# Off with her arm! **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 23, 2005, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/off-with-her-arm/286250 "2005-01-23T15:55:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![kidchameleon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/898d66/32.png) [@kidchameleon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kidchameleon)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2005, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/off-with-her-arm/286250/21 "2005-01-24T02:27:37Z")
She had a briefcase with a bomb handcuffed to her wrist and had to chop off her arm to save herself. Or a former cop out for revenge caught her, handcuffed her to a car with a leaky fuel tank and a jurry-rigged fuse then gave her a hack-saw. ---
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2005, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/off-with-her-arm/286250/22 "2005-01-24T05:05:21Z")
> [@SusanStoHelit](#): > > [Necrotizing Fascitis (AKA Flesh-eating bacteria)?](http://my.webmd.com/hw/health_guide_atoz/hw140408.asp) Having cared for several cases, the loss of just one arm would be getting off easy. If you’re trying to keep it believable, the injury should be a quick slice, not a crush. Large crush injuries cause secondary problems, like kidney failure and even multiple organ failure. One has less blood loss with sudden, complete amputation. The blood vessels retreat into the tissue and constrict. There is blood loss, and first aid is necessay to live, but there is little or no secondary injury. ---
**Author:** ![The\_King\_of\_Soup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a87d85/32.png) [@The\_King\_of\_Soup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_King_of_Soup)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2005, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/off-with-her-arm/286250/23 "2005-01-24T06:45:10Z")
1. She’s been thinking about it, and she’s sure she had it that morning, in the taxi, and she _must_ have had it while shopping because she bought two bags of groceries…oh, well. She’s still hopeful that it will turn up. 2. She lost it in a card game. A serious card game. 3. She lost custody of the arm by rashly promising “I’d give my right arm for…” in a society that takes such promises literally, and enforces them surgically. ---
**Author:** ![Telperien](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/65b543/32.png) [@Telperien](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telperien)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2005, 7:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/off-with-her-arm/286250/24 "2005-01-24T07:20:20Z")
Some sort of ritualized combat with a member of an alien race, wherein the winner (that would be our heroine) has to have a limb amputated. Don’t blame me if it’s weird. I’m trying to figure out how to _attach_ things (i.e. wings) to a character. ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2005, 8:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/off-with-her-arm/286250/25 "2005-01-24T08:05:54Z")
One suggestion, cable snapping. It’s still far from unknown today, and happens with rigging, as well as tying ships to piers. Common, and can leave the character with a nice bit of mental whiplash: If that so-and-so hadn’t screwed up with the hawser I’d still have two arms. If I’d been half a foot closer it would have been my chest cut in half, not my arm. I had nothing to do with the evolution, I was just walking by. Am I lucky or unlucky? ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2005, 9:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/off-with-her-arm/286250/26 "2005-01-24T09:46:21Z")
•She tried to use a [Craftsman Damaged Bolt/Nut Remover](http://www.sears.com/sr/javasr/product.do?BV_SessionID=@@@@1599660626.1106559083@@@@&BV_EngineID=ccehadddjiejmlicehgcemgdffmdggj.0&pid=00952161000&vertical=TOOL) on an [explosive bolt.](http://www.daviddarling.info/encyclopedia/E/explosive_bolt.html) (There were some unfortunate lapses in her training. Mistakes were made.) •Was on a UN peacekeeping patrol in post-atomic Kashmir. Intel said the area was free of guerillas, which it was. They just forgot about the Tigers. (And since the fallout had killed off most of the local herbivores, they were very _hungry_ Tigers.) •Botched laser tattoo-removal. •Partilal heat-shield failure on [personal ballistic](http://www.astronautix.com/craft/1crpsule.htm) [reentry capsule.](http://www.astronautix.com/craft/moose.htm) •Voluntarily had arm removed for cybernetic augmentation. •She had an out of control amputation fetish. Which, tragically, peaked just months before Pfizer came out with psychiatric medication that would’ve cured it. •Paradrop accident. (Maybe something with the static line wrapping around something it shouldn’t have.) •Had one too many drinks, blacked out, woke up on a park bench two days later wearing a full Frank N. Further costume, wallet full of Yen notes, and arm burned off at the shoulder. •Purposley blew off own arm to avoid deployment to the hopeless military quagmire in North Berkeley. And…how futuristic are we talking here, BTW? Like, “mid 21st century” or “galaxy-spanning spacefaring civilization”? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2005, 10:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/off-with-her-arm/286250/27 "2005-01-24T10:32:44Z")
Cosmetic amputation was fashionable for a brief period toward the end of the twenty-third centrury. ---
**Author:** ![GrizzRich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/7ba0ec/32.png) [@GrizzRich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrizzRich)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2005, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/off-with-her-arm/286250/28 "2005-01-24T14:40:03Z")
-Body-armour failure (micro-fissures) on the reinforced shoulder-cap. -Sucked into the intake of a jet-engine. -Struck by flying debris/micrometeor while performing EVA from a military space-shuttle doing repair work on space-based weapons systems. -In a laser-sword duel with her cyborg father. Only, she didn’t know it was her father until after he cut off her arm and he made that admission to her. (Okay… I couldn’t resist) -Force of an explosion (implosion?) threw her into the path of a plasma stream. ---
