"Don't confuse me with facts!"

[Jonathan Lighter]

It's a stretch, but it seems that Rousseau's _Confessions_ (trans. J. N.
Cohen) contains something in a comparable spirit:

"If anyone knows anything contrary to what I have here recorded, though he
prove it a thousand times, his knowledge is a lie and an imposture."

Nine hundred and seven times will usually persuade me that I'm wrong, but
maybe that's just me.

JL


On Sun, Apr 1, 2012 at 9:33 AM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      "Don't confuse me with facts!"
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Not in YBQ, so far as I can tell.
>
> GB coughs up a supposed ex. from 1915, but it looks suspect to me.  Then
> nothing till 1945 - which seems legit:
>
> 1945  Roy S. Durstine in _Advertising & Selling_  XXXVIII 34 [GB: not
> verified in print]: At last he reached for a cigarette and said softly:
> "Don't confuse me with facts!" The agency group was speechless.
>
> 1954 _Investment Dealer's Digest_  XX 22 [ditto]: I'd Like To Help You Out
> - Which Way Did You Come In? My Mind Is Made Up - Don't Confuse Me With
> Facts.
>
> 1957 _Sioux County Capital_ (Orange City, Ia.) (Sept. 12, 1957) 2 [Newsp.
> Arch]: Money isn't everything but it's way ahead of whatever is second
> place. ...My mind is made up - don't confuse me with facts.
>
> The long-form statement becomes common in the mid to late '50s.  I believe
> I first encountered it (along with "I'd like to help you out...' and others
> of a similar nature) in a deck of novelty "wisecrack" cards resembling
> business cards, probably early in 1960.
>
> JL
> --
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>
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> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>



--
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org