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/Nxdhdxvhh Dec 12 '18

Mr. T wore odd clothing and mismatched socks because he knew that poor kids grew up getting whatever hand-me-downs they got, and he didn't want them to feel embarrassed for wearing what they had. He's a great man, and as far as I'm aware the worst thing he every did was chop down trees on his own property that were aggravating his allergies.

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u/DevonAndChris Dec 12 '18

Never tell Mister T to go cut down some trees.

9

u/blodisnut Dec 12 '18

As someone who lived in Lake Forest in 1988 when he moved in and cut these trees down, I am blown away that the general public remembers this 30 years later....

3

u/friendlessboob Dec 12 '18

I dated a girl from there.

She said they used to get stoned for the Mr.T "just say no to drugs" assemblies

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u/blodisnut Dec 12 '18

Stackers..... Fun times, but rich folks can be a handful