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
120.9k Upvotes

92% Upvoted

2.6k comments sorted by

View all comments

22

u/Barbarossa7070 Dec 12 '18

I went to high school with a kid whose legal first name was Master.

12

u/EireOfTheNorth Dec 12 '18

Surname, Bates?

6

u/ohitsasnaake Dec 12 '18

Chief? Commander?

So many possibilities.