# Origin of "... get medieval on your ass" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 13, 2007, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-get-medieval-on-your-ass/419107 "2007-09-13T19:45:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![jharvey963](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/54ee81/32.png) [@jharvey963](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jharvey963)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2007, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-get-medieval-on-your-ass/419107/1 "2007-09-13T19:45:41Z")
What is the origin of the phrase “get medieval on your ass”? I know it appeared in “Pulp Fiction” and also later in “The Black Knight”. Where did this expression originally come from? Thanks, J. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2007, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-get-medieval-on-your-ass/419107/2 "2007-09-13T19:49:52Z")
I’m pretty sure **Pulp Fiction** is the major vector of the phrase. I don’t recall hearing it anywhere else before that. ---
**Author:** ![Gfactor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@Gfactor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gfactor)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2007, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-get-medieval-on-your-ass/419107/3 "2007-09-13T20:26:01Z")
Moving this to Cafe Society. **Gfactor** , General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2007, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-get-medieval-on-your-ass/419107/4 "2007-09-13T20:39:24Z")
Love the Google ad on this one: Undo Circumcision Damage - The Your-Skin Cone will make you supple and sensitive like uncut men [TLCTugger.com](http://TLCTugger.com) ---
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2007, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-get-medieval-on-your-ass/419107/5 "2007-09-13T21:28:47Z")
Yeah, _Pulp Fiction_ was the first time I heard it. It caught on as a catchphrase after the movie became popular. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2007, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-get-medieval-on-your-ass/419107/6 "2007-09-14T03:43:45Z")
I remember hearing it well before _Pulp Fiction_. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2007, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-get-medieval-on-your-ass/419107/7 "2007-09-14T03:48:05Z")
[QUOTE=Wendell Wagner] I remember hearing it well before _Pulp Fiction_. [/QUOTE] This I’d need a cite for; it’s pretty well the general consensus, as far as I’ve ever heard, that it’s from the pen of Quentin Tarantino. ---
**Author:** ![SkipMagic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skipmagic/32/20706_2.png) [@SkipMagic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkipMagic)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2007, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-get-medieval-on-your-ass/419107/8 "2007-09-14T04:57:47Z")
The 2001 draft revision of the OED lists the earliest reference as _Pulp Fiction_: > [@](#): > > **b. U.S. to get medieval: to use violence or extreme measures on, to become aggressive.** > > **1994** Q. TARANTINO & R. AVARY Pulp Fiction 131, I ain’t through with you by a damn sight. I’m gonna git Medieval on your ass. ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2007, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-get-medieval-on-your-ass/419107/9 "2007-09-14T06:50:26Z")
Also, in the MAD TV mashup, “Gump Fiction”, the character of Forrest Gump announces that, “We’re gonna get medieval on your buttocks.” ---
**Author:** ![ashwinramaswamy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@ashwinramaswamy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ashwinramaswamy)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2015, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-get-medieval-on-your-ass/419107/10 "2015-11-13T17:49:41Z")
dead ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2015, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-get-medieval-on-your-ass/419107/11 "2015-11-13T17:55:47Z")
> [@](#): > > 1996 - Duke Nukem 3D! > > [Duke Nukem 3D - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duke_Nukem_3D) > > One of the badass protagonist slang was “I’m gonna get medieval on your arse” If you look you can see you were scooped 8 years ago by **SkipMagic** who cited Tarentino in 1994. Also, when I tried to quote your post, all I got was DEAD in the quote box. How’d you do that? ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2015, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-get-medieval-on-your-ass/419107/12 "2015-11-13T18:35:05Z")
Tarentino also got the line “Go to work on you with a pair of pliers and a blowtorch” from _Charley Varrick._ ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2015, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-get-medieval-on-your-ass/419107/13 "2015-11-13T18:38:03Z")
The phrase might have been cemented in the language by Weird Al’s “Amish Paradise” _So don’t be vain and don’t be whiny Or else, my brother, I might have to get medieval on your heinie_ ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2015, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-get-medieval-on-your-ass/419107/14 "2015-11-13T18:39:49Z")
But the line right before that, when Ving Rhames says he’s going to work on Zed with a blowtorch and a pair of pliers, was lifted from"Charlie Varrick." ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2015, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-get-medieval-on-your-ass/419107/15 "2015-11-13T19:15:45Z")
> [@lissener](#): > > This I’d need a cite for; it’s pretty well the general consensus, as far as I’ve ever heard, that it’s from the pen of Quentin Tarantino. [New York Magazine, March 24 1969](http://tinyurl.com/nt259ky). “Brute force can get you into any apartment if you want to get medieval about it.” ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2015, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-get-medieval-on-your-ass/419107/16 "2015-11-13T19:39:28Z")
> [@Biggirl](#): > > Also, when I tried to quote your post, all I got was DEAD in the quote box. How’d you do that? They must have edited the post while you were writing your reply. FWIW I just checked Google Books and got no hits on “get medieval on” prior to 1994, and the three hits in 1994 were all quoting _Pulp Fiction_.