Examples of “Losing One’s Shit”, please.
February 4, 2025 5:12 AM Subscribe
I am looking for written examples of what good people say when they have been pushed beyond what they can handle. Real-life and fiction are both okay. I am looking for something articulate and compelling and **righteously** angry, where the listener’s response is “Oh, I have gone too far!”
Please don’t look in this thread if this kind of thing will bother you.
I’m not looking for details of trauma, I’m looking for what people say when they’re really angry. A real-life example from Ask A Manager.
I’m not looking for details of trauma, I’m looking for what people say when they’re really angry. A real-life example from Ask A Manager.
"I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore!!" [americanrhetoric]
posted by HearHere at 6:08 AM on February 4 [7 favorites]
posted by HearHere at 6:08 AM on February 4 [7 favorites]
Best answer: This is probably not really along the lines of what you are looking for, because it does sound like you are looking for something more modern, but I immediately thought of Elizabeth Bennet responding to Mr. Darcy's horribly delivered marriage proposal given essentially on the heels of telling her he crushed her sister's spirit on purpose. For a woman of very trained manners, intelligent, witty and with good self-control, and in a world where very little is said forthrightly, I would say that this is her absolutely losing her shit. He, in turn, does seem to acknowledge his error:
Elizabeth felt herself growing more angry every moment; yet she tried to the utmost to speak with composure when she said -- “You are mistaken, Mr Darcy, if you suppose that the mode of your declaration affected me in any other way, than as it spared me the concern which I might have felt in refusing you, had you behaved in a more gentleman-like manner."
She saw him start at this, but he said nothing, and she continued, "You could not have made me the offer of your hand in an possible way that would have tempted me to accept it."
Again his astonishment was obvious; and he looked at her with an expression of mingled incredulity and mortification. She went on.
"From the very beginning, from the first moment I may almost say, of my acquaintance with you, your manners impressing me with the fullest belief of your arrogance, your conceit, and your selfish disdain for the feelings of others, were such as to form that ground-work of disapprobation, on which succeeding events have built so immovable a dislike; and I had not known you a month before I felt that you were the last man in the world whom I could ever be prevailed upon to marry."
"You have said quite enough, madam. I perfectly comprehend your feelings, and now have only to be ashamed of what my own have been. Forgive me for having taken up so much of your time, and accept my best wishes for your health and happiness.”
And with these words he hastily left the room, and Elizabeth heard him the next moment open the front door and quit the house.
Pride and Prejudice, Chapter 34
posted by fennario at 6:10 AM on February 4 [12 favorites]
Elizabeth felt herself growing more angry every moment; yet she tried to the utmost to speak with composure when she said -- “You are mistaken, Mr Darcy, if you suppose that the mode of your declaration affected me in any other way, than as it spared me the concern which I might have felt in refusing you, had you behaved in a more gentleman-like manner."
She saw him start at this, but he said nothing, and she continued, "You could not have made me the offer of your hand in an possible way that would have tempted me to accept it."
Again his astonishment was obvious; and he looked at her with an expression of mingled incredulity and mortification. She went on.
"From the very beginning, from the first moment I may almost say, of my acquaintance with you, your manners impressing me with the fullest belief of your arrogance, your conceit, and your selfish disdain for the feelings of others, were such as to form that ground-work of disapprobation, on which succeeding events have built so immovable a dislike; and I had not known you a month before I felt that you were the last man in the world whom I could ever be prevailed upon to marry."
"You have said quite enough, madam. I perfectly comprehend your feelings, and now have only to be ashamed of what my own have been. Forgive me for having taken up so much of your time, and accept my best wishes for your health and happiness.”
And with these words he hastily left the room, and Elizabeth heard him the next moment open the front door and quit the house.
