An old quotation

[Alice Faber]

Paul McFedries said:
>The following quotation turns up from time to time:
>
>"The 10 Commandments contain 297 words. The Bill of Rights is stated
>in 463 words. Lincon's Gettysburg Address contains 266 words. A recent
>federal directive to regulate the price of cabbage contains 26,911
>words."
>
>The source is always given as "The Atlanta Journal," but that's all I
>ever see. Does anyone know who wrote this and when it was published?
>

It's been around forever, with slight variations on the word count.
As far as I know, nobody's ever found such a USDA (or any other sort)
regulation. See <http://www.snopes.com/language/document/govmemo.htm>
for details.

--
 =============================================================================
Alice Faber                                             faber at haskins.yale.edu
Haskins Laboratories                                  tel: (203) 865-6163 x258
New Haven, CT 06511 USA                                     fax (203) 865-8963