# How hard should I be allowed to hit this guy? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 1, 2015, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-hard-should-i-be-allowed-to-hit-this-guy/726693 "2015-08-01T00:12:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2015, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-hard-should-i-be-allowed-to-hit-this-guy/726693/41 "2015-08-01T02:01:24Z")
If someone had punched me in the stomach last summer when I had the zipper stitches, I’d have put them down. Can’t say I’d have thrown a punch under pretty much any other circumstances. ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Panda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ee7513/32.png) [@Darth\_Panda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Panda)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2015, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-hard-should-i-be-allowed-to-hit-this-guy/726693/42 "2015-08-01T02:02:13Z")
> [@Waymore](#): > > You sound weak bro. Yeah, I’m not really worried about that. ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Panda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ee7513/32.png) [@Darth\_Panda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Panda)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2015, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-hard-should-i-be-allowed-to-hit-this-guy/726693/43 "2015-08-01T02:03:21Z")
> [@Chimera](#): > > If someone had punched me in the stomach last summer when I had the zipper stitches, I’d have put them down. > > Can’t say I’d have thrown a punch under pretty much any other circumstances. There’s definitely the chance that it was a weird circumstance like that - I’m not ruling it out, but you have to admit, it’s unlikely. ---
**Author:** ![Waymore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/919ad9/32.png) [@Waymore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Waymore)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2015, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-hard-should-i-be-allowed-to-hit-this-guy/726693/44 "2015-08-01T02:04:13Z")
> [@Darth\_Panda](#): > > Yeah, I’m not really worried about that. Keep telling yourself that. ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Panda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ee7513/32.png) [@Darth\_Panda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Panda)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2015, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-hard-should-i-be-allowed-to-hit-this-guy/726693/45 "2015-08-01T02:06:19Z")
> [@Waymore](#): > > Keep telling yourself that. OK. How often would you recommend? Just until your mom puts out or more than like 5 minutes from now? eta: oh crap, I’ll never know the answer - damn user settings 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Waymore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/919ad9/32.png) [@Waymore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Waymore)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2015, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-hard-should-i-be-allowed-to-hit-this-guy/726693/46 "2015-08-01T02:09:48Z")
> [@Darth\_Panda](#): > > OK. How often would you recommend? Just until your mom puts out or more than like 5 minutes from now? > eta: oh crap, I’ll never know the answer - damn user settings 🙂 Nice zinger DP. Good luck on your pre-algebra test you middle schooler. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2015, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-hard-should-i-be-allowed-to-hit-this-guy/726693/47 "2015-08-01T02:14:04Z")
> [@Darth\_Panda](#): > > Just wanted to clarify here because it’s definitively relevant. I know the guy - we’ve been together many times (like 40 or 50). And when I say 1/10 I really mean it - your mom would barely notice it as more than a hand towel being thrown toward her. I t might have hurt a fly, but not much more. No way it would have left a bruise. You are completely and utterly and almost seemingly deliberately missing the point. _IT DOES NOT MATTER HOW HARD YOU HIT HIM_. Laying your hands on someone even in a play violent manner is obnoxious in the extreme. You really, really don’t seem to get this. He did not strike you because he was hurt, he smacked you because you were wildly presumptuous and he was offended (and with some justification) and possibly a bit panicked. You’re adults not small children. Play punching someone in the stomach is not something you do unless you have a long term history of horse playing intimacy with them, and beyond that generally an extensive personal history of shared behavioral norms. You had neither with this guy and you paid the price. You behaved like a presumptuous idiot and got hit. You need to stop stewing, learn your lesson and move on. He is not the bad guy in this scenario, you are. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2015, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-hard-should-i-be-allowed-to-hit-this-guy/726693/48 "2015-08-01T02:27:42Z")
Ok, so let’s get this all straight. You assaulted some guy without the least provocation and he responded in kind. The result of this was you left in a sniveling heap on the floor. Then, realizing that you are weak and ineffectual you feel like you must somehow restore your potency by assaulting him again, this time with more zeal, I guess so he’ll beat you more mercilessly the next time. Yet you actually hope you’ll all just be friends because you are seriously afraid of him and your shadow now. Cool story bro. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2015, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-hard-should-i-be-allowed-to-hit-this-guy/726693/49 "2015-08-01T02:46:52Z")
You’ve mentioned a couple times that you think your punch to the stomach was equivalent to a punch on the shoulder. I think you’re wrong, here. Force-wise, you might be right, but **socially** you’re wrong. You shouldn’t have hit him in the stomach. Next time, stick to the shoulder or arm. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2015, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-hard-should-i-be-allowed-to-hit-this-guy/726693/50 "2015-08-01T02:48:45Z")
Scream, “That’s my purse! I don’t know you!” Then kick him in the junk. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2015, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-hard-should-i-be-allowed-to-hit-this-guy/726693/51 "2015-08-01T03:04:46Z")
