“THE WEAKEST GOES TO THE WALL”

“THE WEAKEST GOES TO THE WALL”

“THE WEAKEST GOES TO THE WALL” “THE WEAKEST GOES TO THE WALL,” Capulet’s servant Gregory explains in Romeo and Juliet (Act 1, scene 1)-meaning that women (the “weaker vessels,” as another character calls them a few lines later), as well as children and the elderly, were politely allowed to walk on the “inside track” of a sidewalk and to thus avoid getting splattered or jostled by street traffic. The phrase dates to about 1550, and the sentiment dates from about 1500.