believe it or not

[Jonathan Lighter]

Garson, nice work with 1893.

Interestingly it did not come up when I searched.

JL



On Mon, Dec 10, 2012 at 11:02 AM, ADSGarson O'Toole <
adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com> wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       ADSGarson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: believe it or not
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Jon: Thanks for sharing this interesting quip. Here are three more
> instances starting in 1893.
>
> Cite: 1893 July 1, The Fortnightly Review, The Russian Intrigues in
> South Eastern Europe by C. B. Roylance-Kent, Start Page 105, Quote
> Page 107, Leonard Scott Publication Company, New York, Chapman and
> Hall, London. (Google Books full view)
>
> http://books.google.com/books?id=GQEeAQAAIAAJ&q=lied#v=snippet&
>
> [Begin excerpt]
> It was said of Napoleon III. that he lied so well that you could not
> even believe the opposite of what he said. That, if true, was the ne
> plus ultra of diplomatic ability.
> [End excerpt]
>
>
> Cite: 1897 January 5, The Repository, Press Points: An Accomplished
> Prevaricator, Quote Page 4, Column 1, Canton, Ohio. (GenealogyBank)
>
> [Begin excerpt]
> Cincinnati Times-Star. - "General Horace Porter tells of a liar who
> got so infernally untrustworthy that 'it became unsafe even to believe
> the opposite of what he said.' The general doesn't say what became of
> this phenomenal prevaricator, but there is reason to suspect that he
> has been sent to Florida as Cuban war correspondent of a New York
> daily.
> [End excerpt]
>
>
> Cite: 1905 March 17, 1905, Cleveland Leader, Just by the Way: About
> the Limit, Page 6, Column 5, Cleveland, Ohio. (GenealogyBank)
>
> [Begin excerpt]
> "Mr. Ananias Munchausen is habitually untruthful, is he not?"
> "Well, I should say so! Why, that man's such a finished liar that you
> can't even believe the opposite of what he says!"
> [End excerpt]
>
> Garson
>
> On Sun, Dec 9, 2012 at 1:19 PM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> > Subject:      believe it or not
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > Here's a folk saying that seems to have been overlooked despite its
> > excellence:
> >
> > 1899 _The Speaker_  (London) (Jan. 28) 115: But they hardly seem to have
> > attained that highest stage of art when a man is "such a liar that you
> > cannot even believe the opposite of what he says."
> >
> > 1947 _Soviet Russia Today_ XV (No. 8) 6 [GB snippet]: It reminds me
> > sometimes of the Irishman who said of another Irishman, "The man is such
> a
> > liar that you cannot even believe the opposite of what he says."
> >
> > 1963 Richard W. Rowan _Cuba: The Big Red Lie_  (Kingston, N.Y.: Quinn)
> 41:
> > A famous Chief of Intelligence once said of a foreign diplomat from whom
> it
> > had been hoped to gain certain vital intelligence: "You can't even
> believe
> > the opposite of what he says."
> >
> > 1968 D. N. Pritt, in _Labour Monthly_ (March) 142: That government has
> now
> > reached the class described by an Irishman who said that his  opponent
> was
> > "such a liar that you cannot even believe the opposite of what he says."
> >
> > 1988 _Jewish Frontier_ LV [GB snippet]: The type Abba Eban had in mind
> when
> > he quipped: "You can't even believe the opposite of what he says."
> >
> > 2010
> >
> http://www.elitetrader.com/vB/showthread.php?s=0d2085a3ccd00d11cdcb64c1371c9dae&postid=2879703
> :
> > Anything Soros says is suspect. Every word out of his mouth is
> > self-serving. You probably cannot even believe the opposite of what he
> says
> > .
> >
> > JL
> >
> > --
> > "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
> truth."
> >
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>
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