Around 1975 I was in a bar in downtown Toronto when an altercation at a nearby table broke out which resulted in a young lady...well, okay, a young female Homo sapiens...being flung bodily across the aisle to land on our table. Having snatched my beer out of harm's way in the nick of time, I leaned forward with some concern and said "Are you okay?'
Without a word she drove her elbow into my face and broke my nose. As I reared backwards in complete shock, she leapt up and followed me as I backpedalled; she was kicking, punching, hitting...and I was blocking, dodging and bleeding. She landed several more good licks before a bouncer expertly grabbed and immobilized her.
Breaking one's nose is usually pretty painless when it happens; it's a shock but the pain usually settles in only somewhat later. Trust me, when someone...even a petite female Homo sapiens...punches you an exercise in frustration.
that broken nose again only a couple seconds later it begins to hurt immediately.
My date and the other couple we were with drove me to the nearest Emergency room where my nose was examined and the doctor congratulated me on how well I had re-set it myself. When you gingerly feel your own face to assess damage and find your nose is somewhere beneath your right eye, your natural tendency is to slide it back where it belongs. No treatment was required, although the doctor did administer a small amount of cocaine (!), which was a completely new experience for me.
As we drove home I was sullenly quiet, now very swollen, in a fair bit of pain and in no mood for conversation.