# Origin of phrase, "Asking for trouble" **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 30, 2006, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-phrase-asking-for-trouble/358679 "2006-05-30T00:31:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Askia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Askia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askia)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2006, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-phrase-asking-for-trouble/358679/1 "2006-05-30T00:31:34Z")
… suddenly curious, because it occurs to me I never hear the phrase in context of what someone says or utters, but rather, something they are actually doing or plan to do. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2006, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-phrase-asking-for-trouble/358679/2 "2006-05-30T00:56:07Z")
The phrase, as far as I can tell, shows up in print around 1900 in American English. I can’t hazard much of a guess to the rest of your question, except to suggest that people seldom “ask” for trouble, knowingly, in real life. (Well, after being a mod on this board, and reading posts since 1999, I’ll correct myself. People sure are strange.) 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2006, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-phrase-asking-for-trouble/358679/3 "2006-05-30T00:58:41Z")
How about related phrases? Cruisin for a bruisin Hankerin for a spankerin Rumblin for a tumblin Floatin for a slit throatin etc… ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2006, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-phrase-asking-for-trouble/358679/4 "2006-05-30T01:12:59Z")
itchin for a bitchin runnin for a gunnin skippin for a trippin mackin for an attackin postin for a roastin (hmmm…) ---
**Author:** ![CC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f1d935/32.png) [@CC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CC)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2006, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-phrase-asking-for-trouble/358679/5 "2006-05-30T01:51:04Z")
One I’ve never heard nor read anywhere, but just think is a terrificly colorful one is one my mom used to say - only in jest, mind you. When I’d be particularly obstreperous, she’d say, “Boy, you’re breedin’ a scab for your eye!” Anyone ever hear that one? ---
**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:** [May 30, 2006, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-phrase-asking-for-trouble/358679/6 "2006-05-30T01:56:36Z")
One of my teachers used to say, “Don’t go looking for trouble-you just might find it.” ---
**Author:** ![Askia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Askia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askia)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2006, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-phrase-asking-for-trouble/358679/7 "2006-05-30T02:07:19Z")
> [@samclem](#): > > The phrase, as far as I can tell, shows up in print around 1900 in American English. > > I can’t hazard much of a guess to the rest of your question, except to suggest that people seldom “ask” for trouble, knowingly, in real life. > > (Well, after being a mod on this board, and reading posts since 1999, I’ll correct myself. People sure are strange.) 🙂 🙂 I gotcha. I was recalling what I wrote about “fighting words” in another thread in GD last week. “Fighting words” do correlate to “asking for trouble,” to an extent, and I wondered if there were even an idle connection. “Fighting words” "backtalk’ and “Asking for trouble” are about the only acknowledgements of speaking = leading to trouble I can think of in American English, except that in actual usage “asking for trouble” doesn’t (typically) refer to verbal provocations. “Letting your mouth write a check your ass can’t cash,” is a personal favorite. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2006, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-phrase-asking-for-trouble/358679/8 "2006-05-30T02:12:08Z")
bleatin for a beatin ---
**Author:** ![Askia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Askia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askia)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2006, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-phrase-asking-for-trouble/358679/9 "2006-05-30T02:26:07Z")
Oh, hell, If **NoClueBoy** can do it… Chomping for a whomping. Yelling for a swelling. Sassing for a lashing. Mumbling for a pummeling. \<---- (I liked this.) Complaining for a caning. Whooping for a whipping. Talking smack for a stinging whack. Slap you so hard your ancestors will feel it.