[Ads-l] "Alternative facts" for EOTY

[Jonathan Lighter]

A Washington Post reporter on MSNBC, attempting strict objectivity,
offhandedly referred to Mr. Trump's "alternative facts" as "mistruths."

JL

On Wed, Jan 25, 2017 at 11:48 AM, ADSGarson O'Toole <
adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com> wrote:

> Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> > The Net finds numerous recent posts asserting that leading self-help guru
> > Friedrich Nietzsche once wrote, "What is the truth but a lie agreed
> upon?"
> >
> > And if a bigshot said it, it must be true.
> >
> > GB reveals no authentic attributions to Freddy, and none before 2016.
>
> I have examined a family of relayed sayings about historical truth:
>
> What Is History But a Fable Agreed Upon?
> http://quoteinvestigator.com/2016/07/05/fable/
>
> [Begin excerpt]
> Dear Quote Investigator: A popular skeptical viewpoint about history
> can be expressed in a few different ways:
>
> 1) What is history but a fable agreed upon?
> 2) History is a set of lies agreed upon.
> 3) History is a set of lies that people have agreed upon.
> [End excerpt]
>
> Garson
>
> >
> > A blog site confidently attributes "Truth Is a Lie Agreed Upon" to (wait
> > for it)..."Abraham Lincoln."
> >
> > Cf. the older and ever-popular "History is a lie agreed upon."
> >
> > So who, Garson, really introduced the phrase attributed to Nietzsche?
> >
> > JL
> >
> > On Tue, Jan 24, 2017 at 8:30 PM, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu>
> > wrote:
> >
> >> > On Jan 24, 2017, at 8:14 PM, Joel Berson <berson at ATT.NET> wrote:
> >> >
> >> > A la "alt right"?
> >> >
> >> > Joel
> >>
> >> Seems so.  OED, s.v. “alt”:
> >> Alternative; spec. denoting a version of some cultural phenomenon (orig.
> >> and esp. music) that is regarded as outside the mainstream of its genre.
> >> [citing “alt.rock” and “alt country”]
> >>
> >> So alt facts would be a cultural phenomenon regarded as outside the
> >> mainstream of the fact genre (in being, well, not true).
> >>
> >> LH
> >> >
> >> >
> >> >      From: Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> >> > To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> >> > Sent: Tuesday, January 24, 2017 8:02 PM
> >> > Subject: Re: [ADS-L] "Alternative facts" for EOTY
> >> >
> >> > MSNBC is now using the short form "alt facts."
> >> >
> >> > JL
> >> >
> >> > On Tue, Jan 24, 2017 at 3:06 PM, Jonathan Lighter <
> >> wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
> >> > wrote:
> >> >
> >> >> Wrong! Wrong!
> >> >>
> >> >> Not a falsehood! It's an important alternate fact.
> >> >>
> >> >> Also note my signature line of many years standing.
> >> >>
> >> >> JL
> >> >>
> >> >> --
> >> >> "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."
> >> >
> >> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> >> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >> >
> >> >
> >> >
> >> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> >> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >> >
> >>
> >> ------------------------------------------------------------
> >> 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
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> 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