Question: Bobby jokes that he might "keep a place" in Wichita Falls "for tax purposes." What does that mean?
The Father, the Son and J.C. - S6-E5
Question: After Jimmy Carter leaves, Cotton says something like "hen-pecked by the oh-peck." What does he mean?
Answer: He says "henpecked by OPEC." OPEC is the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries. Henpecked is an insult, usually about a man whose wife is constantly ordering him around and belittling of him, and implies the man is too weak to stand up to her. Cotton is saying Jimmy Carter was too weak to stand up against OPEC. Jimmy Carter often is blamed for the 1979 energy crisis.
Question: Two questions about Nancy and John Redcorn's affair. First, has it ever been explained why Nancy had an affair for so long and didn't leave Dale? Her relationship with John seemed to be more than just fun. Also, have the show's creators ever said why they didn't do an episode where Dale finds out about the affair?
Answer: In one episode, Nancy says that she loves Dale "in a 'lights-on' sort of way." She feels some type of love and affection for him. It could be a case of her wanting to "have it all." Dale, who doesn't make a lot of money and has low self-confidence, will help care for Joseph and the home, giving Nancy more time to have a passionate affair with John Redcorn.
Answer: Nancy's and John's relationship was based solely on a physical one. they both seem to agree that THAT was the way things were and nothing more could come from it. The reason why there was never an episode of Dale finding out is cause it was one of the shows running gags.
Transnational Amusements Presents: Peggy's Magic Sex Feet - S4-E23
Question: Hank says that Boomhauer has known Peggy longer than he has. How did Boomhauer and Peggy meet first?
Answer: There are inconsistencies with Peggy's history throughout the show. However, it seems consistent that she met Hank and the others during high school. My guess is that Boomhauer met her at school before the others did, and/or maybe they lived in the same neighborhood.
Answer: It is never mentioned.
Question: Trying to remember the episode where Peggy damn near kills herself competing with Minh over who donates the most blood.
Answer: "The Buck Stops Here", s05e02.
Question: Should the bank clerk have told Dale how much money Bill actually had in his account? Aren't they only supposed to inform you that the person does not have enough funds to pay the check?
Answer: At a bank where I worked, no, we were not supposed to reveal how much money a person did have in their account. But almost every workplace has employees who are new and/or careless, and they do things that they are not supposed to do.
Question: At the beginning of the episode, John Redcorn pretends that he is at the Gribble's house because he has gingko biloba for Nancy's headaches. Peggy seems awkward and makes the "Uh-huh, sure, I've heard of that" comment. She doesn't yet know about John and Nancy having an affair - she finds out later in this episode - so why is she uncomfortable at this point?
Answer: I think Peggy was pretending to already know something about the herb that John mentioned, gingko biloba. She often wants to appear intellectual and wise about many subjects.
Question: I am missing something here. Hank won't give Dale any gas for his mower, because the mower won't start anyway. Then, when Dale shows his new mower to the guys, he says that he pushed the old one into a lake "three months ago." It doesn't seem like three months has passed between the scenes. So Dale either asked for gas when the old mower was gone anyway, or else he lied about pushing the old mower into a lake. Why?
Answer: I don't think that Dale actually pushed his old mower into a lake. He is feeling smug and proud about his new mower, so he acts like he doesn't care about old one. He might as well have pushed it into a lake, since he has the great new mower.
Question: How can Dale be so oblivious to the fact that Joseph isn't his biological son or that Nancy cheated on him with John Redcorn considering in one episode Dale actually caught them both in bed together.
Answer: In addition to Brian Katcher's response: it's supposed to be a joke that Dale is always suspicious about conspiracy theories, mysteries, etc, but he is "clueless" about his own wife having an affair. Of course, as Brian wrote, many fans think that Dale is pretending to be clueless because he doesn't want Nancy to leave him.
Answer: That's the shtick. Everyone in town knows that Dale's wife is seeing John behind his back and that Joseph is obviously really John's son, but Dale is completely oblivious (he's not that smart of a man). In one episode, Dale even says he's not homophobic because 'John Redcorn is gay, and he's one of my closest friends.' Of course there is a fan theory that Dale is completely aware of what's going on but chooses to ignore it out of fear of his marriage ending.
Also, if Dale *does* know about the affair, what choice does he have anyway? Explain to everyone he meets that Nancy is his wife, and Joseph is her son from her boyfriend? If he wants to stay with Nancy, then raising Joseph as his own child is slightly less awkward. Especially while Joseph is younger. I know of one man who did this. It was obvious that his wife had an affair, and "his" younger daughter had been fathered by someone of a different race. An "elephant in the room" situation.
Question: Hank states that Weird Al Yankovic shot himself in the '80s, which is not correct, and seems to be a deliberate "mistake." What joke am I missing?
Answer: I thought it was he deliberately lied about Weird Al so Bobby wouldn't look up to and try to imitate him.
Answer: Hank is out of touch with pop culture and Yankovic had kind of faded from the public view in 1997. Hank's just confusing him with some other obscure singer.
Death of a Propane Salesman (2) - S3-E1
Question: Why does Kahn act so emotional about Buckley (especially when he criticizes Luanne for not crying)? Even though he says that he sought Buckley out and got to know him, there haven't been any signs of him befriending Buckley until now.
