Predictions
Phil Edwards
- Yogi Berra
Unless it was Casey Stengel who said
"Predictions are difficult, especially about the future."
(or possibly Sam Goldwyn with the identical wording)
or Will Rogers who cautioned
"Never make predictions -- especially about the future."
or George Bernard Shaw ("Never make predictions, particularly about
the future") or Niels Bohr ("Prediction is very difficult, especially
about the future") or Victor Borge ("Forecasting is difficult,
especially about the future.") or Robert Storm Petersen ("it's hard to
make predictions-especially about the future.") or Allan Lamport,
mayor of Toronto 1952-4 (identical wording to Peterson). Or possibly
Dan Quayle ("Predictions are risky ... especially about the future.")
For non-glamorous professional reasons, I'd actually like to attribute
this line to somebody. Will Rogers is a possibility, but at the moment
I'm leaning towards Yogi Berra (initially I wondered if it had
migrated to him from Stengel, but the list of quotes on the offishul
Casey Stengel Web site doesn't include it). Any other ideas?
P "'I'm leaning towards Yogi Berra' (Edwards, 2004)" E
--
Phil Edwards http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/amroth/
"The question is only whether the universe beyond the visible fringe
is infinite in number of monkeys." - Hugh Gibbons, cosmologist
Lee Rudolph
>"It's tough to make predictions, especially about the future."
> - Yogi Berra
...[etc.]
>For non-glamorous professional reasons, I'd actually like to attribute
>this line to somebody.
If all you need is *attribution*, and not *originality*, and if (as
the clipped "etc." suggests) all you need is the *idea* (more or less),
and not the *words*, I refer you to
http://groups.google.com/groups?selm=anvo0n%2423p%241%40panix5.panix.com
for the last time this came around.
Lee "`We may try to analyze the problem somewhat more deeply
by asking why it is that we can easily perform experiments
in which initial conditions have to be specified, but never
any requiring terminal conditions. This is the real
distinction between past and future. A little thought
shows that this is connected with the fact that we can
remember the past, and that we can make plans for the
future, but not vice versa.'--Sir Rudolf Peierls" Rudolph
Alice Faber
Phil Edwards <amr...@zetnet.co.uk> wrote:
> "It's tough to make predictions, especially about the future."
> - Yogi Berra
>
> Unless it was Casey Stengel who said
> "Predictions are difficult, especially about the future."
> (or possibly Sam Goldwyn with the identical wording)
>
> or Will Rogers who cautioned
> "Never make predictions -- especially about the future."
>
> or George Bernard Shaw ("Never make predictions, particularly about
> the future") or Niels Bohr ("Prediction is very difficult, especially
> about the future") or Victor Borge ("Forecasting is difficult,
> especially about the future.") or Robert Storm Petersen ("it's hard to
> make predictions-especially about the future.") or Allan Lamport,
> mayor of Toronto 1952-4 (identical wording to Peterson). Or possibly
> Dan Quayle ("Predictions are risky ... especially about the future.")
>
> For non-glamorous professional reasons, I'd actually like to attribute
> this line to somebody. Will Rogers is a possibility, but at the moment
> I'm leaning towards Yogi Berra (initially I wondered if it had
> migrated to him from Stengel, but the list of quotes on the offishul
> Casey Stengel Web site doesn't include it). Any other ideas?
>
> P "'I'm leaning towards Yogi Berra' (Edwards, 2004)" E
Chronologically, Yogi Berra was after Casey Stengel; well their careers
over-lapped, but Yogi's still with us and Casey shuffled off this mortal
coil quite some time ago. In addition, you should bear in mind another
"Yogi-ism": "I didn't say half the things I said" (or words to that
effect).
Alice "nobody goes there anymore" Faber
--
"My theory is that KKs are the bastard offspring of the beignet
and the assembly line."
--Lee Rudolph reviews Krispy Kreme donuts
Phil Edwards
wrote:
>> I'm leaning towards Yogi Berra (initially I wondered if it had
>> migrated to him from Stengel, but the list of quotes on the offishul
>> Casey Stengel Web site doesn't include it). Any other ideas?
>>
>> P "'I'm leaning towards Yogi Berra' (Edwards, 2004)" E
>
>Chronologically, Yogi Berra was after Casey Stengel; well their careers
>over-lapped, but Yogi's still with us and Casey shuffled off this mortal
>coil quite some time ago. In addition, you should bear in mind another
>"Yogi-ism": "I didn't say half the things I said"
Good point. Einstein it is, then. Or possibly Allan Lamport.
The page attributing it to Shaw, incidentally, advances the argument
that Shaw's longevity meant that he saw more of the future than most
people do. In fact I've seen more of Shaw's future than Shaw ever did;
it was his present by the time he saw it, and subsequently his past.