Pride and Prejudice, Chapter 34
posted by fennario at 6:10 AM on February 4 [12 favorites]
Response by poster: Oh that Jane Austen example is exactly what I’m looking for. More examples of articulate rage please!
posted by Vatnesine at 6:22 AM on February 4 [1 favorite]
posted by Vatnesine at 6:22 AM on February 4 [1 favorite]
Christian Bale on the set of Terminator: Salvation.
posted by Rube R. Nekker at 6:28 AM on February 4
posted by Rube R. Nekker at 6:28 AM on February 4
This scene from Better Call Saul immediately came to mind.
posted by Lemkin at 6:37 AM on February 4 [1 favorite]
posted by Lemkin at 6:37 AM on February 4 [1 favorite]
My high school chemistry teacher was kind, conscientious, devoted to his students, and incredibly soft-spoken. At the end of class one day, a classmate was arguing about a test grade, in the obnoxious way that some teens do, something like, "Well, it might look like a zero, but it's an eight, and even though the answer was seven, eight is pretty much the same..." After about 5 minutes of this, the teacher suddenly erupted, screaming at the top of his lungs that he was trying to teach us chemistry and didn't want to deal with grade-grubbers. He grabbed the chalk and violently scribbled zeros and sevens and eights, demonstrating clearly that they WERE NOT THE SAME NUMBER! Chairs were knocked over. Most students froze; some cowered. The bell rang, and we silently exited.
The next day, at the beginning of class, he (very quietly) apologized, explaining that he really cared about us and about chemistry and found it frustrating when we focused on grades rather than learning. It was never mentioned again in class, and as far as I know, no one complained to the administration. And fortunately, it being the '80s, there was no social media.
posted by Mr.Know-it-some at 6:57 AM on February 4 [7 favorites]
The next day, at the beginning of class, he (very quietly) apologized, explaining that he really cared about us and about chemistry and found it frustrating when we focused on grades rather than learning. It was never mentioned again in class, and as far as I know, no one complained to the administration. And fortunately, it being the '80s, there was no social media.
posted by Mr.Know-it-some at 6:57 AM on February 4 [7 favorites]
Best answer: Here the Indian gentleman lost his temper.
"As to starving in the streets," he said, "she might have starved more comfortably there than in your attic."
"Captain Crewe left her in my charge," Miss Minchin argued. "She must return to it until she is of age. She can be a parlor-boarder again. She must finish her education. The law will interfere in my behalf."
"Come, come. Miss Minchin," Mr. Carmichael interposed, "the law will do nothing of the sort. If Sara herself wishes to return to you, I dare say Mr. Carrisford might not refuse to allow it. But that rests with Sara."
"Then," said Miss Minchin, "I appeal to Sara. I have not spoiled you, perhaps," she said awkwardly to the little girl; "but you know that your papa was pleased with your progress. And—ahem!—I have always been fond of you."
Sara's green-gray eyes fixed themselves on her with the quiet, clear look Miss Minchin particularly disliked.
"Have you, Miss Minchin? " she said; "I did not know that."
Miss Minchin reddened and drew herself up. "You ought to have known it," said she; "but children, unfortunately, never know what is best for them. Amelia and I always said you were the cleverest child in the school. Will you not do your duty to your poor papa and come home with me?"
Sara took a step toward her and stood still. She was thinking of the day when she had been told that she belonged to nobody, and was in danger of being turned into the street; she was thinking of the cold, hungry hours she had spent alone with Emily and Melchisedec in the attic.
She looked Miss Minchin steadily in the face, "You know why I will not go home with you, Miss Minchin," she said; "you know quite well."
Frances Hodgson Burnett, "A Little Princess"
posted by Melismata at 7:20 AM on February 4 [7 favorites]
"As to starving in the streets," he said, "she might have starved more comfortably there than in your attic."
"Captain Crewe left her in my charge," Miss Minchin argued. "She must return to it until she is of age. She can be a parlor-boarder again. She must finish her education. The law will interfere in my behalf."
"Come, come. Miss Minchin," Mr. Carmichael interposed, "the law will do nothing of the sort. If Sara herself wishes to return to you, I dare say Mr. Carrisford might not refuse to allow it. But that rests with Sara."
"Then," said Miss Minchin, "I appeal to Sara. I have not spoiled you, perhaps," she said awkwardly to the little girl; "but you know that your papa was pleased with your progress. And—ahem!—I have always been fond of you."
Sara's green-gray eyes fixed themselves on her with the quiet, clear look Miss Minchin particularly disliked.
"Have you, Miss Minchin? " she said; "I did not know that."
