Stranger than Fiction: Real History
- Thread starter Louanne Learning
- Start date
Here's the thing though. If I say "I think, therefore I am" and someone points out that was said by Descartes in 1637, does that mean I didn't say it, whether or not I coined the expression?
I like The Moody Blues version best:
I think, therefore I am... I think.
I think, therefore I am... I think.
A few years ago, one of my sisters asked me something. I can't remember what it was, but my answer was "I can't think," to which she replied, "therefore you're not."
There are a lot of things that Marie Antoinette never said. She also never said "what's the wifi password?".
Arthur Wellesley, the Duke Of Wellington didn't receive his patents of nobility for all the titles he had been awarded until he returned home from France - thus, he technically became Baron, Viscount, Earl, Marquess and Duke on the same day, although of course, everybody had already been calling him Lord Wellington and treating him as the titleholder for quite some time.
When did he attain The Order of Beef Wellington?
Around 1816, shortly after opening his new boot shop.
Actually, do colonials call those waterproof boots wellingtons?
No, it only means that you didn't come up with the expression. A more accurate phrasing would be "Your presupposition that I think I said 'I think, therefore I am' is spurious, because I know I said 'I think, therefore I am', but I also know I didn't come up that wonderful and incomparable expression, so you owe me an apology. Or, at least, a Coke."
The phrase "Bob's your uncle" is believed to have originated from the 1887 appointment of Arthur Balfour to Chief Secretary for Ireland by his uncle, Prime Minister Robert Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury. This is the most commonly cited origin story: that an act of blatant nepotism led to the saying, implying Balfour's success came easily due to his influential uncle.
Some critics have pointed out that the first documented use of the phrase in print is from the 1920s or 1930s (decades after the 1887 appointment). But to that, I say: so what? If the 1887 story is right, the phrase was in common usage for decades before it was used in print. After all, no-one just writes down a common idiom if it wasn't in common usage, first.
Speaking of famous bobs, Sir Robert Peel is considered the father of modern policing because he established the London Metropolitan Police in 1829, thus creating the first full-time force separate from the military. His work led to the creation of the "Peelian Principles," a set of nine principles that guide police work, emphasizing crime prevention, the importance of public trust, and the use of force only as a last resort. His name gave us both "Peelers" and "bobbies" as nicknames for British police officers.
One last bob: the future Edward VII (nicknamed 'Bertie') enjoyed the company of the cockney prostitute, Rosa Lewis. Deprived of a trysting-place, Bertie once went for a very long drive in a closed hackney coach with Rosa. At the end of the journey, Bertie gave the cabbie a shilling.
"What's this bleedin' bob for?' asked the cabbie, who didn't recognize the Prince of Wales, and was not best pleased. 'It's your fare, my man,' said Bertie.
'A bleedin' bob for two hours' drive and ten miles?!' the cabbie yelled. Luckily, at this moment Rosa leant forward and gave the cabbie two sovereigns. This changed his tune. 'I knowed you were a lady as soon as I seen you,' said the driver to Rosa, 'but where d'you pick 'im up.' The future King of England loved this story and often told it against himself.
I wouldn't worry about it, since Descartes did not say, or rather, write "I think, therefore I am".
He wrote "Je pense, donc je suis", and later "cogito ergo sum".
He wrote "Je pense, donc je suis", and later "cogito ergo sum".
And by the same token, Marie Antoinette could say the same thing about giving the peasants brioche. Establishing that the phrase was known before her birth, or when she was a young child, is not a proof that she didn't say it. The other stuff you wrote about, her attitudes that appear to conflict with that kind of callousness, make a better argument. So get her a coke.
Of course not. She was the queen! She had an army of servants to worry about that stuff.
You know, I was going to go there but decided against because the meaning holds its integrity in translation.
In Wyoming, we call them barn boots. I can't answer for those over in the original colonies. I'm not sure we speak the same language.
I agree, I was just being pedantic for comic effect. But really, I don't think it's particularly strange that historical figures didn't say things commonly attributed to them.
Queen Victoria didn't say "We are not amused".
George Washington didn't say "I cannot tell a lie, I did it with my axe".
Einstein didn't say that things about the universe and human stupidity being infinite.
Paul Tibbets, the pilot of the Enola Gay, did not say on dropping the A-bomb "I am become death, the destroyer of worlds". J. Robert Oppenheimer said it, but he didn't come up with it either, he was quoting the Bhagavad Gita.
And Darth Vader didn't say "Luke, I am your father" (he said "No. I am your father.")
Most of these statements are told as stories in order to caricature that person's supposed character.
Last edited:
And Humphrey Bogart didn't say "play it again Sam." And the closing line of Gone with the Wind is not "frankly my dear I don't give a damn."
I don't remember that character. Which one was No?
Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo..............
Ilsa says, "Play it, Sam. Play- As Time Goes By."
And Rhett did say, "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn. "Gone with the Wind: 4:10 It is not the closing line, though.
The weird stuff that lodges itself in my mind.
And Rhett did say, "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn. "Gone with the Wind: 4:10 It is not the closing line, though.
The weird stuff that lodges itself in my mind.
I found that book at my grandparents' home when I was a kid, later watched the film as well and liked the story a lot but sometimes feel awkward discussing it in international forums since it covers parts of complex and not as politically correct American history, not that any of the characters are portrayed as the completely nice guys. It's possible that where I live the north and south conflict and racial issues would have another meaning. I read there was a sequel but never watched it.
Politically correct history is a simplified story that caters to modern sensibilities. Complex personalities, situations, and motivations are hard for the politically correct student to grok.
Similar threads
