[Ads-l] Proverb Origin: Inside Every Old Person There Is a Young Person Trying to Get Out

[Jonathan Lighter]

More familiar today, perhaps, is the derivative line from _Full Metal
Jacket_ (1987): "Inside every gook is an American trying to get out."

The line does not appear in Gustav Hasford's source novel, _The
Short-Timers_.  Hasford shared script-writing credit for the film with
Michael Herr and Stanley Kubrick (in reverse order).

JL

On Sun, Nov 23, 2025 at 2:14 PM ADSGarson O'Toole <
00001aa1be50b751-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:

> "The Dictionary of Modern Proverbs" has a helpful entry for the saying
> in the subject line. The first citation is from 1973.
>
> Below I present precursors in 1962 and 1964 together with a solid
> match in 1968. I conjecture that this saying about the old/young
> dichotomy evolved from a saying about the fat/thin dichotomy which
> employed the same template.
>
> There is a separate QI article about the fat/thin family of sayings
> located here.
> https://quoteinvestigator.com/2025/11/20/fat-thin/
>
> The first partial match I found for the old/young saying appeared in
> 1962. The following excerpt also mentioned the fat/thin saying:
>
> [ref] 1962 August 17, The Esher News and Advertiser, Mainly for Women
> by Mary Courtland, Quote Page 4, Column 2, Esher, Surrey, England.
> (Newspapers_com) [/ref]
>
> [Begin excerpt]
> Someone said that inside every fat man is a thin one trying to get
> out. I'd like to adapt that and say that inside every middle-aged
> person is a young one trying to get out. Sometimes, of course, they
> do, with startling results!
> [End excerpt]
>
> In 1964 "The Pittsburgh Press" of Pennsylvania published a piece by
> columnist Harriet Van Horne which contained a partial match. The
> following excerpt also mentioned the fat/thin saying:
>
> [ref] 1964 December 9, The Pittsburgh Press, Old-Timers Give Screen
> Glow by Harriet Van Horne (Scripps-Howard Staff Writer), Quote Page
> 90, Column 3, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Newspapers_com) link [/ref]
> https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-pittsburgh-press-inside/184095434/
>
> [Begin excerpt]
> Inside every fat man, runs the adage, there's a captive thin man,
> begging to come out.
> Extending this we may fairly say that inside every old trouper worth
> his salt there's a frisky young devil who--the instant the lights go
> down--does come out.
> [End excerpt]
>
> In 1968 William D. McBride, assistant director of public relations of
> Martin Marietta Corporation, employed the saying during a discussion
> held at the University of Iowa's Centennial Press Conference:
>
> [ref] 1968 October 26, Iowa City Press-Citizen, Novelist Miller Heads
> Panel: 'Hatred for the Young' Debated, Quote Page 3A, Column 3, Iowa
> City, Iowa. (Newspapers_com) [/ref]
>
> [Begin excerpt]
> McBride said, "Inside every old man is a young one trying to get out."
> He doesn't hate young people, he said, but he is exasperated by them.
> [End excerpt]
>
> The QI article about this proverb is scheduled for future posting.
>
> I started to explore the saying in the subject line while researching
> a related inquiry about: "Inside Every Old Person There Is a Young
> Person Wondering What Happened". Here is the link to that previous QI
> article:
> https://quoteinvestigator.com/2025/11/01/old-young/
>
> Feedback welcome
> Garson
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>


-- 
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org