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1001 Dumbest Things Ever Said
by Steven D. Price
Makes for great browsing.
How could anyone not love a book called “1001 Dumbest Things Ever Said”? That is, unless the dumb things one has said oneself have been included here. Yes, as the book’s editor Steven Price writes in the introduction, we have all said dumb things or at least have made slips of the tongue. Price does admit that some of the lines here may be apocryphal.
The quotes tend to fall into seven categories:
1. Saying the obvious— “When more and more people are thrown out of work, unemployment results.” —Calvin Coolidge;
2. Malaprops— “Adam and Eve wore nothing but figments.” —taken from a student test answer;
3. Poor sentence structure— “Include Your Children When Baking Cookies” —a newspaper headline;
4. Bad predictions— “Movies are a fad. Audiences really want to see live actors on a stage.” —Charlie Chaplin
5. The inappropriate— “This is a great day for France.” —said by Richard Nixon while attending the funeral of Charles de Gaulle
6. The mixed metaphor— “The American have sowed the seed, and now they have reaped the whirlwind” —Sebastian Coe
7. And the ever popular duh…— “His throw went absolutely nowhere near where it was going.” —Richie Benaud, cricket commentator
The editor has paid special attention to such tongue-tied American statesmen as President George W. Bush, Mayor Marion Berry, and Vice President Dan Quayle, but even as noted an orator as Abraham Lincoln has an entry here. There are also sections listing spoonerisms and recounting wacky court testimony.
Price has included at least one quote that is not dumb at all — Groucho Marx’s quip that he would not want to join any club that would have him as a member. But maybe that was just too good to leave out.
The only thing this work needs is an index. But, then again, “1001 Dumbest Things Ever Said” is not meant as a scholarly work. It’s for fun browsing, and as such, it scores a bull’s eye in the side pocket, er….
Title: 1001 Dumbest Things Ever Said
Author: Steven D. Price
Publisher: The Lyons Press
ISBN: 1592282679
Review written by: William Keogan
Reviewer's Rating:8
Reader's Rating: 0
Reader's Votes: 0
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