Quotations Weblog

Yesterday’s comic from Frazz was an interesting one. So, was it Stalin or Lenin?

I love quotation comics!

Update 09-14-07:

The witty followup:

The quote is “I pwn noobs.” It means “I own newbies.” Which means “I beat people who are inexperienced.” It usually means that you hunt down people who are inexperienced at video games and beat them, but it can also be used in a competitive sense when debating with new people in forums or even beating people down the uninitiated with other accomplishments.

Not much of a brag, really, but it’s everywhere in the leetspeak world. The question, however, is how do you pronounce “pwn”?

• Language Log: Own, pone, poon, pun, pwone, whatever

How do I pronounce it? I made the geek table laugh when I pronounced it “pawn.” I knew what the word meant and I knew that it was officially a typo of “own”, but it seemed so much more pronounceable as “pawn.” Geek table smackdown ensued.

In the end, it is insanely difficult to pronounce much of the leetspeak that is out there. We are quickly learning that written language can be just as fluid as spoken language. Making sense of both is a full time job for linguists the world over.

Language Log has an excellent entry about misquotation and how easy it is to happen:

• Language Log: Standardizing non-standard language vs. careless misquotation

The Post quoted Clinton Portis (Redskins football player) as saying:

“I don’t know how anybody feels. I don’t know how anybody’s thinking. I don’t know what anyone else is going through. The only thing I know is what’s going on in Clinton Portis’s life.”

Wise quoted him as saying:

“I don’t know how nobody feel, I don’t know what nobody think, I don’t know what nobody doing, the only thing I know is what’s going on in Clinton Portis’s life.”

The word for word transcription was:

“I don’t know how nobody feel, I don’t know what nobody thinking, I don’t know what nobody going through. Only thing I know is what’s going on in Clinton Portis life.”

Which one should go in the collection? Is this a class issue? Did the Post reporter clean up the quote to make Clinton Portis sound better? Is it a simple mistake?

I have written down a lot of quotes that are in our collection. They were things that were said at important events like SXSW or other conventions. Many times, I am able to get the audio recording of the event and check the quote to correct it.

EVERY time I have gotten something wrong. EVERY TIME.

Was I trying to make them sound better? Was it a class issue? Did I clean up the quote?

No, I just am imperfect. I can’t write or type nearly as fast as people can talk.

So, what’s the answer? Which quote should go into the collection? We try to be as accurate as possible. The only problem with that is there are a lot of quotations out there that are WRONG. Everyone remembers them as wrong. Samuel Goldwyn made a living being misquoted on purpose.

In the end, quotation is hard to get right.

Pretty Annoying Virtues: doesn’t that sound like a great band name?

As long as the sinners don’t get me thrown in jail.

Sometimes, in the end, it is best to just accept our friends for what they are.

I was sitting in the audience when Jimmy Wales said this famous phrase. He was talking about his experience with mediating things on Wikipedia, but this quote covers life outside of the Internet as well.

All of the people I’ve met in person, whether they are Democrats or Republicans, are either reasonable or jerks. It’s a pretty easy line to draw. I’ve met reasonable Democrats and Republicans. I’ve met jerks in both categories as well.

Next time you find yourself in an argument, either online or in real life. Think to yourself, “Am I being a jerk? Am I being reasonable? Is the other person being a jerk or reasonable?” If you find yourself in an argument with a jerk, just drop it. They just want to raise your hackles.

If you find yourself being a jerk, stop it and go exercise. You’ll feel better afterward and maybe keep your friend.