quotations on line
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."* 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.) 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? 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? Barry Wellman _______________________________________________________________________ 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 _______________________________________________________________________
Bartlett's Quotations is part of Bartleby.com - http://www.bartleby.com/ However a quick search did not produce the source of your quote......Alex Kuskis -----Original Message----- From: air-l-bounces@listserv.aoir.org [mailto:air-l-bounces@listserv.aoir.org] On Behalf Of Barry Wellman Sent: Saturday, September 08, 2007 9:32 AM To: aoir list Subject: [Air-L] quotations on line 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."* 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.) 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? 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? Barry Wellman
Hi Barry and all, I did a Lexis search. I found a NYT article from 1980 that traces the quote to a book,"The Writer's Quotation Book: A Literary Companion'' (Pushcart Press, P.O. Box 845, Yonkers, N.Y. 10701). Below is an portion of the Lexis entry. -z The New York Times August 10, 1980, Sunday, Late City Final Edition BOOK ENDS WRITERS ON WRITING *BYLINE:* By Randolph Hogan *SECTION:* Section 7; Page 35, Column 1; Book Review Desk *LENGTH:* 1098 words When the small Manhattan publisher Quick Fox needed a giveaway for the recent American Booksellers Association convention, editor in chief James Charlton, who has spent years collecting quotations on books and writing, decided to gather them up and hand them out. The result was so popular that the material was expanded into ''The Writer's Quotation Book: A Literary Companion'' (Pushcart Press, P.O. Box 845, Yonkers, N.Y. 10701). Here's a sampling: ... Writing is easy; all you do is sit staring at the blank sheet of paper until the drops of blood form on your forehead. Gene Fowler ... On 9/7/07, Alexander Kuskis <alex.kuskis@netscape.ca> wrote:
Bartlett's Quotations is part of Bartleby.com - http://www.bartleby.com/ However a quick search did not produce the source of your quote......Alex Kuskis
-----Original Message----- From: air-l-bounces@listserv.aoir.org [mailto:air-l-bounces@listserv.aoir.org] On Behalf Of Barry Wellman Sent: Saturday, September 08, 2007 9:32 AM To: aoir list Subject: [Air-L] quotations on line
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."*
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.)
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?
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?
Barry Wellman
_______________________________________________ The Air-L@listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org
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P.S. That was the earliest Lexis entry with the quote, strongly suggesting that the quote surfaced in the public sphere with that book in 1980. No earlier references in Google books either. Gene Fowler, on the other hand, died in 1960. Either the quote somehow survived floating in the ether at least for two decades or it is ascribed to Fowler after-the-fact. -z On 9/8/07, Zeynep Tufekci <socnetres@gmail.com> wrote:
Hi Barry and all,
I did a Lexis search. I found a NYT article from 1980 that traces the quote to a book, "The Writer's Quotation Book: A Literary Companion'' (Pushcart Press, P.O. Box 845, Yonkers, N.Y. 10701). Below is an portion of the Lexis entry.
-z
The New York Times August 10, 1980, Sunday, Late City Final Edition BOOK ENDS WRITERS ON WRITING
*BYLINE:* By Randolph Hogan
*SECTION:* Section 7; Page 35, Column 1; Book Review Desk
*LENGTH:* 1098 words
When the small Manhattan publisher Quick Fox needed a giveaway for the recent American Booksellers Association convention, editor in chief James Charlton, who has spent years collecting quotations on books and writing, decided to gather them up and hand them out. The result was so popular that the material was expanded into ''The Writer's Quotation Book: A Literary Companion'' (Pushcart Press, P.O. Box 845, Yonkers, N.Y. 10701). Here's a sampling:
...
Writing is easy; all you do is sit staring at the blank sheet of paper until the drops of blood form on your forehead. Gene Fowler ...
I haven't tried it with this quote, but sometimes you can find a phrase through Google Book Search which will provide a text with proper citations. -mz ----- Michael Zimmer, PhD (New York University) Microsoft Fellow, Information Society Project, Yale Law School e: michael.zimmer@yale.edu w: http://michaelzimmer.org On Sep 8, 2007, at 12:32 PM, 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."*
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.)
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?
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?
Barry Wellman
______________________________________________________________________ _
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
______________________________________________________________________ _
_______________________________________________ The Air-L@listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http:// listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org
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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
______________________________________________________________________ _
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
I'm finding references to it as being a quote from Douglas Adams (writer of _The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy_). M-H On 9/9/07 2:32 AM, "Barry Wellman" <wellman@chass.utoronto.ca> 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."*
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.)
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?
Any other advice?
participants (6)
-
Alexander Kuskis -
Barry Wellman -
Jeremy Hunsinger -
Mary-Helen Ward -
Michael Zimmer -
Zeynep Tufekci