[Ads-l] What is the difference between a misfortune and a calamity?

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

Recently an old joke about falling in the Seine (or Thames) river was
revived and applied to the current President. I noticed this when a
twitter user linked a pertinent entry on the QI website.

Below is a link to the QI entry (created in 2013) about the joke. The
first citation was in "The Spectator" issue of November 15, 1862.

Barry Popik decided to research this topic, and he created an entry
with an excellent citation a bit earlier in the “Chicago Tribune” on
June 26, 1861. Inspired by Barry's industriousness I was able to find
a citation in "The Leeds Mercury" dated May 28, 1861. Of course,
further progress may be possible.

The QI entry has been updated and Barry has been acknowledged.
https://quoteinvestigator.com/2013/11/10/calamity/

Garson

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