Cut Himself Shaving: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

 

{{quote|'''Theo''': I ran into a door.

 

An unlikely excuse used to explain away a suspicious wound or injury.

 

 

A subversion is the character who really did [[The Klutz|walk into a door]], but everyone assumes they're covering.

In anime and manga, this trope is usually just explained by all characters as "I fell," and keeping it unspecific. This leads to wondering by the characters, as by the reader, "Fell on ''what''?"

 

 

Another variant, found in military fiction and military science fiction, has two men - often an officer and an NCO - engage in a brawl in a nice, quiet, out-of-the-way spot to settle some point of honor, with the unspoken agreement being that each will cover for the other's injuries. This is because in many of these settings, striking a superior officer, regardless of the reason, is an offense worthy of court-martial and with very heavy penalties.

 

{{examples}}

* In the anime ''[[Bleach]]'', the character Uryu Ishida once explains his injuries from a fight with hollows to a classroom by this. To hang a lampshade on this, the class believes he's lying.

* In ''[[Monster (manga)|Monster]]'', when Dr. Tenma finds Dieter on the floor screaming in pain, his legal guardian claims that he fell while standing on a chair. This excuse works for all but thirty seconds before Tenma lifts the boy's shirt and discovers that he is ''covered with scars''.

* Subverted/parodied in ''[[Sayonara, Zetsubou-sensei]]'': Everyone ''assumes'' Kobushi Abiru is a victim of domestic violence, and her name is even [[Meaningful Name|read as]] "a flurry of punches," used in the context of said abuse. {{spoiler|However, her injuries actually stem from her being attacked by animals after pulling their tails.}}

* ''[[Sakura Gari]]'': Masataka explains away the burn mark on his hand that he got from when Katsuragi put his hand in boiling hot tea with "[http://www.mangafox.com/manga/sakura_gari/v03/c009/6.html I got these burns when I was helping out in the kitchen because I was careless with the hot water.]"

** Earlier, when one of the maids [[Interrupted Suicide|catches him holding a knife unusually close to his throat]], he claims to be sharpening his pencil. He's a student, so she believes him. {{spoiler|We later discover that she ''does'' know that Souma has been raping him, however}}.

 

* ''[[Batman]]'' is quite fond of this. For example, in the comics, Bruce Wayne was once in the hospital and the doctor notes that for a supposed lazy [[Millionaire Playboy]], he has considerable scarring (which is from his work as [[Batman]], [[Batman: The Animated Series]], and [[Batman Beyond]]). Wayne responded with:

{{quote|'''Wayne''': I fell from a tree.

'''Doctor''': A tree?

'''Wayne''': Yes, it was a very tall tree. }}

** This was taken to extremes in the 90s comic book arc ''[[Knightfall]]''. In it, then new villain Bane deduces Batman's identity, breaks into the Batcave, battles Batman and ''breaks his back''. In order to explain why Gotham's wealthiest playboy is now paralyzed, they claim that Bruce Wayne was in a car accident, complete with the [[True Companions|Batclan]] going out and totaling one of Bruce Wayne's vehicles. Now ''that's'' dedication.

*** In an odd turn, an ''actual'' shaving cut saved Batman on one occasion in the early comics. As Bruce Wayne, he met and briefly romanced a woman who, unbeknownst to him, was one of the Joker's henchwomen. Later, as Batman, he's about to be shot by the Joker, but she recognizes the shaving cut and [[Taking the Bullet|takes the bullet for him.]]

** In more recent stories, part of Bruce Wayne's public persona includes a fondness for extreme sports. That would plausibly explain some of the scarring.

** There is also the scene from ''[[The Long Halloween]]'' where (while Batman) Bruce gets a scratch on his face from [[Catwoman (comics)|Catwoman]]. When they meet up later for a date (as Bruce and Selina) and Selina asks how he got the scratch, he tells her exactly this.

* In ''[[Jonah Hex]]'' the title character sarcastically gives all sorts of unlikely explanations to his massive facial scarring when asked about it, from the traditional "cut myself shaving" to "my toothpick slipped."

