[Ads-l] Anonymous Was a Woman

[Laurence Horn]

Interesting.  When it’s attributed to a man, even in the French form (“plus je connais les hommes”), the interpretation is at the speciesist level as in the version immediately below (“The more I learn about people”…).  But when the French version is attributed to Madame de Sévigné or one of her spiritual sisters, “les hommes” is more likely (although not certain, parallel to “The more I get to know men”) to get a gender-specific reading.

LH


> On May 8, 2019, at 11:35 AM, ADSGarson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
> 
> The more I learn about people, the more I like my dog.
> The more I get to know people, the more I like my dog.
> 
> The sayings above are attributed to Mark Twain at goodreads.com and
> inspirationstation.info, respectively.
> 
> I explored this saying and posted the results on the QI website here:
> https://quoteinvestigator.com/2018/01/10/like-dogs/
> 
> The earliest strong match I found occurred in “Tablettes Historiques
> et Littéraires” in 1822.
> 
> [Begin except]
> Nous venons de recevoir le Miroir de la Somme, il contient les
> niaiseries suivantes: Une dame disait l’autre jour: plus je connais
> les hommes, mieux j’aime les chiens.
> [End excerpt]
> 
> [Begin one possible translation]
> We just received the Mirror of the Somme, it contains the following
> nonsense: A lady said the other day: the more I know men, the better I
> like dogs.
> [End translation]
> 
> So, currently the earliest evidence attributes the remark to an
> anonymous woman instead of Mark Twain. Yet, the situation is
> complicated because this saying has been attributed to a wide variety
> of men and women including Madame de Sévigné, Madame Roland, Alphonse
> de Lamartine, Alphonse Toussenel, and Louise de la Rameé.
> 
> Also, future research (or research I do not know about) may shift the
> attribution.
> 
> Garson
> 
> On Sun, May 5, 2019 at 8:34 PM Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at yale.edu> wrote:
>> 
>> I am compiling a list of famous quotations that are usually attributed to a man but were in fact originated by a woman.  I am also compiling a list of famous quotations not attributed to any particular man but originated by a woman who has not received much credit for the quotation.  I would welcome any suggestions for these lists.
>> 
>> 
>> Fred Shapiro
>> 
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org