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midnightsmum

Weekend Trivia - Sunday

Happy Sunday morning, Cottagers. Well, spring persists here, and who am I to argue?? I might even put some laundry on the line today!! It is that nice. I forgot tomorrow is 'Family Day' here, some conservative government froofera. Oh well, it is a paid day off, so I guess I will take it!!

Mark Twain is what scholar Fred Shapiro calls a "quote magnet," someone who receives credit for sayings and proverbs that never passed their lips or pens. Also called "Churchillian drift" by Nigel Rees, quote magnetism is a common phenomenon that infects everything from student papers to political speeches, and respected books of quotations aren't immune. As quote experts Rees and Shapiro have shown, "So-and-so said" are some of the least trustworthy words in the language.

So, here are 10 quotes attributed to Mark Twain, but only one of them was truly uttered or written by our dear Mr. Clemens. Which one is the real thing??

1. There are three kinds of lies: Lies - damn lies - and statistics.

2. Everybody talks about the weather, but nobody does anything about it.

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

4. Wagner's music is better than it sounds.

5. For every problem there is a solution that is simple, obvious and wrong.

6. I've never wished a man dead, but I have read some obituaries with great pleasure.

7. When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished at how much he had learned in seven years.

8. Life would be infinitely happier if we could only be born at the age of eighty and gradually approach eighteen.

9. When the end of the world comes, I want to be in Cincinnati because it's always twenty years behind the times.

  1. Golf is a good walk spoiled.

So, what do you think? I'm kinda liking these multiple choice questions. They're a little harder to research, but I hope they are fun for you. I will think about how to present clues and come back later.

Nancy.

Comments (18)

  • cyn427 (z. 7, N. VA)
    12 years ago

    Oh, I love all of those! I have two guesses. One I would love to have be true (#6), but if there is a clue in your post, I will go with another. Not sure if we should tell our guesses right off or not, but since I really don't know, it shouldn't influence anyone, I guess. So, I am trying to decide between #6 and #7.

    Cynthia

  • midnightsmum (Z4, ON)
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    OK, Cyn - no clues in my post - at least, not intentionally! Would it help if I told you the MT's father died when he was 11?

    Nancy.

  • aftermidnight Zone7b B.C. Canada
    12 years ago

    I'm going with #1, why, because it soooo sounds like Mark Twain.

    Annette, who is hoping she's back on track.

  • thinman
    12 years ago

    I'm with Cynthia. My favorite one is number 6. That doesn't mean that it is the one actual quote, but it's so darn clever, it just has to be right. If Mark Twain didn't originate it, he should have. :)

    TM

  • midnightsmum (Z4, ON)
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    Number 1 reminds me of one of my favourite Cream albums!

    I am happily ensconced at the computer today. Ancestry is giving free access to some of it's Canadian records this long weekend, so I am taking advantage to do some research on my birth family. I can get back reliably about 6 generations, which is kinda cool. I am trying to make the connection to a pair of brothers who emigrated from Roxburghshire in Scotland, and built part of the Rideau Canal, as well as the mill on the la Peche River in Quebec.
    I am sleepy and cranky today, though, as I stayed up watching movies last night. I actually watched Escape from LA - feather-weight, I know, but I have had a crush on Kurt Russell forever! I started to watch 'Star Trek' after that, the prequel movie, but I'd seen it before. It was actually a good night for odd movies. It's amazing how much CGI - computer generated imagery has changed from one to the next. Kitten is lying on the bed dozing, I think I'd like to do that to, but genealogy beckons!

    Nancy.

  • midnightsmum (Z4, ON)
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    #6 was recently again used by a fairly high member of your government, and again 'attributed' to Twain. I love this subject, and I owe my inspiration to 'Jeopardy' - gotta love that Alex Trebek! Canadian too, ya know!

    Nancy.

  • cyn427 (z. 7, N. VA)
    12 years ago

    Okay, not #7, huh?

    Guess it isn't #6 either since you have used quotations around attributed.

    third try (no stars, just can't stop myself from guessing!): let's try the one about the weather-#2

    Cynthia, who is persistent if nothing else...

  • aftermidnight Zone7b B.C. Canada
    12 years ago

    After reading everyone's guesses I'm thinking I should rethink mine it's probably wrong :(.

    Annette

  • midnightsmum (Z4, ON)
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    Well, delving must stop for now! Curiouser, and curiouser, I am pretty sure that I have found a 'missing link' - my 5X grandmother spelled her name 2 ways, Fairburn and Fairbairn - making is rather difficult to search. I do like moving through time though. The sun has come around to shine on my screen now, so I am going to head uptown to get some cat food.

