![](https://image.librarything.com/pics/fugue21/magnifier-left.png)
![](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/P/0062700200.01._SX180_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg)
Fai clic su di un'immagine per andare a Google Ricerca Libri.
Sto caricando le informazioni... "Nice Guys Finish Seventh"di Ralph Keyes
![]() Nessuno Sto caricando le informazioni...
![]() Iscriviti per consentire a LibraryThing di scoprire se ti piacerà questo libro. Attualmente non vi sono conversazioni su questo libro. nessuna recensione | aggiungi una recensione
"Leo Durocher is best remembered for saying, "Nice guys finish last." He never said it. What the Brooklyn Dodgers' manager did say, before a 1946 game with the New York Giants, was: "The nice guys are all over there. In seventh place." Durocher's words lacked pop. Sportswriters perked them up, and gave America one of its most familiar misquotations. Ralph Keyes points out in "Nice Guys Finish Seventh" that many of our best-known sayings, phrases, and quotations are inaccurate, misattributed, or both. During two decades of research, he discovered that: "Any man who hates dogs and children can't be all bad" was said about W.C. Fields, not by him; "Winning isn't everything, it's the only thing" was the slogan of UCLA coach Red Sanders, not Vince Lombardi; "The opera ain't over 'til the fat lady sings" was adapted from an old saying: "Church ain't out 'til the fat lady sings"; and Winston Churchill did not originate the phrase "iron curtain," and never said, "blood, sweat and tears." Hundreds of such examples illustrate Keyes's Immutable Law of Misquotation: Misquotes drive out real quotes. "Certain things demand to be said," he writes, "said in a certain way, and by the right person. Whether such comments are accurate is beside the point." Keyes confirms that William Tecumseh Sherman didn't say, "War is hell." Nor did he vow, "If nominated, I will not run. If elected, I will not serve." According to Keyes, such words voice observations we want made. Freud may never have said, "Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar," for example, but we certainly wish he had. For a misquote to become familiar it must come from a well-known mouth. Take "You can't trust anyone over thirty." Abbie Hoffman, right? Or was it Jerry Rubin? Mario Salvo? Mark Rudd? All have been given credit for this sixties catchphrase. Keyes discovered that its real originator was a student named Jack Weinberg. Remember him? Few do. That's why Weinberg's words were assigned to better-known mouths. Keyes calls this "the flypaper effect." Orphan quotes or comments by unknowns routinely stick to a Churchill, a Lincoln, or a Twain. Other syndromes Keyes discusses include bumper-stickering (condensing a long comment to make it more quotable), lip-syncing (mouthing someone else's words as if they were your own), and retroquoting (putting words in the mouths of famous dead people). Separate chapters focus on misquotes in history, politics, show business, sports, literature, and academia. "Nice Guys Finish Seventh" is a pleasure to read. It's also a first-rate argument-settler. By exhaustively researching the true origins of famous sayings, Ralph Keyes has produced a provocative, authoritative guide to who actually said what."--Jacket flap. Non sono state trovate descrizioni di biblioteche |
Discussioni correntiNessuno
![]() GeneriSistema Decimale Melvil (DDC)082Information Anthologies and Quotations English AnthologiesClassificazione LCVotoMedia:![]()
Sei tu?Diventa un autore di LibraryThing. |
Take the sayings we are taught about our own historical figures, the "Founding Fathers": Few of them said what we repeat about them. (Chapter 5 "Founding False Phrases" 56ff).
Legend-making is typical of people thirsting for change, and accompanies a "hunger for resounding utterances" however counterfeit the oration. According to Daniel Boorstin, "many of the most influential, longest remembered, and most popularly memorized of these actually were not delivered at all on their supposed occasions." [58]
This dynamic of misquotation should be considered in any context. But in religion or politics, it can be especially dangerous.