Follow the money Fresh fields and pastures new A good day to bury bad news If the glove doesn't fit you must acquit Brings together a fascinating range of wrongly remembered sayings, popular summaries of original thoughts, and apocryphal or unverifiable comments attributed to a particular person. By revealing what was (and was not) really said, this book celebrates the colour and inventiveness of language change.
Abraham Lincoln never said, "You cannot fool all the people all the time." Thomas Jefferson never said, "That government is best which governs least." And Horace Greeley never said, "Go west, young man." In They Never Said It, Paul F. Boller, Jr. and John George examine hundreds of misquotations, incorrect attributions, and blatant fabrications, outlining the origins of the quotes and revealing why we should consign them to the historical trashcan. Many of the misquotes are quite harmless. Some are inadvertent misquotes that have become popular (Shakespeare actually said, "The best part of valor is discretion"), others, the inventions of reporters embellishing a story (Franklin Roosevelt never opened a speech to a DAR group with the salutation, "My fellow immigrants"). But some of the quotes, such as Charles Darwin's supposed deathbed recantation of evolution, falsify the historical record with their blatant dishonesty. And other chillingly vicious ones, filled with virulent racial and religious prejudices, completely distort the views of the person supposedly quoted and spread distrust and hatred among the gullible. These include the forged remarks attributed to Benjamin Franklin that Jews should be excluded from America and the fabricated condemnation of Catholics attributed to Lincoln. An entertaining and thought-provoking book, They Never Said It covers a great deal of history and sets it right. Going beyond a mere catalog of popular misconceptions, Boller and George reveal how rightists and leftists, and atheists and evangelists all have at times twisted and even invented the words of eminent figures to promote their own ends. The ultimate debunking reference, it perfectly complements handbooks of quotations.
C.S. Lewis wrote many great words, but not everything you see with his name on it is from the famed author of the Narnia books. Seventy-five quotations are presented that have an association in one way or another with a host of names, including: Ryan Seacrest, Anthony Hopkins, Max Lucado, Rick Warren, and Tim Allen! Learn the three most common ways Lewis is misrepresented: 1.Falsely Attributed Quotes: Expressions that are NOT by him. 2.Paraphrased: Words that are ALMOST what he said. 3.Out of Context: Material he wrote, but are NOT QUITE what he believed. This book doesn’t stop there. Also discover what Lewis actually said that is related to the presented misquotes. Those new to Lewis and the more serious reader of his works will grow in their appreciation of a writer that is not only quotable, but obviously misquotable!
Motivational quote books abound, but where are the volumes of misquotations?! In this era of fake news and fake quotes, The Little Book of Misquotations uncovers the truth behind the 200+ most famous things they never said! Just because a quote is engraved in marble, stenciled on your mom’s wall, or repeated a million times online doesn’t exactly mean that it is correct. It’s time to set the record straight. The Little Book of Misquotations is the definitive collection of the quotes people frequently get wrong, including: “For attractive lips, speak words of kindness.” — Audrey Hepburn (Somebody else said it!) “I want to suck your blood.” — Dracula (Nope! He said, “I only drink…wine.”) “Art should comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable.” — Banksy (He wasn’t the first person to say it!) “A penny saved is a penny earned.” — Ben Franklin (That’s not what he said!) With deep dives on popular yet erroneous quotations from artists, writers, celebrities, scientists, politicians, and legendary figures from around the globe, The Little Book of Misquotations offers addictive reading—and a delightful reminder not to believe everything you read!
"Extensive and brilliant investigations...a tour de force of detective work...Mr. O'Toole is a beacon of accuracy who should inspire all readers who prefer their facts real rather than phony." --Wall Street Journal Everywhere you look, you'll find viral quotable wisdom attributed to icons ranging from Abraham Lincoln to Mark Twain, from Cicero to Woody Allen. But more often than not, these attributions are false. Garson O'Toole--the Internet's foremost investigator into the dubious origins of our most repeated quotations, aphorisms, and everyday sayings--collects his efforts into a first-ever encyclopedia of corrective popular history. Containing an enormous amount of original research, this delightful compendium presents information previously unavailable to readers, writers, and scholars. It also serves as the first careful examination of what causes misquotations and how they spread across the globe. Using the massive expansion in online databases as well as old-fashioned gumshoe archival digging, O'Toole provides a fascinating study of our modern abilities to find and correct misinformation. As Carl Sagan did not say, "Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known."
In this lively gambol through the history of "ations and "ation books, Gary Saul Morson traces our enduring fascination with the words of others. Ranging from the remote past to the present, he explores the formation, development, and significance of "ations, while exploring the "verbal museums" in which they have been collected and displayed--commonplace books, treasuries, and anthologies. In his trademark clear, witty, and provocative style, Morson invites readers to share his delight in the shortest literary genre.The author defines what makes a "e "able, as well as the (unexpected) differences between "ation and mis"ation. He describes how "ations form, transform, and may eventually become idioms. How much of language itself is the residue of former "ations? Weaving in hundreds of intriguing "ations, common and unusual, Morson explores how the words of others constitute essential elements in the formation of a culture and of the self within that culture. In so doing, he provides a demonstration of that very process, captured in the pages of this extraordinary new book.
