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

[Jonathan Lighter]

Correctly: "...there is..."

JL

On Sun, Nov 23, 2025 at 3:03 PM Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
wrote:

> 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."
>


-- 
"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