Quotations and Literature Forum

How dare you lay a hand on my daughter! (?)

This statement became a southern classic but I would be interested in knowing who was the originator and when it became public? Did it actually originate in the south?

Hello from Germantown, TN. I can't attribute this quotation to any individual, but I have to believe it was popularized in either movies or early radio. Such quotations can be used to create a certain image, i.e. Southern chivalry, wild west gunslinging (This town ain't big enough for both of us), or New England thriftiness (Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without). I'm not much help, but good luck in finding the source.

pwgtown

"How dare you lay a hand on my daughter! Bam!" I was reading the biogrpahy about Hunter S. Thompson. When he was a teen ager he got shot at by the father of the girl he was dating. The author insisted that it was a norm in the south for a father to shoot at young men that were dating their daughters. They usually aimed to miss. It was a test to see how brave the young studs were. If a young man was a complete southern gentleman then he would get shot at.

Germantown? I bought land for the "new" Germantown road back in 1990. My brother lives in Bartlett. "Whad-do-ye-say-neighba?"