MT just appeared to me--was reading over my shoulder all along, it seems--and said: "You know, I have enough trouble with the genuine article, but getting the counterfeits right is damnably hard." Then he squinted. "What's a graduate student?"... -----Original Message----- From: Terry Ballard <[log in to unmask]> To: TWAIN-L <[log in to unmask]> Sent: Mon, Aug 20, 2012 7:06 pm Subject: Re: Twain on Moderation? There's enough of these to fill a book. We could call it "Reports of my quotes are greatly exaggerated." On Monday, August 20, 2012, Paul Schullery wrote: > Some Mark Twain Forum member who has charge of a few sharp and > enterprising graduate students ought to turn one of them loose on a study > of these bogus and dubious "Mark Twain quotes." Even a light content > analysis would be revealing of how we have defined and shaped our idea of > Mark Twain and his wisdom through these fictionalized representations. And > I imagine that the creation of phony Twainisms has probably accelerated > wildly since the popularization of the web. > > Judging from the number of us who have responded to this question about > these alleged quotations, it appears that there is a healthy amount of > curiosity about what he did and did not say; a good study of this subject, > even a small book, would perform a real service. > > I was recently given a refrigerator magnet, which I was told was sold at > the Mark Twain House in Hartford. The magnet featured a supposed Mark > Twain quotation, "Denial ain't just a river in Egypt." I must admit, this > sounds spurious to me. I didn't know that "denial" in its modern pop-psych > meaning was all that common 100 years ago. But that is why the whole issue > needs study; how are we to know if a quotation is real or not? > > Paul Schullery > > > > > -----Original Message----- > From: <[log in to unmask] <javascript:;>> > Reply-To: Mark Twain Forum <[log in to unmask] <javascript:;>> > Date: Monday, August 20, 2012 12:36 PM > To: <[log in to unmask] <javascript:;>> > Subject: Re: Twain on Moderation? > > Terry, > > > Oscar Wilde died too soon; he owes you one. > > > Well said, and happy retirement! > > > Ben > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Terry Ballard" <[log in to unmask] <javascript:;>> > To: [log in to unmask] <javascript:;> > Sent: Monday, August 20, 2012 1:48:50 PM > Subject: Re: Twain on Moderation? > > I used to say "Moderation is a good thing as long as you don't take it to > extremes." Sadly as far as I can tell, Twain didn't say the one about > moderation in moderation. When checking out one of these, I usually go to > Google Books and search ending in 1920. True that he said some gems in > speeches that may not have made it to print in his lifetime, but a zero > hit > count is pretty telling. Unless it turns up in a speech, this goes to that > mountainous scrap heap of things that sound like Twain but aren't. > > Also, in case anyone out there is following my adventures, as of the 31st > I'm removing lines 2-5 on my sig file below, to be replaced with "Retired > Librarian." > > > Terry Ballard > Assistant Director of Technical Services for Library Systems > The New York Law School > 185 West Broadway, New York, NY, 10013 > 212-431-2106 > http://www.terryballard.org > Author of the book "Google this" http://googlethisforlibraries.com > > "My memory has a mind of its own." > -- Terry Ballard Assistant Director of Technical Services for Library Systems The New York Law School 185 West Broadway, New York, NY, 10013 212-431-2106 http://www.terryballard.org Author of the book "Google this" http://googlethisforlibraries.com "My memory has a mind of its own."