famous quote syntactically mangled, nobody notices

[Jonathan Lighter]

Yes. I've actually *read* _Surry of Eagle's Nest_ (well, much of it), and
the footnote is undoubtedly a guarantee of the sentiment's authenticity.

It would be pedantically satisfying, however, to know just how Cooke
learned of it.

It is now frequenly said that he made the remark to Gen. James
B. Longstreet, but JBL seems not to be mentioned in connection with the
remark till 1931 (GB). Furthermore, Cooke asserts that Lee "murmured" the
words to no one in particular.

My thoroughly gratuitous SWAG is that Cooke heard the anecdote from one of
Lee's other officers, or conceivably was told by Lee himself that
he'd thought something like that.  What better way to immortalize the idea
than to make it pithy and claim it had actually been "murmured"?  That
would be much simpler and more inspiring than to write, "I was later told
that General Lee had offered his opinion that...," or "General Lee later
told me that he'd been thinking that...."

JL
On Sat, Jun 30, 2012 at 3:52 PM, Garson O'Toole
<adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com>wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Garson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: famous quote syntactically mangled, nobody notices
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> >
> > Cooke was himself the "early biographer" (1871) referred to.  _Surry_ is
> > fiction.
> >
> > Cooke, a successful novelist, was an officer on Jeb Stuart's staff. I
> > haven't found any information as to Cooke's whereabouts at the battle of
> > Fredericksburg. I suspect that he heard the comment at second hand
> > and tweaked it into memorable form.
> >
> > Only to be untweaked by the Internet.
>
> Thanks for your response, JL. Yes, both YBQ and QV list the 1871
> biography by John Esten Cooke. Below is a link to the biography. The
> 1866 and 1871 versions of the saying are slightly different. The word
> "would" in 1866 is replaced by "should" in 1871. The asterisk note may
> have indicated that Cooke was asserting the quote was genuine in the
> 1866 work. There is another early cite given below from Cooke.
>
> Cite: 1871, A Life of Gen. Robert E. Lee by John Esten Cooke
>
>
> http://books.google.com/books?id=cTEOAAAAIAAJ&q=%22so+terrible%22#v=snippet&
>
> [Begin excerpt]
> They had returned as rapidly as they had charged, pursued by shot and
> shell, and General Lee, witnessing the spectacle from his hill,
> murmured, in his grave and measured voice: "It is well this is so
> terrible! we should grow too fond of it!"
> [End excerpt]
>
> John Esten Cooke also included a version of the quote in an 1870 book.
>
> Cite: 1870, Hammer and Rapier by John Esten Cooke
>
>
> http://books.google.com/books?id=1zYrAAAAYAAJ&q=%22so+terrible%22#v=snippet&
>
> [Begin excerpt]
> As Gen. Meade's lines were now seen flying, pursued by Jackson's men,
> Lee gazed at them in silence; then, in that deep voice, which never
> lost its grave and measured accent, he murmured:
> "It is well this is so terrible; we would grow too fond of it!"
> [End excerpt]
>
> 1866: It is well this is so terrible-we would grow too fond of it!
> 1870: It is well this is so terrible; we would grow too fond of it!
> 1871: It is well this is so terrible! we should grow too fond of it!
>
> Please check for typos and OCR errors before using any of this
> information. Thanks,
> Garson
>
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