** The first phrase is seen in the trailer for [[Jonah Hex (film)|the live-action film.]]

'''Hex''': Cut myself shaving. What happened to yours? }}

* In an old, '50s-era ''[[Archie Comics]]'' strip, Archie has a black eye. Everyone assumes he got into a fight and lost, despite his vociferous protests. Even his mother doesn't understand how someone could walk into a door. He demonstrates...and blacks his ''other'' eye, prompting him to decide not to leave the house for a week, as no one will believe he walked into ''two'' doors.

* In ''[[The Question]]'', it's a running gag for Victor Sage to have a snappy response when someone notes he has no face (the desired look of his special mask) such as "Dang those safety razors, you really have to watch them."

 

* ''[[Chinatown]]''- when asked about his cut nose, the lead character gives a reply that would fit into the ''[[Chasing Amy]]'' scar comparison scene:

{{quote|Your wife got excited. She crossed her legs a little too quick.}}

'''Top Cat''': But, your hand!

'''Safranek''': That's what I was shaving with, sir. }}

* ''[[Spider-Man (film)|Spider-Man]]'' has Spidey getting a nasty cut from one of Green Goblin's little toys. When Norman Osborn questions Peter about it later at [[Did Mom Just Have Tea with Cthulhu?|Thanksgiving dinner]], Peter claims to have been knocked down by a bike messenger.

* Invoked in ''[[Doctor Strangelove]]''. When Mandrake tells Colonel Guano that General Ripper shot himself in the bathroom, Guano skeptically asks if it was "while he was shaving?"

* Also in ''[[The Dirty Dozen]]'', repeated shenanigans are explained by a character saying "he slipped on a bar of soap." At one point, the chief MP complains that "Everybody's slipping on soap."

* In ''[[The Elephant Man]]'', Anthony Hopkins (a doctor) is called to examine the badly-wounded titular sideshow performer. The circus manager, Bytes, answers that "He fell. He's a clumsy soul. Never looks where he's going, but that's alright. He has me to take care of him." And all the while he's saying this, his sidekick is giving some very meaningful glances at Bytes' walking stick.

* In the movie ''[[Vicky Cristina Barcelona]]'', Vicky tells her husband that she is going to lunch with her professor, when she is actually going to see a man who she is sexually attracted to. While she is at the man's house, his ex-wife shows up with a gun and ends up shooting Vicky in the hand. She tells her husband that her "professor" was showing her the gun when it accidentally went off.

* A [[Inverted Trope|Inversion]] in the interrogation in ''[[Scarface]]'', notable for its [[Bluenose Bowdleriser|Bowdlerised]] rewording (from the infamous "melon farmer" version):

'''Therapist''': Really - I thought you'd be just the type for a widow.

'''Bond''': No, he didn't care for me at all. }}

* ''[[Space Cowboys]]'' has "slipped in the shower" as the explanation of bruises from a fight. (One of the participants even goes :"How did you know?" when asked if this is what happened.)

* ''[[The Waterboy]]'': Bobby tells his Mama a fake story of an escaped gorilla that punched in him eye to cover up his black eye from playing football which Mama forbids.

* In ''[[Stalag 17]]'', the Geneva representative asks Sefton who beat him. Sefton's reply: "Nobody beat me. We were playing pinochle. It's a rough game."

* In the 2010 ''[[The Karate Kid]]'' film, Dre excuses his black eye to Mr. Han as tripping and hitting a pole. Mr. Han responds that it's an "Interesting" pole.

* In ''[[Yellowbeard]]'', a bar fight with Blind Pew leaves the entire tavern littered with corpse.

{{quote|'''Clement:''' What happened?

'''Vernita''': Oh... That good-for-nothing dog of yours got his little ass in the living room and acted a damn fool. That's what happened, baby.

'''Nikki''' (understandably skeptical): Barney did ''this''? }}

{{quote|'''Warder:''' What happened?

'''Boy:''' I fell }}

* In ''[[8 Mile]]'', after getting his ass beat, [[Eminem|Rabbit]] walks into his mom's trailer, and she asks what happened. "I fell down the stairs." [[Blatant Lies|The stairs in front of their house is comprised of only two steps.]]

* When Peter Loew of ''[[Vampire's Kiss]]'' is asked about the bandage covering the bite marks on his neck, he says he cut himself shaving.

* [[The Hunt for Red October]]: An inconvenient political officer "slips on his tea."

