Monday, June 26, 2006

Quotation

QUOTATION, n. The act of repeating erroneously the words of another. The words erroneously repeated.
Intent on making his quotation truer,
He sought the page infallible of Brewer,
Then made a solemn vow that he would be
Condemned eternally. Ah, me, ah, me!
Stumpo Gaker
2006 Update: The elevation of another fool's wisdom to greater depth. According to Ambrose Bierce, "The act of errogenously repeating the words of another or the words so echoed."

46 comments:

Minka said...

yeahhhhhhhh....Yipppppppppeeee yipppeeee, yeaHHHHHHHHHH!!!

sorry, did I wake you up?!

Ariel the Thief said...

quotation: having temporary ownership of someone else's wit.

Miz BoheMia said...

Quotation... powerful tool whereby a wrong impression is acquired by all your high school peers when the reason for your excitement is (mis)quoted as being "'Cause I got all straight A's"... it's what happens when your idiot "friend" is on the yearbook staff and behind on her work and is loaded up with the mighty pen. DAMN YOU GINA! I WAS NOT A GEEK!!!!

udwumat~ Gina's attempt to say "laundromat" after a much deserved punch in the mouth... PUNCH I SAY!

Unknown said...

what about that other quotation? that piece of paper that tells you how much you have to shell out for something you don't really need?

clever ariel

dzbbqi: dizzy bouncing boobs, quickly

Indeterminacy said...

Quotation: sound bite saying nothing with the minimum amount of words.

(but dont quote me on this)

Anonymous said...

So if I had come over when I was prowling around I would have beaten Minka? Insert unquotable quotes right here.

Anonymous said...

Quotation: letting someone's words work for you.

"Having temporary ownership of someone else's wit." ~ Ariel

Tom & Icy said...

You were clever with the demo Doug. Funny. And Ambrose's candle grew since Saturday.

Anonymous said...

When presented without context and perspective a "quotation" is nothing more than a collection of words that may, or may not convey the meaning intended.

Anonymous said...

Quotations, when presented in the flesh, take on the appearance of four floppy bunny ears and generally draw attention to language for the purpose of mockery not to imply importance.

The amoeba said...

QUOTATION, n. The asking price (quid) for the quo.

Alana said...

According to Doug, "The elevation of another fool's wisdom to greater depth."

Alana said...

huh. Wasn't aware that one could reach greater depth by elevation now that I think about it.

Evil Minx said...

Quotation: the amount of money the phone company say you will be paying per month for your long distance mobile phone calls which has no bearing on reality or correlation with the true figure that is eventually displayed on your bill.

Bastards.

Sophisticated Writer said...

Quotation: Trying to impress with another's words.

Hey Ariel, good one and thanks for visiting my blog :D Let me see you there, again!

How is it goin' Doug? :)

Anonymous said...

There is nothing deeper than the depth of another fool........

The Village Idiot said...

Ohhh Quotations............

I have stopped having independnet thoughts because everything you could ever want to say has been used in movies, I now speak only in quotations.

People speak in quotations to me all the time, I usually hear the following,

You have a dizzying intellect so clearly I can not choose the cup in front of you

Ariel the Thief said...

I'm quoted!

sure thing, Princess. :)

mmgrk: mama was a grippin' pork

Doug The Una said...

Minka, well done. A victory to take to Germany with you in case my Argentine relatives are celebrating this weekend.

Ariel, it's a little early to be giving out crowns but that's at least a tiara-winner.

Hermana, that Gina!

Karma, that other type of quotation doesn't get cited as much.

Indie, as Oscar Wilde once said, "OK."

Jenna, you should prowl closer to home. I thought you were only allowed an hour a day.

Puppybrose, that one's pretty quotable, isn't it?

Thanks, Icy! Good girl!

Joel, we don't mock around here, sir. Riiiiiiiiiight!

O Ceallaigh, so my definition was the quidation for your quotation?

Irony is tough on Squares, isn't it?

I'm with you, Minxie! I don't know why I bother reading it. Cable companies are as bad.

Princess, as Pharaoh Ramses once said "Going good, thanks."

True, Cooper. Reminds me I need to surf some.

VI, how's that Iocane resistance coming along?

Ariel, as President Johnson said at the tomb of the unknown soldier "Your valor will not be forgotten."

Anonymous said...

I'm trying Doug but you're irresistable. And you can quote me on that.

Doug The Una said...

Brian, I'm wondering how the episode on the poet's planet ended. Fire or Ice?

Jenna, I'd miss you if you behaved properly.

LeMas. said...

quotation-the best way to take up several pages in a paper.

G said...

Something suitable for embroidery on a pillow. I hate those pillows - and you can quote me on that!

Minka said...

quotation: wordy amunition for the uninspried

I would like to seize this moment and quote a quote about quoting (try to sya that ten time sin a row- I did. it made me smile!)

"I never have found the perfect quote. At best I have been able to find a string of quotations which merely circle the ineffible idea I seek to express." (Caldwell O'Keefe)

TLP said...

Quotation: Speaking someone else's quip. Also see, Wish I'd said that.

The amoeba said...

Hmmm ... means we won't be seeing you with tefillin, then, g?

:)

mireille said...

"Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else's opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation." Oscar Wilde xoxo

G said...

TLP: I do wish I'd said that!

OC: For a number of reasons - no. But the "pillow" which contains said tefillin has only ornamental embroidery. I speak of those cruel(int. mis.) pillows that have a snappy little quotations on them placed ever so casually on couches across America.

Doug The Una said...

Freakin' Mammoths, Brian. Freakin' Mammoths.

