It’s Déjà Vu All Over Again

Yogi Berra? Jim Prior? Clifford Terry? John Anders? Tish Baldrige? Anonymous? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: Déjà vu is the eerie and intense sensation that something you are experiencing has happened before. This feeling is often illusory because the event being experienced is genuinely novel. The term déjà vu can also be used to simply reference …

When You Come to a Fork in the Road, Take It

Yogi Berra? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: Yogi Berra was a brilliant baseball player and manager. He is also famous for his comically wise sayings which are known as ‘Yogiisms’. This is my favorite on the topic of making decisions: When you come to a fork in the road, take it. Is this an authentic Yogiism? …

Nostalgia Is Not What It Used To Be

Yogi Berra? Simone Signoret? Peter De Vries? Tommy Handley & Ronald Frankau? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: Holidays sometimes make me nostalgic. They also remind me of the following clever quip: Nostalgia ain’t what it used to be. These words are often attributed to the famed baseball quotemaster Yogi Berra, but recently I learned of an …

Why Don’t You Carry a Wrist Watch Like Everyone Else?

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 …

I Really Didn’t Say Everything I Said

Yogi Berra? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: Thanks for working to help clear up so many incorrect quotations and attributions. I have a question about a quote that might be suitable as the motto of your website. Yogi Berra supposedly said one the following Yogi-isms: 1. I really didn’t say everything I said. 2. I didn’t …

The Future Is Not What It Used To Be

Yogi Berra? Paul Valéry? Laura Riding? Robert Graves? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: I am interested in a saying that is both humorous and shrewd: The future is not what it used to be. I have seen several other versions of the saying. The phrasing that uses the word “ain’t” is often credited to Yogi Berra: …

“You Look Nice and Cool.” “Thanks! You Don’t Look So Hot Yourself.”

Yogi Berra? Babe Herman? Department Store Sales Woman? Young Student? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: My favorite quotation from Yogi Berra was said when he was introduced to a beautiful model after a baseball game. She complimented him, and his fumbling reply was unintentionally funny: She said, “You look so nice and cool in that white …

So I’m Ugly. So What? I Never Saw Anyone Hit with His Face

Yogi Berra? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: While looking through a book of baseball’s greatest quotations I came across this hilarious reply from Yogi Berra to someone who criticized his appearance: So I’m ugly. So what? I never saw anyone hit with his face. Some of the sayings credited to Yogi are bogus, but I hope …

If I Could Just Make Them Up On the Spot, I’d Be Famous

Yogi Berra? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: One of the cleverest jokes credited to Yogi Berra is meta-logical. Apparently, some people were following Yogi around and expecting him to utter one of his famous Yogi-isms. Finally, in exasperation he said: If I could just make ’em up on the spot, I’d be famous. This response is …

We’re Lost, But We’re Making Good Time!

Yogi Berra? George Lichty? Buddy Blattner? Joe Garagiola? Apocryphal? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: Famed baseball player Yogi Berra is credited with many hilarious remarks. Once Yogi was driving to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York with some other players. After passing the same landmark three times a fellow player named Joe Garagiola …