"War is God's way...."

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

The Quote Investigator website now has an entry on this topic with an
acknowledgement to JL and Barry Popik:

War Is God’s Way of Teaching Us Geography
http://quoteinvestigator.com/2014/05/19/geography/

Additional pertinent information would be quite welcome.
Thanks,
Garson

On Sun, May 18, 2014 at 5:24 PM, Jonathan Lighter
<wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: "War is God's way...."
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Thanks for the pointer to Barry's site, Garson.
>
> Somehow I can't shake the mistaken notion that he only does NYC items.
>
> To say that "war teaches geography" is, of course, quite a bit different
> from saying satirically that...well, you know.
>
> JL
>
>
>
>
> On Sun, May 18, 2014 at 3:40 PM, ADSGarson O'Toole <
> adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> -----------------------
>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       ADSGarson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM>
>> Subject:      Re: "War is God's way...."
>>
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------=
> ------
>>
>> Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>> > Possibly the hottest new misattributed quote is this:
>> >
>> > "War is God's way of teaching Americans geography."
>> >
>> > It is confidently assigned to "Ambrose Bierce, in his _Devil's
>> > Dictionary_."
>> >
>> > I immediately knew that was wrong...
>>
>> Thanks for pointing to a new wave of popularity for this saying.
>> Comedian Jon Stewart has used it in the past according to quotation
>> compiler Robert Byrne. I researched the expression in 2013 after
>> receiving a request and found that the basic adage has been evolving
>> since the 1800s. Barry has a valuable entry on the topic here:
>>
>>
>> http://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/new_york_city/entry/god_created_war_s=
> o_that_americans_would_learn_geography/
>>
>> As JL notes there is no substantive evidence that Ambrose Bierce spoke
>> or wrote the saying. Your interest (and others) gives this topic a
>> high priority.
>>
>> The QI website has a new entry about another quotation that has been
>> misattributed to Ambrose Bierce:
>>
>> Speak When You=E2=80=99re Angry and You=E2=80=99ll Make the Best Speech Y=
> ou=E2=80=99ll Ever Regret
>> http://quoteinvestigator.com/2014/05/17/angry-speech/
>>
>> Strangely, the Oxford Book of American Quotations assigned this saying
>> to Bierce.
>>
>> Garson
>>
>>
>> Continuing JL's message:
>> > even when it was cited by Fareed
>> > Zakaria, because not only have I read Ambrose Bierce's _Devil's
>> > Dictionary_,  but I can also recall the popularity, around 1970, of the
>> > saying "Death is God's way of telling you to slow down."   There is als=
> o
>> > the much later, "Coincidence is God's way of remaining anonymous."
>> >
>> > GB takes the "war" zinger back to 2002, quite some time after Bierce's
>> > disappearance 100 years ago.
>> >
>> >
>> > JL
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > --
>> > "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
>>
>
>
>
> --=20
> "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

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