Masil, it's amazing how much wisdom and nuance there is in an encyclopedia when you have 12 pages to fill. "That should just about do it"-Augeas, King of Elis

a4g, if you haven't browsed O Ceallaigh's New Millenium Devil's Dictionary you ought to check it out if only for his "All wrongs deplored" caveat.

"I hate those pillows" -G, June 26, 2006

Brian, you mean rifles?

Minka, ineffability just begs for assistance, doesn't it? "You need a hand with that?" Lizzie Borden's step-father.

TLP, I wish I'd said that!

O Ceallaigh, I just know there's something you don't know about and I am to find it and ridicule you with it.

Mireille, I bet that gets quoted a lot, I wonder if it's ever quoted without an ironic smirk.

G, jinx!

Anonymous said...

Quotation: Prepackaged phrase.

tell the truth g... you know you have this page bookmarked.

G said...

Puppytoes - would that be in the frozen section?

That is so unfair - outing me in this manner!

Anonymous said...

I was going to get my aunt to put a quote on a pillow for me but I can't remember where I saw the quote...or what it was. All I remember was that it was raunchy. I don't even recall who I was with when I said "That would rock on a pillow!" Sigh. No "Home Sweet Home" in my den of iniquity.

Sar said...

Quotations are great fodder for inspiration, humor, and ridicule. Though Dubya provides copious examples of the latter, it's actually the former that my favorite quotation applies to.

"It's not over 'till it's over."

Starship recorded a song (yes in the '80s) under the same title and it's this series of lyrics that resonate on so many levels with the Belle in me:

The odds are against us
They say we don't stand a chance
But there's no giving up, no giving in
When push comes to shove
You got to fight for what you love
You do what you must, do what you can

(Passion speaks) Let them hear you speak
(Play for keeps) They play to win, we play for keeps

It's not over 'til it's over (It's not over)
It's not over 'til we get it right
It's not over 'til it's over (Don't go giving in)
It's not over 'til we get it right

Logophile said...

"I always have a quotation for everything - it saves original thinking." Dorothy Sayers

“I love quotations because it is a joy to find thoughts one might have, beautifully expressed with much authority by someone recognizably wiser than oneself.”
Marlene Dietrich

"She had a pretty gift for quotation, which is a serviceable substitute for wit.”
William Somerset Maugham

To quote copiously and well requires taste, judgment and erudition, a feeling for the beautiful, an appreciation of the noble, and a sense of the profound”
Christian Nevell Bovee

“He wrapped himself in quotations - as a beggar would enfold himself in the purple of Emperors”
Rudyard Kipling

“A fine quotation is a diamond in the hand of a man of wit and a pebble in the hand of a fool.”
Joseph Roux quotes



And I'm spent...

Kyahgirl said...

Hi Doug, I'd like to quote Ariel but I'm too lazy so I'll just put 'what she said'.

Anonymous said...

D'oh! Logophile... you've been reading my mind again, for i was planning to do the exact same thing! (what's that quote about "great minds" again?)

"Most collectors collect tangibles. As a quotation collector, I collect wisdom, life, invisible beauty, souls alive in ink." ~Terri Guillemets

G: next to the soups. and i'm sorry about the pillows, but you and i both know what the first step to recovery is...

Logophile said...

Puppytoes, I heard it this way,
"Great minds, but with only a single thought between them."
:p
At least I am in good company

Anonymous said...

Logophile: ah... now see, i thought it was "great minds think alike". but, maybe they just think they do... good company indeed!

"Misquotations are the only quotations that are never misquoted." ~Hesketh Pearson

Anonymous said...

O Ceallaigh, in company with Bullwinkle J. Moose and Google, wish they could set you a merry chase. But the weaknesses are too obvious. For example: miniskirts. If and when The Amoeba manages to catch and hold one, we'll talk. Until then, dude, it's open season. (Please note the quotation of a metonymy.)

Doug The Una said...

Puppybrose, usually wallet-sized by design.

G, we don't think less of you.

Den sweet den, Jenna?

Just because I'm curious, Sar: That wasn't their last album was it?

Well done, Logo. As Orson Welles once told Lloyd Bridges, "I like Dietrich's best"

Gotcha, Brian. If you hadn't guessed, I'm not cool.

Kyahgirl, "Just because I'm up on my desk not saying anything doesn't mean I'm not thinking hard."-William Jefferson Clinton.

Funny, Puppy. About time someone picked on G. That quote should rightly be unattributed.

Logo, I agree.

Snuppybrose, I think that was "citations."

Hahaha, Actonbell. Any particular blog jump to your mind just now?

O Ceallaigh, you just dotted my Q.E.D. (Did I do that right?

The Village Idiot said...

Ahhh

To mis-quote is human
To quote, sublime..

Wait, thats misquoted isnt it

Anonymous said...

VI: doesn't matter. for, with that dizzying intellect, clearly i cannot choose the cup in front of you.

Anonymous said...

oooh! that *was* sublime!

Unknown said...

Quote. Borrowed feathers.Unquote.

See plagiarism

yytovr: why oh why do i hafta verify?

Anonymous said...

I am late as usual... Please forgive... I had to work late tonight...


"I think of mankind in quotation marks
Ever since i took a drink from you
This is for all the headless acrobats
Faces crushed in the circus dust
All in the name of gravity
And the price of admission

Beautiful loser while eyes have let you now
Beautiful loser while eyes have let you now
Cause you're beautiful

I think of mankind in quotation marks
Ever since I took a drink of you"

Doug The Una said...

I answered these comments this morning, curse you Blogger!

Not misquoted, VI, sublimated.

Well done, Puppybrose.

Karma, that's a great definition. You and Ariel share the crown today.

Shayna, you're welcome whenever you get here.