"Everything takes longer than it takes" (1996?)

[Laurence Horn]

At 10:02 AM -0700 6/15/07, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>Upon boarding a friend's yacht for the first time, Bertrand Russell
>supposedly once remarked, "I thought your yacht was bigger than it
>is."
>
>   His friend replied, "Only an _idiot_ would think something was
>bigger than it _is_."
>
>   Those guys.
>
>   JL

It was, possibly, worse than that.

"I have heard of a touchy owner of a yacht to whom a guest, on first
seeing it, remarked, "I thought your yacht was larger than it is";
and the owner replied, "No, my yacht is not larger than it is."

--Russell (1905), "On Descriptions"

>
>Doug Harris <cats22 at FRONTIERNET.NET> wrote:
>   ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>-----------------------
>Sender: American Dialect Society
>Poster: Doug Harris
>Subject: Re: "Everything takes longer than it takes" (1996?)
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>I presume he said that with, as well as on, a raising inflection.
>
>(I have some interest in music, but it's more symphonic and chamber
>oriented than it is song inclined. That's not to say I don't like
>some songs, and/or song performances every once in a while. Even,
>every once in a great while, a drowned robin. .)
>(the other) doug
>
>
>Years ago, when my son was an early teenager, we were running together out
>in the country--on a route that I was familiar with but he wasn't.
>Approaching a song incline, I remarked, "That hill looks worse than it is."
>A few moments (and many pants) later, he replied, "This hill IS worse than
>it is!"
>
>--Charlie
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
>
>
>---------------------------------
>You snooze, you lose. Get messages ASAP with AutoCheck
>  in the all-new Yahoo! Mail Beta.
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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