stupid, n.

[Jonathan Lighter]

Well, naturally:

1864 Sallie Bridges "The King and the Bard" in _The Marble Isle: Legends of
the Round Table and Other Poems_ [Phila.: Lippincott] 178: "Drink, gallant
knights, to the minstrel/ Who dreads neither prince nor peer, - / Who can
speak the truth to power,- / Nor flatters for price nor fear....

JL

On Sun, Jul 1, 2012 at 11:58 AM, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu>wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: stupid, n.
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> On Jul 1, 2012, at 4:54 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>
> > Another adj. > n.
> >
> > HBO's _The Newsroom_ last Sunday had a journalist explain in frustration
> > that the mission of the Fourth Estate has become "to tell truth to
> stupid."
> >
> > Instead of to powerful.
> >
> Or instead of "speak truth to power", which I associate with Anita Hill
> but I'm sure has a much longer legacy.  Some associate it with the Quakers.
>  But is there a known origin?
>
> LH
>
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