[Ads-l] "two reasons for doing anything"

Thu Nov 3 21:05:36 UTC 2016

Thucydides gets GB credit.

There has been much specialized discussion of what these terms imply. See
GB.

JL

On Thu, Nov 3, 2016 at 4:59 PM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Victor Davis Hanson, _The Father of Us All_ (N.Y.: Bloomsbury, 2010), p.
> 35:
>
> "Fifth-century Greek historians largely introduced into the Greek
> vocabulary the binary _prophasis_ and _aitia_ - the pretext and the real
> cause, often to emphasize that what military leaders claimed were
> understandable provocations were not, or at least not believable ones."
>
> I suspect Herodotus or (more likely?) Thucydides.
>
> JL
>
> On Tue, Feb 11, 2014 at 8:48 AM, 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: "two reasons for doing anything"
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> -------------------
>>
>> Amazing work, Garson.
>>
>> BTW, I wrote 1913 when I meant 1943. Sorry, J. P.!
>>
>> So the eyes are going as well as the rest....
>>
>> JL
>>
>>
>> On Tue, Feb 11, 2014 at 8:34 AM, 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: "two reasons for doing anything"
>> >
>> > ------------------------------------------------------------
>> -------------------
>> >
>> > You mean there's one index entry for "reason" and another for "reasons"?
>> >
>> > Fiendish.
>> >
>> > JL
>> >
>> >
>> > On Mon, Feb 10, 2014 at 11:54 PM, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu
>> > >wrote:
>> >
>> > > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> > > -----------------------
>> > > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> > > Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
>> > > Subject:      Re: "two reasons for doing anything"
>> > >
>> > >
>> > ------------------------------------------------------------
>> -------------------
>> > >
>> > > On Feb 10, 2014, at 10:35 PM, Shapiro, Fred wrote:
>> > >
>> > > > You're a tough guy to please, Jon.  It is in the index under
>> "reasons."
>> > >
>> > > Or as Pascal once (almost) said, somewhere in the YBQ, "L'index a ses
>> > > 'raisons' que la raison ne connait pas."
>> > >
>> > > LH
>> > > >
>> > > >
>> > > >
>> > > > ________________________________________
>> > > > From: American Dialect Society [ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] on behalf
>> of
>> > > Jonathan Lighter [wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM]
>> > > > Sent: Monday, February 10, 2014 8:45 PM
>> > > > To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>> > > > Subject: Re: "two reasons for doing anything"
>> > > >
>> > > > Thanks for the citation, Fred. But it isn't in the index under
>> > "reason."
>> > > >
>> > > > JL
>> > > >
>> > > >
>> > > > On Mon, Feb 10, 2014 at 8:38 PM, Shapiro, Fred <
>> fred.shapiro at yale.edu
>> > > >wrote:
>> > > >
>> > > >> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> > > >> -----------------------
>> > > >> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> > > >> Poster:       "Shapiro, Fred" <fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU>
>> > > >> Subject:      Re: "two reasons for doing anything"
>> > > >>
>> > > >>
>> > >
>> > ------------------------------------------------------------
>> -------------------
>> > > >>
>> > > >> The Yale Book of Quotations has the following:
>> > > >>
>> > > >> A man always has two reasons for what he does -- a good one, and
>> the
>> > > real
>> > > >> one.
>> > > >> J. P. Morgan, Quoted in Owen Wister, Roosevelt: The Story of a
>> > > Friendship
>> > > >> (1930)
>> > > >>
>> > > >> Fred Shapiro
>> > > >>
>> > > >>
>> > > >>
>> > > >> ________________________________________
>> > > >> From: American Dialect Society [ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] on behalf
>> of
>> > > >> Laurence Horn [laurence.horn at YALE.EDU]
>> > > >> Sent: Monday, February 10, 2014 8:27 PM
>> > > >> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>> > > >> Subject: Re: "two reasons for doing anything"
>> > > >>
>> > > >> On Feb 10, 2014, at 8:23 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>> > > >>
>> > > >>> I don't see this in the archives, though I've been thinking about
>> it
>> > > for
>> > > >> a
>> > > >>> long time.
>> > > >>>
>> > > >>> Many years ago I was told that Sigmund Freud had once said, "There
>> > are
>> > > >>> always two reasons for doing anything: a good reason and the real
>> > > >> reason."
>> > > >>>
>> > > >>> Sounds like Freud in principle, but not in style.
>> > > >>>
>> > > >>> Google Books wants to attribute it to J. P. Morgan, but Morgan
>> died
>> > in
>> > > >> 1913
>> > > >>> and the "reported" quote doesn't show up till 1940.
>> > > >>>
>> > > >>> A few minutes ago I was watching a short film on TCM called "Teddy
>> > the
>> > > >>> Rough Rider" (1947). It shows Theodore Roosevelt insisting, "A man
>> > > always
>> > > >>> has two reasons for whatever he does: a good one and the real
>> one."
>> > > >>>
>> > > >>> This attribution is presumably bogus as well, but evidently the
>> quote
>> > > >>> gained traction in the 1940s.
>> > > >>>
>> > > >> Or three reasons for doing anything--the right reason, the wrong
>> > reason,
>> > > >> and the Army reason?
>> > > >>
>> > > >> LH
>> > > >>
>> > > >> ------------------------------------------------------------
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>> > > >>
>> > > >> ------------------------------------------------------------
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>> > > >>
>> > > >
>> > > >
>> > > >
>> > > > --
>> > > > "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
>> > > truth."
>> > > >
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>> > > > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
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>> > > ------------------------------------------------------------
>> > > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>> > >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > --
>> > "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
>> >
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> "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
>>
>
>
>
> --
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>

-- 
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

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