origin of quotation (Sucker born every minute/hour/day) (UNCLASSIFIED)
Mullins, Bill AMRDEC
Bill.Mullins at US.ARMY.MIL
Mon Sep 15 21:37:37 UTC 2008
Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: NONE
"Keep Your Money -- People Would Do Well to Look Carefully before They
Leap" (no author)
_The Daily Inter Ocean_, (Chicago, IL) Saturday, January 07, 1882; pg.
7; col C
"It was an expert confidence man who said that "there was a sucker born
every minute, and some have remained suckers all their lives." "
_____
From: bapopik at aol.com [mailto:bapopik at aol.com]
Sent: Monday, September 15, 2008 4:24 PM
To: nxdgss at rit.edu
Cc: gcohen at mst.edu; Mullins, Bill AMRDEC; sclements at neo.rr.com;
bgzimmer at gmail.com; fred.shapiro at yale.edu
Subject: Re: origin of quotation (Sucker born every minute/hour/day)
We now have millions upon millions of digitized newspapers, including
every word of the New York Times. I have not found "sucker born every
minute/hour/day" before 1883 in print. "Found it in print and wrote
about it 20 years ago" just isn't good enough for us word scholars.
...
I'll send this info to my word-researching colleagues.
...
Barry Popik
www.barrypopik.com
http://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/new_york_city/entry/theres_a_sucker_
born_every_minute_ny_gambler_slang_but_not_p_t_barnum/
...
...
http://www.nypost.com/seven/09142008/postopinion/opedcolumnists/rumor_ha
s_it_____128953.htm
By NICHOLAS DiFONZO
Last updated: 6:03 am
September 14, 2008
Posted: 4:23 am
September 14, 2008
"There's a sucker born every minute," circus kingpin P.T. Barnum once
said.
Actually, Barnum didn't say that - but the story behind the misquotation
explains how rumors can become more powerful than truth.
<http://www.nypost.com/seven/09142008/postopinion/opedcolumnists/snopes_
com_grinds_down_the_rumor_mill_128954.htm> Snopes.com Grinds Down The
Rumor Mill
The Barnum tale begins in 1869, when a cigar manufacturer named George
Hull sculpted a giant from a ten-foot long block of gypsum, buried it in
Cardiff, New York, "discovered" it, and put it on display (charging
admission, of course). Crowds of spectators journeyed from all over the
State of New York to see the Cardiff Giant - a "petrified American
goliath." Hull's hoax was hugely successful. He soon sold most of his
interest in it to a group of businessmen headed by the Syracuse banker
David Hannum, who exhibited it for even higher admittance fees.
The Cardiff Giant caught P. T. Barnum's entrepreneurial attentions; he
wanted to display it himself. Unable to persuade Hannum to sell, Barnum
created a replica, claimed it to be the original, and called Hannum's
exhibit a hoax! (This last part, ironically, was the truth.) Referring
to the duped patrons of Barnum's more successful exhibit, Hannum - not
Barnum - is then alleged to have said, "There's a sucker born every
minute." Hannum then sued Barnum for defaming the original. He lost when
George Hull confessed all in court; finding that the giant was a phony,
the judge ruled that Barnum could not be sued for calling it a forgery.
Adding a strange twist to this tale of double deception, Hannum's quote
was then misattributed to Barnum.
A central irony is that it was Hannum - who ruefully called Barnum's
customers "suckers" - who was in fact himself suckered into paying a
great sum of money for a counterfeit colossus of rock.
...
...
-----Original Message-----
From: Nicholas DiFonzo <nxdgss at rit.edu>
To: bapopik at aol.com
Sent: Mon, 15 Sep 2008 4:30 pm
Subject: FW: origin of quotation
Hi,
Thanks again for the feedback. Below is the reply I received from R. J.
Brown, the source who stated that Hannum was the source of the "sucker"
quote. Perhaps the saying existed previous to Hannum, but he used it in
a news article at the time of the Cardiff Giant hoax? If you can shed
any further light on this, I'd appreciate it.
Regards,
Nicholas DiFonzo, Ph.D.
Professor of Psychology
Department of Psychology
18 Lomb Memorial Drive, Room 1-3176
Rochester Institute of Technology
Rochester, NY 14623
Phone: 585-475-2907
FAX: 585-475-6715
Faculty Website: http://people.rit.edu/nxdgss/
Personal Website: www.ProfessorNick.com
-----Original Message-----
From: Rick Brown [mailto:Curator at historybuff.com]
Sent: Monday, September 15, 2008 11:21 AM
To: Nicholas DiFonzo
Subject: Re: origin of quotation
Nicholas,
For almost all of the articles I wrote, my primary source material was
original newspapers. For the Barnum article, I read New York newspapers
that covered the trial. Thus, my source is contemporary newspapers.
Since
I wrote the article 20 years ago, I no longer have the newspapers.
Rick Brown
On Mon, September 15, 2008 7:31 am, Nicholas DiFonzo wrote:
> Dear Mr. Brown (at HistoryBuff.com),
>
>
>
> I wonder if you could help shed light on a historical question. In
your
> excellent article entitled "PT Barnum never did say 'there's a sucker
> born every minute'"
<http://www.historybuff.com/library/refbarnum.html>
> you state that David Hannum was responsible for the saying.
>
>
>
> I recently wrote a book <http://www.thewatercoolereffect.com/> and an
> editorial
>
<http://www.nypost.com/seven/09142008/postopinion/opedcolumnists/rumor_h
> as_it_____128953.htm> for a newspaper that recounted the Cardiff
Giant
> tale, and included the Hannum attribution. A reader (I have copied him
> on this email) then contacted me and stated that he had been unable to
> find evidence of this. I'd like to clear up the question-could you
state
> the source of your article stating that Hannum was the quoted on this?
> (if for some reason the attribution is not correct, I'd like to place
a
> correction on my website).
>
>
>
> Thanks very much for your help; I deeply appreciate it.
>
>
>
> Regards,
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Nicholas DiFonzo, Ph.D.
>
> Professor of Psychology
>
> Department of Psychology
>
> 18 Lomb Memorial Drive, Room 1-3176
>
> Rochester Institute of Technology
>
> Rochester, NY 14623
>
> Phone: 585-475-2907
>
> FAX: 585-475-6715
>
> Faculty Website: http://people.rit.edu/nxdgss/
>
> Personal Website: www.ProfessorNick.com
>
>
>
>
Rick Brown
HistoryBuff.com
A Nonprofit Organization
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