Timeline for Alternative to "thankful for"
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
7 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nov 18, 2014 at 21:59 | comment | added | Drew | "Whenever I see such quotes attributed to, say, Winston Churchill or Mark Twain, I pretty much take it for granted that's unlikely to be true." Yeah, and it's usually Lincoln or Einstein who actually said it. | |
| Nov 18, 2014 at 18:00 | comment | added | FumbleFingers | Whenever I see such quotes attributed to, say, Winston Churchill or Mark Twain, I pretty much take it for granted that's unlikely to be true. Sometimes I'll be wrong, but as a rule of thumb it works okay. | |
| Nov 18, 2014 at 17:55 | comment | added | rhetorician | @FumbleFingers: Yeah, I consulted the same web site. That's one reason why I added the qualification about the difficulties associated with accuracy and attribution. I mean, who really knows who said what (and when, and how, and why)? Apart from an original manuscript of a speech, e.g. (and there are problems even with those, since they can be faked, or proved to be a copy) or a tape recording (again, not infallible), it's almost safer simply to say, "Someone has said . . .." I have a feeling, however, that a big name attached to a quotation adds some gravitas to one's speech and/or writing. | |
| Nov 18, 2014 at 17:37 | comment | added | FumbleFingers | I understand how both versions of the "pithicism" work. But your version is certainly the less common one. In the link I posted, they list nine different versions with the explicit condemnation. After which they introduce four versions of the "sarcastic reversal" with the words Then there are those who get it so scrambled it comes out backward. | |
| Nov 18, 2014 at 17:28 | comment | added | rhetorician | @FumbleFingers: Methinks thou misseth the ironic undertone of Sir Winston's utterance. He's making fun of how awkward a sentence can sound when we hew legalistically to some silly rule which has been passed down from pedant to pedant over who knows how many years. Now, if the way I stated my case caused you to think that I think Sir Winston thought a preposition is a word we SHOULDN'T end a sentence with, then I bear the full weight of responsibility for the corrigendum. | |
| Nov 18, 2014 at 16:46 | comment | added | FumbleFingers | Shome mishtake, shurely? Whether or not Churchill himself ever said anything about such usages, your version implies he approved of the rule "Don't end a sentence with a preposition". A typical version (which makes it clear he did not approve) is "This is the kind of arrant pedantry up with which I will not put" | |
| Nov 18, 2014 at 15:49 | history | answered | rhetorician | CC BY-SA 3.0 |