MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference Quotes

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

Here is the text from the Reader’s Digest that I neglected to include
with my previous message. Andrew Lang is the man to beat if you want
to give credit to someone else.

[ref] 1937 April, Reader’s Digest, Volume 30, Toward a More
Picturesque Speech, Quote Page 60, The Reader’s Digest Association.
(Verified on paper)[/ref]

[Begin excerpt]
He uses statistics as a drunken man uses lampposts – for support
rather than for illumination (Andrew Lang)
[End excerpt]

Here is a link to Barry's web page with valuable information:

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

On Tue, Mar 5, 2013 at 9:58 AM, ADSGarson O'Toole
<adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>> "Statistics are like a lamppost to a drunk: useful for support but not
>>>>> for illumination.”
>
> LH said:
>> That one can't be his, can it?  It's been around for ages.  Fred?
>
> I examined this expression in the past. I did not see it listed in the
> Yale Book of Quotations or the Dictionary of Modern Proverbs. Barry
> Popik does have an entry. There are multiple matches in the Google
> Books database that are assigned the year 1937 (and some bogus earlier
> dates). I checked six citations with GB dates of 1937 on paper or with
> scans. The earliest was the Reader’s Digest:
>
> [ref] 1937 April, Reader’s Digest, Volume 30, Toward a More
> Picturesque Speech, Quote Page 60, The Reader’s Digest Association.
> (Verified on paper) [/ref]
>
> Barry Popik lists this Reader's Digest cite without a month. Now he
> can add the month if he wishes.
>
> Garson

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