Herald-Times (Bloomington, IN) By Mike Leonard One of author Ralph Keyes’ favorite examples of the erroneous or spurious attribution of quotes is the oft-repeated line, “Show me the money!” from the movie, “Jerry Maguire.” Sports agent Drew Rosenhaus worked as a consultant for screenwriter and director Cameron Crowe and immediately took credit for the catch …
press-quote
Who Said It? Not Yogi
Chicago Sun-Times By James Kilpatrick In 1953 the New York Yankees won their fifth World Series in a row. Their popular catcher, Yogi Berra, took it in stride. “It’s deja vu all over again,” he said. The trouble is, he never said it. It’s also probable that he never said of a particular restaurant, “It’s …
Misspeak, memory
Boston Globe By Jan Freeman AS COMMENCEMENT SEASON peaks this month, students across the nation are hearing, from keynote speakers great and small, the recycled wisdom of their forebears. And those speakers, in turn, are carrying on a grand tradition of quotemongers through the ages: Spreading misinformation far and wide. At Boston University last Sunday, …
Press-Quote Primer
New book explains famous sayings, including journalistic ones Editor & Publisher By Dave Astor Curious about the origin of such phrases as “Journalism is the first draft of history”? Then you should check out The Quote Verifier. Ralph Keyes’ book – slated to be published May 30 by St. Martin’s Griffin – looks at the …
Notable Quotables
The New Yorker By Louis Menand Ralph Keyes [is] a quotation specialist and the author of “The Quote Verifier” (St. Martin’s; $15.95). “Misquotation is an occupational hazard of quotation,” Keyes advises, and both he and [Yale Book of Quotations editor Fred] Shapiro have gone to considerable trouble to track down the original utterances that became …
NPR Talk of the Nation
Hear Ralph speaking with Neal Conan on NPR’s Talk of the Nation from July 4, 2006. And last Monday I cited a quotation which I attributed to P.T. Barnum. Nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public. Well, it turns out it wasn’t Barnum, and Ralph Keyes caught it, as well he …