[Ads-l] FW from Barry Popik: Muhammad Ali quotes (plus Drew Bundini Brown & Gary Belkin)

Wilson Gray hwgray at GMAIL.COM
Sun Jun 5 08:42:19 UTC 2016


Two others cited by Barry, both from 1966:

"I don't have any punch.  I just hit a man so many times he _wished_ I had
a punch."

http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ads-l/2004-June/038917.html

That "wished" should be _wisht_, i.e. "wishes."

Ali was a colored boy from behind the Cotton Curtain. In addition to being
dialect-proper, _wisht_ shows that, among other things, he had a clear
understanding of the syntax and semantics of English tense. Cf.

*"I don't have any punch. I just hit a man so many times he *wishes* I had
a punch!"

"... different strokes for different folks."

There appears to be an antedating in an unusual - IMO, anyhow, - pre- Ali
source, though Ali's use antedates those of Sylvester "Syl" Johnson and
Sylvester "Sly" Stone.

A Study of the Roles of Attitudes and Motivation in Second-Language Learning
https://books.google.com/books?id=j0soAAAAMAAJ
Wallace E. Lambert
McGill University - 1961 - ‎Snippet view - ‎Page 5
Final Technical Report, Volume 2, November 25, 1961
The pigeon in its chamber or the child in its classroom can go as fast and
as far as its abilities permit--all limits are theirs alone. And l think
this is the most important element to retain . . . _different strokes for
different folks_!

https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt/search?q1=%22different%20strokes%20for%20different%20folks%22;id=mdp.39015005524239;view=1up;seq=171;start=1;sz=10;page=search;orient=0

https://goo.gl/jFX7um

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On Sat, Jun 4, 2016 at 10:43 AM, Cohen, Gerald Leonard <gcohen at mst.edu>
wrote:

> Barry Popik, compiler of the extraordinary website barrypopik.com, sent
> me a message
> this morning with a cc. to several other ads-l members.  I now share it
> with the entire
> listserv.
> Btw, if Barry's contributions to the study of English were ever organized
> and
>  published in book form, the resulting volumes would likely fill an entire
> bookshelf.
>
> Gerald Cohen
>
>
>
>
> From: Barry Popik [bapopik at aol.com]
> Sent: Saturday, June 04, 2016 2:28 AM
> To: Cohen, Gerald Leonard
> Subject: Muhammad Ali quotes (plus Drew Bundini Brown & Gary Belkin)
>
>
> Muhammad Ali died. Time to take a look at his quotes.
> ...
>
> http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/06/04/sports/muhammad-ali-quotes.html
> ?
>
> ...
> <snip>
> ...
> --Barry Popik
> ...
> ...
>
> http://barrypopik.com/index.php/new_york_city/entry/boxing_is_a_lot_of_white_men_watching/
> "Boxing is a lot of white men watching two black men beat each other up"
> This has to be better than 2002.
> ...
>
> http://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/new_york_city/entry/fight_of_the_century/
> "Fight of the Century"
> Ali-Frazier at Madison Square Garden, but it was used for Jack Johnson
> much earlier.
> ...
>
> http://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/new_york_city/entry/just_because_you_beat_the_man/
> "Just because you beat the man, it doesn't make you the man"
> Referring to Ken Norton's victory over Ali. Norton didn't become the man.
> ...
>
> http://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/new_york_city/entry/never_hook_with_a_hooker_boxing_adage/
> "Never hook with a hooker"
> Joe Frazier threw hooks.
> ...
>
> http://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/new_york_city/entry/dont_count_the_days/
>
> "Don't count the days, make the days count"
> Before Ali's time.
> ...
>
> http://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/new_york_city/entry/suffer_now_and_live_the_rest_of_your_life_as_a_champion/
>
> "Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion"
> Ali in 1978. Popular on gym posters.
> ...
>
> http://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/new_york_city/entry/its_the_punch_you_dont_see_coming_that_knocks_you_out_boxing_adage/
>
> "It's the punch you don't see that knocks you out"
> Not really Ali, but used by his trainer.
> ...
>
> http://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/new_york_city/entry/lets_get_ready_to_rumble/
>
> "Let's get ready to rumble!"
> Not Ali's trademark saying, but Ali did say 'I'm ready to rumble!"
> ...
>
> http://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/new_york_city/entry/goat_greatest_of_all_time/
>
> G.O.A.T. (Greatest Of All Time); "I am the greatest"
> You could do a whole column just on this one.
> ...
>
> http://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/new_york_city/entry/they_talk_about_me_like_a_dog/
>
> "They talk about me like a dog"
> Ali, but also used by President Obama.
> ...
>
> http://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/new_york_city/entry/ropers_and_dopers_cowboys_and_hippies/
>
> "Ropers and Dopers"
> A Texas saying, somewhat of a cowboy takeoff on Ali's famous "rope-a-dope."
> ...
> "Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee"
> Perhaps written by Bronx-born Gary Belkin? Drew Bundini Brown?
> ...
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drew_Bundini_Brown
>
> Drew Bundini Brown (March 21, 1928 – September 24, 1987) was an assistant
> trainer andcornerman of Muhammad Ali,[1] as well as occasional film actor.
> He was portrayed by actors Bernie Mac and Jamie Foxx in the films Don King:
> Only in America, and Ali respectively.
>
> (...)
> Brown was also one of Ali's speech writers. He wrote certain poems,
> including that which coined Ali's famous and oft quoted:
> Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee, your hands can't hit what your
> eyes can't see.
> Ali used the poem to taunt Sonny Liston at the press conference prior to
> his February 25, 1964 victory over the WBA and WBC champion to claim both
> titles.[1]
> ...
> http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/uniontrib/20050809/news_1m9belkin.html
>
> ...
> Gary Belkin, 78; Emmy-winning comedy writer
>
> ASSOCIATED PRESS
> August 9, 2005
> Gary Belkin, an Emmy-winning comedy writer who worked on hit sitcoms and
> classic television shows, including Sid Caesar's "Caesar's Hour," "The
> Carol Burnett Show" and "Sesame Street," has died. He was 79.
> The Bronx, N.Y.-born Mr. Belkin died July 28 in Los Angeles of emphysema,
> according to his friend, Mona Charles.
> (...)
> He also wrote poetry for Muhammad Ali.
> Columbia Records hired Belkin to work on an album of poems said to be
> written by Ali. Belkin was listed as producer but said several times that
> he had actually written many of the poems, which were intended to be part
> of the buildup to the fight with Sonny Liston in 1964.
> On the record, Ali told listeners to expect "a total eclipse of Sonny" and
> wrote, "Here I predict Mr. Liston's total dismemberment, I'll hit him so
> hard he'll wonder where October and November went."
> George Plimpton, who knew Ali and wrote about him, and David Remnick, the
> editor of The New Yorker who published a biography of Ali in 1998, publicly
> questioned how many of the poems Belkin wrote. Plimpton said he had
> witnessed Ali write a poem. Remnick said, "There's no doubt that Ali wrote
> a great deal of what he recited."
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>



-- 
-Wilson
-----
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"---a strange complaint to
come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
-Mark Twain

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



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