[Ads-l] Adage: Hurt people hurt people

ADSGarson O'Toole adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM
Sat Nov 9 01:50:25 UTC 2019


Late follow-up: Back on September 6, 2019 I mentioned that a
journalist at Slate asked me to investigate the saying in the subject
line. Soon afterward Slate did run an interesting article using the
information that I shared with them.

https://slate.com/culture/2019/09/hurt-people-hurt-people-quote-origin-hustlers-phrase.html

Garson

On Mon, Sep 16, 2019 at 10:23 AM ADSGarson O'Toole
<adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> A journalist at Slate just asked me to investigate the saying in the
> subject line. Apparently, it is used in the new film Hustlers.
> Previous inquiries were sent to me in 2014 and 2016, so I decided to
> create a QI entry:
>
> https://quoteinvestigator.com/2019/09/15/hurt/
>
> The earliest match I found appeared in an Amarillo, Texas newspaper in
> 1959. A columnist described a meeting of the Parent Teacher
> Association held at a local Junior High. One of the speakers was named
> Charles Eads.
>
> [ref] 1959 February 26, Amarillo Globe-Times, Polk Street Professor,
> Quote Page 30, Column 1, Amarillo, Texas. (Newspapers_com) [/ref]
>
> [Begin excerpt]
> Charles claimed the teacher’s job is to take 25 or 30 live wires and
> make sure they are well grounded. And he said the human anatomy is a
> most peculiar mechanism. If you pat it on the back it often makes the
> head swell.
>
> Then he made a statement that might give pause to a student of
> psychology. It’s worded peculiarly. The statement is, “Hurt people
> hurt people.” So, maybe before I wound someone next time, I’ll stop
> and think if it’s because I’ve been hurt, myself.
> [End excerpt]
>
> Feedback welcome
> Garson

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