* In ''100 Feet'', [[Famke Janssen]]'s character didn't cover for her abusive husband back when he was alive, but when she's under house arrest and getting beaten up by his ghost, she has to resort to these sorts of excuses, since the truth wouldn't be plausible.

 

* In ''[[Keepers Chronicles|Summon the Keeper]]'' by [[Tanya Huff]], the ''Dudley Do Right'' character meets a badly bruised woman who claims she walked into a door. In a subversion, this is, in fact, true and she is pathetically clumsy.

* Heavily parodied in the book ''[[How To Be A Superhero]]'', in which a sidekick explains away rope burns from a supervillain hostage situation to his teacher as him and his adopted father "getting into some really rough stuff." Naturally, this doesn't help the situation.

* In [[Tamora Pierce]]'s [[Tortall Universe]] books, the would-be knights use "I fell down" as the traditional explanation for any injuries obtained while fighting, because it's considered dishonourable to tell on another page or squire. At one point in ''Alanna: The First Adventure,'' when questioned about [[Sweet Polly Oliver|Alan]]'s claim that he "fell down," a servant confirms that, yes, Alan ''did'' fall down... of course, another squire ''helped'' him fall, several times. With his fists.

*** Later in her Squire years, Kel takes a soak in the shared bathrooms after a hard day's training. The women there see her bruises and immediately come to her defense, thinking a man beat her. It takes a while for Kel to convince them that she really DID get those injuries from falling... off her horse, repeatedly, while learning how to Tilt.

** Like the pages' standard excuse of "I fell down" to explain injuries from fighting, the standard excuse given for an argument settled in a jousting match is that the participants had an irresolvable difference of opinions in a philosophical debate.

* [[Douglas Adams]]' ''[[The Meaning of Liff]]'' defines "Sluggan" as a facial bruise caused by walking into a door, but which everyone else assumes is the result of a fight with your partner. There's no point trying to tell them what really happened.

* In ''[[The Great Brain|The Great Brain at the Academy]]'', Tom challenges his rival Rory to a fight. Since they could get expelled for fighting, he says they can go to the dormitory bathroom, no one will see, and Rory can explain his black eye by saying he fell down the stairs.

** Also, after Harry's first detention with Umbridge, he heads back to the Gryffindor dormitory and on his way, Ron intercepts him and asks him how it went. Harry tries to cover up his hand with the words "I must not tell lies" cut into his palm but Ron notices, and doesn't believe Harry when he tells him that "it's nothing".

* In ''[[Dead Air]]'' by [[Iain Banks]], the main character is beaten up by the mob, when his friends question him at work the next day he says that he fell down the stairs and then had the shit beaten out of him.

* In the novel ''Heart'' by Edmondo D'Amici, Enrico's friend and classmate [[The Woobie|Pietro Precossi]] says similar stuff when people ask him about his bruises. Turns out he's being abused by his alcoholic father. Who, to be fair, later swears off the booze. This is [[Older Than Radio]].

* In John Steinbeck's ''[[East of Eden]]'', Adam Trask's wife Cathy walks out and leaves him the parting gift of a bullet in the shoulder. When the sheriff questions him, he says that the gun went off while he was cleaning it. Since Adam is a cavalry officer and a really bad liar, this doesn't really fly.

* In ''[[The English Patient]]'', the title character acquires a number of scars during his affair with Katharine Clifton (ranging from punches to a stabbing with a fork). He explains them away as accidents; the rest of the group seem to believe him, and decide he's incredibly clumsy.

* In [[Simon Green]]'s [[Hawk And Fisher]] series, one-eyed Hawk tells a noblewoman who asks him what became of his eye that he lost it in a card game.

* Subverted in ''[[Dolores Claiborne]]'' by [[Stephen King]]. Although Joe does have a history of beating her, she stopped him from doing so months before. She really, honestly did simply injure herself on accident. But the checkout lady refuses to believe her. However, both her and Joe do use the large bruise to let him save face by ''pretending'' that he gave it to her. It's complicated.

* In the first ''[[Maximum Ride]]'' book, Fang gives this exact explanation to a runaway MIT graduate after he's made the victim of a [[No-Holds-Barred Beatdown]] by Ari.

* In ''[[Kingdom Keepers]]'', Finn has to explain away an injury he got from [[Frickin' Laser Beams]] by saying he was burned by a cigarette by a bully.

