskReddit community is further proof of this.
More info: Reddit
#1
I read a book with the sentence, “His heart rate rose as his pulse began to slow.”
You don’t even have to be a healthcare person to raise an eyebrow at that.
Image source: realhorrorsh0w, Vasilis Caravitis
#2
Whenever a character is whimpering that her corset hurts.
For 90% of history, corsets did not hurt! Tightlacing was not the norm! Corsets were just bras and bodice shapers! A princess who’s worn corsets her entire life should be used to it. She can hate the feeling, but the whole “I can’t breathe!” trope needs to stop.
Edit: And don’t even get me f*****g started on the idea of someone having scars bc of their corsets. Corsets were NOT worn on bare skin. They would wear a chemise ffs!
Image source: -CherryByte-, cottonbro studio
#3
Any time they mention “poisonous” snakes. Poisonous snakes do exist, but they’re much rarer than what people are actually worried about, which is *venomous* snakes. If it bites you and you die, it’s venomous. If you bite it and you die, it’s poisonous. If you’re worried because a snake is poisonous, just don’t eat it.
Image source: rannapup, Pixabay
#4
I don’t know a ton about this, but all media from top to bottom seems to believe that bonking someone on the head with a blunt object merely results in an “unscheduled nap.”
The fact is that if you’re out for more than a second or two, you likely have permanent brain damage. Especially without modern medical care.
Image source: CSWorldChamp, Alexander Grey
#5
I recently read a book where a couple was in Paris during WWII and they strolled into a restaurant and ordered a whole duck to eat. During…. WWII……. they were not even rich.
Image source: anon, cottonbro studio
#6
Computers and programming.
“I just need to upload the IP address to the cloud server and then we will have root access to the network”
No, you won’t. You just won’t. That’s like saying
“I just need to glue the plastic frog to the radiator and then the car will be able to fly”.
Image source: zippy72, Darlene Alderson
#7
I read a novel in which the character kneaded pie crust for a long time. You should knead bread dough to activate the gluten, but pie crust should never be kneaded—it should be handled as little as possible!
Image source: bros-of-versailles, Amanda Reed
#8
Therapy! It’s rare to see it portrayed correctly. Usually the therapist says things that are wildly inappropriate or just not right. Oversharing personal information, taking weird notes or being oddly distant and aloof.
Image source: nosleeptilfirstdraft, cottonbro studio
#9
Hacking. The speed and ferocity is something commonly shown incorrectly, but another is hardware. You’re not going to break into an encrypted database on a secure network with a Macbook. Brute forcing requires server farms worth of power.
Image source: AtomicGearworks, Markus Spiske
#10
Characters with wildly inaccurate names for their time period, location, gender during that time period, culture, etc.
Names are so easy to research and yet…
Also someone not knowing the appropriate ways to use Your Highness, Your Majesty, Your Grace, etc….
Image source: RibbonsFlying, damien sanchez
#11
As for medical field… Where do I even start?!
Idiotic CPR and defibrillator use, of course. People waking from long coma, getting up and leaving like nothing. Blunt force head trauma, knocking person unconscious for two mins, them getting up like nothing happened. Running with broken leg. Horror is super notorious with this – immediately passing out after getting shot with tranquilliser dart.
Closer to my field – cancer patients, their treatment portrayal.
Image source: reliableshot, Oliver King
#12
Characters eating anything with tomatoes in medieval Europe. Makes me think the author did zero research as to what people ate in medieval Europe.
Image source: FarmNGardenGal, Pixabay
#13
I remember hearing about a James Bond script that was to start with a Day of the Dead celebration in Mexico. The writer didn’t do his research and assumed that the holiday was celebrated all throughout the country.
When they go to film, they discover the locals didn’t actually celebrate Day of the Dead in that region. The studio decided to host the festival themselves so that the movie could film its scenes as scheduled. The festival was such a hit with the locals that ever since then, the town *now* has a Day of the Dead celebration.
So who knows, maybe not doing research can result in a fluke where your factual errors can force reality to make them become true.
Image source: voidcrack, Viridiana Rivera
#14
In John Gwynne’s Shadow of the Gods, a character DRINKS FROM A FJORD. Excuse me that is salt water, you should be dead!
They also take their boats up the “rivers” at the end of the fjords, as if that’s a thing. The author apparently didn’t even spend 5 minutes googling what a fjord is before including the word at least four times per chapter. If you wanted it to be a river just call it that!
