# Real-world examples of people making quips in face of death? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 4, 2018, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-world-examples-of-people-making-quips-in-face-of-death/817284 "2018-07-04T15:49:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2018, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-world-examples-of-people-making-quips-in-face-of-death/817284/61 "2018-07-06T17:37:20Z")
Captain Ernest E. Evans of the _USS Johnston_: > [@](#): > > I intend to go in harm’s way, and anyone who doesn’t want to go along had better get off right now. While he said that before the ship left port, [he meant it](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_off_Samar#USS_Johnston). ---
**Author:** ![MikeF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MikeF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeF)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2018, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-world-examples-of-people-making-quips-in-face-of-death/817284/62 "2018-07-06T18:26:24Z")
Slightly off topic but - Moose (with head mounted on wall of hunting lodge), “What is that? A gun?” ---
**Author:** ![Gray\_Ghost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c0e974/32.png) [@Gray\_Ghost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gray_Ghost)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2018, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-world-examples-of-people-making-quips-in-face-of-death/817284/63 "2018-07-06T19:22:14Z")
> [@Sailboat](#): > > Captain Ernest E. Evans of the _USS Johnston_: > > While he said that before the ship left port, [he meant it](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_off_Samar#USS_Johnston). Same battle, not facing death, but they just had been: Admiral Sprague, on the bridge of the _Fanshaw Bay_ (one of the escort carriers that the _Johnston_ and others were valiantly protecting) later recounted that one of his signalmen shouted, “Goddamnit boys, they’re getting away!” The “they,” in this case was the retreating surface action group of Japanese warships which included the largest battleship in the world, _Yamato_, and, not thirty minutes earlier, realistically threatened to kill them all. From here: [The National Interest: Blog | The National Interest](http://nationalinterest.org/blog/the-buzz/fact-one-the-us-navys-most-heroic-stands-was-leyte-gulf-22999/page/6/5) ---
**Author:** ![Gray\_Ghost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c0e974/32.png) [@Gray\_Ghost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gray_Ghost)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2018, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-world-examples-of-people-making-quips-in-face-of-death/817284/64 "2018-07-06T19:26:59Z")
Also not quite at the moment of death, but this one from Dienekes, who is much better known as one of the 300 at Thermopylae, is a goodie. From his wiki ([Dienekes - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dienekes)), citing Herodotus: " > [@](#): > > (…) the Spartan Dienekes is said to have proved himself the best man of all, the same who, as they report, uttered this saying before they engaged battle with the Medes:— being informed by one of the men of Trachis that when the Barbarians discharged their arrows they obscured the light of the sun by the multitude of the arrows, so great was the number of their host, he was not dismayed by this, but making small account of the number of the Medes, he said that their guest from Trachis brought them very good news, for if the Medes obscured the light of the sun, the battle against them would be in the shade and not in the sun." “Then we will fight in the shade!” is pithier, and further proof of Cicero’s genius. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2018, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-world-examples-of-people-making-quips-in-face-of-death/817284/65 "2018-07-06T19:42:35Z")
> [@Sailboat](#): > > Captain Ernest E. Evans of the _USS Johnston_: > > While he said that before the ship left port, [he meant it](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_off_Samar#USS_Johnston). He also said to his crew, when announcing that three destroyers were going to take on far superior odds at Leyte Gulf, "This will be a fight against overwhelming odds from which survival cannot be expected. " Perhaps that should be in a different thread, “Real World Understatements in War Time”. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2018, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-world-examples-of-people-making-quips-in-face-of-death/817284/66 "2018-07-06T19:46:39Z")
> [@Gray\_Ghost](#): > > …“Then we will fight in the shade!” is pithier, and further proof of Cicero’s genius. The Spartans also, when ordered to turn over their weapons by a much larger Persian army, supposedly replied, “Come and take them!” ---
**Author:** ![Mtgman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5a626/32.png) [@Mtgman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mtgman)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2018, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-world-examples-of-people-making-quips-in-face-of-death/817284/67 "2018-07-06T20:00:21Z")
“[Thomas Jefferson still survives.](https://www.thoughtco.com/what-were-john-adams-last-words-103946)” - John Adams. Enjoy, Steven ---
**Author:** ![Gray\_Ghost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c0e974/32.png) [@Gray\_Ghost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gray_Ghost)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2018, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-world-examples-of-people-making-quips-in-face-of-death/817284/68 "2018-07-06T20:09:42Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > The Spartans also, when ordered to turn over their weapons by a much larger Persian army, supposedly replied, “Come and take them!” That is a more famous quote. Certainly on more bumper stickers, anyway. I think you could just go through the IMDB Quotes section from 300 and find a half dozen that’d qualify. Another, not quite in the face of death, but bad ass all the same: It’s the Battle of the Bulge, December 23, 1944, and the Germans have been kicking the Americans’s asses up and down the Ardennes. As told by a soldier in a retreating tank destroyer, > [@](#): > > - spotted a [lone] American digging a foxhole. The GI, PFC Martin, 325th Glider Infantry Regiment, looked up and asked, “Are you looking for a safe place?” > > “Yeah” answered the tanker. > > “Well, buddy,” he drawled, “just pull your vehicle behind me… I’m the 82nd Airborne, and this is as far as the bastards are going.” [http://www.517prct.org/documents/82nd\_airborne\_poster/82nd\_airborne\_poster.htm](http://www.517prct.org/documents/82nd_airborne_poster/82nd_airborne_poster.htm) ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2018, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-world-examples-of-people-making-quips-in-face-of-death/817284/69 "2018-07-06T20:53:13Z")
There is a tale told of a French Foreign Legionnaire who shot a superior officer. He went to the hospital and apologized—for his poor marksmanship. “Je sui maladroit.” ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2018, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-world-examples-of-people-making-quips-in-face-of-death/817284/70 "2018-07-06T22:17:40Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > I don’t have a cite, and Reagan quoted a lot of movies, but I thought he stole the line from Jack Dempsey, the heavyweight champion. Dempsey had just lost to Gene Tunney in a major upset. Dempsey’s wife called him “Ginsberg” for some reason, and she asked, “Ginsberg, what happened?” Dempsey replied “I guess I forgot to duck”. > > Regards, > Shodan That is correct. According to biographer Roger Kahn, Dempsey’s wife (actress Estelle Taylor) called him by the pet name “Ginsberg” because Dempsey had a Jewish great-grandmother. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2018, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-world-examples-of-people-making-quips-in-face-of-death/817284/71 "2018-07-07T02:07:11Z")