* Subverted in ''[[Michael Crichton|Airframe]]''. In one scene, the main character is pushed out of an airplane under inspection in a hangar and lands on some safety netting around it, getting bruised in the process. Later on, when someone else asks her how she got those bruises, she says truthfully (though vaguely) that she fell. The woman who asked the question doesn't believe her and gives her a card to a shelter for battered women.

* In ''[[The Dresden Files]]'' short story ''The Warrior'', Harry saves a girl from being hit by a hybrid car (its near-silent engine meant she didn't hear it coming), and when her mother comes to see what happened, Harry spots a bruise on the girl and asks if he gave it to her when he pulled her out of the car's path. The girl says no, she was bruised when she fell off her bike. Harry then asks how that happened without her scraping her hands. The mother's eyes go wide with realization and she marches the girl promptly back home. Later in the story, Harry learns that the father had been hitting her, and Harry mentioning it meant that the mother was finally going to leave him with her daughter, and that one act saved the girl from a childhood of continued abuse.

* In ''[[The Wasp Factory]]'', Frank mentions a relative who moved to South Africa and died when he walked past a police station and was crushed under a black suspect who had fallen out the window and somehow managed to yank all his fingernails out on the way.

 

* An episode of ''[[The Middle]]'' found Frankie and the family quickly gathering up garbage for the once every two week garbage pick up. Frankie tossed an empty bottle to Sue which accidentally hit Brick in the head. Later at school when asked about the injury, Brick innocently said "My Mom hit me with a beer bottle", not intending it to sound the way it did.

* Happens quite frequently on ''[[Law & Order|Law and Order]]'' (such as in the episode "Family Friend") and its spinoffs.

'''Defense Lawyer:''' Bull.

'''Alex Cabot:''' The only injuries I see are Mr. Gardner's torn knuckles from punching Detective Benson in the face, so unless you want to add the assault of a police officer to the list of charges, I suggest you move on. }}

* ''[[Full House]]'', episode "Silent is Not Golden" has the abused child version.

* [[Lampshade Hanging]]: In the ''[[Foyle's War]]'' episode "Bleak Midwinter," the detective's offsider is framed for a murder. When he's informed that a search of his house turned up a shirt with blood spattered on the cuff, his response is: "[[This Is the Part Where|Is this the bit where]] I'm supposed to say I cut myself shaving?"

* In the ''[[Blackadder]]'' episode "Dish and Dishonesty," he fixes the result of an election by taking the place of the only eligible voter (who "accidentally brutally cut his head off while combing his hair"), and also replacing the returning officer, who "accidentally brutally stabbed himself in the stomach while shaving."

* In ''[[House (TV series)|House]]'', a gangster's head injury is explained by "A tire iron fell on him".

** "He was changing a tire, and it... slipped."

** Played with - In the cold open of a Season 6 episode, a couple are arguing, and it disturbs their neighbour. When the man answers the door, the Woman (Patient of the Week)'s face comes out all bruised. Neighbour of course assumes the obvious, but it's just a symptom

* On the ''[[Angel]]'' episode "Destiny", Spike and Angel have a massive brawl. Upon returning, when Angel shows up bloody and bruised, Fred asks, "What happened?!", and his response is, "I fell down some stairs. Big stairs." When Spike shows up later looking very similar, Fred's response is, "Stairs, huh?"

* British sitcom ''[[Only Fools and Horses]]'' episode "No Greater Love" has this:

'''Rodney:''' ''"A door done all that damage?"''

'''Del Boy:''' ''"Well it was one of those revolving doors."'' }}

* ''[[The Middleman]]'' attempts to use this excuse on Lacey. Since {{spoiler|he was ''bitten by a vampire puppet,''}} it doesn't go over too well.

** Please tell me the above [[Makes Sense in Context]].

* In a rarely-aired episode of ''[[I Love Lucy]]'', Lucy gets a black eye accidentally. She jokingly tells Fred and Ethel "Ricky slugged me!" But they believe her. And not her later protestations.

** This episode had some of the creeeepiest dialogue in the history of the show. "Well, Fred, nobody's going to believe this story. You're probably the only person in history who *actually* got a black eye from walking into a door." Oh, the Fifties - you so crazy!

