Famous Quotes Debunked!

[Bunny]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20061025/en_nm/arts_quotations_dc

<snip>
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Showman P.T. Barnum never said "There's a sucker born every minute" although he wished he had. And Civil War Admiral David Farragut probably never said "Damn the Torpedoes! Full Speed Ahead" -- words that have inspired generations of fighting men.

To make things even more complicated, it is doubtful that Paul Revere warned that "The British are coming" when he would have at the time of the American Revolution thought himself British, although a revolting one. He probably would have said "The Redcoats are coming."

A new, meticulously researched book of quotations attempts to set the record straight on those beloved phrases that have crept into everyday use as signs of wisdom and wit, including Sigmund Freud's sage advice that "sometimes a cigar is just a cigar." (He didn't quite say that, although his biographer thinks he would have approved of the idea.)

"The Yale Book of Quotations" has a simple thesis: famous quotes are often misquoted and misattributed. Sometimes they are never said at all but are, instead, little fictions that have forged their way into public consciousness.
<snip>

I like the quote by Mae West: I used to be Snow White, but I drifted. :D

[billyskank]

1. I like "play it again, Sam," which Rick never says

even though it is so easily verified - just watch the film - the quotation persists. :hi:

[Bunny]

2. And I like "sometimes a cigar is just a cigar", which can certainly

be applied to Dr. Freud's teachings, regardless of whether or not he actually said it! :hi: billy!

[gmoney]

4. I think the "Again" came from the Woody Allen movie

I'm pretty sure Rick says "Play it, Sam" in Casablanca, and back in the early 70s, Woody Allen made his movie where his character gets romantic advice from a vision of Bogart. I think the "Again" was added because the character is trying to repeat Bogart's cool personna with women, and it just sounds better as a title for a movie. Just by BS theory.

[BarenakedLady]

8. Wasn't it

something like "you played it for her, you can play it for me. If she can stand it, I can too. Play it!"

I can't remember exactly though

[billyskank]

9. I certainly think I remember "you played it for her, you can play it for me."

:hi:

[Richardo]

3. One of my favorite Zappa quotes never happened the way I first heard it:

"The two most common elements in the universe are hydrogen and stupidity."

The actual quote is, to my ear, not as pithy:

"There is more stupidity than hydrogen in the universe, and it has a longer shelf life."

But his point is still made! :yourock:

[Bunny]

5. Well, you're every bit as pithy as Frank was. I like "your" quote

too! :hi: BTW, isn't 'pithy' a marvelous word?

[Richardo]

7. I'm reminded of the scene in 'Bananas'...

Fielding Mellish: That's very wise, you know...? That's, I think, pithy.
Nancy: It was pithy. It had... great pith.
Fielding Mellish: Yeth. Pith.

:pals:

[underpants]

6. W's "comma" quote --it wasn't from a biblical reference as first reported

it was from Gracie Allen

Seriously

Then Ian Welsh, on his Agonist blog, postulated a theory about the hidden meaning of the comment, citing the "never put a period" saying and calling it a "dog whistle" comment that only some would understand: "He is constantly littering his speeches with code words and phrases meant for the religious right. Other people don't hear them, but they do, and most of the time it allows Bush both to say what those who aren't evangelical or born again want to hear, while still reassuring the religious right wants to hear."

But it turns out that the phrase "never put a period" originated not with a Christian conservative figure or biblical passage but with Gracie Allen, the comedienne wife of George Burns. And the phrase is a favorite not of the religious right but of the religious left. The United Church of Christ, which is devoted to fighting for what it calls social justice and opposes the war, adopted the phrase in January 2002.

"I needed something short and succinct," said Ron Buford, the marketing director who came up with it. "When I saw the Gracie Allen quote, I was up all night thinking about it -- God is still speaking, there's more for us to know."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/04/AR2006100401707.html

[Pithlet]

10. I think it's better that Mae West said that line in real life, to a cop.

Instead of a line in a movie. :D

[BrotherBuzz]

11. "The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco"

Often attributed to Mark Twain, but not his words.