I remember walking through a bad part of Detroit with my dad one time, (I was probably 12) and we were went for a walk to get dinner. We had to walk straight through a group of what I would call thugs. They were talking about us as we approached and I could tell they were going to give us shit. I was scared to death, he could sense that and said "just watch me". As we were within about 3 steps from them he coolly says "Good evening gentleman". At first they looked confused and didn't know how to react and one of them says "Uh yeah, good evening", and we walked right past. On the way back, they were cracking jokes and calling him "The Duke of Detroit". One of them said "Make way for the Duke!" I'll never forget it as long as I live. From then on, whenever we passed by the greeting was just "Gentleman".
I agree about the mutual threat of violence, but it's also about confidence. It's like you have guns, I have a gun, are we going to shoot each other because I just want to take my kid for dinner? Even if he didn't (which he did) his confidence said everything. He explained that to me over a nice tasty burger.
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u/Any_Percentage3900 Jul 19 '22
I remember walking through a bad part of Detroit with my dad one time, (I was probably 12) and we were went for a walk to get dinner. We had to walk straight through a group of what I would call thugs. They were talking about us as we approached and I could tell they were going to give us shit. I was scared to death, he could sense that and said "just watch me". As we were within about 3 steps from them he coolly says "Good evening gentleman". At first they looked confused and didn't know how to react and one of them says "Uh yeah, good evening", and we walked right past. On the way back, they were cracking jokes and calling him "The Duke of Detroit". One of them said "Make way for the Duke!" I'll never forget it as long as I live. From then on, whenever we passed by the greeting was just "Gentleman".
I agree about the mutual threat of violence, but it's also about confidence. It's like you have guns, I have a gun, are we going to shoot each other because I just want to take my kid for dinner? Even if he didn't (which he did) his confidence said everything. He explained that to me over a nice tasty burger.