* On an episode of ''[[Dexter]]'' called "Waiting To Exhale", a gangster named "Little Chino" (see top pic) walks into the police station with a scar {{spoiler|from when Dexter tried to murder him the previous night and failed}}. When questioned about it, he paraphrased this tropes title.

** In a season three episode, Dexter explains away a broken hand that he got {{spoiler|while escaping from the Skinner}} by saying that he fell down some stairs.

{{quote|'''Gilroy:''' ''"Unfortunately, our dear Claude didn't survive his injuries."''

'''Michael:''' ''"He broke his ankle."''

* An episode of ''[[Reba]]'' has Brock showing up with a suspicious injury around his right ear, which he claimed to be a shaving wound, when his wife's dog is missing. He's soon forced to confess that the injury occurred because the dog bit him while he tried to befriend the dog, but insists he never hurt the dog, and is soon cleared of the accusation.

* ''[[Malcolm in the Middle]]'' had an interesting case; Reese had a black eye after Malcolm punched him. Being the tough guy he is, when asked by a lady in the store he made up a bad excuse about how he raised his leg during his sleep, hitting his arm and punching himself. However, after seeing the boy's mother, the lady assumes that she's abusing him.

* In the first ''[[Horatio Hornblower]]'' TV movie, Hornblower is held down and beaten by another midshipman on his ship (a habitual bully and abuser of the other midshipmen). One of the officers sees his injuries, and he claims that he missed his footing and fell down a causeway (basically, he fell down the stairs). When he continues to deny that anybody else was involved, the [[Genre Savvy]] officer orders him to [[Cool and Unusual Punishment|stay up in the rigging]] (exposed to the rather nasty English Channel weather) so that he might "learn to watch his footing".

* An episode of ''[[Degrassi Junior High]]'' subverts this: Joey's injured (from his bike) and keeps talking about child abuse (because he catches Rick being abused), so naturally the Children's Aid people assume his parents beat him.

* In the ''[[Doctor Who]]'' episode "Boom Town", This trope is used for the ludicrous deaths of anyone who might find out the Cardiff reactor is rigged to explode, culminating in:

{{quote|'''Cathy Salt:''' And then just recently Mr. Cleaver, the government's nuclear advisor?

'''Cathy Salt:''' He was decapitated!

'''Margaret Blaine:''' It was a ''very'' icy patch. }}

{{quote|'''Castle''': Well. [[Sarcasm Mode|Thanks for keeping it real.]]}}

** In another episode, Castle and Beckett are abducted by government members and questioned about data the government believes them to possess. They are injected in the neck and returned to their car. (It is set up to appear like an alien abduction, as this is what their current case looks like.)

'''Sherlock:''' It's all a bit of a blur, Detective Inspector. I lost count. }}

* On an episode of ''[[ER]]'', a policeman's wife comes in badly hurt by her husband. Some of his coworkers are witnesses, but won't speak against him because of cop code. Benton shows the abuser's lieutenant her medical records, showing that he's been beating her up for years. While the other cops sill don't give him up, they do beat the shit out of him with the cover story that he fell while chasing a suspect.

* An episode of Dick and Dom in da Bungalow featured Geordie copper Harry Batt in his usual weekly appearance being wheeled in on a wheelchair, covered in bandages and casts and neck brace. His answer? He cut himself shaving.

 

* [[Suzanne Vega]]'s "Luka," a song very obviously about child abuse, runs with the "walked into the door again" approach in amidst claims of being clumsy and recommendations not to ask.

** Complete with [[Lyrical Dissonance]], since the song is very upbeat and happy sounding until you hear the lyrics.

* Some [[Crash Test Dummies]] fans suspect the song "Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm" is really about child abuse. In this interpretation, the girl with "birthmarks all over her body" is actually badly bruised, and claims the injuries are birthmarks in order to shield her abuser.

* Never Again by [[Nickelback]]: "Just tell the nurse, you slipped and fell."

* "Hell Is For Children" by [[Pat Benatar]], a song about [[Abusive Parents]], has the line "Tell grandma you fell off the swing".

 

 

== [[Tabletop Games]] ==

* In an April Fool's issue of the D&D magazine ''[[Dragon (magazine)|Dragon]]'', they showed off the Wandering Damage Tables (since the whole purpose of wandering monsters is to inflict damage points on player characters anyway, why not just eliminate the middleman!). One entry read: "You cut yourself shaving. Roll on the Limb Loss subtable."

