# Pointless Flintstones question **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 22, 2008, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pointless-flintstones-question/457431 "2008-07-22T23:58:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**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:** [July 22, 2008, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pointless-flintstones-question/457431/1 "2008-07-22T23:58:58Z")
Since it couldn’t be any more pointless than the Jetsons thread, I decided to post this question: Is Fred Flintstone a neanderthal? I ask because in the original cartoon the people seem to come in two distinct body types: fairly tall and slender (though some are a bit paunchier), and very squarely and stockily built, though often of different heights. Fred and Barney are the latter type. Did they ever depict any specimens even more beastial than Fred? And yes I know that in the movies Fred proudly proclaimed that the Buffalo Lodge no longer accepted neanderthals, but let’s stick to canon here. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2008, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pointless-flintstones-question/457431/2 "2008-07-23T00:00:00Z")
The forehead and jaw would tend to suggest not. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2008, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pointless-flintstones-question/457431/3 "2008-07-23T00:16:42Z")
I dunno. Did Neanderthals have only [four fingers](http://steviethek.files.wordpress.com/2007/12/fred_flintstone.gif) on each hand? ---
**Author:** ![Terrifel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c68b51/32.png) [@Terrifel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terrifel)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2008, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pointless-flintstones-question/457431/4 "2008-07-23T00:18:23Z")
[QUOTE=Lumpy] Did they ever depict any specimens even more beastial than Fred? [/QUOTE] [As a matter of fact…](http://www.internationalhero.co.uk/c/capcave.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Will\_Repair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a698b9/32.png) [@Will\_Repair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Will_Repair)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2008, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pointless-flintstones-question/457431/5 "2008-07-23T00:20:04Z")
No more than Ralph Kramden. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2008, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pointless-flintstones-question/457431/6 "2008-07-23T00:30:56Z")
They’re just dumpy cro magnons. Just like Messrs Spacely and Cogswell (who had about the same build as Fred) in the Jetsons. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2008, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pointless-flintstones-question/457431/7 "2008-07-23T02:15:53Z")
He’s a modern Stone Age man. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2008, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pointless-flintstones-question/457431/8 "2008-07-23T02:31:11Z")
[QUOTE=Will Repair] No more than Ralph Kramden. [/QUOTE] By Jove, they are _The Honeymooners_ for kids, aren’t they? ---
**Author:** ![Baldwin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baldwin/32/7264_2.png) [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2008, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pointless-flintstones-question/457431/9 "2008-07-23T02:35:33Z")
It’s usually written Neandertal these days, to go along with the pronunciation. Modern archeological thinking is that the Neandertals never achieved the stone television set – or if they did it was black-and-white, and you had to get up off your stone sofa to change the channel, because they hadn’t mastered the range of small-bird technology that worked so well for Fred. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Moto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de0a6/32.png) [@Mr.Moto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Moto)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2008, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pointless-flintstones-question/457431/10 "2008-07-23T02:48:41Z")
[QUOTE=lieu] By Jove, they are _The Honeymooners_ for kids, aren’t they? [/QUOTE] The show initially was aimed for an adult audience - it aired in prime time and was sponsored by Winston cigarettes. Fred and Barney even appeared in the Winston ads. ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2008, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pointless-flintstones-question/457431/11 "2008-07-23T16:24:40Z")
[QUOTE=Mr. Moto] The show initially was aimed for an adult audience - it aired in prime time and was sponsored by Winston cigarettes. Fred and Barney even appeared in the Winston ads. [/QUOTE] Yeh, here’s Fred and Barney the nic fiends [lighting up](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FqdTBDkUEEQ). I wonder if they were ever sponsored by Old Granddad bourbon? ---
**Author:** ![nivlac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/3bc359/32.png) [@nivlac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nivlac)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2008, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pointless-flintstones-question/457431/12 "2008-07-23T16:30:53Z")
**Is Fred Flintstone a neanderthal?** Of course not since Neandertals never mastered the technique of capturing a bee in a clam shell to use as a shaver! [That’s my most memorable hilarious bit from the cartoon! 😃] ---
**Author:** ![Kizarvexius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/da6949/32.png) [@Kizarvexius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kizarvexius)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2008, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pointless-flintstones-question/457431/13 "2008-07-23T19:12:20Z")
[QUOTE=Baldwin] It’s usually written Neandertal these days, to go along with the pronunciation. Modern archeological thinking is that the Neandertals never achieved the stone television set – or if they did it was black-and-white, and you had to get up off your stone sofa to change the channel, because they hadn’t mastered the range of small-bird technology that worked so well for Fred. [/QUOTE] I think that this is the best illustration of the “ask-a-silly-question-get-a-silly-answer” phenomenon that I’ve seen all week. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![B\_A\_Bay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/dec6dc/32.png) [@B\_A\_Bay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/B_A_Bay)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2008, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pointless-flintstones-question/457431/14 "2008-07-24T00:45:29Z")
But there are “types” of people on the flintstones. For instance, Betty has both whites in her eyes AND a waist. Wilma has a waist but lacks whites in her eyes. Barny has no white and no waist Fred has whites in his eyes but no waist Pepples has whites in her eyes. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2008, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pointless-flintstones-question/457431/15 "2008-07-24T02:59:07Z")
Classic [Flintstones.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FU1Utwk02Qc&feature=related)