P "which was memorable but unplanned" E
Crashj
> "It's tough to make predictions, especially about the future."
> - Yogi Berra
<>
> this line to somebody.
<>
--
Crashj
Ben Zimmer
>
> "It's tough to make predictions, especially about the future."
> - Yogi Berra
>
> Unless it was Casey Stengel who said
> "Predictions are difficult, especially about the future."
> (or possibly Sam Goldwyn with the identical wording)
>
> or Will Rogers who cautioned
> "Never make predictions -- especially about the future."
>
> or George Bernard Shaw ("Never make predictions, particularly about
> the future") or Niels Bohr ("Prediction is very difficult, especially
> about the future") or Victor Borge ("Forecasting is difficult,
> especially about the future.") or Robert Storm Petersen ("it's hard to
> make predictions-especially about the future.") or Allan Lamport,
> mayor of Toronto 1952-4 (identical wording to Peterson). Or possibly
> Dan Quayle ("Predictions are risky ... especially about the future.")
>
> For non-glamorous professional reasons, I'd actually like to attribute
> this line to somebody. Will Rogers is a possibility, but at the moment
> I'm leaning towards Yogi Berra (initially I wondered if it had
> migrated to him from Stengel, but the list of quotes on the offishul
> Casey Stengel Web site doesn't include it). Any other ideas?
Over on alt.quotations, Niels Bohr usually gets the credit (e.g.
<http://groups.google.com/groups?selm=9gr2ns$u...@r02n01.cac.psu.edu>).
But it also gets attributed to Bohr's Danish compatriots, Piet Hein and
Robert Storm Petersen. This is the most authoritative information I
could find, from Ole Nielsby on soc.culture.nordic:
http://groups.google.com/groups?selm=4vkpji$g...@news.dknet.dk
Aron Felix Gurski <agu...@sn.no> wrote:
>Jon Haugsand wrote:
>>
>> Who said "Prediction is difficult, especially of the future"?
>> (Or "Det er vanskelig at spaa, isaer om fremtiden".)
>I don't know, but it *should* have been Piet Hein.
The "Bevingede ord" ("Winged Words") dictionary of quotations
(5th ed., GAD, 1979) says:
ENGLISH: (xl by me)
"Prediction is difficult - especially of the future" - is of
unknown origin and certainly not by Storm Petersen, to whom it
is always accredited. The phrase possibly occurred as a pun in
the danish parlament 1935-39; it is quoted as such in the 4th
book of memoirs by K.K. Steincke [social democrat MP and
minister], *Goodbye and thanks*, p227; 1948, which covers
aforementioned period of time. The originator was queried in
public, but nobody seemed to know him. - On inquiry, Steincke
(1880-1963) stated that he did not remember who it was.
DANISH:
"Det er svært at spå - især om fremtiden" - er af ukendt
oprindelse og i hvert fald ikke af Storm Petersen, som altid
får skyld for sætningen. Den er muligvis forefaldet som en
sprogblomst i Folketinget 1935-39, gengives i hvert fald som
sådan i K.K. Steincke's fjerde erindringsbog *Farvel og tak*,
227; 1948, som omfatter nævnte tidsrum. Ophavsmanden har
været offentligt efterlyst, men ingen synes at kende ham. -
Steincke (1880-1963) har på forespørgsel oplyst, at han ikke
huskede hvem det var.
Ben "or perhaps it was the Danish poet Yøgi Bærrå" Zimmer
August Derleth
> For non-glamorous professional reasons, I'd actually like to attribute
> this line to somebody.
Have you read it in the original German?
August "The only way to read Shakespeare" Derleth
--
My address is yvoregnevna gjragl-guerr gjb-gubhfnaq guerr ng lnubb qbg pbz
Note: Rot13 and convert spelled-out numbers to numerical equivalents.
Burroughs Guy
> Chronologically, Yogi Berra was after Casey Stengel; well their careers
> over-lapped, but Yogi's still with us and Casey shuffled off this
mortal
> coil quite some time ago.
Charles took some lines from Lawrence, but as you point out due to the
timing more expressions went the other way. They both picked up lines
from many people, changing them to fit their own style. Casey's
language was a little more polished than Yogi's. Example I heard from
both of them:
Casey: "You can observe a lot, just by watching."
Yogi: "I've been watching, and you observe a lot by watching."
> In addition, you should bear in mind another
> "Yogi-ism": "I didn't say half the things I said" (or words to that
> effect).
As I heard Yogi deliver it: "I didn't really say all the things I said."
--
Burroughs Guy
I knew the MCP when it was just a chess program.