> [@Johnny\_Bravo](#): > > You’ve mentioned a couple times that you think your punch to the stomach was equivalent to a punch on the shoulder. I think you’re wrong, here. Force-wise, you might be right, but **socially** you’re wrong. You shouldn’t have hit him in the stomach. Next time, stick to the shoulder or arm. This. There is no such thing as a benign punch in the stomach. Certainly not if you don’t know the guy very very well. If you’d punched him playfully in the shoulder, I’d have sympathy for you. But the stomach is like the face, it’s a delicate area that strangers don’t touch unless they are up to no good. You punched him, he punched you back. The two of you are even. Live long and prosper. ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2015, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-hard-should-i-be-allowed-to-hit-this-guy/726693/52 "2015-08-01T03:06:36Z")
I can’t tell from the user name or the OP. Is Darth Panda a guy or a girl? ---
**Author:** ![Penfeather](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penfeather/32/384_2.png) [@Penfeather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Penfeather)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2015, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-hard-should-i-be-allowed-to-hit-this-guy/726693/53 "2015-08-01T03:24:15Z")
> [@Hampshire](#): > > I can’t tell from the user name or the OP. > Is Darth Panda a guy or a girl? Name ends in an a, like Amanda, so I’m going with girl. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2015, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-hard-should-i-be-allowed-to-hit-this-guy/726693/54 "2015-08-01T03:29:29Z")
> [@Darth\_Panda](#): > > I don’t agree that it was an even thing. I hit him in way that was meant to cause zero harm - it literally could not have hurt him in any but the weirdest of circumstances - it’s the way friends mess around with each other, at most 2 or 3 seconds of a sting. He, on the other hand, tried to freakin kill me. I think I have detected the problem. This man is not your friend. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2015, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-hard-should-i-be-allowed-to-hit-this-guy/726693/55 "2015-08-01T03:46:36Z")
You need to take his woman. Show her what a real man is all about. Then dump her. Only then will omertà rest. Don’t forget to kick me 20%. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2015, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-hard-should-i-be-allowed-to-hit-this-guy/726693/56 "2015-08-01T04:07:01Z")
> [@Darth\_Panda](#): > > I kind of agree. But it feels weird that people should be allowed to hit other people without those people being allowed to hit them back. But you hit him first and now you’re upset that he hit you back. Is this a whoosh? ---
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2015, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-hard-should-i-be-allowed-to-hit-this-guy/726693/57 "2015-08-01T04:15:06Z")
Hyu-mons. Information is re-quired. I am NOT an alien. I am ALSO a hyu-mon. Why do hyu-mons think hitting is oh-kay and hitting back is not? When I was a [del]podling[/del] young hyu-mon child, I learned that hitting others is wrong and saying it was “just joking around” was a wimp-ass excuse (this is the right hyu-mon expression?) used to cover bad behavior. I do not think that hitting others in the digestion-sack is normal hyu-mon behavior? ---
**Author:** ![edwardcoast](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/cab0a1/32.png) [@edwardcoast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/edwardcoast)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2015, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-hard-should-i-be-allowed-to-hit-this-guy/726693/58 "2015-08-01T04:19:02Z")
> [@Darth\_Panda](#): > > So, I went out today after work and drank for a while. I ran into a couple of friends and friends of friends. One of these guys was a dude named Brett. When me, Jordan, and Brett decided to leave a bar we were at, all was good. After I spoke with the tattoo artist, all was good. At this point, I punched Brett in the stomach jokingly, like 1/10 strength, nothing anyone should care about. He responded by punching me in the face as hard as he could. He then said 'never punch me in the stomach." I responded by looking at him in sheer amazement. I’ve never had anything remotely similar happen to me before. My friend Jordan says Bret has shit like this happen all of the time - and his roommate Kevin has literally knocked him unconscious by slapping him in the face. But here’s the thing, I just looked at him after he hit me - it drew a little blood from my gums, but it was weak as shit - it did no real damage at all. And we left because it was weird as hell - with these tattoo artists around and shit - but I basically unharmed. I felt a little like Israel. So, in your opinion, how hard do I have the right to hit the next time I see hm? Because I want to knock him into the middle of fucking next week. Don’t hit him at all. Some people have traumatic things that happened to them as a child and simply don’t want to be touched. You have to respect that. It was just a trigger for him you doing that. I think it’s foolish for you to hit the guy again for any reason. Furthermore, nothing is to be solved by violence. Keep in mind, there are people with permanent injuries from similar hitting such as hearing loss and serious injury to the eye and nose. Seriously, if someone hit me, who was a friend or friend of a friend or not, I’d report it to the police. I think it’s time you found a new hobby and matured, this isn’t kindergarten. ---
**Author:** ![Kenm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bc79bd/32.png) [@Kenm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kenm)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2015, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-hard-should-i-be-allowed-to-hit-this-guy/726693/59 "2015-08-01T04:23:01Z")
Next time he’ll pull a gun and blow your head off. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2015, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-hard-should-i-be-allowed-to-hit-this-guy/726693/60 "2015-08-01T04:26:10Z")
> [@BrightNShiny](#): > > Deleting my post. I don’t have the time for another thread. Sorry. Damn, **Darth Panda** , you’re just going to sit there and take this shit? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-hard-should-i-be-allowed-to-hit-this-guy/726693.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-hard-should-i-be-allowed-to-hit-this-guy/726693.md?page=4)