“If you break both of your legs, don’t come running to me”
The newspaper comic strip “Dinah Mite” by Joe Buresch, published on August 5, 1955, showed a father cautioning his tree-climbing daughter (Dinah):
“If you fall and break your leg, don’t come running to me!”
The father meant to say that if Dinah disobeyed his wishes and got into trouble, he wouldn’t help her for getting herself into the situation. However, someone with a broken leg can’t run. The logically absurd statement—apparently said by many parents—is known as an “Irish bull.”
Wikipedia: Irish bull
An Irish bull is a ludicrous, incongruent or logically absurd statement, generally unrecognized as such by its author.
The addition of the epithet Irish is a late addition.
5 August 1955, Greensboro (NC) Record,“Dinah Mite” comic strip by Joe Buresch, pg. A-3, col. 2:
(Father to daughter climbing a tree.—ed.)
“If you fall and break your leg, don’t come running to me!”
Google Books
June 1970, Boys’ Life, “Think & Grin,” pg. 58, col. 4:
Father to son: If you fall off that rock and break your leg, don’t come running to me.—J. Harris, Wichita, Kans.
9 August 1970, Sunday Herald Traveler (Boston, MA), Young Folks Page, col. 8:
Father to Son: Okay, go ahead and climb that tree, but if you fall and break your leg, don’t come running to me!
From TOM CONWAY (12)
Bradford
24 June 1978, Boston (MA) Herald American, “The Eye,” pg. 16, col. 1:
“If you fall off that rock and break your leg, don’t come running to me!” Overheard by Al Solari, WBZ sales consultant, from a father to his son at a playground.
Google News Archive
26 March 1980, Spartanburg (SC) ,Herald, “The Stroller” by Seymour Rosenberg, pg. 1, col. 1:
“When my kid wouldn’t get down off the ladder,” says mom, “I just told him, ‘If you fall down and break both legs, don’t come running to me.’”
Google News Archive
18 May 1983, Milwaukee (WI) Sentinel Alex Thien column, pt. 1, pg. 3, col. 4:
AND FOR SOME reason that reminds me of the neighbor lady who was watching her little nipper walk the top rail of the backyard fence. he wasn’t too steady up there and had trouble keeping his balance. That’s when she said:
“Don’t come running to me if you fall off and break a leg.”
Google Books
Verbatim
Volumes 19-21
1992
Pg. 21:
Good examples are sentences like those your parents used to scream at the tops of their voices when you were an angelic four-year-old: “If you fall out of that tree and break your legs, don’t come running to me!” They are also called Irish bulls.
Google Books
How to Raise Kids Who Won’t Hate You
By Alan Thicke
Lincoln, NE: iUniverse
2006
Pg. 48:
“If You Fall and Break Your Leg, Don’t Come Running to Me!”
The Globe and Mail (Canada)
Irish bulls might be pregnant with truths
HOWARD RICHLER
Contributed to The Globe and Mail
Published Monday, Sep. 06, 2010 5:00AM EDT
Last updated Thursday, Aug. 23, 2012 4:25PM EDT
(...)
Alternate names for this phenomenon are “Goldwynism” and “Berraism” because of the penchant of movie mogul Samuel Goldwyn and former baseball player Yogi Berra for this type of declaration.
Goldwyn “allegedly” made all of the following statements:
(...)
If you fall and break your legs, don’t come running to me.