stupid, n.

[Garson O'Toole]

YBQ has an important cite. Barry explored the saying, and he has the
excellent cite JL posted. Here is a link to Barry's webpage on: Speak
truth to power:

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

On Sun, Jul 1, 2012 at 12:52 PM, Jonathan Lighter
<wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com> wrote:
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> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: stupid, n.
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> 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:
>
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>> 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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>
> --
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
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