# What's So Bad About Being "Fish Eyed" (Sanford & Son) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 27, 2011, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-so-bad-about-being-fish-eyed-sanford-son/583473 "2011-05-27T19:27:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2011, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-so-bad-about-being-fish-eyed-sanford-son/583473/1 "2011-05-27T19:27:03Z")
I was watching _Sanford & Son_ and Aunt Esther was hitting Fred with her purse calling him a “fish eyed fool.” While this is hysterically funny, what exactly is so bad about being fish-eyed? ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2011, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-so-bad-about-being-fish-eyed-sanford-son/583473/2 "2011-05-27T19:35:44Z")
It means your eyes are disproportionately farther apart compared to most people, and thus, your face is oddly proportioned in one way. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2011, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-so-bad-about-being-fish-eyed-sanford-son/583473/3 "2011-05-27T19:37:15Z")
[Flounder](http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-vzDa581Dccs/TZySxubEGvI/AAAAAAAAI7E/zR9tMcMbKIM/s1600/flounder.jpg) Fish eyes are big and they don’t blink, so it’s just kind of creepy. Plus, “fish eyed fool” just sounds good as an insult. Gorillas are beautiful creatures (from certain angles and at a distance) but Fred telling Esther “we oughtta shove your face in some dough and make gorilla cookies!” was also funny. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2011, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-so-bad-about-being-fish-eyed-sanford-son/583473/4 "2011-05-27T19:42:57Z")
Robber: “You just keep quite, Frog-Face!” Sanford: “Who you callin’ ‘Frog-Face?’” [gangster points gun] Sanfor: “RIBBIT! RIBBIT! RIBBIT!” ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2011, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-so-bad-about-being-fish-eyed-sanford-son/583473/5 "2011-05-27T22:05:56Z")
Anything Esther says to Fred is an insult. Anything Fred says to Lamont is an insult. Ya big dummy! ---
**Author:** ![AppallingGael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9bd4f/32.png) [@AppallingGael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AppallingGael)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2011, 7:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-so-bad-about-being-fish-eyed-sanford-son/583473/6 "2011-05-28T07:53:51Z")
There was a line from “Adelaide’s Lament” in _Guys and Dolls_ that went “when you’re tired of getting that fisheye from the hotel clerk, a poyson can develop a cold”. I take it to mean a look of disapproval on some grounds or other. Maybe Esther resented being looked disapprovingly at by one she considered a fool. ---
**Author:** ![malbuff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecb155/32.png) [@malbuff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/malbuff)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2013, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-so-bad-about-being-fish-eyed-sanford-son/583473/7 "2013-04-10T14:39:50Z")
> [@Markxxx](#): > > I was watching _Sanford & Son_ and Aunt Esther was hitting Fred with her purse calling him a “fish eyed fool.” While this is hysterically funny, what exactly is so bad about being fish-eyed? “Fish-eyed” is like pop-eyed or bug-eyed, she’s just picking on one of his physical features and insulting him about it, the same way he does with hers. If it wasn’t his eyes, it’d be his ears, nose, or whatever. I remember her calling him a “old pickle-eyed weasel” on at least one occasion, too. With the great ones, it ain’t what they say anyway, it’s the way they say it. Foxx and Lawanda could be reading the phone book to each other and it would still be hilarious. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2013, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-so-bad-about-being-fish-eyed-sanford-son/583473/8 "2013-04-10T18:37:13Z")
Fred to Esther: “We oughtta dip your face in some dough and make gorilla cookies!” She also made “You old heathen!” sound like a four letter word. [Lobby card](http://www.feastoffun.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/bronzegoddess.jpg) for Lawanda “Aunt Esther” Page during her days as an exotic dancer. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2013, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-so-bad-about-being-fish-eyed-sanford-son/583473/9 "2013-04-10T19:01:44Z")
> [@AppallingGael](#): > > “when you’re tired of getting that fisheye from the hotel clerk, a poyson can develop a cold”. I had to read this twice to make sure it wasn’t “poisson”. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2013, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-so-bad-about-being-fish-eyed-sanford-son/583473/10 "2013-04-10T19:10:40Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > I had to read this twice to make sure it wasn’t “poisson”. Yeux would think that. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2013, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-so-bad-about-being-fish-eyed-sanford-son/583473/11 "2013-04-11T03:44:00Z")
> [@AppallingGael](#): > > There was a line from “Adelaide’s Lament” in _Guys and Dolls_ that went “when you’re tired of getting that fisheye from the hotel clerk, a poyson can develop a cold”. I take it to mean a look of disapproval on some grounds or other. Maybe Esther resented being looked disapprovingly at by one she considered a fool. In the song’s context, I always took it to mean being looked at askance. Not being looked as directly, but from the corner of his eyes, suspiciously. ---
**Author:** ![Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/face_intentionally_left_blank/32/288_2.png) [@Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Face_Intentionally_Left_Blank)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2013, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-so-bad-about-being-fish-eyed-sanford-son/583473/12 "2013-04-11T03:51:20Z")
Another way to say “wall-eyed”? Think Marty Feldman.