Miss Minchin reddened and drew herself up. "You ought to have known it," said she; "but children, unfortunately, never know what is best for them. Amelia and I always said you were the cleverest child in the school. Will you not do your duty to your poor papa and come home with me?"
Sara took a step toward her and stood still. She was thinking of the day when she had been told that she belonged to nobody, and was in danger of being turned into the street; she was thinking of the cold, hungry hours she had spent alone with Emily and Melchisedec in the attic.
She looked Miss Minchin steadily in the face, "You know why I will not go home with you, Miss Minchin," she said; "you know quite well."
Frances Hodgson Burnett, "A Little Princess"
posted by Melismata at 7:20 AM on February 4 [7 favorites]
An iconic example is Howard Beale's "I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore!" speech from the film Network (1976). Peter Finch as Howard Beale, directed by Sidney Lumet, screenplay by Paddy Chayefsky.
posted by under_petticoat_rule at 7:29 AM on February 4 [2 favorites]
posted by under_petticoat_rule at 7:29 AM on February 4 [2 favorites]
Oops. just saw HearHere already posted it.
posted by under_petticoat_rule at 7:30 AM on February 4 [1 favorite]
posted by under_petticoat_rule at 7:30 AM on February 4 [1 favorite]
Best answer: At a session on June 9, 1954, McCarthy charged that one of Welch's attorneys had ties to a Communist organization. As an amazed television audience looked on, Welch responded with the immortal lines that ultimately ended McCarthy's career: "Until this moment, Senator, I think I never really gauged your cruelty or your recklessness." When McCarthy tried to continue his attack, Welch angrily interrupted, "Let us not assassinate this lad further, senator. You have done enough. Have you no sense of decency?"
Overnight, McCarthy's immense national popularity evaporated. Censured by his Senate colleagues, ostracized by his party, and ignored by the press, McCarthy died three years later, 48 years old and a broken man.
posted by jcworth at 7:32 AM on February 4 [9 favorites]
Overnight, McCarthy's immense national popularity evaporated. Censured by his Senate colleagues, ostracized by his party, and ignored by the press, McCarthy died three years later, 48 years old and a broken man.
posted by jcworth at 7:32 AM on February 4 [9 favorites]
Hallelujah! Holy Shit! Where's the Tylenol?
posted by JoeZydeco at 7:58 AM on February 4 [3 favorites]
posted by JoeZydeco at 7:58 AM on February 4 [3 favorites]
Best answer: More from Pride and Prejudice - I've always found this quite handy.
Elizabeth refuses to answer all of Lady Catherine's nosy questions and challenges about Elizabeth's relationship with Darcy, and Lady Catherine essentially tries to leverage any argument she thinks will work. Elizabeth is gray rocking her. Lady Catherine says (paraphrased) "you have a duty to. And a duty to reject him because you're inferior. I've been nice to you, I hosted you at my house...You'll ruin his reputation with his friends...":
Lady C: "It is well. You refuse, then, to oblige me. You refuse to obey the claims of duty, honour, and gratitude. You are determined to ruin him in the opinion of all his friends, and make him the contempt of the world."
"Neither duty, nor honour, nor gratitude," replied Elizabeth, "have any possible claim on me, in the present instance No principle of either would be violated by my marriage with Mr. Darcy. And with regard to the resentment of his family, or the indignation of the world, if the former were excited by his marrying me, it would not give me one moment's concern—and the world in general would have too much sense to join in the scorn."
And later, to shut down the conversation:
Elizabeth: "You can now have nothing further to say," she resentfully answered. "You have insulted me in every possible method. I must beg to return to the house."
posted by vitabellosi at 8:59 AM on February 4 [2 favorites]
Elizabeth refuses to answer all of Lady Catherine's nosy questions and challenges about Elizabeth's relationship with Darcy, and Lady Catherine essentially tries to leverage any argument she thinks will work. Elizabeth is gray rocking her. Lady Catherine says (paraphrased) "you have a duty to. And a duty to reject him because you're inferior. I've been nice to you, I hosted you at my house...You'll ruin his reputation with his friends...":
Lady C: "It is well. You refuse, then, to oblige me. You refuse to obey the claims of duty, honour, and gratitude. You are determined to ruin him in the opinion of all his friends, and make him the contempt of the world."
