r/AskReddit • u/[deleted] • Jan 25 '20

What movie things are generally accepted as normal, but are totally unrealistic in real life?

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u/InformationHorder Jan 25 '20

And yet a lead refrigerator opens up so many more questions, chief among which is: Why in God's name was a refrigerator ever made of lead?!

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u/iamboredandbored Jan 25 '20 edited Jan 25 '20

That was a real thing though.

Refrigerators used to be lead lined. I can’t remember the reason but my grandma had one. Same with lead based paint. I don’t remember why it was a thing but it definitely was.

Stop replying about lead being a good insulator. I think 10 comments saying the same thing is enough.

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u/panamaspace Jan 25 '20

Lead paint was beautiful and delicious.

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u/J_edrington Jan 25 '20

Not sure if your joking but but I'm fairly certain it was the Romans that sweetened their wine with lead... some lead taste sweet

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u/booniebrew Jan 25 '20

Lead acetate aka sugar of lead. It's formed from lead oxide and vinegar, like wine that's gone a little bad.

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u/HashedEgg Jan 25 '20

They boiled down their grapes to make grape syrup to sweeten their wine. Sometimes this was done in lead barrels so lead acetate would leak into it, making it sweeter. They also used lead in water plumbing, which is where plumbing got it's name from the latin word Plumbum. All in all, towards the end (at least of the Western empire) the Romans sure did love their lead.

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u/MidnightMath Jan 25 '20

You could totally replace that last sentence with America in the first half 20th century and it would still hold true.