A crude diagram
Stock phrase originating...we're not really sure. The internet doesn't seem to know either. Our best guess is
Little Nemo In Slumberland (see page quote). It's been showing up fairly frequently in the last ten years, making it stock dialogue. The implied threat is obvious: Screw with me, I'll punch your lights out. Obviously, it doesn't have to be the ground, just whatever surface is under your feet. A subtrope of
Badass Boast, and related somewhat to
Chew Bubblegum. Not to be confused with
Meteor Move.
Examples:
Film
Live Action TV
- Variation from Titus; Ken Titus says to his girlfriend's gay ex-husband, "There's gonna be three hits; me hitting you, you hitting the floor, then you hitting on the ambulance driver."
- In "The Fight" episode of The Office, Steve Carell's character gets the line just a bit wrong: "Two punches: Me punching you, you hitting the floor."
Music
- Variation in a Will Smith song: "Three hits, I hit you, you hit the floor; this track is the third hit, that's for sure!"
- Sick Puppies' song You're Going Down: "When my fist hits your face; and your face hits the floor"
- Mindless Self Indulgence's song Lights Out is about a guy who enjoys the mindless ultraviolence that can come with this trope: "Punch your lights out, hit the pavement, that's what I call entertainment!"
Newspaper Comics
Professional Wrestling
- The stage-name of the late Scott "Bam-Bam" Bigelow was derived from this.
- A variation of this comes from Harley Race: "If I hit him with my left [hand] and he doesn't go down, I will walk around him to see what's holding him up."
Video Games
Webcomics
Western Animation
- During one music video review, Butt-head does this to Beavis when he keeps telling him to shut up. But, being Butt-head, he doesn't quite get how you're supposed to do it.
Beavis, there's going to be two hits. My fist hitting your face, and, uhh...my fist hitting your face again.
- In the episode of The Ren & Stimpy Show "Sven Hoek", a tranquilly furious Ren says to Stimpy and Sven that "I'm gonna hit ya...and you're gonna faaaaaaall."
Web Original
- Kind of a variation from Old Man Murray: "You be Sonny Bono, and I'll be a tree. You hit me and die."
- On one of the "Mr. T facts" pages, there was this gem: "If you try to fight Mr. T, it will end in two hits. Him hitting you, and you hitting the surface of the sun"
- Persona 4 Endurance Run: Episode 93. "This will be over in two hits, Yosuke. Me hitting the X button and you hitting the floor."