**Author:** ![Tiggrkitty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tiggrkitty/32/17966_2.png) [@Tiggrkitty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tiggrkitty)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2005, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/off-with-her-arm/286250/29 "2005-01-24T15:32:38Z")
I need more detail. Are we going to leave a stump or take off the entire arm? Which part of the arm are we planning on leaving, if any? Lower arm with only the hand missing, or above the elbow type injury? ---
**Author:** ![35340](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/3/8baadc/32.png) [@35340](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/35340)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2005, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/off-with-her-arm/286250/30 "2005-01-24T15:34:16Z")
Freak Masturbation Accident. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2005, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/off-with-her-arm/286250/31 "2005-01-24T15:47:52Z")
> [@Mynn](#): > > Freak Masturbation Accident. It’s a _lost arm_ were looking for, **Mynn** , not _blindness!_😃 ---
**Author:** ![TV\_time](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f17d59/32.png) [@TV\_time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TV_time)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2005, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/off-with-her-arm/286250/32 "2005-01-24T15:49:53Z")
I question how well you know the character if you have to ask us for suggestions. You say the subsequent events are important to her development but the injury itself isn’t. Every injury I received in the military was significant and how it happened shaped my development just as much (if not more) as subsequent events. I suggest you visit with your character more and learn how it happened. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2005, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/off-with-her-arm/286250/33 "2005-01-24T16:08:19Z")
Injury sustained by minor antimatter leak while test piloting a new drive system. First ever recorded quantum vacuum fluctuation to be apparent on the macroscopic scale; a section of her arm vanished and simultaneously reappeared a short distance away. The arm was defleshed by a swarm of _Threeks_ during landfall on Rigel 4 (don’t explain what _Threeks_ are). ---
**Author:** ![Madd\_Maxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Madd\_Maxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Madd_Maxx)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2005, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/off-with-her-arm/286250/34 "2005-01-24T16:11:07Z")
> [@kidchameleon](#): > > handcuffed her to a car with a leaky fuel tank and a jurry-rigged fuse then gave her a hack-saw. No fair! That was my idea! ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2005, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/off-with-her-arm/286250/35 "2005-01-24T16:42:59Z")
Got _really_ drunk at the office halloween party, her Walrus costume was the hit of the night, the funny thing was, no one could understand a word she was saying, which made it all the funnier. They kept the party going at some dive on Tatooine when some old fart with a lightsabre went and freaked out as she was trying to tell her drunk boyfriend to just back off and let the old fossil buy them all drinks. Sadly, no one understood a word she was saying. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2005, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/off-with-her-arm/286250/36 "2005-01-24T16:47:21Z")
HEY! **Earthworm Jim**! Any o this sound good? ---
**Author:** ![Black\_Train\_Song](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4da419/32.png) [@Black\_Train\_Song](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Black_Train_Song)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2005, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/off-with-her-arm/286250/37 "2005-01-24T16:49:28Z")
She got carried away with her new meat slicer. Then ate a sandwich. She dropped her hover keys into a vat of liquid nitrogen and tried to retrieve them. ---
**Author:** ![35340](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/3/8baadc/32.png) [@35340](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/35340)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2005, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/off-with-her-arm/286250/38 "2005-01-24T18:55:48Z")
> [@Bosda Di'Chi of Tricor](#): > > It’s a _lost arm_ were looking for, **Mynn** , not _blindness!_😃 Anybody can go _blind_ masturbating. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2005, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/off-with-her-arm/286250/39 "2005-01-24T19:07:06Z")
She lives about two miles inland on the Gulf Coast of Florida. One night, she reached into the back yard to bring her kitty into the house when an alligator… ---
**Author:** ![Unintentionally\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unintentionally_blank/32/5418_2.png) [@Unintentionally\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unintentionally_Blank)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2005, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/off-with-her-arm/286250/40 "2005-01-24T19:13:25Z")
> [@Harimad-sol](#): > > Some sort of ritualized combat with a member of an alien race, wherein the winner (that would be our heroine) has to have a limb amputated. > > Don’t blame me if it’s weird. I’m trying to figure out how to _attach_ things (i.e. wings) to a character. It’s not wierd…there’d be some nice irony though if the alien race either had 28 arms…or they grew back in under a fortnight. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/off-with-her-arm/286250.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/off-with-her-arm/286250.md?page=3)