The Most Famous Words Never Spoken
University of East London academic John Radford has written a book that details quite a few thing which everybody knows are true - except they aren't. The book challenges quite a few myths that are repeated by people virtually every day. Some of the items Radford has debunked:
Beam me up, Scotty
Fact:"Beam us up, Mr Scott, was the closest James T Kirk of Star Trek ever came to saying the immortal words wrongly attributed to him.
There's a sucker born every minute
Fact:American showman Phineus T Barnum didn't say this. It was business rival David Hannum.
Let them eat cake!
Fact: There is no evidence that Queen Marie Antoinette actually said it in response to reports that starving French peasants were clamouring for bread. It was recorded as being said by at least one other person many years before.
Nice guys finish last:
Fact:This remark is said to have been made by Leo Durocher, manager of the New York Giants baseball team, in 1946. What he really said was: "The nice guys are all over there, in seventh place.
Ya dirty rat!
Fact: James Cagney never said this. The closest he came was "Mmm, that dirty, double-crossin' rat!; in 1931 film Blonde Crazy.
There are a number of other ones in the linked article. Including the fact that druids had nothing whatsoever to do with the building of Stonehenge. His book, Don't You Believe It: Some Things Everybody Knows That Actually Ain't So, isn't listed on Amazon yet.
Media, World news | Gaius Monday, 23 April , 2007
By Rustmeister, Monday, 23 April , 2007 @ 8:50 am
Bogey never said “Play it again, Sam” in Casablanca, either.