Answer: Because Kahn doesn't like Hank and Buckley annoyed Hank so much.
Answer: Mainly, Kahn wants to annoy Hank by praising Buckley, because Hank did not like Buckley. Also, when a person dies (or some other tragedy happens), there are often people who "use" the incident to get attention for themselves. They act like they are more involved/close than they really are. At least in my experience.
Question: I don't know much about cars. Will someone explain what is humorous about Tammi wrecking a Chevette (her mother's) instead of a Corvette?
Answer: The Chevette was a short-lived, small, economically friendly hatchback. The Corvette was about 3-4 times more expensive new. While the names are similar, they didn't have anything in common other than being manufactured by Chevrolet. The Chevette name was basically meant to mean "baby Chevrolet" since it was so small and not a "baby Corvette." It's unlikely Tammi's mom would have been able to afford a Corvette.
Question: Has there ever been any clear indication that Luanne does or doesn't know about Nancy and John Redcorn's affair?
Answer: Yes! In Peggy's Headache when Hank told Luanne her aunt had her headaches cured by John Redcorn and she gasp and he told her to stop that and put her face back the way it was before someone sees it. She knew then. All the adults knew.
Death of a Propane Salesman (2) - S3-E1
Question: The inspector/official Dale talks to wears a jacket with the initials RRC on it - what do they stand for?
Answer: Texas Railroad Commission. They're the agency that regulate the oil and natural gas industry, natural gas utilities, pipeline safety, and safety of the liquefied petroleum gas industry.
Question: Does Joseph know or at least suspect who his biological father really is?
Question: Hank bears no resemblance to his father, but strongly resembles his mother. Bobby bears no resemblance to Hank (or seemingly Peggy), but bears a strong resemblance to Hank's father. Is it actually possible for a person to bear such a strong resemblance to one of their Grandparents if they are only getting half their genes from that Grandparent's child and that child bears no resemblance to that particular parent?
Answer: It's also said genetics plays a part here. You can look like an ancestor more than a parent. I myself look nothing like either of mine nor do any of my 3 siblings: older brother, older sister, younger sister.
Chosen answer: The short answer is "yes", it is possible to resemble your Grandparent even if your parent doesn't resemble your Grandparent. The old adage is "it's not like mixing paint", meaning combining genes doesn't always get the same result. It's why full siblings don't always look exactly alike even though they have the same genetic makeup. I look next to nothing like my paternal grandmother but I have a child that greatly resembles her.
Is it a mistake then that Hank's Japanese half-brother strongly resembles him, and by extension Hank's mother, or is that still a small possibility?
Sort of. These are animated characters, and the style of animation isn't particularly detailed. The resemblance between the two is played up for laughs. But there are plenty of real life examples of people that aren't related at all but greatly resemble one another. Famous examples are Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Javier Bardem, or Will Ferrell and Chad Smith.
Question: What possessed Nancy to cheat on Dale? That and why would they think this is funny?
Answer: It's not uncommon in real life for spouses to be unhappy in their marriage and resort to extramarital affairs. I haven't seen every episode of this show yet, but the vibe I get is that it's not so much funny that she cheats on Dale, but how painfully oblivious Dale is to it, to the point where he can't even tell Joseph is obviously John Redcorn's son and not his.
The main joke is that Dale is so fascinated with mysteries, the paranormal, conspiracy theories, etc, he is too busy to notice his wife having an affair. He does not see the "conspiracy" of Nancy and John, happening right in his own home.
Answer: Nancy has stated that she loves Dale "in a 'lights-on' sort of way" (season three - "Peggy's Headache"), and other episodes make it clear she cares about him. It could be a case of her "having the cake and wanting to eat it, too." She can enjoy her affair with Redcorn while Dale takes care of Joseph, due to him not always working much. Perhaps she needs an escape from Dale's reckless adventures and conspiracy theories. An affair is not a good way to deal with this, in my opinion, but there are people who do it.
Question: At work, when Buck first sees Hank's bleached blonde hair, he says "You look like the fella who killed the other fella." Is this a reference to any real-life crime?
Answer: No, it's just a throw-away joke.
Answer: Maybe he just watched Fargo.
Hank's Back - S8-E20
Question: Yogi Victor tells Hank "Lunch is one of the worst things you can do to yourself." Does this have any real-life basis in yoga practice, or is it just a personal belief of his?
Answer: Perhaps he's one of those who believes in keeping their eating limited to stay healthy or he could be anorexic or bulimic.
I don't think he is anorexic or bulimic. He seems quite proud of himself and his opinions, and he confidently flirts with a woman in his class. If I am correct, people with eating disorders tend to have low self-esteem. They also feel disgusted with themselves and hide their unusual eating habits.
Question: Hank sees Luanne watching Monsignor Martinez on TV and asks, "Why is the Pope..." and Luanne corrects him, "That's not the Pope, that's the Monsignor Martinez." What episode is this from?
Answer: That's from S2xE23, Propane Boom (1) at about 00:08:30.
Answer: Mortgage interest on a second home was a tax deduction allowed by the IRS in 1997. Because this deduction primarily benefited high income individuals, Bobby's statement might have been meant to imply that he had a large income and might benefit from such a tax scheme.