Badass Boast/Real Life: Difference between revisions

** A (probably apocryphal, but still badass) tactical assessment of the US Marine situation at the [[The Korean War|Battle of Chosin Reservoir]]:

{{quote| '''(Unnamed) Marine Colonel''': "The Chinese are ahead of us, behind us, and on both flanks. They outnumbers us 20 to 1. ''And they can't get away from us now!''"}}

{{quote| "Good. Now we can fire in any direction!"}}

* "Μολὼν λαβέ" ("Come and take them") -- Leonidas at Thermopylae, when asked to give up his weapons. That's 'Molon labe' for those who can't understand Greek writing.

** Also said at Thermopylae by Dienekes, a Spartan warrior, when informed that the Persians' arrows would block out the sun: "So much the better...then we shall fight our battle in the shade."

** The Spartans have a long history of this sort of thing. When Philip II sent a message to Sparta saying "If I enter Laconia, I will level Sparta to the ground," the Spartans replied simply; "If." Neither Philip nor his army entered Laconia.

* The men of the small Texas town of Gonzalez used a variant of this when the Mexican army tried to reposses their cannon: "Come And Take It". They later carried that banner -- and attitude -- to the Alamo. American frontiersmen were like that. Gonzalez still have the cannon, and the flag, which still says 'Come And Take It'. They have a parade every year. (A very small one, it's a pretty small town.)

* Suleiman the Magnificent, the tenth sultan of the Ottoman Empire, signed his letters by titling himself

* During [[World War II]], [[Bob Hope]] performed for an audience of [[The Engineer|combat engineers]]:

{{quote| '''Hope:''' Are you the Corps of Engineers, the guys who build the runways the planes land on?<br />

* Many armed forces have a battle cry they use to psych themselves up (and scare the enemy) in case they have to end up stabbing some poor bastard to death with their bayonet. For example, the 506th P.I.R of the 101st Airborne's battle cry was "Currahee!" a Cherokee word which literally means "stand alone". Even today, it is still used by the 101st as a morale booster.

* The Celts would often do this before battle, while challenging their enemies to duels.

* [[Brian Blessed]] reportedly kept [[Oliver Reed]] from making trouble during the filming of ''[[Prisoner Of Honor]]'' with one of these, to the point that Reed was sober the whole time for fear of starting a fight that Brian had said he would end.

* General McAuliffe, at the Battle of the Bulge, was presented with a surrender ultimatum by the Germans. To which he said: "Nuts"

** When the German major who surrendered to York realized York had no other troops but a handful of terrified privates to corral his 132 prisoners:

{{quote| '''Major:''' How many men ''have'' you got?<br />

* French general Henri Gouraud, after marching into Damascus in July 1920 to put down an anti-colonial rising, stood upon Saladin's grave, kicked it and said: "The Crusades have ended now! Awake Saladin, we have returned! My presence here consecrates the victory of the Cross over the Crescent."

* While [[Jesus]] (see also: [[The Bible]]) never personally gave a [[Badass Boast]], the late S.M. Lockridge gave [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upGCMl_b0n4 a pretty good one describing him], in accordance to the Christian doctrine of "boasting in Christ."

** This may be more along the lines of Truth in Advertising, as Forward Observers in the US Army are trained to direct fire for 4.2" mortars, 105mm & 155mm Howitzers, 8" Howitzers, Multiple Launch Rocket Systems, helicopter gunships, all forms of close air support including AC-130 Spectre Gunships, Naval gunfire up to 16" Battleship main guns, and if "released" by the President; Tactical Nuclear Weapons. This may be why during the Cold War the unofficial US Army estimate of a Forward Observer's life expectancy upon contact with Soviet forces was approximately 13 seconds.

** Clearly cribbed from Green Beret prayer: ''"Yea, tho I walk through the Valley of the Shadow of Death I will fear no evil; for I am the baddest mother****** in the valley."''

** Keep in mind that Jason Terry [[Badass Boast|had the Larry O'Brien trophy tattooed on him before the 2010-11 season!]]

* Almogavars were mercenary soldiers from the 13th and 14th century. ''"Awake iron!"'' was their battlecry. The badassery of it relies on the fact that, while shouting the battlecry, they used to struck their blades against rocks, so the steel would spark.

** Origin of the line "The center cannot hold" (depending on translation).

* [[Ancient Rome|Roman]] dictator Lucius Cornelius Sulla Felix' epitaph. The exact wording is lost, and it may have been either Greek or Latin, but one version reads: "No better friend...no ''worse enemy''."

* Many a sniper (and less seriously, SCA combat archer) has adopted the motto "Go ahead and run--you'll just die tired."

* The national motto of Scotland is ''[[Pretentious Latin Motto|Nemo me impune lacessit]]''--"[[Brave Scot|Nobody attacks me with impunity]]". It sounds even more menacing in the original Scots: "[[Violent Glaswegian|Wha daur meddle wi' me]]?"

* A cover letter is, ideally, a three-paragraph speech about why you kick the most ass at the job you're applying for.

* "You may think you're big. You may have 50 people in your gang, you might have 100. My gang has 100,000 people in it, it's called the Metropolitian Police."