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Land of Black Gold: How does McPhee knows the Thom(p)son are policemen?

#1 · Posted: 17 Jun 2007 06:24

Hey y'all,
Scene: Jock McPhee enters Thompson and Thomson's cabin; he sees Thom(p)son's shoes and somehow figures out that he is Police.

Can anyone explain this?

Tintin Quiz
Member

#2 · Posted: 17 Jun 2007 16:10

motheroftintin:

Can anyone explain this?

They wear hobnail boots, typically used by police and military.

mct16
Member

#3 · Posted: 12 Mar 2008 20:00

Tintin Quiz:

hobnail boots, typically used by police and military.

Policemen traditionally wore them because they were long-lasting, what with all the walking the beat they have to do.
Of course, any decent undercover detective would have replaced them with standard shoes.

skater95
Member

#4 · Posted: 17 Mar 2012 04:31

Tintin Quiz:

They wear hobnail boots

That's really interesting, thanks for posting! I read the article linked by Tintin Quiz and it said that those shoes tended to slide on smooth, hard surfaces. Perhaps this contributed to some of the Thom(p)son's spectacular falls :)

Furienna
Member

#5 · Posted: 19 Mar 2012 10:01

I never thought about it, but yeah, shoes with hob-nails would be ideal for walking on ice, but not for walking on many other surfaces. So yes, wearing them all the time would make the Thompsons more likely to fall.

Blistring_Barnacles
Member

#6 · Posted: 26 Mar 2012 05:24

I bet it especially works on those shiny hospital floors, like in Calculus Affair. :)

mct16:

Of course, any decent undercover detective would have replaced them with standard shoes.

But then, the Thom(p)sons are hardly decent undercover detectives. :)

snowybella
Member

#7 · Posted: 21 Apr 2017 11:25

Blistring_Barnacles:

like in Calculus Affair. :)

In Calculus Affair when they were in disguise, their shoes didn't have nails all over the bottom, so I wonder how they slipped?

mct16
Member

#8 · Posted: 21 Apr 2017 17:11

In the scene in the book when they fall over you can see hobnails on the outer rim of the soles of their shoes. They do not cover the whole soles, maybe some design of the time.

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