Sure, it’s a thing. A movie by Romero and written by Stephen King. There may have been A Creepshow 2.
The show was a collection of short stories.
I don’t think “a thing” means what you think it does.
ETA: cheese
I was just saying that maybe how the story was spread around. I understand he was talking about real events. I have never heard of it in real life.
And the cheese comment is just rude. IMO
it was, yes - I am bad.
A little extra cheese on top is always a welcome addition, I always say. YMMV.
Exactly. This was a thing in the 1940s, the idea of arm loss while driving.
Burma Shaves signs died by the 1960s. My grandfather had one of the books mentioned in the Wiki below, which is how I knew this verse. (I remembered “elbow” as “arm”, but still same slogan.)
Sideswipe is what I wrote. As others have noted, the shape of cars have changed significantly in recent years.
It may be in Olden Times, when one recounted their lost-arm story, the loss of the car wasn’t considered worth mentioning, or it was assumed.
But, yeah, I can see this being more of a thing back when cars were newer.
I never heard of this while growing up. We did get told that you should never stick your head out a school bus window because kids got decapitated that way, though.
Pretty common in dense urban zones, where streets are narrow. Common street smarts around here is to fold your mirror in when you park on narrow 2 way streets, as parked cars get theirs torn off, whereas 2 vehicles going opposite ways might just have mirrors fold in? It also gives 2 drivers passing each other a “bit” more room:eek: Todays mirrors are expensive to replace. I forget if the folding mirrors are mandated for pedestrian contact? Heres a thread.
https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/archive/index.php/t-770408.html
There was also the case of the drunk driver nearby Atlanta, who hit something and decapitated his best friend who had hit head out the window, to puke? Anyway he didn’t notice and pulled in his driveway and went inside to sleep thinking his buddy was passed out. He didn’t realize what went down till the next morning.
This is sobering… I have a small convertible roadster car, a BMW Z3, and am frequently in the habit of hanging my left elbow over the door sill with the top down while cruising. Not in traffic, but the truly open road should be safe?
I’ve lost 14 arms from this kind of reckless driving.
In my circle of friends we found many strange and unusual ways to injure ourselves but this was never one of them. The closest we came was one fellow who smashed his hand all to heck on a mailbox but he stuck his hand out intending on slapping the box on purpose. Oh — and that one guy who used to stiff-arm the kick-pedal of his Harley until the day it backfired and shattered his arm. Like I said ----- we found ways. If this was indeed a thing I would put some on the old bench seats we all had back then and how close to the door you could sit. My 59 wagon, when I rested my arm (bent to keep my Camel handy) out the window, at least 80% of it was in the wind. With the bucket seats and how my Subaru sits I am lucky if the elbow itself is totally clear. Makes it harder to get a good smashing.
I call BS!!!
I suppose it’s been a thing since the first cars. Here’s a video of a ‘how’ & graphic after photo from Brasil posted a couple weeks ago.
This
There’s been more than one of these. The first one that came to mind was The Hand (1981), made by a young pre-Platoon, pre-JFK Oliver Stone and starring Michael Caine as a cartoonist who loses his right hand to a passing truck (He’s in the passenger seat, waving a car around). It’s notable as having the most wonderfully ludicrous-looking moving hand of any animated amputated hand movie – the problem is that hands oughtn’t to be able to move very fast (they crawl on five fingers), but Caine’s hand goes almost shooting aroun the room. It’s fast.
Then there’s the “Disembodied Hand” episode in Dr. Terror’s House of Horrors (1965). I suspect this is the one you’re thinking of. Painter Michael Gough (Batman’s butler Alfred in the Tim Burton movies) is opposed by Evil Art Critic Christopher Lee, who runs over the painter, effectively amputating his hand. The painter commits suicide, but his hand revenges itself on the critic, ultimately forcing him into a traffic accident where he loses his eyes.
There are lots of other disembodied hand movies, but I can’t think of any others where it’s the result of a car accident. There’s the 1946 movie The Beast with Five Fingers in which the hand belonged to a concert pianist (played by Victor Francen) who gets poisoned, falls down the stairs, and breaks his neck. No cars involved. In fact, no obvious cutting off of the hand.
^^^thanks.
On anything in particular, or just a general railing against the world?