Concept of Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

[Ben Zimmer]

On Mon, Aug 15, 2011 at 2:41 PM, Wilson Gray wrote:
>
> On Mon, Aug 15, 2011 at 1:52 PM, Laurence Horn wrote:
> > Goes back so far that I remember it as "40 million Frenchmen
"
>
> How strange! _Forty-million_ rings not a single bell for me. I guess that
>
> Youneverknow.

Interestingly enough, when Willie Raskin, Billy Rose, and Fred Fisher wrote the
song "Fifty Million Frenchmen Can't Be Wrong" in 1927, the actual population of
France was pretty close to 40 million -- it wouldn't hit 50 million until 1968,
says Wikipedia.

Audio to a 1927 version by Ted Lewis and His Band:
http://www.redhotjazz.com/songs/lewis/fiftymillionfrenchhmen.ra

Lyrics to the Sophie Tucker version:
http://lyricsplayground.com/alpha/songs/f/fiftymillionfrenchmencantbewrong.shtml

--bgz

--
Ben Zimmer
http://benzimmer.com/

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