Fwd: Re: Montagnards & 9 yards proposal

[Fred Shapiro]

On Sun, 25 Jan 2004, Dave Wilton wrote:

> I would go further. Recollections are very nearly worthless. Memory is
> extremely malleable and highly inaccurate.

Here, here!  I have investigated many instances where seemingly reliable
people swear on a stack of Bibles that they have a clear memory of
something taking place, then I later find evidence establishing that
they were mistaken.  I find that people often say they clearly remember a
term being used in 19xx, then it turns out it was really 19xx + 7 or
something like that.  Also, people often remember a word being used, then
it turns out it was actually a similar word, not the word in question.

Fred Shapiro


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Fred R. Shapiro                             Editor
Associate Librarian for Collections and     YALE DICTIONARY OF QUOTATIONS
  Access and Lecturer in Legal Research     Yale University Press,
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