Only book I’ve ever rage quit.
Image source: Own-Boysenberry-2233, Tobias Bjørkli
#15
Anything to do with horses.
Making taking care of a lot of animals seem like just a few minutes’ work a day. Ditto farming acres of any crops. That work never ends.
Using real-world cities but never mapping distances. Miami and Tampa, for instance, are not at all close to each other.
Image source: terriaminute, Jean Alves
#16
Animal companions that are immediately loyal to the protagonist, and go everywhere with them/do whatever they want without any training or general care. Bonus points if it’s an exotic animal.
I get that in many cases this is a “suspension of disbelief” thing more than a “author didn’t research” thing, but it still irks me. This trend repeated over and over again in media has left the general population with some really unrealistic/misinformed ideas about how animals think and work, which A- is unfortunate for their pets; and B- glorifies and bolsters the exotic pet trade, which is rife with animal abuse and mistreatment.
Everyone’s spent their whole lives consuming media that tells them that animals will automatically love/obey the “good guy”, and everyone is the good guy in their own mind. In reality it takes learning and work to train and bond with an animal no matter who you are.
I can’t count the amount of times I’ve told someone “my dog is a little scared of strangers but if you ignore him and pass him treats he’ll warm up fast”, and they’ve gone “dogs like me!” And reached right for his face anyways. Then they spend the next ten minutes trying to rationalize why the dog barked at them when he was obviously just scared.
Image source: Pine_Petrichor, Steshka Willems
#17
It bothers me when people don’t know the difference between jail and prison. Books, movies, and TV shows always talk about “going to jail for (x number) years” or “you’ll get arrested and they’ll take you to prison.” Jail is pre-trial and people sentenced to a year or less. Anything more than a year is prison.
Image source: BatDad1973, Pixabay
#18
Weight of armor and weapons mainly swords. The heaviest plate armor weighed under 100lbs and was distributed over the body. Swords weighed 2 to 3 lbs. The 6 foot blades weighed up to 7lbs. More movie than book but if I see one more steel sword cast in an open mold I’m gonna lose it.
#19
When their stories only include the famous landmarks of a city. For instance, if the story takesChicago and the only locations the characters visit are Wrigley Field or the Chicago River, or they just generically call downtown “The Loop,” as in one character says to the other, “Fine, meet me in the Loop..” WHERE IN THE LOOP???
This holds true for every other major city as well that is the backdrop of a book.
Image source: KGreen100, AXP Photography
#20
Once I read a book where one of the MCs could draw really well and wanted to study at the academy of fine arts. She took drawing classes before she applied and was praised for her talent there, but the teacher showed her that there are more kinds of pencil than a HB. So you mean to tell me you’ve been drawing your whole life and you just learned that? And she did get accepted to the academy if i remember correctly, which is a very hard thing to do.
In the same series there was an article about a woman with an eating disorder and they said something like “at 13, she weighed 50kg (110lbs), which is way too much for a 13 year old”. Excuse me? No it’s not? Funny thing is I read it at 13 with an eating disorder, weighing 50kg and at that time people would ask me if my parents gave me food at all lmao
Edit: i hate to say it guys but the author is a woman. It seemed like she actually did some impressive research on eating disorders but that line shouldn’t be there
Edit2: actually i remembered another crazy thing she wrote about eating disorders, one of the mcs had ed and she would always judge other women who were fatter than her. i won’t speak for everyone with an ed but yeah, we don’t do that.
Image source: atridie, Javier Gonzalez
#21
Weather, specifically severe storms and tornadoes, is so easy to get right with even surface level research that it makes me want to tear my hair out. Some more egregious examples include: Issuing tornado warnings before the storm has even formed (that’s what a watch is for), giving tornado ratings before the tornado forms or while it is on the ground (we can now kinda ballpark it with radar, but all ratings are done post event), tornadoes having a calm center “eye” like a hurricane (It’s a giant blender full of debris, and even if it did have an “eye” they move too fast), just to name a few.
On the other hand, those kinds of inaccuracies did drive me into writing because I figured out I could write better tornado stories than that, so I guess it worked out in the end.
