Patton's "dumb bastard"

[Jonathan Lighter]

If Google and personal experience are any indivations, Scott's address at
the beginning of "Patton: is now the best loved of all American speeches
with the exception of "I Have a Dream."

For example, Google finds nearly 28,000 instances online of the signature
phrase "shoveled shit in Louisiana."  Two hundred more appear in GB.

But never mind that. No absolutely authoritative text of Patton's speech
seems to exist, though Martin Blumenson published one version in _The Patton
Papers_ (1974), pp. 457-58, four years after the movie. My recollection is
that he doesn't give a source (GB is silent).

(Cf. James Warner Bellah & Willis Goldbeck, "When the legend becomes fact,
print the legend.")

Dwight MacDonald printed a milder version of the speech (more accurately,
"a" speech, since Patton gave it repeatedly) in 1945 (reprinted in his
_Memoirs of a Revolutionist_, 1970).

At least two seemingly reliable versions, allegedly taken down on the spot
or from recordings, have been published in more recent years.

This one was taken down in March, 1945, by a future historian:
http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/ah/2005/3/2005_3_26.shtml

It lacks the "dumb bastard" phrase. Other recollections of Patton's usage
have "son of a bitch" instead.

JL

 Fri, Mar 18, 2011 at 10:57 PM, victor steinbok <aardvark66 at gmail.com>wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       victor steinbok <aardvark66 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Patton's "dumb bastard"
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> We used different search strings because I was looking for something
> different. But I thought the fact that it's there was worth a mention.
> orZ
>
> VS-)
>
> On Fri, Mar 18, 2011 at 10:14 PM, Sam Clements <SClements at neo.rr.com>
> wrote:
> >
> > In my Ggogle snippet, it shows "Learn to use this thing.  LET THE OTHER
> > BASTARD...."
> >
> >
> http://books.google.com/books?id=9dBAAAAAIAAJ&q=%22let+the+other+bastard%22&dq=%22let+the+other+bastard%22&hl=en&ei=gxCETbXCF8HF0QGArs3ODA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CDQQ6AEwAg
>
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