Everywhere American popular culture has penetrated, people use the phrase “Get out of Dodge” or “Gettin' outta Dodge” when referring to some dangerous or threatening or generally unpleasant situation. The metaphor is thought to have originated among U.S. troops during the Vietnam War, but it anchors the idea that early Dodge City, Kansas, was an epic, world-class theater of interpersonal violence and civic disorder.
Consider this passage from the 2013 British crime novel, Missing in Malmö, by Torquil Macleod:
“The drive to Carlisle took about twenty-five minutes. The ancient city had seen its fair share of violent history over the centuries as warring Scots and English families had clashed. The whole Border area between the two fractious countries had been like the American Wild West, and Carlisle was the Dodge City of the Middle Ages.”
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