The Medieval Origins of a Modern Phrase- “Kill’em all. Let God sort’em out.”-

I recall, when I was around nine or ten years old, traveling with my mother to Parris Island South Carolina to watch my older brother graduate from Marine Corps boot camp. It was an imposing and impressive place to be for a young kid, as it is steeped in tradition and legendary for “making Marines.” While there, we had a chance to tour the P.X. (today the Marine Corps Exchange) on Parris Island and I recall coming across an intimidating and imposing t-shirt for sale. It showed a skeletal face wearing a Marine Corps cover with red burning eyes and its boney fingers gripping an M-16. Above the face it read “Kill’em all” and below it read “Let God sort’em out.” I would later encounter the phrase again in other contexts when I became a Marine myself. At the time, I had no idea that the phrase was medieval in origin. Continue reading →