    Keep thinking - hit me with some guesses and I'll see what I can come up with for more clues - yes, there actually are some up there, somewhere.

    Nancy.

  • midnightsmum (Z4, ON)
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    Just got back from my walk. I realized I hadn't posted the above - I should have rejigged it a bit, but not use dancing around with obvious clues!!

    Nancy.

  • thinman
    12 years ago

    I do like moving through time though.

    OK, I'm changing my guess to number 8.

    TM

  • cyn427 (z. 7, N. VA)
    12 years ago

    Moving through time? That might fit for two of them...mow which one?

    Ancestry is a fun exploration, isn't it?

    Cynthia

  • midnightsmum (Z4, ON)
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    Well, I'm against another wall again, geneographically speaking.

    I should have gone with a Mardi Gras theme - I read a great story in the paper about all the plastic beads going into the landfills. Kinda sad - in the old days, they were glass beads from eastern Europe, now it's plastic crap from China. Cheap and cheerful, I guess. This couple has a business trying to recycle them now into beaded hummingbirds!!

    Nancy.

  • cyn427 (z. 7, N. VA)
    12 years ago

    OK, me too, #8 for moving through time. No stars for me though. That is the one I really thought WASN'T it! Oh well.

    Cynthia

  • mnwsgal
    12 years ago

    I am going with #8 with the clues eliminating others that I was considering.

    Since Nancy said there were no intentional clues in the first posting I ruled out the weather quotes.

    So many of them sound like something Twain would say. In a biography of Twain I read last year he talked of how quotes were mistakenly attributed to him. Some were ones that he had used in letters or lectures where he quoted others and the public and often the press only remembered him saying the quote not the attribution. I got the impression he mostly found that amusing.

    He was noted for exaggerating and misstating facts about his own life and experiences and I wouldn't have been surprised if he had said #7 even though his father died when he was eleven. But Nancy's comment rules that one out.

    Twain was a formidable enemy and kept his anger even unto death so no. 6 sounded like it would fit him but my friends and I talked about this misquote regarding Osama bin Laden's killing last year and it doesn't fit the clues.

  • midnightsmum (Z4, ON)
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    {{gwi:597471}}

    lol. You all got it!!! Like I said, they did this as a category on Jeopardy in the first college week. I thought he had said all of them, too. Clues as usual were not a easy as I thought they would be. Last night on TV there was also the Curious Case of Benjamin Button. I figured that would be a dead giveaway, more than a clue. In going through all of the 'fakes', I found the one about the 80 to 18 thing, and immediately thought about BB. Then I wondered if the movie had been based on his quote but no, it was 'loosely' based on a short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald, of all people. Now I shall have to read it! #1 Twain quoted himself, wrongly attributing it to Disraeli (hence my Cream reference, Disraeli Gears really is one of my favourite albums). Actually the quote might be from Leonard Henry Courtney, his fellow humourist. The weather quote was from a friend of Twain's named Warner. The Wagner quote was by Edgar Wilson Nye. Everyone's favourite was from Clarence Darrow, who actually said, I have never killed any one, but I have read some obituary notices with great satisfaction. Most of them can't be attributed to anyone, mores the pity. There for a while, Sarah Palin was becoming a bit of a magnet - the 'I can see Alaska from my house' was actually Tina Fey.

    So there you go - that was kinda fun!

    OK, so stars for ThinMan and Bobbie!!

    Thanks to all for playing! I found a really cool word, in doing all of my research so I have a doozy of a question for you next week, and all week to think about clues. Actually, doozy would be a great question, too. Where did that word come from?? lol. See you next Saturday.

    Nancy.

  • cyn427 (z. 7, N. VA)
    12 years ago

    That was great fun! I was trying to figure out the Cream album, so thanks for answering that. Disraeli Gears is a terrific album. Jeepers, I wish I had kept all my old LPs. No where to store them, though. :(

    Have a good week. Off to look for the origin of doozy-think it comes from Dusenberg cars which were quite impressive in their day. Would love to drive around in one of those these days. Dad called them "doozies" but maybe that was actually spelled Duesy at one time. I'll let you know what I find out on Saturday.

    Thanks again for the fun. Have a marvelous week everyone!
    Cynthia

  • aftermidnight Zone7b B.C. Canada
    12 years ago

    Another great trivia weekend, thanks you guys.

    Annette

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