"Dish It Out But Can't Take It"

[Laurence Horn]

At 11:51 AM -0400 7/17/10, Shapiro, Fred wrote:
>I came across a claim that the expression "you/he/she can dish it
>out but you/he/she can't take it" originated in the film Little
>Caesar (1931).  Internet Movie Database has this "repeated line"
>from that film:
>
>Caesar Enrico Bandello: You can dish it out, but you got so you
>can't take it no more.
>
>Can anyone help me determine whether the film in fact originated or
>popularized the expression?
>
The expression as it's normally used, indicating someone who doesn't
mind inflicting misery or abuse on others but has a thin skin
themself, isn't quite what Little Caesar is getting at in the line
above, is it?  Sounds like his "you got so you can't take it no more"
has more to do with not putting up with something anymore, straw that
broke the camel's back, etc., than with being unwilling to take
criticism as a personality trait, and there's a time element involved
there as well which is absent from the proverbial use.

LH

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