"Neither duty, nor honour, nor gratitude," replied Elizabeth, "have any possible claim on me, in the present instance No principle of either would be violated by my marriage with Mr. Darcy. And with regard to the resentment of his family, or the indignation of the world, if the former were excited by his marrying me, it would not give me one moment's concern—and the world in general would have too much sense to join in the scorn."
And later, to shut down the conversation:
Elizabeth: "You can now have nothing further to say," she resentfully answered. "You have insulted me in every possible method. I must beg to return to the house."
posted by vitabellosi at 8:59 AM on February 4 [2 favorites]
The pharmacy scene in MAGNOLIA (1999) is, I think, the purest modern distillation of someone "losing it".
CW: an extremely emotionally intense performance with strong language. The context is that Julianne Moore's character is picking up medications for her husband, who is bedridden and dying of cancer.
posted by eschatfische at 9:23 AM on February 4 [1 favorite]
CW: an extremely emotionally intense performance with strong language. The context is that Julianne Moore's character is picking up medications for her husband, who is bedridden and dying of cancer.
posted by eschatfische at 9:23 AM on February 4 [1 favorite]
Improv comedian and DnD guru Brennan Lee Mulligan is somewhat infamous for his passionate, silly rants in response to being teased, in case some funnier versions are helpful.
”Some of us are pod people, okay?!?”
”I cannot win!”
”You look me in the EYYYES”
posted by tchemgrrl at 10:28 AM on February 4
”Some of us are pod people, okay?!?”
”I cannot win!”
”You look me in the EYYYES”
posted by tchemgrrl at 10:28 AM on February 4
Take three steps back. Now!
---
I'm not going to tell you what specific act has upset me because that's a distraction, and I want you to _remember_ the real issue this time. I know it's annoying. That's the point. I wouldn't have been this creative if I weren't this upset. I hope this will be memorable without hurting your feelings unjustly; I know you're doing the best you can, but you don't understand the impact of this on me. I've never tried this method before; I invented it just two minutes ago especially for you.
posted by amtho at 11:17 AM on February 4
---
I'm not going to tell you what specific act has upset me because that's a distraction, and I want you to _remember_ the real issue this time. I know it's annoying. That's the point. I wouldn't have been this creative if I weren't this upset. I hope this will be memorable without hurting your feelings unjustly; I know you're doing the best you can, but you don't understand the impact of this on me. I've never tried this method before; I invented it just two minutes ago especially for you.
posted by amtho at 11:17 AM on February 4
Julia Sugarbaker (Dixie Carter, Designing Women) has entered the chat.
posted by TrishaU at 11:43 AM on February 4 [6 favorites]
posted by TrishaU at 11:43 AM on February 4 [6 favorites]
Best answer: Julia's Terminator Tirades.
posted by jenfullmoon at 11:49 AM on February 4 [3 favorites]
posted by jenfullmoon at 11:49 AM on February 4 [3 favorites]
From real life, would Julia Gillard's speech to Tony Abbott count?
I will not be lectured about sexism and misogyny by this man. I will not. And the Government will not be lectured about sexism and misogyny by this man. Not now, not ever. The Leader of the Opposition says that people who hold sexist views and who are misogynists are not appropriate for high office. Well I hope the Leader of the Opposition has got a piece of paper and he is writing out his resignation. Because if he wants to know what misogyny looks like in modern Australia, he doesn't need a motion in the House of Representatives, he needs a mirror. That's what he needs.
Andor season 1 has several wonderful speeches, but Luthen's monologue from episode 10 is the angriest
There's also this short, furious speech from the end of It's A Sin, where Jill confronts Richie's mother. I remember thinking while watching the first episode, 'why did they get Keeley Hawes for this nothing role?' The answer was for this episode: clip here
posted by finisterre at 12:27 PM on February 4 [4 favorites]
I will not be lectured about sexism and misogyny by this man. I will not. And the Government will not be lectured about sexism and misogyny by this man. Not now, not ever. The Leader of the Opposition says that people who hold sexist views and who are misogynists are not appropriate for high office. Well I hope the Leader of the Opposition has got a piece of paper and he is writing out his resignation. Because if he wants to know what misogyny looks like in modern Australia, he doesn't need a motion in the House of Representatives, he needs a mirror. That's what he needs.
