[Ads-l] QOTY nominee: "Truth isn't truth"

[Jonathan Lighter]

That's certainly what it's widely believed to have meant, but watching the
entire exchange suggests another, less dire, possibility.

JL

On Sun, Aug 19, 2018 at 5:29 PM Mark Mandel <mark.a.mandel at gmail.com> wrote:

> No, I think the phrase means "Those are what you call facts. These are what
> I call facts, and yours are inconsistent with them."
>
> Mark Mandel
>
>
> On Sun, Aug 19, 2018 at 4:36 PM Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> > What he clearly meant is that what somebody says is the truth isn't
> > necessarily the truth.
> >
> > Giuliani then said:
> >
> > "Donald Trump says, 'I didn't talk about  Flynn with Comey'. Comey says,
> > 'You did talk about it.'  So tell me what the truth is."
> > I doubt he meant that "Truth is not truth," which  remains logically
> > impossible. He meant that from two conflicting stories from equally
> > reliable witnesses,  you can't decide without other evidence what the
> truth
> > really is.   And you might be wrong anyway.
> > (N.b., "equally reliable" and "without other evidence.")
> > Similarly, Kellyanne's "alernative facts" meant "other facts that
> outweigh
> > yours."
> >
> > JL
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > On Sun, Aug 19, 2018 at 3:53 PM Ben Zimmer <bgzimmer at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > > This one from Rudy Giuliani could be hard to beat for QOTY. Even in the
> > > moment Chuck Todd recognizes its meme potential.
> > >
> > > ----
> > >
> > >
> >
> https://www.cnn.com/2018/08/19/politics/rudy-giuliani-truth-isnt-truth/index.html
> > >
> > > "When you tell me that, you know, he should testify because he's going
> to
> > > tell the truth and he shouldn't worry, well, that's so silly because
> it's
> > > somebody's version of the truth. Not the truth," Giuliani told NBC's
> > Chuck
> > > Todd on Sunday morning during "Meet the Press."
> > >
> > > "Truth is truth," Todd said in response.
> > >
> > > "No, no, it isn't truth," Giuliani said. "Truth isn't truth. The
> > President
> > > of the United States says, "I didn't ..."
> > >
> > > "Truth isn't truth?" Todd interjected. "Mr. Mayor, do you realize, what
> > ...
> > > I think this is going to become a bad meme."
> > >
> > > "No, no, no ... don't do this to me," Giuliani said.
> > >
> > > "Don't do 'truth isn't truth' to me," Todd continues.
> > > ----
> > >
> > > (I'm hoping Larry can explain this fascinating exercise in
> > self-negation.)
> > >
> > > --bgz
> > >
> > > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > > 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