# Hank Hill's dad has no shins. Is that reasonable? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 31, 2006, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hank-hills-dad-has-no-shins-is-that-reasonable/358827 "2006-05-31T03:07:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Jet\_Jaguar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jet_jaguar/32/3562_2.png) [@Jet\_Jaguar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jet_Jaguar)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2006, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hank-hills-dad-has-no-shins-is-that-reasonable/358827/21 "2006-06-02T00:16:25Z")
[QUOTE=Captain Amazing] Well, Hank was born post-WWII, but Hank did tell Peggy (in the episode referenced in the OP, when Peggy doubts Cotton’s heroism), “Look, all I know is that before the war, he was 6’ 4”." [/QUOTE] Not Hank’s memory per se, but they’ve shown flashbacks of Cotton in the war where he had regular legs. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2006, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hank-hills-dad-has-no-shins-is-that-reasonable/358827/22 "2006-06-02T01:09:02Z")
[QUOTE=Jet Jaguar] Not Hank’s memory per se, but they’ve shown flashbacks of Cotton in the war where he had regular legs. [/QUOTE] And it’s not like Hank hasn’t seen pictures of his dad from before he lost his shins. BTW, am I the only one who thinks of Cotton when I hear about rapper 50 cent? Since everyone calls him “Fiddy”, all I can think of is Cotton yelling, “I killed fiddy men!” ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2006, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hank-hills-dad-has-no-shins-is-that-reasonable/358827/23 "2006-06-02T02:47:18Z")
[QUOTE=Guinastasia] BTW, am I the only one who thinks of Cotton when I hear about rapper 50 cent? Since everyone calls him “Fiddy”, all I can think of is Cotton yelling, “I killed fiddy men!” [/QUOTE] Does that mean Fiddy Cent is a Nazzy? ---
**Author:** ![Szlater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/90ced4/32.png) [@Szlater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Szlater)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2006, 9:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hank-hills-dad-has-no-shins-is-that-reasonable/358827/24 "2006-06-02T09:24:21Z")
[QUOTE=Broomstick] Two words: “long skirts” If I was able to go out in public with an inch-and-a-half long bleeding, oozing, puss-dripping gouge on my cheek and half my face covered in bandages for three months I could probably handle a backwards foot. Of the two, to me the wrong-way foot looks a lot less upleasent from an “aesthetic” point of view, not to mention probably not as painful once the healing up is done. [/QUOTE] I know from personal experience that it’s not always as easy as that, especially when the issue at hand is a permanent disfiguration. Covering up the affected area doesn’t stop you from knowing what’s different about you, even if other people tell you that no one else notices. ---
**Author:** ![Garfield226](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Garfield226](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Garfield226)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2006, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hank-hills-dad-has-no-shins-is-that-reasonable/358827/25 "2006-06-02T22:39:58Z")
[QUOTE=Kalhoun] I pondered the same question. I think Cotton just puts shoes on his stumps. Or maybe has shinless prostheses. But not functioning feet. [/QUOTE] The episode where the family goes to Japan to meet the woman Cotton slept with during the war is on now. When Cotton meets her again (for the first time since the war) she says something like, “I’m glad to see your feet did not fall off, as predicted.” ---
**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:** [June 3, 2006, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hank-hills-dad-has-no-shins-is-that-reasonable/358827/26 "2006-06-03T00:38:27Z")
[QUOTE=Szlater] I know from personal experience that it’s not always as easy as that, especially when the issue at hand is a permanent disfiguration. Covering up the affected area doesn’t stop you from knowing what’s different about you, even if other people tell you that no one else notices. [/QUOTE] I know that, too - that gash I mentioned left a permanent scar on my face, you know? Everyone says they never notice it, but I see it every time I look in the mirror. Granted, it’s nowhere near like losing a limb, but I think I know myself well enough by now that _for me_ I’d choose “works better” over “looks prettier”. YMMV and all that. ---
**Author:** ![deadoaks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/57b2e6/32.png) [@deadoaks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/deadoaks)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2011, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hank-hills-dad-has-no-shins-is-that-reasonable/358827/27 "2011-03-21T02:52:21Z")
> [@alphaboi867](#): > > That’s normal for animation. It makes the characters easier to animate since they don’t have design new clothes over and over again. It makes a good counter-weight to the gigantic wardrobes most sitcom characters have. I have some new steel toe work boots that look just like Hanks. They are from RedWing. Wonder if that’s what he’s wearing? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2011, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hank-hills-dad-has-no-shins-is-that-reasonable/358827/28 "2011-03-21T03:20:45Z")