 

* In Büchner's play ''[[Woyzeck]]'' ([[Older Than Radio]]), Woyzeck goes to the tavern after stabbing Marie to death. When blood is spotted on his hand, he claims to have cut himself there. Then how did it get on his elbow? He lamely tries to explain, but the crowd has caught on.

 

* The prologue of ''[[Baldur's Gate]]'' features tutors of the character coming up to the character shortly after assassination attempts. The player can choose to be frightened and honest, or dismissive and evasive.

{{quote|"It's nothing, Parda. A--cat didn't like me petting it, is all."}}

* [[Ace Attorney|Detective Gumshoe]] always has a bandage on his jaw, possibly a shaving cut.

* In the adventure ''[[The Black Mirror|Black Mirror]] 2'', the protagonist notices a waitress with bruises on her face. When he asks her about it she says "she fell down the stairs". Darren [[Deadpan Snarker|being who he is]] responds with "And your husband was waiting at the end of the staircase with a baseball bat?"

 

== [[Web Comics]] ==

{{quote|I fell down some stairs. Stairs filled with doorknobs. Doorknobs shaped like fists?}}

* Subverted in [[Questionable Content]], where Hannelore really does just [http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=1207 bump her head]. The officer has good reason to be concerned, though.

* Played with in ''[[Least I Could Do]]''.

{{quote|'''Rayne''': I fell down some stairs.

** And done earlier when Rayne slept with a blonde that was into [[Romanticized Abuse|rough sex]], and went to his mother for comfort.

{{quote|'''Rayne:''' I fell down the stairs. [[Subverted Trope|Some angry and physically abusive stairs]]. [[Crosses the Line Twice|During sex.]]}}

* Parodied in [http://www.lfgcomic.com/page/48 this strip] of ''[[Looking for Group]]''. Richard lights a pirate on fire. When the captain asks him what happened, he (and the pirate) swear that the third-degree burns came from a fall down the stairs.

* Used in ''[[Sam and Fuzzy]]''. Noosehead's manager claims he [http://samandfuzzy.com/682 cut himself shaving.] [[Katanas Are Just Better|With a katana.]]

* In ''[[Bob and George]]'', this is used after a plot device revives dead characters in the Rockman Universe. Bob tells Rock and Dr. Light that they fell down. Rock then questions if Roll fell ''up'', as she's tied to the ceiling. Bob responses that he put her up there to prevent her from falling down.

 

* ''[[Sailor Nothing]]'':

{{quote|Sprained wrist. It's a good thing my powers aren't based on some kind of heart moon wand or something, but it does make it hard to write on school quizzes. Getting my clothes on in the morning also poses some problems, since I can't completely close my hand without shooting pain up my arm. I've taken to taping it tightly, and that helps a bit. I told mom it was a fashionable thing at school now to tape your left hand. She bought it. It's for the best that she bought it.}}

11:16 Ook: Them little bugs what take apart machines?

11:16 Chris:..repeatedly.. }}

* In the zombie parody ''[[Dusk Of The Dead]]'', a survivor has a conversation with a bitten person that goes something like this:

{{quote|"That's a pretty nasty cut."

* In ''[[The Joker Blogs]]'', {{spoiler|Batman is wounded by Harleen's shotgun blast. He escapes and the next day, it's mentioned on the news that Bruce Wayne was in a nasty hunting accident.}}

 

** Then there's the episode where Stewie beats up Brian twice for not paying him some bet money on time. Later Brian comes limping into the living room, covered in bandages, and someone asks him what happened. Stewie makes a threatening gesture and Brian hastily replies that he "fell down the stairs'', prompting Stewie to say "Ooh, you should be more careful!"

* In ''[[Robot Chicken]]'', one comedic short involves a couple at a family abuse help-clinic. The man asks what they could do about their situation, and the clinic official asks: "Well, have you tried Nerf doors?" The couple look at each other for a moment and the man replies: "What about stairs; we're going to need some Nerf stairs too," followed by a nod from the woman.

* Played with in an episode of ''[[American Dad]]'': Roger hits Francine, giving her a black eye, and when the neighbors ask she says (at Roger's insistence) that she walked into a door. She later gets hurt tripping over a mop, and thus when questioned actually says "It was my fault for leaving the mop out". Naturally, this results in the neighbors thinking Stan is beating Francine and calling the police on him.

