[Ads-l] [for QI] "For every expert there is an equal and opposite witness"

Mon Jul 14 14:50:40 UTC 2025

It isn't just the notion of different experts giving opposite opinions. 
Which
I'm sure has existed since the dawn of time.

What I want  is specifically a form of words  that echoes Newton's Law
"For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction"

So really,  only quotes in the form  ""For every [X] there is an equal
and opposite [X]"  should be counted.

With [X] being, for example: expert, expert witness, scientist, 
economist, PhD

------ Original Message ------
From "ADSGarson O'Toole" 
<00001aa1be50b751-dmarc-request at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
To ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Date 14/07/2025 14:37:30
Subject Re: [for QI] "For every expert there is an equal and opposite 
witness"

>Excellent work Peter and Ben. It is difficult to trace because the
>notion can be expressed in many ways.
>Here is a partial match in 1913.
>
>Date: 1913 Copyright
>Book Title: Freshman Rhetoric
>Author: John Rothwell Slater PhD (Professor of Rhetoric and English
>Literature in the University of Rochester)
>Publisher: D. C. Heath & Company, New York
>Chapter 12: Argumentation
>Quote Page 182 and 183
>Database: Google Books
>https://books.google.com/books?id=zp0CAAAAYAAJ&q=%22every+expert%22#v=snippet&
>
>[Begin excerpt]
>Expert testimony of the ordinary sort offered in the courts is very
>far from being entitled to claim such authority. For every expert
>witness on one side another expert can usually be found on the
>opposite side; and this is true not only of lawsuits and criminal
>trials, but also of any ordinary question involving technical matters.
>[End excerpt]
>
>Here is a partial match in 1964.
>
>Year: 1968 Reprint (1964 Copyright)
>Book Title: Beyond the Nation State: Functionalism and International
>Organization
>Author: Ernst B. Haas
>Publisher: Stanford University Press, Stanford, California
>Chapter 13: World Integration and International Organization
>Page 454 and 455
>Database: Internet Archive
>
>[Begin excerpt]
>In fact the knowledge adequate to deal with crisis need not be
>perfect. It is "crash" knowledge, pressed into service to meet an
>overpowering need perceived by the politician. Yet let us remember
>that for every expert there is a counter-expert.
>[End excerpt]
>
>Here is a full match in 1974. The author of this book named a law after himself.
>
>Date: 1974 Copyright
>Book Title: Give & Take: The Complete Guide To Negotiating Strategies
>and Tactics
>Author: Chester L. Karrass (Chester Louis Karrass)
>Publisher: Thomas Y. Crowell, New York
>Chapter: Experts: The Use and Abuse Of
>Quote Page 64
>Database: Internet Archive
>
>[Begin excerpt]
>Probably the best defense against an expert is getting your own.
>Remember Karrass' Law of Experts: "For every expert there is an equal
>and opposite expert."
>[End excerpt]
>
>Arthur C. Clarke did use the expression in 1998, but he disclaimed credit.
>
>[ref] 1999, Greetings, Carbon-Based Bipeds!: Collected Essays
>1934-1998 by Arthur C. Clarke, Edited by Ian T. Macauley, Part Seven:
>Postscript: 2000 and Beyond, Essay: Science and Society, Start Page
>525, Quote Page 525, (Bibliographic note in book on page 545: "Science
>and Society," published as "Presidents, Experts, and Asteroids," first
>appeared in Science, June 5, 1998), Published by St. Martin's Press,
>New York. (Verified on paper) [/ref]
>
>[Begin excerpt]
>For every expert, there is an equal and opposite expert.
>—Late-twentieth-century folklore
>[End excerpt]
>
>Garson
>
>On Mon, Jul 14, 2025 at 1:04 AM mr_peter_morris at outlook.com
><mr_peter_morris at outlook.com> wrote:
>>
>>  Thanks for that, Ben.
>>
>>  It's not unlike the things Charles Fort said, but I'm dubious.
>>
>>  As  Mark Twain said: "Never trust the attribution of a
>>  quote, unless book and chapter are specified, and then only
>>  half the time"
>>
>>  Still, he's  another candidate for the originator.
>>
>>
>>
>>  ------ Original Message ------
>>  From "Ben Zimmer" <bgzimmer at gmail.com<mailto:bgzimmer at gmail.com>>
>>  To "mr_peter_morris at outlook.com<mailto:mr_peter_morris at outlook.com>" <mr_peter_morris at outlook.com<mailto:mr_peter_morris at outlook.com>>
>>  Cc ADS-L at listserv.uga.edu<mailto:ADS-L at listserv.uga.edu>
>>  Date 14/07/2025 04:17:27
>>  Subject Re: [for QI] "For every expert there is an equal and opposite witness"
>>
>>  Looks like that should be Michell, not Michel. In _The Schumacher Lectures_ (1981), John Michell attributes the saying to Charles Fort.
>>
>>https://archive.org/details/schumacherlectur0000unse/page/108/mode/1up
>>
>>  On Sun, Jul 13, 2025 at 11:12 PM mr_peter_morris at outlook.com<mailto:mr_peter_morris at outlook.com> <mr_peter_morris at outlook.com<mailto:mr_peter_morris at outlook.com>> wrote:
>>
>>  That should be : "equal and opposite expert"
>>
>>
>>  ------ Original Message ------
>>  From "mr_peter_morris at outlook.com<mailto:mr_peter_morris at outlook.com><mailto:mr_peter_morris at outlook.com<mailto:mr_peter_morris at outlook.com>>" <mr_peter_morris at OUTLOOK.COM<mailto:mr_peter_morris at OUTLOOK.COM><mailto:mr_peter_morris at OUTLOOK.COM<mailto:mr_peter_morris at OUTLOOK.COM>>>
>>  To ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU<mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU><mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU<mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>>
>>  Date 14/07/2025 02:24:12
>>  Subject [for QI] "For every expert there is an equal and opposite witness"
>>
>>  Curious about the origin of this phrase. I can't find it in QI archives.
>>
>>  "For every expert there is an equal and opposite witness"
>>
>>  Quite often used to refer to expert witnesses in a trial.
>>
>>  Wikipedia calls it Gibson's Law, without identifying who is Gibson.
>>
>>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gibson%27s_law
>>
>>  Frequently attributed to Arthur C. Clarke, sometimes called his fourth law.
>>
>>https://agamya.wordpress.com/2015/07/12/arthur-c-clarkes-three-laws/
>>
>>  Lately attributed to author Jasper Fforde, who appears to have used it in
>>  a 2011 novel, far too late to be its origin.
>>
>>https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/360598-for-every-expert-there-is-an-equal-and-opposite-expert
>>
>>  Here's an attribution to Michel (1981), but it's not clear on this limited preview who that is.
>>
>>https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/A_User_s_Guide_to_Community_Entry_for_th/HKTYUY91QVMC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22equal+and+opposite+expert%22&pg=PA5&printsec=frontcover
>>
>>
>>  Can the sleuths of ADS do better?
>>
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>>
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>>  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

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