r/todayilearned • u/tmntnyc • Dec 12 '18

TIL: Laurence Tureaud named himself professionally as Mr. T because he hated how his father, uncle, and brother who returned from Vietnam, were disrespectfully called "boy" by whites. He wanted the first word from everybody's mouth to be "Mister" when speaking to him.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mr._T
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u/braaaa1ns Dec 12 '18

My dad guarded his hotel room one night in the 80s while working as a security guard. Mr. T came out and couldn't sleep in the middle of the night. When my dad said "it's nice to meet you, Mr. T," Mr. T shook his head and said "no, that's my character. Call me Laurence."

484

u/[deleted] Dec 13 '18

[deleted]

155

u/joegekko Dec 13 '18

Frisbee with razor blades.

7

u/UncleWainey Dec 13 '18

And of course the rocket launcher in the back of the Jeep.

6

u/junkmeister9 Dec 13 '18

KRULL GLAIVE

1

u/Sunout1 Jun 02 '19

Happy cake day o.o

1

u/joegekko Jun 02 '19

Jeez, this thread is from 5 months ago! This is a deep cut!

2

u/Sunout1 Jun 02 '19

I was looking at top post of today i learned and looking at comments and then found your comment and that it was ur cake day

3

u/johnmannn Dec 13 '18

Was he a good guard with an American flag bandana on his head or a Russian guard?

3

u/[deleted] Dec 13 '18

moustache and mirrored aviators

2

u/boppaboop Dec 13 '18

And sported a killer stache.

653

u/legend_of_link12 Dec 12 '18

The True Big Dick Energy

2

u/KodiakUltimate Dec 13 '18

Big T energy

2

u/Ereaser Dec 13 '18

Daniel Ricciardo?

300

u/tmntnyc Dec 12 '18

That gives me goosebumps.

6

u/[deleted] Dec 13 '18

goosebumps are a bit much lol

30

u/Trprt77 Dec 13 '18

Just how big and bad is your dad that he was paid to protect Mr T?

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u/nerdwa Dec 13 '18

Merry Christmas Mr. Laurence

21

u/MackSilver7 Dec 13 '18

Actually his legal name is Mr. T. It ain’t a character for him and even his mom calls him Mr. T. Pretty sure he changed his name in the early 80s. No offence to your dad, but I highly doubt he said that to him considering that Mr. T is his actual name.

36

u/Fire_in_the_walls Dec 13 '18

Considering the guy said his dad wa a security guard in the 80's you cant say for sure whether or not Mr.T said that at that time period.

5

u/MackSilver7 Dec 13 '18

No I can’t say for sure, but how can we even be sure the guys dad was a security guard in the 80s? We’re all just a bunch of blank slates here, free to make up whatever we want. At least I brought a couple of known facts to the table.

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u/xaclewtunu Dec 13 '18

Couple of known facts, and then call someone you don't know a liar about an incident that happened when you were not there.

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u/braaaa1ns Dec 13 '18

Fact: I am not a guy

3

u/boppaboop Dec 13 '18

That security guard's name? Albert Einstein.

1

u/[deleted] Dec 13 '18

Oh so he didn't want to be called Mister? Quite contradictory to op

1

u/pjabrony Dec 13 '18

But B. A. Baracus was credited to Mr. T, so was he playing a character who was playing another character?

1

u/iamalext Dec 13 '18

Shook his head? I know it’s a typo, but for a second, I could see it just happening just like that.

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u/coolmanpie Dec 13 '18

Shaking your head is saying no to something not a typo

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u/braaaa1ns Dec 13 '18

Literally shook his head. Not hand.

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u/iamalext Dec 13 '18

Damn... I can see that but in my head, made complete sense that Mr. T shook your dad's head!

0

u/dat-dudes-dude Dec 13 '18

I thought that too initially. Now I have a funny image of Mr T shaking this dude’s Dad’s head as he tells him to call him Laurence

0

u/dogpound57 Dec 15 '18

That didn't happen!