Andor season 1 has several wonderful speeches, but Luthen's monologue from episode 10 is the angriest
There's also this short, furious speech from the end of It's A Sin, where Jill confronts Richie's mother. I remember thinking while watching the first episode, 'why did they get Keeley Hawes for this nothing role?' The answer was for this episode: clip here
posted by finisterre at 12:27 PM on February 4 [4 favorites]
This might not be exactly on point, but it's at least topical: euphoria - Kendrick lamar.
posted by mhum at 1:15 PM on February 4 [1 favorite]
posted by mhum at 1:15 PM on February 4 [1 favorite]
There was a Tom Hanks film from the 80s, Nothing in Common, where he's playing an ad executive working on a commercial for an airline, while at the same time trying to process his aging parents' divorce. There's a scene where they're filming the ad - in which an elderly woman spontaneously decides to go on a trip - and Hanks' character sees that the director has added a cat to the set, because "he thought it would be interesting for the grandmother to say goodbye to the cat since she’s going to go visit her family." Hanks responds:
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 1:32 PM on February 4
Oh, I see, that’s a real good idea. Let’s do a commercial about a sweet old grandma who abandons a cat in a freezing cold house in the dead of winter so she can go off and romp with the grandkids. That’s a real good idea! We could get coverage of the cat like clawing its way, trying to get out so he can lick snow and get some nourishment!I remember little else about the film but that scene.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 1:32 PM on February 4
If you could get your hands on a copy of the screenplay to the movie Falling Down it was the first thing that came to my mind. But I don't believe there's a novelization anywhere.
There's a scene in a fast food place where the main character is one minute too late to order breakfast and he argues with the employees. When they finally acquiesce and give him breakfast (after he pulls out a gun), they grab it from a huge pile of food they aren't willing to sell due to the rules.
The whole movie he is losing his mind, but that scene stands out to me.
posted by tacodave at 2:31 PM on February 4 [1 favorite]
There's a scene in a fast food place where the main character is one minute too late to order breakfast and he argues with the employees. When they finally acquiesce and give him breakfast (after he pulls out a gun), they grab it from a huge pile of food they aren't willing to sell due to the rules.
The whole movie he is losing his mind, but that scene stands out to me.
posted by tacodave at 2:31 PM on February 4 [1 favorite]
Shakespeare's Coriolanus has just been banished from Rome by his enemies. He says:
You common cry of curs! whose breath I hate
As reek o’ the rotten fens, whose loves I prize
As the dead carcasses of unburied men
That do corrupt my air, I banish you;
And here remain with your uncertainty!
Let every feeble rumour shake your hearts!
Your enemies, with nodding of their plumes,
Fan you into despair! Have the power still
To banish your defenders; till at length
Your ignorance, which finds not till it feels,
Making not reservation of yourselves,
Still your own foes, deliver you as most
Abated captives to some nation
That won you without blows! Despising,
For you, the city, thus I turn my back:
There is a world elsewhere.
posted by hovey at 3:32 PM on February 4
You common cry of curs! whose breath I hate
As reek o’ the rotten fens, whose loves I prize
As the dead carcasses of unburied men
That do corrupt my air, I banish you;
And here remain with your uncertainty!
Let every feeble rumour shake your hearts!
Your enemies, with nodding of their plumes,
Fan you into despair! Have the power still
To banish your defenders; till at length
Your ignorance, which finds not till it feels,
Making not reservation of yourselves,
Still your own foes, deliver you as most
Abated captives to some nation
That won you without blows! Despising,
For you, the city, thus I turn my back:
There is a world elsewhere.
posted by hovey at 3:32 PM on February 4
Best answer: Martin Luther King Jr’s Letter from a Birmingham Jail is a master class in righteous anger, particularly these two paragraphs:
I must make two honest confessions to you, my Christian and Jewish brothers. First, I must confess that over the past few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen's Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to "order" than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: "I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action"; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man's freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a "more convenient season." Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection.
