Most Notable Quotations of 2008

[Shapiro, Fred]

I need a quick read on whether this one is likely to have legs.  Any opinions?  Grant, what is your judgment as an authority on political languae?

Fred Shapiro



________________________________________
From: American Dialect Society [ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of Benjamin Zimmer [bgzimmer at BABEL.LING.UPENN.EDU]
Sent: Wednesday, December 10, 2008 2:04 AM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: Most Notable Quotations of 2008

On Thu, Dec 4, 2008 at 3:58 PM, Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at yale.edu> wrote:
>
> I'm working on my list for the Associated Press of the top 10 most notable quotations of the year.  By
> "notable" I mean "important" or "famous" or "particularly revealing of the spirit of our times" rather than
> necessarily being eloquent or admirable.

I think we might have some late-breaking contenders. Like this one:

"I've got this thing and it's [bleep]ing golden, and, uh, uh, I'm just
not giving it up for [bleep]in' nothing. I'm not gonna do it. And, and
I can always use it. I can parachute me there."


--Ben Zimmer

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