Misattribution

Discussion in 'Linguistics' started by StrangerInAStrangeLand, Jul 24, 2018.

  1. StrangerInAStrangeLand SubQuantum Mechanic Valued Senior Member

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    Upon seeing or hearing my username, some people assume I got it from the christian bible & others assume I got it from Heinlein.
    I made it up before I read either.

    I sometimes say "like a cat on a hot tin roof" & some people assume I got it from Tennessee Williams.
    I got it from relatives who were saying it before he was born.

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  3. Capracus Valued Senior Member

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    Misattribution.

    Doesn't that cause blindness?
     
    sideshowbob and Dr_Toad like this.
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  5. Dr_Toad It's green! Valued Senior Member

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    Unless smudged glasses make you read it that way, which is what I did, and why I'm laughing my ass off right now.
     
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  7. Capracus Valued Senior Member

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    It could also cause smudged glasses.
     
  8. Dr_Toad It's green! Valued Senior Member

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    What? I couldn't read that clearly. What are smurfed gasses?
     
  9. StrangerInAStrangeLand SubQuantum Mechanic Valued Senior Member

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    ///
    Of course, that was long before I knew the term username.
    I considered Stranger In A Strange Land & Alien In An Alien Land & 2 combinations of those. I preferred Alien In An Alien Land but decided that is too alien for the vast majority of humans.

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  10. Capracus Valued Senior Member

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    No more blue pills for you.
     
  11. Dr_Toad It's green! Valued Senior Member

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    What luck! I'm colorblind, so I'll just take all of them.

    And check back in the morning, as usual. Yes, Doctor.

    I might be drawn by white horses, or I might be riding a mighty dinosaur, depending upon what the pills are.
     
  12. gmilam Valued Senior Member

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    I first heard the phrase "Stranger in a strange land" from the Leon Russell song.

     
  13. sideshowbob Sorry, wrong number. Valued Senior Member

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    When I have to guess where a phrase originated, I fall back on Shakespeare.
     
  14. RainbowSingularity Valued Senior Member

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    of americans ?
    or cultural bias intellectual bigotry of xenophobic social conditioning ?
     
  15. StrangerInAStrangeLand SubQuantum Mechanic Valued Senior Member

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    ///
    I cannot say how many but many of Shakespeare's sayings did not originate with him.

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  16. StrangerInAStrangeLand SubQuantum Mechanic Valued Senior Member

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    15,396
    ///
    Yes.

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  17. sideshowbob Sorry, wrong number. Valued Senior Member

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    I was going to add that. He probably picked up a lot of them in the streets. He was just one of the first to write them down. The actual origins probably go back to some guy chasing a mammoth with a flint-tipped spear.
     

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