[Ads-l] Bogus Poe attribution

[Jonathan Lighter]

Well, I swan.

JL

On Fri, Jun 23, 2017 at 11:28 AM, ADSGarson O'Toole <
adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com> wrote:

> Edgar Allan Poe seems to be the leading candidate.
>
> The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs (2003) has a pertinent entry:
>
> [Begin excerpt]
> BELIEVE nothing of what you hear, and only half of what you see
>
> Cf. a 1300 Proverbs of Alfred (1907) 35 Gin thu neuere leuen alle
> monnis spechen, Ne alle the thinge that thu herest singen;
>
> 1770 C. CARROLL Letter 4 Sept. in Maryland Hist. Mag. (1918) XIII. 58
> You must not take Everything to be true that is told to you.
>
> 1845 in Graham's Mag. Nov. 194 You are young yet .. but the time will
> arrive when you will learn to judge for yourself … Believe nothing you
> hear, and only one half that you see.
> [End excerpt]
>
> The first citation for the popular saying with "half" is from 1845. In
> fact, that citation points to the story by Edgar Allan Poe.
>
> HathiTrust has the November 1845 issue of Graham's Magazine. Here is a
> link to the page of Poe's story containing the saying:
>
> https://hdl.handle.net/2027/chi.29908254
> https://hdl.handle.net/2027/chi.29908254?urlappend=%3Bseq=236
>
> H. L. Mencken has an entry with an 1858 citation.
>
> [ref] 1942, A New Dictionary of Quotations on Historical Principles
> from Ancient and Modern Sources, Selected and Edited by H. L. Mencken
> (Henry Louis Mencken)Section: Belief, Quote Page 96, Column 2, Alfred
> A. Knopf. New York. (Verified on paper)[/ref]
>
> [Begin excerpt]
> Believe only half of what you see and nothing that you hear.
> DINAH MULOCK CRAIK: A Woman's Thoughts, 1858 (Quoted as "a cynical saying")
> [End excerpt]
>
> Nigel Rees has also has an entry in "The Best Guide to Humorous
> Quotations" (2011) with an 1858 citation
>
> [Begin excerpt]
> Believe only half of what you see and nothing that you hear.
> Anonymous. Quoted in Mrs (Dinah) Craik, A Woman’s Thoughts (1858).
> [End excerpt]
>
> Garson
>
>
> On Fri, Jun 23, 2017 at 11:02 AM, ADSGarson O'Toole
> <adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com> wrote:
> > Edgar Allan Poe did employ the saying in "The System of Doctor Tarr
> > and Professor Fether". Apparently, this story was published in
> > Graham's Magazine in November 1845.
> >
> > [Begin excerpt]
> > 'You are young yet, my friend,' replied my host, 'but the time will
> > arrive when you will learn to judge for yourself of what is going on
> > in the world without trusting to the gossip of others:--Believe
> > nothing you hear, and only one half that you see.
> > [End excerpt]
> >
> > Garson
> >
> >
> > On Fri, Jun 23, 2017 at 10:16 AM, Jonathan Lighter
> > <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com> wrote:
> >> Andre Bauer, former Lt. Gov. of SC:, on CNN:
> >>
> >> "You know, Edgar Allan Poe once said, 'Believe half of what you see and
> >> nothing of what you hear,' and we really haven't seen a whole lot of
> >> evidence that said Russia tried to help one party versus another."
> >>
> >> An odd quote to be fathered on Poe. Bauer must have meant Mark Twain,
> >> Winston Churchil, or Shakespeare.l
> >>
> >> 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
>



-- 
"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