"half of X is wrong; the question is which half"

[Joel S. Berson]

Surely this is a snowclone?  And not in the database?

About 44,100 Ghits (searching for "half of" +
"the question is which half"), of course not all
of which are different.  Some examples:

      [A variation on "advertising":]
Half of all Marketing spend [sic] is wasted, the question is - which half ...

I believe the President to be correct about half
of us anyway, the question is, which half

      [Next, the retort to Jon's ninth-grade
teacher's put-down of his students -- and quite popular:]
Half of everything you were ever taught is wrong; the question is which half.

      [One I now construct, suggested by one of the Ghits:]
You don't know the half of what's to come. ... The question is, which half ?

The problem with this book is that half of it is
wrong–the question is, 'Which half?

Half of these are the writer's personal
experiences, secrets, creative imagination, hopes
and wishful thinking. The question is: Which half?

Half of all top IRA men worked for the security
services [] The question is.................which half?

Some of theses events actually happened, but half
of it is fiction and wishful thinking. The question is: which half?

And this is from just the first 20 of the 16,800
Ghits left after advertising and teaching are excluded.

Joel

At 7/7/2012 08:21 AM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>I vividly recall my ninth-grade science teacher telling us, "Half of
>everything we think we know, is wrong. The question is which half."
>
>In a phrase yet to be coined, it freaked me out.
>
>Cf.the later "Everything You Know is Wrong."
>
>JL
>
>On Fri, Jul 6, 2012 at 11:49 PM, Arnold Zwicky <zwicky at stanford.edu> wrote:
>
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Arnold Zwicky <zwicky at STANFORD.EDU>
> > Subject:      quote
> >
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > from  the Economist of 5/30/12, a letter to the editor:
> >
> > Business quotes
> >
> > SIR ­ You began an article with the old saw “that half of all advertising
> > budgets are wasted—the trouble is, no one knows which half” (“Change of
> > track”, June 9th). The remark is frequently attributed by Britons to Lord
> > Leverhulme, founder of Lever Brothers, and by Americans to John Wanamaker,
> > who opened Philadelphia’s first department store. Though references to such
> > a saying date from at least 1919, no authoritative reference has been found
> > linking either man to it. This leads one to observe that at least half the
> > attributions are false, the trouble is no one knows which half.
> >
> > Professor Michael Mainelli
> > Executive chairman
> > Z/Yen Group
> > London
> >
> > .....
> >
> > for the quote mavens.  i have no particular interest in tracking down
> > quotations, but thought this might be of interest to those who do.  quite
> > possibly it's been explored already.
> >
> > arnold
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
>
>
>
>--
>"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org