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http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/List_of_misquotations |
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Friday, 16 May 2008 |
What they didn’t say
This offering from Wikiquote presents a satisfying selection of favorite quotations of the
kind that just miss being the correct version. Readers may enjoy a browse through the list
and may even encounter a few surprises. The authors specify: “This page consists of things
that many people think are correct quotes but are actually incorrect. This does not include
quotes that were actually blunders by the people that said them.”
Among the many misquotes cited are such late 20th-century Hollywood favourites as
“Beam me up, Scotty” and Jimmy Greaves’ “It’s
a funny old game”. The site explains the factual
background of the quotes and briefly delves into
how popular culture altered the originals. From
the “Let them eat cake”, wrongly attributed to
Marie-Antoinette, to the inaccurate Biblical
reference “Money is the root of all evil”, the list
contains many familiar but faulty quotes.
The collection concludes with a linked list of
famous figures, such as Winston Churchill (he
didn’t say “Blood, Sweat, and Tears” by the
way) and William Shakespeare – who said an
awful lot of famous things, but not always what
we thought he did.
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