For the purposes of this thread I mean hit someone before they hit you.
I’m sort of imagining the classic film situation of one person being a dick and then the good guy decking them. In films there’s never any comeback; the dick never fights back and there’s no police interest.
I suspect that this is a relatively infrequent thing to happen in real life (jerks generally know how far they can push someone before they’re likely to lash out), so hitting someone for other reasons, like that you felt that they were about to hit you, counts too.
So what happened in your real-life situation when you struck out at someone? Did they fight back? Did the police get involved? How did you feel about it afterwards?
FTR I haven’t in my adult life hit anyone. And in terms of times where I think I really should have, probably about 5 occasions.
No. Last time I punched someone I was 16, and it was during a kind of duel planed to settle some highly important issue (my horse had been following his too closely).
I also hadn’t been punched myself since.
Not a very interesting post, is it? Sorry, I don’t have a very exciting life.
ETA : Thinking of it, I’ve been, if not technically punched, violently assaulted twice by thieves, if it counts. And there are no instances I can remember at the moment when I think I should have punched someone.
Not on purpose. Can’t recall ever doing so as a kid or teen, either. I did accidentally break some guy’s nose at a punk rock show (guessing I was 18 or 19, so this is like 20 years ago) while moshing, so there’s a good chance that it involved a punch (or an elbow or a headbutt). He thought it was the greatest thing to happen to him at a show, we got some Denny’s afterward, and we’re even Facebook “friends” now, so it worked out pretty well.
One of the main reasons I’ve never truly punched someone is that my guy friends tend to be large bruiser types who tend to be very protective of me. Kind of nice, since I seem to attract women who have very angry ex-boyfriends.
Back when I was 19, a friend had spent probably 6 months or more deliberately fucking with me, knowing I would never do anything about it. One day he was just beyond the pale in his dickery and I backhanded him hard in the face. Shit ended right there. I regretted it for 20 years before figuring out that hey, it did end the shit and other than a brief while, he didn’t hold it against me, so yes, it was the right thing to do and I should forgive myself for it.
Not in my adult life, but when I was a girl of 16, yes, something happened like Chimera describes here. Another girl, smaller them me, I have to admit. But she had been a an agressive little bitch at everyone at camp. When she spit in my face, totally unprovoked, I lost it and got her good. The scene happened at a little creek; there was an old tree over the creek, as a one-log0bridge, and I think I chased her across that tree two times before I got her, threw her in the mud, and hit her. Problems ended right there for everyone. I didn’t get in trouble with the adults in charge, although the whole scene had been in full view of them.
A few months ago, I punched my friend’s husband because he kept pinching her. She told him to stop, his daughter told him to stop, and I told him to stop. But he was drunk and thought that he was being cute, so he persisted, to the point where she was visibly upset. The next time he reached over to pinch her, I landed one solid punch to his arm. He turned to me, surprised, and said, “Ow.”
I said, “Next time, it’s your nose.”
He looked at my husband, who shrugged and said, “I wouldn’t piss her off if I was you.”
Thanks everyone.
I thought I was possibly unusual for being a man who’d reached 33 and never initiated fisticuffs. I feel a little less atypical now. At least among dopers.
Agree with the instances so far where people felt they had to strike out (except for Shakester’s where more detail required if I were to pass judgement…which I’m not).
Something similar, but far more recent, an extremely intoxicated individual picked a fight with a friend of mine and was winning. I reoriented the outcome more in my friends favor.
I’m not convinced that punching someone after they hit you should be disallowed. But let me see…
I got into a shoving match with a crazy homeless guy in downtown Memphis because he was abusing a little dog someone had left tied to a lamp post outside Walgreens.
I shoved a guy off a bus because he would was trying to drag his girlfriend and their child off the bus, presumably so he could beat them in private.
I punched my oldest brother in the gut because we’re both assholes, lest anyone think I’m claiming to be a hero rather than a hothead.
Only struck someone first, once. My sister’s ex boyfriend after I had found out he beat her once. Waited for him at his place of work, didn’t hesitate and was willing to go to jail for it. He didn’t fight back, and curled up in a little ball. Guess he wasn’t use to his victims fighting back. He never called the cops.
She ended up go back to him, he did it again eventually. Did nothing when it happened a second time, figured ah well I guess she’s into shitty relationships.
I did punch one guy when he grabbed me, picked me up and wouldn’t let me go. He thought it was funny, and I kept telling him that I didn’t like it and to let me down. Finally, I warned him, ONCE, that I was going to hit him. He didn’t believe me, but he should have. He was amazed that I hit him, and complained that I had no sense of humor, that he was just playing around. I told him that when he grabs someone, and he doesn’t let that person go when he’s asked to, it’s no longer playing around.
When I was 18, I was on a trip with my boyfriend. I had told him that I would give him a blow job when we got back to the motel room (I “owed” him oral sex because I had had sex with him once and then decided that I was not ready for that level of relationship yet, but that is another story…). By the time we were on the way back, I was tired and not feeling well, so I asked if he could wait until later. This prompted a huge tantrum and a rant in which he repeatedly called me a whore. I tried to calm him down for a while, but he finally said “whore” one time too many and I snapped. I felt horrible when I saw the blood streaming from his nose, but that second that my arm was in motion was the best feeling in the world.
He threatened to press charges, but didn’t. There were other consequences. Long, creepy story.
Accidentally punched a guy I was sleeping with while I was asleep, we figure I was having a nightmare.
Not sure if it counts or not, but I dumped drinks on guys if they wouldn’t leave me alone in bars between setting up and playing, and twice I kneecapped guys that still wouldn’t take no for an answer. Steel toed sneaker look work shoes FTW. Comfy and useful. Oh, and I kneed a guy in the nuts that tried to jump me in the parking lot when I was moving stuff out to the band van. The rest of the guys sort of beat the hell out of him for me.
One was at wrestling camp when they dumped water on me while I was sleeping. So I let loose on one of them. Then, there was the time my old friend showed up at a party with my new ex-gf. Yeah, I cheapshotted him pretty bad. Had a few college brawls where I’m sure I landed a couple of blows. Other times, just include wrestling around with some of my buddies and it getting carried away and someone getting punched in the face.
I took some as well. My nose got broke pretty bad once in a fight.
In the movies, people punch each other over relatively small slights, and then laugh it off, sometimes with “Well, I suppose that I deserved that.” Also, in the movies, being bitten by a radioactive spider gives you super powers. Real life is often quite different.
I’m a 54-year-old man and haven’t engaged in fisticuffs in my adult life. It’s been great.
My last physical altercation was roughly 35 years ago. My wife and I were in a store and there was a guy smacking his five or six year old son. I intervened and told him that maybe he should pick on someone his own size.
He threw a punch that didn’t even come close to landing. I landed three or four, and he decided that he was finished.