Aeschylus, G.B. Shaw at it again

[Garson O'Toole]

Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> The same work improbably attributes the following to George Bernard Shaw (as
> do thousands of websites): "I learned long ago, never wrestle with a pig;
> you get dirty, and besides, the pig likes it."

Barry Popik's website has an excellent post from 2007 on this topic:
Never wrestle with a pig—you get dirty and the pig likes it.

http://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/new_york_city/entry/never_wrestle_with_a_pig_you_get_dirty_and_the_pig_likes_it/

Short version: http://goo.gl/Wuaa9

The most amusing precursor that I found for this expression concerns
another wrestling partner to avoid:

Cite: 1902 February 8, The Living Age, Biography, Page 330, Column 1,
Number 3005, [Littell, Son and Co.], Living Age Company, Boston.
(Google Books full view)

Or take the notable answer of Bolingbroke when it was suggested to him
that he should make some rejoinder to the virulent assaults of Bishop
Warburton: "I never wrestle with a chimney sweeper."

http://books.google.com/books?id=qgQwAAAAYAAJ&q=wrestle#v=snippet&

Garson

On Tue, Apr 12, 2011 at 9:32 PM, Jonathan Lighter
<wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Aeschylus, G.B. Shaw at it again
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> According to Simon van Booy, ed, _Why Do We Fight?_ (N.Y.: Harper Perennial,
> 2010), the Greek dramatist Aeschylus wrote the immortal words, "In war,
> truth is the first casualty."
>
> The same work improbably attributes the following to George Bernard Shaw (as
> do thousands of websites): "I learned long ago, never wrestle with a pig;
> you get dirty, and besides, the pig likes it."
>
> The latter ought to be in YBQ, attributed perhaps to "Anonymous," but it
> isn't.
>
> JL
>
>
>
> --
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>
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