Image source: DBTornado, Pixabay
#22
Lots of people mix up what kids can do at different stages
Barring any disability or circumstantial factors:
A 1yo should be able to walk and say a few words
A 2yo can run, kick things, climb around, go up and down the stairs, and speak in 2-3 word sentences
A 3yo can ride a tricycle
A 4yo should be able to hop on one foot and start knowing the alphabet
A 5yo can skip, somersault, read, count, ride a bike (with or without training wheels), and climb bigger things—and also speak in complete and grammatically correct sentences
(also by 10-11, a child’s speech is pretty much the same as adults).
Image source: eekspiders, Lukas
#23
Divisions > Brigades > Battalions > Companies > Platoons > Sections/Squads
You can immediately resolve this with a 10 second google search.
Also, an infantry section or squad has around 8 guys in it, not 3 or 4. We can thank the *Battlefield* games for that misunderstanding, I think.
Image source: PhiliDips, Leah Hall
#24
Part of _Station Eleven_ takes place in an abandoned airport with an airplane chilling on runway 37. Runways only go up to 36.
Image source: anon, Jerry Wang
#25
I am not comfortable with calling medicine “my field” yet but anything involving cpr or defibrillators. CPRs may break ribs, and last up to an hour until professional help comes.
Also as of lately, epigenetics become the “quantum” of human biology by that I mean how it is used in a manner in worldbuilding and fiction completely detached from how it actually works.
Image source: triple_cock_smoker, Mikhail Nilov
#26
Tazers rendering people unconscious. I worked on a project where people were being trained on the use of tasers. I’m no expert, but I learned enough to be annoyed with the trope of them knocking people out.
Depictions of kink. I write erotica specifically around a few specific, less run-of-the-mill kinks, and a LOT of authors get the kink lifestyle very wrong.
Image source: SaveFerrisBrother, hermanturnip
#27
99% of poker scenes in books, movies, TV. too many wrong depictions to count, some very technical, but one-in-a-million hands, mischaracterizing what makes a great player and betting more than is allowed are the most common ones.
out of context philosophical statements to pretty up an authors manuscript who woefully misunderstood the concept.
every decorative german basically being from bavaria (in serious media, comedy is whatever).
Image source: crz0r, Javon Swaby
#28
When I read that someone is going “free climbing,” 9 times out of 10 the author means to say that the person is going free *soloing.*
I go free climbing all the time. So many people do. Free climbing includes pretty much all of what we think of as recreational rock climbing, using ropes, carabiners, harnesses, etc. Free *soloing* means walking up to the wall and climbing with no safety gear of any kind. Soloing is inherently risky.
Also for some reason when I point this out, I invariably get harassed for it, as though my niche sport/interest doesn’t rise to the level where we would expect an author to get it right. Drives me CRAZY.
**Author**: My [cool] character goes FREE CLIMBING and look how [cool] she is
**Me**: Oh nice, free climbing is great. A quiet afternoon at the crags with friends enjoying nature. Sounds lovely. Let’s bring the kids.
Image source: kayriss, Tima Miroshnichenko
#29
Any time a character on a horse “flicks” the reins to make it go.
Image source: stuffffffffffffffff, Raquel Elise de Moraes
#30
Guns. Wow, are guns so poorly understood by the media. Like seriously. I’ve seen guns being mislabbeled as completely different guns, semi-automatics being portrayed as fully automatic, constant serious gun safety violations (looking at you Baldwin), never seen a gun jam in a movie or show, and seen people taking rounds they shouldn’t survive and being completely fine, etc etc. Not to mention supressors.
Image source: Lui_Le_Diamond, Anna Shvets
#31
There’s countless examples of video games being portrayed really weirdly in media, particularly television. I immediately think of some kid wildly waving like a Super Nintendo controller around while playing some modern generic royalty-free Call of Duty clone.
Image source: PhunkyPhazon, EVG Kowalievska
#32
As a scientist, units are often a dead giveaway. Often, they pick a unit that sounds impressive, but is really small, and describe something that’s enormous with a unit more appropriate for a crumpled up piece of paper or a lighter.
Image source: PapaBeer642, Tima Miroshnichenko
#33
Not a book but a video game.
I love Detroit Become Human but living in Detroit myself I noticed some things.
-They call the People Mover the tram. No one in Detroit will call it that.
-The hyperfixation on poverty porn in the game. Even in the downtown and nice areas of the city you’re really not going to see rundown houses in Downtown anymore as it looks like nice and gentrified around the collages.
-The severe lack of npcs trying to get you to buy their mixtape as they tell you they’re going to be the next Eminem.
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