Great Tag Lines Don�t Get Misquoted
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Marcia Yudkin
Apr 23, 2013, 1:50:03 PM4/23/13
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Article Title: Great Tag Lines Don�t Get Misquoted
Author: Marcia Yudkin
Word Count: 656
Article URL: http://www.isnare.com/?aid=1108521&ca=Marketing
Format: 64cpl
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�Elementary, my dear Watson.� - Sherlock Holmes
�Discretion is the better part of valor.� - Shakespeare
�There�s a sucker born every minute.� - P.T. Barnum
According to Ralph Keyes� entertaining book �Nice Guys Finish Seventh,� all the above well-known quotes (and hundreds of others) are spurious.
Nowhere in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle�s volumes of Sherlock Holmes novels does the great detective say �Elementary, my dear Watson.� In one of the books, Holmes does reply to Watson with the retort, �Elementary.� And in a 1929 Sherlock Holmes film, that riposte was embellished into �Elementary, my dear Watson, elementary.� People assume the phrase came from Conan Doyle, but it did not, not in that form.
Shakespeare did relate discretion and valor in his play Henry IV, but the actual wording there was in inverse order: �The better part of valor is discretion.�
And as for the quote from P.T. Barnum, the closest thing the legendary showman actually said was �The people like to be humbugged.�
Keyes spends nearly 200 pages tracking down, documenting and attempting to explain popular misquotes and misattributions of quotes. Let�s leave aside the instances where something was actually said about someone rather than by the person, such as �Any man who hates dogs and children can�t be all bad,� stated about comedian W.C. Fields by Leo Rosten when introducing him at a Los Angeles banquet, as well as those attributed to a more famous contemporary, like �You can�t trust anyone over thirty,� often attributed to Abbie Hoffman but actually voiced by another sixties activist, Jack Weinberg. Instead, let�s look at quotes whose wording got rearranged or revised during a grand game of �Telephone� played by the public over time.
For example:
* The stronger, more striking version wins out. On camera, Mae West actually said to Cary Grant, �Why don�t you come up sometime and see me?� This morphed in collective memory to �Why don�t you come up and see me sometime?� Important words, like �sometime� here, belong either at the beginning or the end of a line.
* The more conversational word order sticks. Shakespeare�s Hamlet says, �Though this be madness, yet there is method in�t.� Most people quote it as �There�s method in his madness.�
* Complications get ironed out. Henry Ford, for example, said, �History is more or less bunk,� which is remembered simply as �History is bunk.� Many people quote the Bible as saying, �Money is the root of all evil,� when in fact I Timothy 6:10 says, �The love of money is the root of all evil.�
* The self-contained version prevails. As most film buffs know, the movie �Casablanca� does not include the line, �Play it again, Sam.� Ilsa, played by Ingrid Bergman, says, �Play it, Sam. Play �As Time Goes By.�� A bit later Rick, played by Humphrey Bogart, tells Sam, �Play it!� People quote the line as �Play it again, Sam� because that version includes more context and encapsulates the meaning of the scene.
If you�re hoping to craft a tag line that lasts the way you wrote it, then make sure you�ve chosen the catchiest word order, eliminated complications and included relevant context. Test it out on people and have them repeat it back to you from memory. If everyone mangles it or gets it wrong, the tag line may need further polishing. If it comes back as you wrote it, it may be ready for posterity.
Marcia Yudkin is Head Stork of Named At Last, which brainstorms catchy tag lines, company names and product names for clients. For a systematic process of coming up with a compelling new tag line, download �19 Steps to the Perfect Company Name, Product Name or Tag Line� free at www.namedatlast.com/19steps.htm .
About The Author: Marcia Yudkin is Head Stork of Named At Last, which brainstorms catchy tag lines, company names and product names for clients. For a systematic process of coming up with a compelling new tag line, download �19 Steps to the Perfect Company Name or Tag Line� free at http://www.namedatlast.com/19steps.htm
Please use the HTML version of this article at:
http://www.isnare.com/html.php?aid=1108521
*********************** ARTICLE END ***********************
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Message delivered directly to members of the group:
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*****************************************************************
Please consider this free-reprint article written by:
Marcia Yudkin
*****************************
IMPORTANT - Publication/Reprint Terms
- You have permission to publish this article electronically in free-only publications such as a website or an ezine as long as the bylines are included.
- You are not allowed to use this article for commercial purposes. The article should only be reprinted in a publicly accessible website and not in a members-only commercial site.
- You are not allowed to post/reprint this article in any sites/publications that contains or supports hate, violence, porn and warez or any indecent and illegal sites/publications.
- You are not allowed to use this article in UCE (Unsolicited Commercial Email) or SPAM. This article MUST be distributed in an opt-in email list only.