Where were Venetian blinds invented? What color is the black box on a commercial airplane? Where did India ink originate?* Most of us know more than we think we know. We also think we know more than we actually do-because some of what we think we know simply "ain't so." We all harbor misconceptions that are accepted not only because they are popular but also because they make sense. It makes sense to believe, for example, that German chocolate originated in Germany rather than the truth: that German chocolate is so named because it was created by Sam German. It seems logical to believe that Mercury is the hottest planet because of its proximity to the sun, or that buttermilk contains butter, that Danish pastry is from Denmark, and that the boat race America's Cup was named after the United States of America. In Sorry, Wrong Answer, Rod Evans takes readers on a tour of misleading trivia, debunking commonly held assumptions and sharing surprising "right" answers. *Answers: Japan; Orange; China
Abraham Lincoln never said, "You cannot fool all the people all the time." Thomas Jefferson never said, "That government is best which governs least." And Horace Greeley never said, "Go west, young man." In They Never Said It, Paul Boller, Jr., and John George examine hundreds of misquotations, incorrect attributions, and blatant fabrications, outlining the origins of the quotes and revealing why they should be consigned to the historical trashcan. Many of the misquotes are quite harmless. Some are inadvertent misquotes that have become popular (Shakespeare actually said, "The best part of valor is discretion"), others, the inventions of reporters embellishing a story (Franklin Roosevelt never opened a speech to a DAR group with the salutation, "My fellow immigrants"). But some of the quotes, such as Charles Darwin's supposed deathbed recantation of evolution, are blatantly dishonest and falsify the historical record. And others are chillingly vicious, filled with virulent racial and religious prejudices that completely distort the views of the person supposedly quoted and spread distrust and hatred among the gullible. These include the forged remarks attributed to Benjamin Franklin that Jews should be excluded from America, and the fabricated condemnation of Catholics attributed to Lincoln. An entertaining and yet thought-provoking book, They Never Said It sorts out a great deal of history and sets it right, going beyond a mere catalog of popular misconceptions to reveal how conservatives and liberals, atheists and evangelists, all have at times twisted and even invented the words of eminent figures to promote their own ends. It is the ultimate debunking reference, a perfect complement to handbooks of quotations.
The present book contains a collection of works developing new trends in theoretical and practical lexicography devoted to manifold description of lexis. All papers are divided into two main sections: Part I, Systemic and Cross-cultural Relations of Words in the Dictionary, presents analysis of cultural issues and phraseology with special reference to English dictionaries for general- and specific-purposes. The main focus is given to the principles of lexicographic presentation of non-equivalent lexis, idioms, clichés, nominations of non-verbal behaviour and proper names of people in bilingual and monolingual dictionaries. Part II, entitled Specialized Dictionaries: Traditions and Innovations, deals with peculiarities of Author Lexicography, Learners lexicography, LSP dictionaries, dictionaries of English verbs, and varieties of the English language in its synchronic and diachronic aspects. This book is based on plenary presentations of the VIIIth school on Lexicography “Synchronic and Diachronic Lexicography: A New Age of Theory and Practice” (Ivanovo State University, September 10–12, 2009) and continues the series of monographs devoted to theoretical and practical problems of modern and historical lexicography: Essays on Lexicon, Lexicography, Terminography in Russian, American and Other Cultures (2007) and Lexicography and Terminology: A Worldwide Outlook (2009) published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
Three centuries of English idioms—their unusual origins and unexpected interpretations To pay through the nose. Raining cats and dogs. By hook or by crook. Curry favor. Drink like a fish. Eat crow. We hear such phrases every day, but this book is the first truly all-encompassing etymological guide to both their meanings and origins. Spanning more than three centuries, Take My Word for It is a fascinating, one-of-a-kind window into the surprisingly short history of idioms in English. Widely known for his studies of word origins, Anatoly Liberman explains more than one thousand idioms, both popular and obscure, occurring in both American and British standard English and including many regional expressions. The origins, and even the precise meaning, of most idioms are often obscure and lost in history. Based on a critical analysis of countless conjectures, with exact, in-depth references (rare in the literature on the subject), Take My Word for It provides not only a large corpus of idiomatic phrases but also a vast bibliography. Detailed indexes and a thesaurus make the content accessible at a glance, and Liberman’s introduction and conclusion add historical dimensions. The result of decades of research by a leading authority, this book is both instructive and absorbing for scholars and general readers, who won’t find another resource as comparable in scope or based on data even remotely as exhaustive.
