Graffito: "To Be Is To Do" "To Do Is To Be" "Do Be Do Be Do"

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

Thank you very much for searching, Stephen. I just performed some
queries in GB that leave me uncertain about the existence of the match
in "The Butterfly Kid".

GB generates many false positives and false negatives nowadays, unfortunately.

By false positive I mean a GB match that does not exist in the
physical book. Often when you select "Sorted by Date" instead of
"Sorted by Relevance" some matches disappear. I think these are
usually false matches. For example, GB may find a match in a review of
a book and not the book itself. It then displays the match as if it is
present in the book.

Note that my analysis of these false matches is conjectural. I do not
know the algorithm GB is using.

When I select "Sorted by Date" the match in "The Butterfly Kid"
disappears. Is that your experience?

Garson

On Mon, Sep 16, 2013 at 10:59 AM, Stephen Goranson <goranson at duke.edu> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Stephen Goranson <goranson at DUKE.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: Graffito: "To Be Is To Do" "To Do Is To Be" "Do Be Do Be
>               Do"
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> According to Google Books
> "frank sinatra" socrates sartre "to be is to do" "to do is to be" "do be do be do"
> are found in The Butterfly Kid by Chester Anderson (1967),
> but I have not seen to book to attempt to confirm this.
>
> Stephen Goranson
> http://people.duke.edu/~goranson/
> ________________________________________
> From: American Dialect Society [ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] on behalf of ADSGarson O'Toole [adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM]
> Sent: Monday, September 16, 2013 8:49 AM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: [ADS-L] Graffito: "To Be Is To Do" "To Do Is To Be" "Do Be Do Be              Do"
>
> The 1982 novel “Deadeye Dick” by Kurt Vonnegut mentioned the following
> piece of graffiti:
>
>     To be is to do - Socrates.
>     To do is to be - Jean-Paul Sartre.
>     Do be do be do - Frank Sinatra.
>
> There are many versions of this graffito. It is listed in Cassell's
> Humorous Quotations (2001), Penguin Dictionary of Modern Quotations
> (1980) and Encyclopedia of Graffiti (1974).
>
> Victor Steinbok contacted me off-list and suggested this would be an
> interesting topic for research. Thanks Victor!
>
> The earliest relevant cite I have located appeared in the Dallas
> Morning News on Januarys 29, 1968. Here is a link to the QI article:
>
> http://quoteinvestigator.com/2013/09/16/do-be-do/
>
> The graffito evolved over several decades and many philosophers and
> authors have been substituted into the template including: Dale
> Carnegie, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Jean-Paul Sartre, Albert Camus,
> John Stuart Mill, William James, William Shakespeare, and Bertrand
> Russell. The punchline ascribed to Frank Sinatra, in some form, is
> usually preserved.
>
> Feedback welcome,
> Garson
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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