God in the deatils (1960); No names, no pack-drill (1930)

[Wilson Gray]

On Jan 25, 2005, at 2:31 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at YAHOO.COM>
> Subject:      Re: God in the deatils (1960); No names, no pack-drill
> (1930)
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
> --------
>
> The version with "devil" is so common that the "God" version becomes
> much more fascinating.
>
> JL

But what does it mean? I've always assumed that the "devil" version
means something like, "a good opening sentence, in and of itself, does
not the Great American Novel make." I.e., bringing an idea to fruition
is no easy task.

-Wilson

>
> "Mark A. Mandel" <mamandel at LDC.UPENN.EDU> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender: American Dialect Society
> Poster: "Mark A. Mandel"
> Subject: Re: God in the deatils (1960); No names, no pack-drill (1930)
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
> --------
>
> I don't see any mention in this thread of "The devil is in the
> details",
> which I think I have seen at least as often.
>
> -- Mark
> [This text prepared with Dragon NaturallySpeaking.]
>
>
> ---------------------------------
> Do you Yahoo!?
>  Read only the mail you want - Yahoo! Mail SpamGuard.
>