On Sep 8, 2007, at 11:32 AM, Barry Wellman wrote:
I yet again ran into frustration trying to find the source (publication, date) for a quotation. Finding the quote is easy. In this case:
Gene Fowler, "Writing is easy. All you do is stare at a blank sheet of paper until little drops of blood form on your forehead."*
of course, the problem with this... is that it is only attributed to him. the first attribution in google books is from 1990 the speakers and toastmaster's handbook.
But when was it uttered or written. The many quotation pages on the web seem Never to give sources. (Methinks, many just copy from each other.)
many times quotations were never spoken or written... of course, it is when they are respoken to the right audience with the right attribution that we get the attributed saying.
They seem to be aimed at giving sound-bytes to speakers, bloggers, etc.
Barlett's QUotations was sterling on this in print days. Does it still exist?
yes it does, as do more specialized quotation dictionaries. i am fond of my Macmillan's Dictionary of social science quotations... even though it only goes up to the early 90's.
Any other advice?
*A cognitive psych research question: is writing easier with screens and word processing than in the old days of blank pages, pens and typewriters?
I'm not sure that is a cognitive psych question. (and though i think i've shared this story here before) I once was sitting next to an old gentleman on the plane that was flying back to notredame from milan. he said, and i believe him that there is in his experience, and i have verified this in mine, a sense that the pen or pencil enables the faster flow of words and ideas onto the page. writing with your right hand is using in his description, your left brain, your 'creative and language centers' it is more of a direct connection than the perpetually negotiations between the sides to coordinate the skill of typing. think of it this way... when you are typing very quickly, can you compose at the same time? or must you be copying something. composing while typing.... slows us down, whereas, i suspect that composing while writing might speed us up. that was his intuition, and mine too. not that i write too much by hand.
Barry Wellman
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S.D. Clark Professor of Sociology, FRSC NetLab Director Centre for Urban & Community Studies University of Toronto 455 Spadina Avenue Room 418 Toronto Canada M5S 2G8 http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~wellman fax:+1-416-978-7162 Updating history: http://chass.utoronto.ca/oldnew/cybertimes.php Elvis wouldn't be singing "Return to Sender" these days
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Jeremy Hunsinger Information Ethics Fellow, Center for Information Policy Research, School of Information Studies, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (www.cipr.uwm.edu) Words are things; and a small drop of ink, falling like dew upon a thought, produces that which makes thousands, perhaps millions, think. --Byron