Tracing Quotations
Dorothy Parker? Clare Boothe Luce? Sheilah Graham? Snooty debutante? Little chorus girl? Question for Quote Investigator: I think Dorothy Parker should be credited with the wittiest comeback ever spoken. She was attempting to go through a doorway at the same time as another person and words were exchanged. According to the story I heard the …
Continue reading “Dialogue Origin: “Age Before Beauty” “Pearls Before Swine””
Dorothy Parker? James Webb Young? Owen H. Hott? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: A friend and I recently wondered about the origin of the following poem. We did not have much luck tracking it: See the happy moron, He doesn’t give a damn, I wish I were a moron, My God! perhaps I am! There …
Dorothy Parker? W. Somerset Maugham? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: Dorothy Parker was at a party where guests were challenging one another to complete poems based on a few starting lines, or so the story goes. Parker was given the following two lines: Higgledy Piggledy, my white hen; She lays eggs for gentlemen. After a …
Dorothy Parker? Walter Winchell? Fictional? Anonymous? Question for Quote Investigator: Recently, I gave a close friend a book as a gift, and on the accompanying card I included a quotation that Dorothy Parker once used in a book review: This must be a gift book. That is to say, a book which you wouldn’t take …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: A Gift Book Is an Item Which You Wouldn’t Take on Any Other Terms”
Dorothy Parker? An Old Farmer? A Young Newspaper Editor? Bennett Cerf? Question for Quote Investigator: Recently when a friend delivered a clever retort I told her it was worthy of Dorothy Parker, but she did not recognize the name. I love Parker’s witticisms and am sad that her fame is going into eclipse. The prominent …
Continue reading “Dialogue Origin: “I Simply Can’t Bear Fools” “Apparently, Your Mother Could””
Who Said the Quote: Dorothy Parker? Richard Henry Little? Alexander Woollcott? Who was the Polyglot: Winifred Stackville Stoner? Merle Oberon? Question for Quote Investigator: My question differs from most. Here is a quotation of admiration with a stinger that I would like you to investigate: That woman speaks eighteen languages, and can’t say “No” in …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: She Speaks Eighteen Languages, and Can’t Say “No” in Any of Them”
Dorothy Parker? Punch Humor Magazine? Sally’s Sallies Comic Strip? Ann Landers? Question for Quote Investigator: Previously you discussed a quote of Dorothy Parker’s which was self-critical, but she also directed her barbs at others. Here is an example: When a garrulous old battle-ax was praised as “outspoken,” Mrs. Parker raised an eyebrow to take dead …
Continue reading “Dialogue Origin: “Our Host Certainly Is Outspoken” “Outspoken By Whom?””
Dorothy Parker? Robert Benchley? Frank Sullivan? Question for Quote Investigator: The writer Dorothy Parker was famous for her clever and barbed witticisms. Her remarks were often aimed at others, but sometimes she laughed at herself with a self-deprecating comment. I particularly enjoy the statement she made when asked about her fame: Yes, I once was …
Continue reading “Quote Origin: I Was the Toast of Two Continents: Greenland and Australia”