The Simpsons: 10 Moments More Important Than You Realised
6. Don't Stick Your Arm Out The Window
As the grouchy owner of Springfield's military antiques store, Herman Hermann (yes, that is his real name) is one of The Simpsons' most recognisable figures, owing to the fact that he only has one arm.
When Bart first meets him in Season 1, he asks the rather impertinent question of how Herman lost his arm. The store owner replies, implying that it was ripped off by a truck when he stuck it out the window of a bus.
This suitably freaks Bart out, but he probably shouldn't have been too surprised by this tale, as he'd actually heard it before.
In the aforementioned Homer's Odyssey, Bart goes on a field trip with his class to the power plant. Before the children leave on the school bus, Mrs. Krabappel warns them about sticking their appendages out of the window because of a "young man" who had his arm torn off by a truck.
Now who does that sound like?
It's clear that the writers were foreshadowing Herman's appearance with this line, who was meant to play a much bigger role in the series than he actually did. Nonetheless, this is still a neat little tidbit.