Quote or No Quote
Winston Churchill: “An empty taxi pulled up and out stepped Clement Attlee” Quote or No Quote?
As many of you know, Lady Buzzkill can’t stand me. Sometimes I can’t blame her, though. Imagine what it must be like watching a history-based movie or TV series with me. I go ballistic at every false historical reference, and start yelling at the TV. Even I admit that it must get annoying. But I…
Read MoreAlbert Einstein: “A Little Knowledge is a Dangerous Thing.” Quote or No Quote?
Ah yes, Albert Einstein. Perhaps number 3 or number 4 on the all time mis-quoted list. No, he didn’t say that thing about the disappearance of bees, and the disappearance of bee pollination being the sign that animal life on the planet, especially humans, was doomed within four years. No, he didn’t say “if the…
Read MoreMuhammad Ali: “No Viet Cong Ever Called Me N*****.” Quote or No Quote?
Buzzkillers by the score have asked us here at the Institute for shows on the Vietnam War. The Ken Burns film on PBS, The Vietnam War, the 18-part, 10-hour interview-thon, is provoking many of you to ask questions about the war and about the protests against it. So today we’re going to look at one…
Read MoreQuote or No Quote? Harry Truman “Socialism” is a Republican “Scare Word”
Politics in the United States is rife with rhetorical excess these days, and Americans are being treated to falsehoods, wild exaggerations, and anachronisms galore. Just recently, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham accused four young Democratic Congresswomen of being “communists.” “Communists”! Not only is this untrue, the way that Graham used it as an attack and a…
Read MoreDorothy Parker “If you don’t have anything nice to say, come and sit here by me.” Quote or No Quote?
“If you don’t have anything nice to say, come and sit here by me,” is one of the best snarky-isms ever uttered. But who said it? Dorothy Parker? Joan Crawford? Lady Buzzkill? Hear the full story and learn what in the world Teddy Roosevelt, Nellie Taft, and Thomas Dewey have to do with it all?…
Read MoreGandhi: “An Eye for an Eye Makes the Whole World Blind” – Quote or No Quote?
Did Gandhi say “and eye for an eye makes the whole world blind”? If he didn’t, where did it come from? The Bible? The Canadian House of Commons? Movie script writers? And is there something more significant in how this phrase has come down to us as an essential Gandhi-ism? Listen and learn with your…
Read More“May You Live in Interesting Times” – Quote or No Quote?
Are we cursed to be living in interesting times? Would a boring era be easier on the Buzzkill blood pressure? And is “may you live in interesting times” actually an old Chinese curse, or is the history of the saying more complicated? We take you from Chinese folks tales in 1627 to 20th century British…
Read MoreOtto von Bismark, “Laws are like sausages. It is best not to see them being made.” Quote or No Quote?
Politics is a messy business, even in the best of times, and especially in the worst of times. Many people console themselves with this reality by quoting Otto von Bismarck, the 19th century Prussian politician who, among other things, was the the first Chancellor of the German Empire (from 1871 to 1890). He was…
Read MoreChurchill, “Blood, Sweat, and Tears.” Quote or No Quote?
With the popular film, The Darkest Hour, getting even more attention now because Gary Oldman won the Best Actor Academy Award for his portrayal of Winston Churchill, I have even more reason than usual to point out bogus Churchill quotes. But I thought I’d talk about something that Churchill actually said, and that was…
Read MoreGeneral Curtis LeMay, “Bomb the North Vietnamese Back to the Stone Age” Quote or No Quote?
Many of you Buzzkillers have asked us to do shows about the Vietnam War, especially with the Ken Burns multi-part documentary that’s finishing its run on PBS. And the quote we’re going to examine today is one of the most well-known phrases supposedly to come out of that war. But there’s another reason why we…
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