An olive cap rests on an amber bottle beside a pencil, an olive branch and a small lump of clay.

Original artwork, not a still

Toomey

Tell me, Jerome, if a piss drunk sergeant has a loaded .45 pointed at the head of a piece of dung that the piss drunk sergeant hates and despises, how would you describe the situation?

— Biloxi Blues · 1988

Behind the line

What it means

Our interpretation.

This is a bullying quiz in a very rough tone. The speaker sets up a hypothetical about a furious sergeant and someone he despises, then asks the listener to name the situation. It's a loaded question meant to corner him into giving the obvious, uncomfortable answer.

Context reviewed

Share this quote