We all love to quote things to each other: axioms, proverbs, famous politician and celebrity quotes, iconic statements, and remarks from history. Heck, even funny lines we see on television shows and viral memes we watch on social media. Quoting other people’s clever and creative remarks has been going on throughout human history for as long as people have been making clever and creative remarks. But with all that quoting, there are bound to be some messed-up and mistaken quotes floating around out there!
That’s what this list is about. Today, we’ll take a fascinating journey through ten very famous quotes that are very often mistakenly quoted. Whether taken out of context, only half-shared in a way that totally changes their original meaning, or just outright misattributed or misremembered altogether, these ten quotes are extremely well-known… and extremely wrong. Oops! So let’s set the record straight once and for all!
9 Elementary, My Dear! The Truth About “Elementary, My Dear Watson”
You would think that from the outset, Sherlock said, “Elementary, my dear Watson,” based on what casual fans of the detective fiction say. Since it’s one of the most frequently used quotes from the original stories written by Arthur Conan Doyle However, that is utterly false—Sherlock Holmes never made such statement in a classic Conan Doyle story!
In spite of this, the quote has been repeatedly featured in films over the years. Furthermore, it has been misattributed to the point where it was incorrectly included in Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations in both 1937 and 1948. That’s a big bungle!.
Holmes’s famous quote from the original Conan Doyle is actually divided into two parts and presented in a different way. The dialogue begins with Holmes telling Watson, “Dear Watson, I have the advantage of knowing your habits.” You use a hansom when your round is lengthy, and you walk when it is short. Since your boots appear to be in good condition despite being used, I am confident that your current workload justifies the hansom. ”.
Watson then exclaims, “Excellent,” at which point the second half of the Holmes quotation appears: “Elementary.” This is one of those situations where the reasoner can produce an effect that his neighbor finds remarkable because the latter has overlooked the crucial detail that forms the basis of the deduction. The same can be said, my dear friend, about the impact of some of these little sketches of yours, which are completely pointless because they rely on you keeping certain aspects of the problem in your own control that you never disclose to the reader. ”.
It’s a bit of text to parse through, but clearly, that mix-up is where the mistake occurred: Holmes does indeed say “my dear Watson” and criest out “elementary.” And they come in quick succession across a single conversation! But they don’t come packed together in one quotable quote. But for whatever reason, the quote was transcribed this way into all of our brains, and it has stuck incorrectly in the public consciousness like this.[2]
5 Taste That Pudding The Proof Is In the Pudding Meaning | Idioms In English
Everyone has heard the widely accepted adage, “The pudding is the judge.” However, if you’re reading this list and have come this far down the list, you probably already know that the quote will soon be corrected. But did you know that’s not actually the correct quote? So let’s move on and stop insulting your intelligence with that query!
All humor aside, the expression “the proof is in the pudding” evolved from an old saying that began with a very significant and unique distinction. The entire old saying is as follows: “The pudding’s proof can be found in its eating.” Ultimately, its meaning is the same as our contemporary misrememberions of its progression. That is, rather than being determined by appearance or theory, the value of the item in question—the “pudding” in this case—must only be assessed based on firsthand, firsthand experience.
It might be a good idea in your head, but if the “pudding” in your brain comes out flat as a project or product or whatever else, well, that proves the “pudding” wasn’t any good to begin with. Coincidentally, that proverb actually got its start with literal pudding. Centuries ago, people used it to quite literally explain how they had to try out the food they made to know if it was worth eating. Recently, society has reorganized that to a more metaphorical usage, but the ultimate meaning is all the same. Still, it’s important to share the actual quote so that you can use it correctly![6]
8 Okay, Houston… Apollo 13: ‘Houston, We’ve Had a Problem’
Although the famous line from the 1995 movie Apollo 13 gained widespread recognition, “Houston, we have a problem,” is in fact untrue. Yes, we are aware that it hurts to say that anything Tom Hanks is involved in wouldn’t be 20100% above board, but Hanks and his co-stars in that blockbuster movie actually got the scene wrong, albeit only very slightly.
The actual statement is in the past tense and reads, “Houston, we’ve had a problem,” as opposed to “Houston, we have a problem.” The Apollo 13 spacecraft experienced an explosion on April 14, 1970, as it got closer to the Moon. Jack Swigert, the command module pilot, radioed NASA’s Mission Control Center in Houston, Texas, as soon as he noticed the explosion.
“Okay, Houston, we’ve had a problem here,” he said precisely. However, when he first said it, the radio operators in Houston misheard him, so they asked him to repeat it. Communicator for Mission Control capsule Jack R. spoke from Texas. Lousma asked for Swigert to speak again. Then, from his position inside the spacecraft, mission commander Jim Lovell jumped in, confirming the exact same words in the exact same tense: “Ah, Houston, we’ve had a problem.” ”.
Of course, the change from “we’ve had a problem” to “we have a problem” is a very small misquotation. However, it’s significant given the way the film is set up. When you watch “Houston, we have a problem” on the big screen, you can see Bill Pullman, Kevin Bacon, and Tom Hanks frantically attempting to piece together what transpired in real time. It makes your heart pound!.
In the actual space launch, Swigert and Lovell were no less alarmed or worried, but they had to work backward through a technical checklist to figure out what went wrong after the actual problem occurred. And so the past tense of reality with “we’ve had a problem” becomes the present tense terror of the silver screen with “we have a problem.”[3]
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