I had hoped that the white moderate would understand that law and order exist for the purpose of establishing justice and that when they fail in this purpose they become the dangerously structured dams that block the flow of social progress. I had hoped that the white moderate would understand that the present tension in the South is a necessary phase of the transition from an obnoxious negative peace, in which the Negro passively accepted his unjust plight, to a substantive and positive peace, in which all men will respect the dignity and worth of human personality. Actually, we who engage in nonviolent direct action are not the creators of tension. We merely bring to the surface the hidden tension that is already alive. We bring it out in the open, where it can be seen and dealt with. Like a boil that can never be cured so long as it is covered up but must be opened with all its ugliness to the natural medicines of air and light, injustice must be exposed, with all the tension its exposure creates, to the light of human conscience and the air of national opinion before it can be cured.
posted by ActionPopulated at 6:07 PM on February 4 [6 favorites]
I must make two honest confessions to you, my Christian and Jewish brothers. First, I must confess that over the past few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen's Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to "order" than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: "I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action"; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man's freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a "more convenient season." Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection.
I had hoped that the white moderate would understand that law and order exist for the purpose of establishing justice and that when they fail in this purpose they become the dangerously structured dams that block the flow of social progress. I had hoped that the white moderate would understand that the present tension in the South is a necessary phase of the transition from an obnoxious negative peace, in which the Negro passively accepted his unjust plight, to a substantive and positive peace, in which all men will respect the dignity and worth of human personality. Actually, we who engage in nonviolent direct action are not the creators of tension. We merely bring to the surface the hidden tension that is already alive. We bring it out in the open, where it can be seen and dealt with. Like a boil that can never be cured so long as it is covered up but must be opened with all its ugliness to the natural medicines of air and light, injustice must be exposed, with all the tension its exposure creates, to the light of human conscience and the air of national opinion before it can be cured.
posted by ActionPopulated at 6:07 PM on February 4 [6 favorites]
Best answer: This scene with Al Pacino losing it in the courtroom ("This whole courtroom is out of order!") from "...And Justice For All"
And from a very different context, in The Iliad, Hector, about to be killed, begs Achilles not to let dogs devour his body, but rather to release his corpse to his friends to be carried back home to Troy to be properly burned. But because Hector killed Patroclus, whom Achilles loved, this is how Achilles responds (this is from the Fagles translation, in the Lattimore one this is a bit more subdued).
Staring grimly, the proud runner Achilles answered,
"Beg no more, you fawning dog—begging me by my parents!
Would to god my rage, my fury would drive me now
to hack your flesh away and eat you raw—
such agonies you have caused me! Ransom?
No man alive could keep the dog-packs off you,
not if they haul in ten, twenty times that ransom
and pile it here before me and promise fortunes more—
no, not even if Dardan Priam should offer to weigh out
your bulk in gold! Not even then will your noble mother
lay you on your deathbed, mourn the son she bore . . .
The dogs and birds will rend you—blood and bone!"
posted by virve at 7:45 PM on February 4
And from a very different context, in The Iliad, Hector, about to be killed, begs Achilles not to let dogs devour his body, but rather to release his corpse to his friends to be carried back home to Troy to be properly burned. But because Hector killed Patroclus, whom Achilles loved, this is how Achilles responds (this is from the Fagles translation, in the Lattimore one this is a bit more subdued).
Staring grimly, the proud runner Achilles answered,
"Beg no more, you fawning dog—begging me by my parents!
Would to god my rage, my fury would drive me now
to hack your flesh away and eat you raw—
such agonies you have caused me! Ransom?
No man alive could keep the dog-packs off you,
not if they haul in ten, twenty times that ransom
and pile it here before me and promise fortunes more—
no, not even if Dardan Priam should offer to weigh out
your bulk in gold! Not even then will your noble mother
lay you on your deathbed, mourn the son she bore . . .
The dogs and birds will rend you—blood and bone!"
posted by virve at 7:45 PM on February 4
“Would you please please please please please please please stop talking?”
Hills like White Elephants
Ernest Hemingway
posted by oldnumberseven at 2:31 AM on February 5 [1 favorite]
Hills like White Elephants
Ernest Hemingway
posted by oldnumberseven at 2:31 AM on February 5 [1 favorite]
"The truth? You can't handle the truth."
posted by SemiSalt at 5:33 AM on February 5 [1 favorite]
posted by SemiSalt at 5:33 AM on February 5 [1 favorite]
Best answer: "Letter from a freedman his old master, 1865"
"Sir: I got your letter and was glad to find that you had not forgotten Jourdan, and that you wanted me to come back and live with you again, promising to do better for me than anybody else can. [...]
