Tracing Quotations
Boy’s Life magazine? Mutt and Jeff comic strip? Mulla Nasreddin? Esar’s Joke Dictionary? Dear Quote Investigator: There is a brilliant comical allegory that depicts the biases inherent in many types of scientific research: A police officer sees a drunken man intently searching the ground near a lamppost and asks him the goal of his quest. …
Continue reading ““Did You Lose the Keys Here?” “No, But the Light Is Much Better Here””
Herbert Beerbohm Tree? Frederick Henry Townsend? George du Maurier? Yogi Berra? Mutt and Jeff? An inebriate? A woman carrying packages? Dear Quote Investigator: I have read several instances of a popular comical anecdote. Two different versions featured baseball Hall-of-Famer Yogi Berra. One night he was presented with a grandfather clock at a banquet dinner. Yogi …
Continue reading “Why Don’t You Carry a Wrist Watch Like Everyone Else?”