[Ads-l] Quote: Go jogging? What, and get hit by a meteor?

ADSGarson O'Toole adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM
Sun Mar 25 00:26:23 UTC 2018


While exploring this topic I found a circa 1993 snippet match for the
"jogging" version of the quip in Google Books, but I didn't include it
because I haven't verified it with hardcopy or scans. Instead, I
presented a 2000 citation for "jogging" in the QI article. Here is the
partial information for the circa 1993 match.

Year: 1993
Book: Comic Sections: The Book of Mathematical Jokes, Humour, Wit, and Wisdom
Author: Des MacHale
Quote Page 25 (GB)
Database: Google Books Snippet; not verified with hardcopy; data may
be inaccurate; target text not visible in snippet; search for 1993
reveals snippet with "First edition 1993"

https://books.google.com/books?id=TO7uAAAAMAAJ&dq=isbn%3A1857480066&focus=searchwithinvolume&q=meteorite

[Begin extracted text]
Robert Benchley, the author and humorist, was very much against
physical exercise. Once when his friends were going jogging, they
asked him if he would join them. "What," said Benchley, "and get hit
by a meteorite?"
[End extracted text]

Garson


On Sat, Mar 24, 2018 at 8:04 PM, ADSGarson O'Toole
<adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com> wrote:
> Back in March 2017 the saying in the subject line was discussed on
> this mailing list. Now the Quote Investigator website has an article
> on this topic:
>
> I Don't Trust Nature. Out There Things Can Fall On You, Like Meteors or Manna
> https://quoteinvestigator.com/2018/03/24/meteor/
>
> [Begin acknowledgement]
> Great thanks to Geoffrey Nunberg whose inquiry led QI to formulate
> this question and perform this exploration. Special thanks to top
> researcher Peter Reitan who found the 1952 citation which pointed to
> the book "Merely Colossal".
> [End acknowledgement]
>
> Feedback welcome
> Garson

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