# What is Grimace supposed to be? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 26, 2004, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-grimace-supposed-to-be/252265 "2004-06-26T01:31:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![PaulFitzroy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/2acd7d/32.png) [@PaulFitzroy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PaulFitzroy)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2004, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-grimace-supposed-to-be/252265/1 "2004-06-26T01:31:25Z")
What the hell is the Mcdonald’s character Grimace supposed to be? He looks like a giant eggplant, but I’m not aware of any Mcdonald’s items involving eggplants. Is he supposed to be a blob of jelly? Is he intended to represent the obese person you will become if you eat too much Mcdonalds’? ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2004, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-grimace-supposed-to-be/252265/2 "2004-06-26T01:34:38Z")
The Perfect Master has covered this before: [http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a940429.html](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a940429.html) ---
**Author:** ![Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2004, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-grimace-supposed-to-be/252265/3 "2004-06-26T02:20:12Z")
He’s not Grimace. He is properly The Grimace. [This is absolutely deranged (not safe for work because of the noise)](http://www.nothingcankillthegrimace.com/). ---
**Author:** ![stockton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5a626/32.png) [@stockton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stockton)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2004, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-grimace-supposed-to-be/252265/4 "2004-06-26T03:46:25Z")
IIRC, he also USED to have pockets across his front. 6 or 8 of them. My mad (inept) googling skills can’t find the cite right now, but the mofo used to have pockets on his chest and belly. \Man, that’s some serious Pufinstuf shit goin’ on there \ ---
**Author:** ![Hyperelastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Hyperelastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hyperelastic)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2004, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-grimace-supposed-to-be/252265/5 "2004-06-26T04:42:10Z")
**Grimace** is a fat, purple sonofabitch, just like \*\* Barney\*\*. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2004, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-grimace-supposed-to-be/252265/6 "2004-06-26T06:01:42Z")
> [@stockton](#): > > IIRC, he also USED to have pockets across his front. 6 or 8 of them. My mad (inept) googling skills can’t find the cite right now, but the mofo used to have pockets on his chest and belly. I don’t know about pockets but [he had six arms](http://www.mentalsewage.com/loser/14.html). The better to steal milkshakes with. ---
**Author:** ![Grimace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3e96dc/32.png) [@Grimace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grimace)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2004, 11:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-grimace-supposed-to-be/252265/7 "2004-06-26T11:14:24Z")
Well, since he’s my namesake (long story) I had the urge to find out myself one day with a friend of mine, my step daughter and his two kids. I prodded my stepdaughter (the little angel) to ask the counter person, “What is Grimace?” After a blank eyed stare that turned into a deer in the headlights look, he ran and got the manager. The manager told me that, “He’s a big purple guy who spreads friendship and love with his shakes.” After he recieved non believing looks from the 5 of us, he relented and said, “You’re not buying that are you?” and of course we replied that yes, we weren’t buying it. He then proceeded to shove a large handful of coupons for free items in our hands in an effort to make us quickly vacate the premises. Sadly, it gained me no more information than when I walked into the store. While the Master got information for his atricle, I smell a conspiracy. ---
**Author:** ![rfgdxm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c0e974/32.png) [@rfgdxm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rfgdxm)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2004, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-grimace-supposed-to-be/252265/8 "2004-06-26T13:07:45Z")
What the Master missed is that he used to be the “Evil Grimace”. [http://www.mentalsewage.com/loser/14.html](http://www.mentalsewage.com/loser/14.html) I remember him being called exactly that in commercials decades ago. The “Evil” was dropped later. ---
**Author:** ![iwakura43](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de0a6/32.png) [@iwakura43](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iwakura43)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2004, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-grimace-supposed-to-be/252265/9 "2004-06-26T13:30:37Z")
If the “Evil” was dropped, wouldn’t Grimace be just Grimace, and not The Grimace? Say you heard somebody talking about “the evil Bill Gates”; same grammatic structure Grimace got, but it wouldn’t make him “the Bill.” Yes? ---
**Author:** ![percypercy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8baadc/32.png) [@percypercy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/percypercy)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2004, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-grimace-supposed-to-be/252265/10 "2004-06-26T17:44:17Z")
The whole “the” thing is yet another connection between The Grimace and Donald Trump. -Lil ---
**Author:** ![stockton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5a626/32.png) [@stockton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stockton)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2004, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-grimace-supposed-to-be/252265/11 "2004-06-27T00:02:50Z")
…and I am somewhat vindicated on my fuzzy memory: “Originally, I think he had pockets/pouches, in which he stowed his pilfered milkshakes.” from a google search that landed me on a different (Snopes) message board with a similar question. The Six Arms Theory™ is also confirmed here: [http://www.snopes.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get\_topic;f=2;t=009298;p=1](http://www.snopes.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=2;t=009298;p=1) Enjoy the read, but don’t cross-post - I think inbreeding with other MBs is extremely frowned upon here. ---
**Author:** ![jimmmy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/73ab20/32.png) [@jimmmy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jimmmy)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2004, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-grimace-supposed-to-be/252265/12 "2004-06-27T00:06:51Z")
Is anyone even mildly surprised that Micky Dees keeps the name? I mean Grimace means: A sharp contortion of the face associated with disgust, pain or contempt. ([Dictionary.com](http://Dictionary.com)). There are no other meanings. How about a lovable character for kids named “Sneer” or “Rictus”? It just seems so odd to me that they keep the name. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2004, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-grimace-supposed-to-be/252265/13 "2004-06-27T17:43:00Z")
Grimace is a big chunky fellow working as an assistant manager at a Rosen hotel somewhere in Central Florida. [See here.](http://www.geocities.com/dutchboy208/stuff.html) ---
**Author:** ![Chotii](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/71e660/32.png) [@Chotii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chotii)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2004, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-grimace-supposed-to-be/252265/14 "2004-06-27T18:23:55Z")
> [@rfgdxm](#): > > What the Master missed is that he used to be the “Evil Grimace”. > > [http://www.mentalsewage.com/loser/14.html](http://www.mentalsewage.com/loser/14.html) > > I remember him being called exactly that in commercials decades ago. The “Evil” was dropped later. Well, for that matter, the Hamburglar used to be Evil, the Fry Guys used to be Evil, and frankly, they needed Big Mac the policeman, and Mayor McCheese, to keep civil order! Of course, Grimace and the Hamburglar turned over a new leaf and they’re now cute and fuzzy, kind of like those execrable Disney Babies. You never see Mayor McCheese anymore or Big Mac. You do see Birdie the Early Bird, who gets up early to buy McDonald’s breakfasts. That’s about it. Of course _my_ memories of Grimace stem from a time in about 1979, when my parents, who were then McDonald’s franchisees in the small town of Colville, Washington, paid the medical bills for some stupid little boy who climbed up the outside of the Grimace rocker-toy in the playland (this toy was a grimace-shaped cage of sorts on a heavy platform, standing on huge springs) and tried to fly. He broke his arm. Despite the fact there were signs all over saying ‘do not climb up the outside of the structures’ and ‘we will not be held responsible for injuries incurred’, my folks ponied up anyway, just to fend off any possibility of a lawsuit. The McDonald’s corporation may well have bottomless pockets, but franchisees as a general rule do not, and the economy at the end of the Carter administration, with its double-digit inflation, sucked pretty bad in the little logging town we called home. ---
**Author:** ![PigBoy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/97f17d/32.png) [@PigBoy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PigBoy)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2004, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-grimace-supposed-to-be/252265/15 "2004-06-27T18:28:48Z")
All I know is that Grimace was rightfully elected as the class president of my ninth grade, but The Man voided all votes for him. VOTE GRIMACE