Over the past few months, I’ve (very) slowly been compiling a list of things which I thought existed only as plot devices in sitcoms, but have since learned actually occur in real life as well. So far, the list includes:
1) Immigrants getting married to get citizenship,
2) High school students being forced to carry baby dolls to learn about responsibility, and
3) Whiplash.
Recently, I got an example for the flipside of the list: something which I was misled by television into thinking it happened frequently in real life.
Spending a few days with my seven-month pregnant sister, I amused myself, and annoyed everyone else, by acting overly concerned and asking stupid questions. Are you allowed to eat fried foods? Should you be drinking carbonated beverages? Is it safe for you to be holding your cell phone that close to your stomach? I also enjoyed asking, any time she did or said anything indicating concern or surprise, “Did you water just break?” The first five or six times, she just told me to shut up. But then she informed that the whole “water breaking in public” thing is actually rare in real life, despite the fact that it happens in every TV pregnancy.
The moral of the story is I should watch less television. And probably be less of an asshole as well.
-AR
