Apocryphal quotations

[PapaRomantic]

Calgon was not an "ancient Chinese secret."

In a related note, Calgon could not "take you away" either.

 

[jsmiam]

“So you’re telling me there’s a chance!”

Not the oft misquoted “So you’re saying there’s a chance”

 

[gunhilltrain]

It's not a statistic; it's a census. A statistic is the count from a sample, used to infer something about a population. A census is an actual count. The death of any number is a reality, not an inference

Take it up with Kurt Tucholsky. Since I assume it was written in German, maybe it wasn't translated correctly.

Although you are technically correct, I doubt few English speakers would use the word census in that context.

 

[gunhilltrain]

Calgon was not an "ancient Chinese secret."

In a related note, Calgon could not "take you away" either.

Amazing that the commercial was made not that long ago. Well, it was true that a lot of Chinese owned laundries in the U.S. But people get touchy whether it's true or not.

Since I have partial Italian ancestry (going back to about 1901) in this country, I'm reminded of Joe Columbo's Italian-American Anti-Defamation League. Of course, the guy was a Mafia crime boss. Although, the main force behind the Mafia were Sicilians; "my people" were Neapolitans. My grandfather, who was born here, not near Naples, called Sicilians "Africans," I suppose because of North African and Arab influences. But I think my grandfather hated everybody, including probably himself.

It never ends.

 

[gunhilltrain]

Speaking of Joe Columbo:

"In the spring of 1971, Paramount Pictures started filming The Godfather with the assistance of Colombo and the League. Due to its subject matter, the film originally faced great opposition from Italian-Americans to filming in New York. However, after producer Albert Ruddy met with Colombo and agreed to excise the terms "Mafia" and "Cosa Nostra" from the film, the League cooperated fully The first meeting involved Ruddy, Colombo, Colombo's son Anthony and 1,500 delegates from Colombo's Italian-American Civil Rights League."

Do you think those 1,500 delegates had some influence over Ruddy's decisions?

 

[Kelliezgirl]

"They" sometimes say it's Arabic too.

It makes more sense in the original Klingon, same with Shakespeare.

 

[AllenWoody]

It makes more sense in the original Klingon, same with Shakespeare.

Although we all know that it was really Kevin Bacon who wrote Shakespeare's plays.

 

[YmaOHyd]

Although we all know that it was really Kevin Bacon who wrote Shakespeare's plays.

Boy, that makes Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon way more dynamic.

 

[Tio_Narratore]

Take it up with Kurt Tucholsky. Since I assume it was written in German, maybe it wasn't translated correctly.

Although you are technically correct, I doubt few English speakers would use the word census in that context.

I agree with you about popular usage, and calling the mass deaths a "statistic" underscores the dismissal of such atrocities. I'm a bit sensitive to the issue now, though, since I've been part of a medical guideline debate in which a statistical study based on a sample that is demonstrably an outlier is being touted as more accurate than a census that is commonly referred to as another "statistic."

 

[gunhilltrain]

I agree with you about popular usage, and calling the mass deaths a "statistic" underscores the dismissal of such atrocities. I'm a bit sensitive to the issue now, though, since I've been part of a medical guideline debate in which a statistical study based on a sample that is demonstrably an outlier is being touted as more accurate than a census that is commonly referred to as another "statistic."

I think that Tucholsky was being darkly ironic by saying that the the deaths were being dismissed, not as atrocities, but as necessary to win a war. Every country in every war does that, or war would not be possible.