# Mermaids don't have knees! **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 30, 2005, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mermaids-dont-have-knees/319176 "2005-08-30T00:26:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Giant\_Spongess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/94ad74/32.png) [@Giant\_Spongess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giant_Spongess)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2005, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mermaids-dont-have-knees/319176/1 "2005-08-30T00:26:18Z")
Pictures of mermaids with knees drive me crazy. There’s absolutely no reason for mermaids to have knees, except that people like [this doof](http://www.daviddelamare.com/images/bathl.jpg) can’t do it any other way. Rargh! ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2005, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mermaids-dont-have-knees/319176/2 "2005-08-30T00:31:13Z")
Cite? Since a mermaid is a Chimera-style creature, I can’t see why knees must be ruled out. ---
**Author:** ![PinkNailFile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8491ac/32.png) [@PinkNailFile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PinkNailFile)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2005, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mermaids-dont-have-knees/319176/3 "2005-08-30T00:31:21Z")
Wait… I don’t get it. So … Oh wait. The light dawns. Thanks for clearing that up **Giant\_Spongess**. Another bit of ignorance vanquished. ---
**Author:** ![Giant\_Spongess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/94ad74/32.png) [@Giant\_Spongess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giant_Spongess)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2005, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mermaids-dont-have-knees/319176/4 "2005-08-30T00:38:43Z")
They’re supposed to have fish tails. Show me a fish with knees! ---
**Author:** ![Giant\_Spongess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/94ad74/32.png) [@Giant\_Spongess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giant_Spongess)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2005, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mermaids-dont-have-knees/319176/5 "2005-08-30T00:40:07Z")
> [@PinkNailFile](#): > > Wait… I don’t get it. > > So … Oh wait. The light dawns. Thanks for clearing that up **Giant\_Spongess**. Another bit of ignorance vanquished. You’re welcome. _bow_ ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2005, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mermaids-dont-have-knees/319176/6 "2005-08-30T00:46:01Z")
Mermaids don’t have a… lot of things. ---
**Author:** ![pinkfreud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pinkfreud/32/17603_2.png) [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2005, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mermaids-dont-have-knees/319176/7 "2005-08-30T00:49:18Z")
I see your point, but couldn’t the tail have a fishy exterior and still have a humanoid skeletal structure? Unlikely, maybe, but we’re dealing with a mythical creature, and the morphologies of mythical beasties don’t always make sense. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2005, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mermaids-dont-have-knees/319176/8 "2005-08-30T01:13:03Z")
I don’t see definite knees in that picture. Maybe it looks like knees because of the way the tail comes forward. I imagine there is a muscle in marine animals that might be comparable to the knee, so why not make it like a knee in a mermaid? ---
**Author:** ![marshmallow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@marshmallow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/marshmallow)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2005, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mermaids-dont-have-knees/319176/9 "2005-08-30T01:21:15Z")
But…how do you have mermaid hentai without knees? Wait, don’t answer that. ---
**Author:** ![Manduck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manduck/32/256_2.png) [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2005, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mermaids-dont-have-knees/319176/10 "2005-08-30T01:28:13Z")
> [@Giant\_Spongess](#): > > Pictures of mermaids with knees drive me crazy. There’s absolutely no reason for mermaids to have knees, except that people like [this doof](http://www.daviddelamare.com/images/bathl.jpg) can’t do it any other way. Wow, that mermaid has an enormous ass! Do mermaids have asses? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![wolf\_in\_second\_hand\_clothing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/9d8465/32.png) [@wolf\_in\_second\_hand\_clothing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_in_second_hand_clothing)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2005, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mermaids-dont-have-knees/319176/11 "2005-08-30T01:28:14Z")
Fry: Why couldn’t she be the other type of mermaid? With the fish part on top, and the lady part on the bottom? ---
**Author:** ![ZebraShaSha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/eada6e/32.png) [@ZebraShaSha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZebraShaSha)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2005, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mermaids-dont-have-knees/319176/12 "2005-08-30T01:30:55Z")
> [@mstay](#): > > But…how do you have mermaid hentai without knees? Wait, don’t answer that. You know those holes in the side of pools, where bubbles come out? Well, how else do you think mermaids make a living? ---
**Author:** ![Gorsnak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gorsnak/32/7587_2.png) [@Gorsnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorsnak)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2005, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mermaids-dont-have-knees/319176/13 "2005-08-30T01:45:08Z")
And fish tails are always vertical, while those bastards keep drawing the mermaid tales horizontal! Won’t someone think of the scientific accuracy?? ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2005, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mermaids-dont-have-knees/319176/14 "2005-08-30T01:47:46Z")
That ‘doof’ has just attempted to make a better mermaid. ---
**Author:** ![Typically\_Sunday](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7ba0ec/32.png) [@Typically\_Sunday](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typically_Sunday)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2005, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mermaids-dont-have-knees/319176/15 "2005-08-30T02:21:13Z")
To answer your question: a wizard did it. You’re welcome. ---
**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:** [August 30, 2005, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mermaids-dont-have-knees/319176/16 "2005-08-30T02:31:11Z")
Maybe the mermaid tail is so flexible that any part can be bent at will? ---
**Author:** ![Batsinma\_Belfry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ea5d25/32.png) [@Batsinma\_Belfry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Batsinma_Belfry)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2005, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mermaids-dont-have-knees/319176/17 "2005-08-30T02:54:20Z")
> [@Manduck](#): > > Wow, that mermaid has an enormous ass! Do mermaids have asses? 😕 That’s what she’s trying to find out with the hand that’s not holding the tail. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2005, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mermaids-dont-have-knees/319176/18 "2005-08-30T02:58:59Z")
There’s no reason for humans to have a few of our internal parts, but we do anyway. Mermaids having knees is no more nonsensical than bats having thumbs - which they do. ---
**Author:** ![cruel\_butterfly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5daacb/32.png) [@cruel\_butterfly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cruel_butterfly)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2005, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mermaids-dont-have-knees/319176/19 "2005-08-30T03:06:51Z")
> [@Giant\_Spongess](#): > > They’re supposed to have fish tails. Show me a fish with knees! They aren’t so much “knees” really. If a mermaid is half-human/half-fish, then we have to assume that the being possesses all the attributes of each of its parts in, well, each of its parts. The pose that the mermaid is assuming in the linked picture represents a pose that any human female would assume if she were being photographed for a sexy spread. Therefore, the human half of her has overtaken the anatomical limitations of her fish half. ---
**Author:** ![cruel\_butterfly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5daacb/32.png) [@cruel\_butterfly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cruel_butterfly)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2005, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mermaids-dont-have-knees/319176/20 "2005-08-30T03:08:27Z")
> [@cruel butterfly](#): > > They aren’t so much “knees” really. If a mermaid is half-human/half-fish, then we have to assume that the being possesses all the attributes of each of its parts in, well, each of its parts. The pose that the mermaid is assuming in the linked picture represents a pose that any human female would assume if she were being photographed for a sexy spread. Therefore, the human half of her has overtaken the anatomical limitations of her fish half. [Cite.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=6522575&postcount=19) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mermaids-dont-have-knees/319176.md?page=2)