- If you distribute this article in an ezine or newsletter, we ask that you send a copy of the newsletter or ezine that contains the article to http://www.isnare.com/eta.php?aid=1108521
- If you post this article in a website/forum/blog, ALL links MUST be set to hyperlinks and we ask that you send a copy of the URL where the article is posted to http://www.isnare.com/eta.php?aid=1108521
- We request that you ask permission from the author if you want to publish this article in print.
The role of iSnare.com is only to distribute this article as part of its Article Distribution feature ( http://www.isnare.com/distribution.php ). iSnare.com does NOT own this article, please respect the author's copyright and this publication/reprint terms. If you do not agree to any of these terms, please do not reprint or publish this article.
*****************************
Article Title: Great Tag Lines Don�t Get Misquoted
Author: Marcia Yudkin
Word Count: 656
Article URL: http://www.isnare.com/?aid=1108521&ca=Marketing
Format: 64cpl
Contact The Author: http://www.isnare.com/eta.php?aid=1108521
Easy Publish Tool: http://www.isnare.com/html.php?aid=1108521
*********************** ARTICLE START ***********************
�Elementary, my dear Watson.� - Sherlock Holmes
�Discretion is the better part of valor.� - Shakespeare
�There�s a sucker born every minute.� - P.T. Barnum
According to Ralph Keyes� entertaining book �Nice Guys Finish Seventh,� all the above well-known quotes (and hundreds of others) are spurious.
Nowhere in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle�s volumes of Sherlock Holmes novels does the great detective say �Elementary, my dear Watson.� In one of the books, Holmes does reply to Watson with the retort, �Elementary.� And in a 1929 Sherlock Holmes film, that riposte was embellished into �Elementary, my dear Watson, elementary.� People assume the phrase came from Conan Doyle, but it did not, not in that form.
Shakespeare did relate discretion and valor in his play Henry IV, but the actual wording there was in inverse order: �The better part of valor is discretion.�
And as for the quote from P.T. Barnum, the closest thing the legendary showman actually said was �The people like to be humbugged.�
Keyes spends nearly 200 pages tracking down, documenting and attempting to explain popular misquotes and misattributions of quotes. Let�s leave aside the instances where something was actually said about someone rather than by the person, such as �Any man who hates dogs and children can�t be all bad,� stated about comedian W.C. Fields by Leo Rosten when introducing him at a Los Angeles banquet, as well as those attributed to a more famous contemporary, like �You can�t trust anyone over thirty,� often attributed to Abbie Hoffman but actually voiced by another sixties activist, Jack Weinberg. Instead, let�s look at quotes whose wording got rearranged or revised during a grand game of �Telephone� played by the public over time.
For example:
* The stronger, more striking version wins out. On camera, Mae West actually said to Cary Grant, �Why don�t you come up sometime and see me?� This morphed in collective memory to �Why don�t you come up and see me sometime?� Important words, like �sometime� here, belong either at the beginning or the end of a line.
* The more conversational word order sticks. Shakespeare�s Hamlet says, �Though this be madness, yet there is method in�t.� Most people quote it as �There�s method in his madness.�
* Complications get ironed out. Henry Ford, for example, said, �History is more or less bunk,� which is remembered simply as �History is bunk.� Many people quote the Bible as saying, �Money is the root of all evil,� when in fact I Timothy 6:10 says, �The love of money is the root of all evil.�
* The self-contained version prevails. As most film buffs know, the movie �Casablanca� does not include the line, �Play it again, Sam.� Ilsa, played by Ingrid Bergman, says, �Play it, Sam. Play �As Time Goes By.�� A bit later Rick, played by Humphrey Bogart, tells Sam, �Play it!� People quote the line as �Play it again, Sam� because that version includes more context and encapsulates the meaning of the scene.
If you�re hoping to craft a tag line that lasts the way you wrote it, then make sure you�ve chosen the catchiest word order, eliminated complications and included relevant context. Test it out on people and have them repeat it back to you from memory. If everyone mangles it or gets it wrong, the tag line may need further polishing. If it comes back as you wrote it, it may be ready for posterity.
Marcia Yudkin is Head Stork of Named At Last, which brainstorms catchy tag lines, company names and product names for clients. For a systematic process of coming up with a compelling new tag line, download �19 Steps to the Perfect Company Name, Product Name or Tag Line� free at www.namedatlast.com/19steps.htm .
About The Author: Marcia Yudkin is Head Stork of Named At Last, which brainstorms catchy tag lines, company names and product names for clients. For a systematic process of coming up with a compelling new tag line, download �19 Steps to the Perfect Company Name or Tag Line� free at http://www.namedatlast.com/19steps.htm
Please use the HTML version of this article at:
http://www.isnare.com/html.php?aid=1108521
*********************** ARTICLE END ***********************
- To distribute your articles go to http://www.isnare.com/distribution.php
- For more free-reprint articles go to http://www.isnare.com
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