I want to know particularly what the good chance is you propose to give me. I am doing tolerably well here; I get $25 a month, with victuals and clothing; have a comfortable home for Mandy (the folks here call her Mrs. Anderson), and the children, Milly Jane and Grundy, go to school and are learning well; the teacher says Grundy has a head for a preacher. [...] Now, if you will write and say what wages you will give me, I will be better able to decide whether it would be to my advantage to move back again.
[...] I served you faithfully for thirty-two years and Mandy twenty years. At $25 a month for me, and $2 a week for Mandy, our earnings would amount to $11,680. Add to this the interest for the time our wages has been kept back and deduct what you paid for our clothing and three doctor's visits to me, and pulling a tooth for Mandy, and the balance will show what we are in justice entitled to. Please send the money by Adams Express, in care of V. Winters, esq., Dayton, Ohio. If you fail to pay us for faithful labors in the past we can have little faith in your promises in the future. We trust the good Maker has opened your eyes to the wrongs which you and your fathers have done to me and my fathers, in making us toil for you for generations without recompense. Here I draw my wages every Saturday night, but in Tennessee there was never any pay-day for the Negroes any more than for the horses and cows. Surely there will be a day of reckoning for those who defraud the laborer of his hire.
[...] P.S.—Say howdy to George Carter, and thank him for taking the pistol from you when you were shooting at me.
From your old servant, Jourdan Anderson"
[this is floating about several places on the web; another website says "Excerpted from William E. Gienapp, ed., The Civil War and Reconstruction: A Documentary Collection" (New York: W. W. Norton, 2001), 380, and the Smithsonian has an article about it.]
posted by Shark Hat at 10:36 AM on February 5 [6 favorites]
"Sir: I got your letter and was glad to find that you had not forgotten Jourdan, and that you wanted me to come back and live with you again, promising to do better for me than anybody else can. [...]
I want to know particularly what the good chance is you propose to give me. I am doing tolerably well here; I get $25 a month, with victuals and clothing; have a comfortable home for Mandy (the folks here call her Mrs. Anderson), and the children, Milly Jane and Grundy, go to school and are learning well; the teacher says Grundy has a head for a preacher. [...] Now, if you will write and say what wages you will give me, I will be better able to decide whether it would be to my advantage to move back again.
[...] I served you faithfully for thirty-two years and Mandy twenty years. At $25 a month for me, and $2 a week for Mandy, our earnings would amount to $11,680. Add to this the interest for the time our wages has been kept back and deduct what you paid for our clothing and three doctor's visits to me, and pulling a tooth for Mandy, and the balance will show what we are in justice entitled to. Please send the money by Adams Express, in care of V. Winters, esq., Dayton, Ohio. If you fail to pay us for faithful labors in the past we can have little faith in your promises in the future. We trust the good Maker has opened your eyes to the wrongs which you and your fathers have done to me and my fathers, in making us toil for you for generations without recompense. Here I draw my wages every Saturday night, but in Tennessee there was never any pay-day for the Negroes any more than for the horses and cows. Surely there will be a day of reckoning for those who defraud the laborer of his hire.
[...] P.S.—Say howdy to George Carter, and thank him for taking the pistol from you when you were shooting at me.
From your old servant, Jourdan Anderson"
[this is floating about several places on the web; another website says "Excerpted from William E. Gienapp, ed., The Civil War and Reconstruction: A Documentary Collection" (New York: W. W. Norton, 2001), 380, and the Smithsonian has an article about it.]
posted by Shark Hat at 10:36 AM on February 5 [6 favorites]
It was spoken, but I cannot resist submitting this BBC news clip: Dennis Skinner kicked out of House of Commons for calling David Cameron "Dodgy Dave". Beautiful to watch.
posted by guessthis at 8:06 AM on February 6
posted by guessthis at 8:06 AM on February 6
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posted by JimN2TAW at 5:55 AM on February 4