> [@mbh](#): > > There is a tale told of a French Foreign Legionnaire who shot a superior officer. He went to the hospital and apologized—for his poor marksmanship. “Je sui maladroit.” Google translate offers, “I’m awkward”. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2018, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-world-examples-of-people-making-quips-in-face-of-death/817284/72 "2018-07-07T15:05:34Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Google translate offers, “I’m awkward”. I had been told the literal meaning was “I was clumsy.” The point being that he was not apologizing for assaulting his commanding officer; he was apologizing for failing to kill his commanding officer. And this, in an era before France abolished the death penalty. ---
**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:** [July 7, 2018, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-world-examples-of-people-making-quips-in-face-of-death/817284/73 "2018-07-07T15:53:06Z")
When the goon squad brought [Thomas de Mahy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_de_Mahy,_marquis_de_Favras) his death warrant, he read it and said, “I see that you have made three spelling mistakes.” ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2018, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-world-examples-of-people-making-quips-in-face-of-death/817284/74 "2018-07-07T18:06:34Z")
> [@Johnny\_Bravo](#): > > When the goon squad brought [Thomas de Mahy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_de_Mahy,_marquis_de_Favras) his death warrant, he read it and said, “I see that you have made three spelling mistakes.” That guy posts on the 'Dope. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2018, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-world-examples-of-people-making-quips-in-face-of-death/817284/75 "2018-07-07T21:43:50Z")
> [@xnylder](#): > > “This wallpaper and I are fighting a duel to the death. Either it goes or I do.” Oscar Wilde I visited Oscar Wild’s tomb in the Pere Lachaise Cemetary in Paris. Lots of people were sticking little notes into the stone, so I wrote one: “Oscar: the wallpaper is gone.” ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2018, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-world-examples-of-people-making-quips-in-face-of-death/817284/76 "2018-07-08T00:45:29Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > The Spartans also, when ordered to turn over their weapons by a much larger Persian army, supposedly replied, “Come and take them!” But surely the best Spartan comeback was when Philip II send them the message: > [@Philip II of Macedon](#): > > You are advised to submit without further delay, for if I bring my army into your land, I will destroy your farms, slay your people, and raze your city. The formal Spartan reply: > [@Sparta](#): > > “If.” ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2018, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-world-examples-of-people-making-quips-in-face-of-death/817284/77 "2018-07-08T01:06:08Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > The formal Spartan reply: Outstanding! ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2018, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-world-examples-of-people-making-quips-in-face-of-death/817284/78 "2018-07-08T03:42:50Z")
I’m not sure this counts as a “quip”: Correspondent Eric Sevareid was on a military transport flight to China in 1943 that crashed in a Burmese jungle. He jumped out at the last moment, got his parachute to open, and described hearing someone yelling “My God, I’m going to live!”, then realized it was his own voice. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![ssgenius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5ac83/32.png) [@ssgenius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ssgenius)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2018, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-world-examples-of-people-making-quips-in-face-of-death/817284/79 "2018-07-08T04:28:20Z")
> [@Gray\_Ghost](#): > > Same battle, not facing death, but they just had been: Admiral Sprague, on the bridge of the _Fanshaw Bay_ (one of the escort carriers that the _Johnston_ and others were valiantly protecting) later recounted that one of his signalmen shouted, “Goddamnit boys, they’re getting away!” > > The “they,” in this case was the retreating surface action group of Japanese warships which included the largest battleship in the world, _Yamato_, and, not thirty minutes earlier, realistically threatened to kill them all. From here: [The National Interest: Blog | The National Interest](http://nationalinterest.org/blog/the-buzz/fact-one-the-us-navys-most-heroic-stands-was-leyte-gulf-22999/page/6/5) In the same battle, someone said, “We got them into 40 mm range now”. This was when some of the Japanese ships were that close to the Americans. Not only this this fleet have 4 Battleships, they also had 4 Heavy Cruisers (which were MUCH bigger than the treaty cruisers that the Americans had) and if I remember right, these destroyers and escort destroyers sank 3 of these Heavy Cruisers:eek: ---
**Author:** ![ssgenius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5ac83/32.png) [@ssgenius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ssgenius)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2018, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-world-examples-of-people-making-quips-in-face-of-death/817284/80 "2018-07-08T05:23:52Z")
> [@ssgenius](#): > > In the same battle, someone said, “We got them into 40 mm range now”. This was when some of the Japanese ships were that close to the Americans. > > Not only this this fleet have 4 Battleships, they also had 4 Heavy Cruisers (which were MUCH bigger than the treaty cruisers that the Americans had) and if I remember right, these destroyers and escort destroyers sank 3 of these Heavy Cruisers:eek: Correction 6 Heavy cruisers [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-world-examples-of-people-making-quips-in-face-of-death/817284.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/real-world-examples-of-people-making-quips-in-face-of-death/817284.md?page=5)