"Don't Start It, But Finish It"...

[Deleted]

"Always get the first punch in!".

Anyone get this advice for their da or maybe their ma when it came to being bullied or fighting in school?

I was never in a fight in school, something that i kinda regret. I think it's a tough brutal life lesson, but part of me would still like to have gone through it. However my da never talked to me about this stuff, but i've heard my friends say their da's have. 

Get in first

Always go for the nose

liver shot....no one expects the liver shot

When he's done you better back off.

If you start something (the son), i'll finish it when i see you (the father).

Have/Would you say this to your children now?

[~ / % ? *]

My dad was always a big proponent of bringing a crow bar to a knife fight. ah, the good ole days

[Johnny Fartpants]

Jun 19, 2020 12:06:21 GMT Markus said:

Get in first

Always go for the nose

liver shot....no one expects the liver shot

When he's done you better back off.

If you start something (the son), i'll finish it when i see you (the father).

Have/Would you say this to your children now?

No, because it's not the 1950s.

[Sneelock]

my dad threw me in the deep end of the pool to teach me how to swim.
I signed my kid up for swimming lessons.
hooray for progress.

[rayge]

Jun 19, 2020 17:12:38 GMT Johnny Fartpants said:

Jun 19, 2020 12:06:21 GMT Markus said:

Get in first

Always go for the nose

liver shot....no one expects the liver shot

When he's done you better back off.

If you start something (the son), i'll finish it when i see you (the father).

Have/Would you say this to your children now?

No, because it's not the 1950s.

Speaking as someone who was a kid in the 1950s (and working class in Tottenham, in case anyone thought I was some kind of simpering Fauntleroy), my parents never said any such thing to me: neither they nor I ever got into a fight (at least the sort where anyone was trying to hurt someone else) in our lives. I was taught not to respond if anyone tried to pick a fight with me.

[sloopjohnc]

It's a good strategy. Most people are unsure in fights and are afraid to throw the first shot. Punches aren't like on TV. They hurt.

I always threw the first punch. The other guy isn't Sugar Ray Leonard. In 7th grade, I got in a fight with this 8th grader, a big guy, that was picking on me. I threw the first punch and caught him right on the cheek where the skin is tight to the bone. He started bleeding like a pig and had to get a bunch of stitches. No one fucked with me after that.

I was in my fair share of fights and my technique, because I was fairly big, was throw the first shot, get the guy on the ground and start pummeling his face. It was pretty effective.

I did get in a fight in high school where a guy pulled my sweater over my head and pushed me in a creek. That kinda ended it. Smart move.

Props are good. I once picked up a fire extinguisher in a fight - and pointed the bottom, or business end, like I was going to swing it at him. And he gave up with that.

But to answer your question, my dad wanted my brother and me to stay out of fights. Didn't really work.

[tory]

What a sheltered life I've lived..


Mike Tyson's "Everyone's got a plan until they get punched in the mouth" is up there in the Clausewitzian realm of strategy quotes.

[Crunchy Col]

A fight! the IDEA of it! it's a weird thing, someone thinking the best way to sort something out is to smack your face and body with their fists.

[Sneelock]

I like sloop's post and it makes sense in theory but this stuff did not work for me in practice.
the only bully advice I ever had that worked was when confronted by many - engage the big guy (or "leader")
half the time I'd still get my ass kicked but the other half it would either amuse or surprise and work in my favor.

[Half Machine Lipschitz]

Yeah, I've never been in a fistfight, although I have fantasized about punching certain people. It must be an incredible release. When I am contemplating punching someone, I always come back to the thought that it'll probably hurt me just as much as it would hurt the other person. People are more solid than you think - especially their heads/faces and it must really do a number on your hands to hit something like that with any kind of force. I need my hands, man!

[Deleted]

Someone told my husband when he was young 'if someone looks like they're going to punch you, punch them first'. He told me this and he told me he acted on it. Some kid (late teen) was giving him grief and did look like he was going to punch him so he got the first punch in. Nothing exceptional about that, except the kid was his student. It was a school in Scotland where my husband was teaching when he first came to Britain (late seventies or early eighties). He wasn't sacked or even reprimanded - the kid had been about to hit him. He didn't stay in teaching either but that was because he always had other plans.

[sloopjohnc]

Jun 19, 2020 17:33:23 GMT Sneelock said:

I like sloop's post and it makes sense in theory but this stuff did not work for me in practice.
the only bully advice I ever had that worked was when confronted by many - engage the big guy (or "leader")
half the time I'd still get my ass kicked but the other half it would either amuse or surprise and work in my favor.

You have to remember, I had a little brother a year younger, so I could constantly hone my technique on him.

[Johnny Fartpants]

Jun 19, 2020 17:20:46 GMT rayge said:

Jun 19, 2020 17:12:38 GMT Johnny Fartpants said:

No, because it's not the 1950s.

Speaking as someone who was a kid in the 1950s (and working class in Tottenham, in case anyone thought I was some kind of simpering Fauntleroy), my parents never said any such thing to me: neither they nor I ever got into a fight (at least the sort where anyone was trying to hurt someone else) in our lives. I was taught not to respond if anyone tried to pick a fight with me.

That's fightin' talk Ray ... put 'em up!

[sloopjohnc]

I was bar hopping with a friend, Tim. Tim's about 6' 4", big guy, and he were driving to a bar through an alley where another guy and his friend were walking in the middle and didn't step to the side. Tim got out of the car, started mouthing off to the guy, who was maybe 5' 9", and he punched Tim, dropping him like a sack of potatoes. After, Tim asked me why I didn't jump in and I told him he deserved it.

[Deleted]

Jun 19, 2020 17:36:41 GMT Johnny Fartpants said:

That's fightin' talk Ray ... put 'em up!

I don't think I've ever met anyone less inclined to fight. Not that he couldn't lay anyone out with one punch (he's a big strong lad). But the words 'Ray' and 'fight' in one phrase ... does not compute. Mind you, I'd never have imagined my husband punching anyone either. I suppose we all have it in us if cornered. The number of times I'd've loved to have punched someone *sigh*.