Last Plea for Most Notable Quotations of 2013

[Ben Zimmer]

I feel like the immensely quotable Kanye West ought to be represented
too. Perhaps "I am a god" (the title of a song on the album "Yeezus"),
or his subsequent explanation of that line in a BBC interview: "When
someone comes up and says something like, 'I am a god,' everybody
says, 'Who does he think he is?' I just told you who I thought I was!
A god!"

--bgz


On Sat, Nov 23, 2013 at 7:25 PM, Ben Zimmer <bgzimmer at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Yes, sorry, the second one. I see now that Bill Mullins also nominated
> it on Aug. 27.
>
> Perhaps, as Bill suggested, it needs to be paired with Clapper's
> "least untruthful" testimony. (When asked if the NSA collects data on
> ordinary Americans, he responded "No, sir" and "There are cases where
> they could inadvertently perhaps collect, but not wittingly.")
>
> --bgz
>
>
> On Sat, Nov 23, 2013 at 7:14 PM, Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at yale.edu> wrote:
>>
>> Ben,
>>
>> Which of the Clapper quotes are you referring to as "a winner"?  I assume the second one?
>>
>> Fred Shapiro
>>
>>
>>
>> ________________________________________
>> From: American Dialect Society [ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] on behalf of Ben Zimmer [bgzimmer at GMAIL.COM]
>> Sent: Saturday, November 23, 2013 7:11 PM
>> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>> Subject: Re: Last Plea for Most Notable Quotations of 2013
>>
>> The Clapper quote is a winner.
>>
>> And surely we include any number of Rob Ford quotes from the past
>> couple of weeks? "I've got more than enough to eat at home'" is
>> probably the most notorious.
>>
>>
>> On Sat, Nov 23, 2013 at 6:08 PM, Neal Whitman wrote:
>>>
>>> Ladar Levison, Owner and Operator, Lavabit LLC, the email provider used
>>> by Edward Snowden: "I have been forced to make a difficult decision: to
>>> become complicit in crimes against the American people or walk away from
>>> nearly ten years of hard work by shutting down Lavabit."
>>>
>>> James Clapper, Director of National Intelligence: "...an open hearing on
>>> intelligence matters is something of a contradiction in terms.”
>>> Also, on lying to Congress: “I responded in what I thought was the most
>>> truthful, or least untruthful manner, by saying no.”
>>>
>>> Neal
>>>
>>> On 11/23/2013 4:26 PM, Shapiro, Fred wrote:
>>>>
>>>> I need to get serious about finalizing my annual list, run by the Associated Press, of the top 10 most notable quotations of the year.  By “notable” I mean “important” or “famous” or “particularly revealing of the spirit of our times” rather than necessarily being eloquent or admirable.  Last year's winner was Mitt Romney's quote about the 47 per cent.  Because this is not an election year or year-before-election year, the most notable quotations are less obvious, which is why I particularly could use help this year.
>>>>
>>>> I would welcome suggestions of notable quotations from 2013, particularly ones from politics or popular culture or entertainment or sports or business or technology.
>>>>
>>>> Some of the quotations I am already considering for 2013 are:
>>>>
>>>> Pope Francis on "who am I to judge" and focus of Catholic Church on certain issues
>>>>
>>>> David Ortiz on Boston marathon bombing
>>>>
>>>> President Obama on people losing their health insurance
>>>>
>>>> President Obama on Trayvon Martin
>>>>
>>>> Wayne LaPierre on good guys stopping bad guys
>>>>
>>>> Edward Snowden on "I don't want to live in a world ..."
>>>>
>>>> Hillary Clinton on "What difference does it make?"
>>>>

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