110: Clark Gable
Image Text
Frankly, my dear, I don't give a BITCH ASS SHIT FUCK DAMN
Explanation
“Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn”, is the signature catchphrase of the 1939 movie “Gone with the Wind”, which starred Clack Gable (mentioned in the comic title) and Vivien Leigh. The phrase is spoken by Gable in character as Rhett Butler as last words in answer to Leigh as Scarlett O'Hara. She (Scarlett) asks him (Rhett) literally: “Where shall I go? What shall I do?”, to which he answers the above catchphrase, meaning he he is not interested in her anymore. This disinterest, and the mention of the word “damn”, which was considered profanity at the time of releasing the film, led to the catchphrase to be voted #1 movie line of all time in 2005.
In the comic, Randall plays the profanity card, stating that Gable in character would've outered another line (“Frankly, my dear, I couldn't care less”) to be complaint with the sign of the times, but that Gable suffered from Tourette syndrome and therefore uttered the above catchphrase. Tourette syndrome is a mental disorder which may lead the sufferer (usually children) to unexpectedly utter profane words amongst his or her speaking. The image text may or may not be an example from that. I'm sorry.
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The issue date is definately off, as the file doesn't have an issue date. Can anyone fix? Rikthoff (talk) 13:49, 3 August 2012
- Listed as 2006-06-02 as per https://xkcd.com/archive/ 172.68.141.28 09:18, 2 July 2019 (UTC)
Gable did not have Tourette’s syndrome 172.69.170.56 (talk) 17:49, 13 November 2020 (UTC) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)
This might be the only xkcd comic with realistically drawn human characters (in contrast to stick figures or the Barrel Boy). — BabylonAS (talk) 13:14, 25 September 2024 (UTC)
- But see https://xkcd.com/56/ 172.69.194.79 (talk) 07:42, 15 October 2024 (please sign your comments with ~~~~)
There's a story – not one for which I can find many references, but it is out there – that Gable's now-iconic (but weird, if you think about it) delivery of this line with the emphasis on "give" was done to avoid emphasising "damn". Maybe Randall is slyly referencing that? Sure, the supposed Tourette's could lead to making the curse stronger (hence the use of "don't give a damn" at all), but the inclusion of an odd inflection could be attributed to a vocal tic.
Now we all know the quote, saying "give a damn" sounds fine. But really, why is "give" emphasised? In any other circumstance, that would mean that precisely what he's prepared to do with his damn is the focus of the sentence, and that's clearly not the case. So I think there is some mileage in the odd-inflection idea, from a language nerd such as RM... Yorkshire Pudding (talk) 12:00, 22 April 2025 (UTC) Add comment