* In ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]]'', Snake comes into Dr Nick's surgery with a bleeding stomach. His reasoning: "I like, fell onto a bullet, and it like, drove itself into my gut..." Not missing a beat, the receptionist casually ticks off "liquor store robbery" on her clipboard. Dr. Nick tells him to save the stories for the courts and leads him back to the office.

** In another episode, Homer is seen to be choking Bart on TV... with Doctor Hibbert watching. Hibbert remarks something like "So ''that's'' how he got all those bruises on his trachea! Tight bowtie, my ass..."

* The first episode of ''[[King of the Hill]]'' had the subversion. Bobby and Peggy end up with bruises thanks to the non-athletic Bobby throwing around a baseball. A social worker [[Abuse Mistake|assumes that Hank is physically abusive]] and tries to get Bobby taken away, but his supervisor understands the situation and tells him to back off.

** In "Leanne's Saga" Bill begins dating Luanne's mother. When she falls off the wagon, she resorts to her abusive ways and Bill takes the brunt, leading to him showing up in the alley with a black eye. When asked about it, he explains:

'''Dale:''' ''(suspiciously)'' Wait a minute. How was that interesting? }}

* In an episode of ''[[SpongeBob SquarePants]]'', Spongebob walks into the Krusty Krab with a black eye and the others question how he got it. In response, he makes up a bunch of ridiculous stories about fighting this guy from his dream. Eventually he is forced to tell the truth when the guy does show up. The truth: he slipped on a tube of toothpaste and the top hit him in the eye.

 

* People who like BDSM (or just rough sex) run into difficulties with this; it's hard to explain away ("say, these look like whip marks"), and the truth can be very embarrassing. Families and friends can end up conflicted as well.

** Many professional tops advertise their ability to leave marks or not, as the customer prefers, for just this reason.

* Supposedly, legendary manager Casey Stengel, when running one of the horrid New York Mets teams from the early 1960s, saw one of his pitchers in spring training with a bandage on his thumb. When he asked the pitcher what happened, the player responded that he had cut himself shaving. Stengel cut the player, because he couldn't figure out why on earth he'd be shaving his thumb.

* NFL wide receiver Brandon Marshall, who seriously injured his hand when he slipped on a [[McDonald's]] bag and put his hand through a glass TV stand while wrestling with his family. Due to his checkered legal history, many commentators were skeptical of this story, but it ultimately turned out to be true.

** It's more plausible when you know that Aarseth was only wearing underwear at the time.

* In a subversion / possible straight example, Soccer player David Seaman apparently broke a bone reaching for a remote.

* American Comedian Louis CK had a bit about how his daughter got a black eye due to walking into a door, and he coincidentally took her out for ice cream afterward. The other people in the ice cream place gave him dirty looks, assuming he abused his daughter. He exclaimed how offended he was that they thought a black eye was all she would have if he had hit her.

* According to his book ''Growing Up Brady,'' Barry Williams sustained a nasty facial cut in a car accident during the later seasons of ''[[The Brady Bunch]]''. When he reported to the set the next day, the producer slapped a Band-Aid on the cut and decided that Greg Brady had "cut himself shaving." Barry thought, "What does Greg shave with, a lawn mower?"

** "Riding a motorcycle in the shower" and "fell off his tennis racquet" have become popular euphemisms in [[Formula One]] racing to explain why a driver has missed a race due to injuries outside of racing, especially so after a mysterious extra-curricular injury sidelined Juan Montoya a few years ago.

* Self-harmers often use similar excuses - scratches from their cat or dog seem to be a popular excuse.

** Even sport fencers get this sort of thing ''all'' the time. Foil and epeé leave strange little round bruises, saber cuts can look like whip marks, and sometimes it's possible to draw blood despite the protective equipment. We're all very tired of explaining.

* Sufferers of CIPA injure themselves in all sorts of ways, especially when they're too young to know better, because the disease prevents them from feeling pain. Early on, it leads to false accusations of abuse. Later, shaving is one of many activities in which they have to take extreme care.

** Some martial arts with focuses on holds and escaping from holds can result in bruises to the wrists or, in some cases, bruises around the throat. These can look rather nasty.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Injury Tropes]]

[[Category:Mystery Tropes]]