Smell what the Rock is quoting.

May 11, 2005 10:56 AM

What is the origin of the line: "You're already dead, you just don't know it yet."

Unfortunately I most recently saw it spoken by Chris Walken's character at the end of a bar fight in The Rundown starring The Rock. I've heard it or seen it before, I just don't know where... yet.

posted by clunkyrobot to Media & Arts (13 answers total)

"They're all dead, they just don't know it yet." is said by Brandon Lee's character in The Crow.
posted by squidlarkin at 11:00 AM on May 11, 2005

Yeah. I think his character's name is Eric Draven.
posted by Specklet at 11:06 AM on May 11, 2005

Sources lead me to believe that this phrase first appeared in an anime called "Fist of the North Star", also known as "Hokuto no Shinken". Although it really sounds like a zombie-oriented b-movie line...
posted by Aquaman at 11:29 AM on May 11, 2005

Hee! Fist of the North Star, I read that manga years ago. Kenshiro had these multifisted attacks where he'd punch the bad guy, leaving him stunned. The bad guy would insult Ken's fighting skills because he'd still be standing after Ken's attack.
Ken would say "You're already dead" and then immediately the bad guy would collapse from horrible internal injuries or he'd just explode.

The Crow does seem like a better source for the quote though.
posted by gnat at 11:39 AM on May 11, 2005

It's also in Pokemon and in T2. I'm betting it's fairly common; I'd expected it in some mob movies also.
posted by Tuwa at 11:40 AM on May 11, 2005

I second (or third or fourth) The Crow:

Eric Draven: He was already dead. He died one year ago the moment he touched her. They're all dead. They just don't know it yet.
posted by icontemplate at 12:17 PM on May 11, 2005

Maybe I'm wrong but I would have thought that it was a bit more traditional than The Crow - I'd be surprised if there weren't similar paraphrases in books. No, I h'ain't got any links. maybe I've just heard similar many times - maybe it was coopted somehow
posted by peacay at 12:22 PM on May 11, 2005

Fist of the North Star has that exact phrasing and was what sprung to mind first.
posted by fishfucker at 12:36 PM on May 11, 2005

also predates the crow by several years -- whether or not FOTS had any influence on the usage *you* saw, well, that's a different manner. I suspect the phrase is generic enough that it'd be hard to recognize a single antecedent.
posted by fishfucker at 12:37 PM on May 11, 2005

I don't know why, but that sounds like one of those Fight Club-isms.
posted by jerseygirl at 2:32 PM on May 11, 2005

Way older than The Crow. One of the characters in RAH's The Moon is a Harsh Mistress has the approximate line: "If I ever stop noticing pretty girls bury me, I'm dead and I just don't know it yet."
posted by Mitheral at 2:54 PM on May 11, 2005

I'm sure millions of people have thought or expressed this idea independent of one another.
posted by foraneagle2 at 5:47 PM on May 11, 2005

Earlier still: In the Alley Oop comic strip, certainly no later than 1959, Alley whacked a brontosaurus on the head with his stone ax, the beast remained standing, the girl asked why it didn't fall down, and Alley said "He's dead, he just doesn't know it yet."
posted by KRS at 12:21 PM on May 13, 2005