A Zippy cartoon in which Pinhead parents deal with an exceptionally precocious child:
All three quotations have been attributed to Albert Einstein (hence the title, and the reference to Princeton in the last panel). They all look suspicious to me — especially the last, which some sites maintain was on a sign in Einstein’s office.
Sites that are scrupulous in sourcing Einstein quotations don’t seem to list any of them, and each of them appears on one or more sites that list quotes that are not attested from Einstein or or misattributed to him. (There are quite a few such spurious quotations attributed to him; Einstein, like Mark Twain and Winston Churchill and some others, is a “quote magnet”.)
January 21, 2010 at 10:17 am |
I’ve come across some apparently spurious quotes attributed to William James, who I wouldn’t have thought of as a quote magnet (I like that term). One reason these attributions persist, I suppose, is that it’s hard to prove the negative, especially when there’s not a solid alternative attribution. James was a popular (in both senses) lecturer, and of course not everything he said has been collected and published. On the other hand, he had a 19C style that’s distinctly missing from the (mis)attributed quotes.
January 21, 2010 at 10:51 am |
On “quote magnet”: not original with me, alas; I got it from the excellent Fred Shapiro, of Yale Book of Quotations fame. Nigel Rees uses the term “Churchillian drift”.
January 21, 2010 at 11:56 am |
I also like the reference to the now-discredited “Baby Einstein” products that claimed to increase the intelligence of the fortunate baby who received them. Last October they offered to refund money from tapes that presumably failed to deliver on the claim.
January 21, 2010 at 11:23 pm |
As a word-lover and trendspotter from my perch in far away Island Taiwan, I love this term you quote from the Yale prof — “quote magnet” — and I feel, something tells me, that is, that this is a very good term to make popular among word mavens worldwide, just like crash blossoms and crash possums and other terms making the rounds these days. Which reminds me: Ben Zimmer has a good column this Sunday in the Times On Language column about crash blossoms. Let’s give Fred Shapiro a round of applause and elevate that phrase to Urban Dictionary fame and Ben Schott bloghood! I love it: Einstein as a quote magnet; some quotes real, some not his. I guess many famous people and movie stars get this treatment, especially in the blogosphere, where anyone can say anything. As usual, Bill Griffith the cartoonist adds some spice to the culture.
January 22, 2010 at 12:01 am |
Urban Dictionary now recognizes quote magnet: click on my name above to see link
http://arnoldzwicky.wordpress.com/2010/01/21/einstein-said-it/
January 22, 2010 at 12:25 am |
From John Baker on ADS-L, 1/21:
January 22, 2010 at 12:34 am |
UrbanDictionary now has quote magnet, coined by Dr Shapiro, up there.
January 22, 2010 at 12:35 am |
By the way, I sent this blogpost by Arnold to Bill Griffith in Connecticut who draws the Zippy panels from his home studio there. He likes to keep up with the zeitgist (sp?).
January 22, 2010 at 3:57 am |
[…] Arnold Zwicky's Blog A blog mostly about language « Einstein said it? […]
August 12, 2013 at 6:58 am |
[…] Quote Investigator: Recently I saw a comic strip titled “Baby Einstein” that contained a few quotations that are often attributed to Albert Einstein. I think the following […]
October 2, 2021 at 10:34 am |
[…] Equipo de Apócrifo o no: Hace poco vi una tira cómica titulada “Baby Einstein” que contenía unas cuantas citas que suelen atribuirse a Albert Einstein. Creo que la siguiente […]