> [@](#): > > If I was able to go out in public with an inch-and-a-half long bleeding, oozing, puss-dripping gouge on my cheek and half my face covered in bandages for three months Let me guess: A landing you were able to walk away from? (no need to answer if you don’t want to) ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2011, 10:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hank-hills-dad-has-no-shins-is-that-reasonable/358827/29 "2011-03-21T10:21:36Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Let me guess: A landing you were able to walk away from? > > (no need to answer if you don’t want to) [Broomsticks thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=106449) the incredible zit story starts at post 44 Don’t eat anything white and creamy while reading, really. ---
**Author:** ![Superhal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Superhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superhal)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2011, 10:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hank-hills-dad-has-no-shins-is-that-reasonable/358827/30 "2011-03-21T10:37:44Z")
Shiiiiiiins! ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2011, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hank-hills-dad-has-no-shins-is-that-reasonable/358827/31 "2011-03-21T12:25:03Z")
Perhaps only zombies have feet on their knees. ---
**Author:** ![smithsb](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smithsb/32/12107_2.png) [@smithsb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smithsb)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2011, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hank-hills-dad-has-no-shins-is-that-reasonable/358827/32 "2011-03-21T20:00:27Z")
I may be the only one thinking this - If I had my feet (foot) on backwards; I’d never have to buy a drink in a bar again! ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2011, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hank-hills-dad-has-no-shins-is-that-reasonable/358827/33 "2011-03-21T20:29:49Z")
> [@Kalhoun](#): > > I pondered the same question. I think Cotton just puts shoes on his stumps. Or maybe has shinless prostheses. But not functioning feet. I knew a projectionist who was known as ‘Stumpy’. Both his legs were amputated at the knee, I think as result of service in Korea. He would stick his stumps in shoes and walk around that way. His personality was close to Cotton’s also. I imagine losing the lower half of your legs tends to make someone a bit grumpy. ---
**Author:** ![Snickers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Snickers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snickers)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2011, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hank-hills-dad-has-no-shins-is-that-reasonable/358827/34 "2011-03-21T21:00:14Z")
> [@Nanoda](#): > > There’s a procedure (I guess pretty much the opposite of in this show) called a rotationplasty, where someone whose knee must be removed (IIRC usually to bone cancer), can have their ankle serve as a knee joint. The foot is re-attached backwards, which apparently allows more normal use of artificial legs. > > (My expertise in this area comes from the Discovery Channel and TLC, so double-check before you scrub up.) **Nanoda** , you’re correct - I went to high school with someone who had this exact procedure done. His lower leg had been amputated (for what, I’m not certain; I vaguely remember that it was cancer, but I could very well be mistaken. His foot had been reattached to the remainder backwards and fit into a special prosthesis to allow range of motion. He walked with a limp, but I’m certain it was better than the alternative. I don’t remember him in any sports, but I did see him running more than once. ---
**Author:** ![Snickers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Snickers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snickers)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2011, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hank-hills-dad-has-no-shins-is-that-reasonable/358827/35 "2011-03-21T21:02:52Z")
Hmm. Didn’t see this was a zombie. There’s lots of them popping up recently, aren’t there? ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2011, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hank-hills-dad-has-no-shins-is-that-reasonable/358827/36 "2011-03-23T00:43:47Z")
Wasn’t there an episode of the Simpsons where they showed either Homer or Bart opening their closet to reveal like twenty identical shirts? ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2011, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hank-hills-dad-has-no-shins-is-that-reasonable/358827/37 "2011-03-23T02:49:42Z")
What about Hank having “diminished gluteal syndrome” – basically, he doesn’t have an ass. So he has to use a prosthetic butt. (Cotton: “You’re wearin’ butt-boobies!”) > [@Lumpy](#): > > Wasn’t there an episode of the Simpsons where they showed either Homer or Bart opening their closet to reveal like twenty identical shirts? I don’t remember that, but there was one where they were out shopping, and Bart pointed out that there was a rack that had nothing but Marge’s “dresses”. She saw a blue one and was like, “no thank you!” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hank-hills-dad-has-no-shins-is-that-reasonable/358827.md?page=1)