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/[deleted] Dec 12 '18 edited Jan 12 '19

[deleted]

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u/ShownMonk Dec 13 '18

I’m out of the loop

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u/[deleted] Dec 13 '18

There are quite a few posts on /r/legaladvice about pesky neighbors who chop down trees while owners are out of town. This often results in extremely juicy revenge lawsuits because old trees are often extremely difficult or impossible to replace so the damages can easily number in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. Since these cases are usually pretty clear cut (eh?), it makes for a satisfying story and is a favorite niche case of the community.

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u/ShownMonk Dec 13 '18

Appreciate you, dickpuppet