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Language Log » Morgenbesserisms

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A footnote in Steven Strogatz's NYT opinion piece on negative numbers (he's in favor of them, I think) is a good excuse to revisit my inadequate (but apparently canonical) collection of the witticisms of Sidney Morgenbesser ("If P, so why not Q?", 8/5/2004), and to ask if anyone has more to add to the list. I'll contribute some quotations from Wikipedia that were missing from my 2004 list: Morgenbesser was leaving a subway station in New York City and put his pipe in his mouth as he was ascending the steps. A police officer told him that there was no smoking on the subway. Morgenbesser pointed out that he was leaving the subway, not entering it, and hadn't lit up yet anyway. The cop repeated his injunction. Morgenbesser repeated his observation. After a few such exchanges, the cop saw he was beaten and fell back on the oldest standby of enfeebled authority: "If I let you do it, I'd have to let everyone do it." To this the old professor replied, "Who do you think you are, Kant?" The wor

Language Log >> Morgenbesserisms Language Log Home About Comments policy Morgenbesserisms February 15, 2010 @ 8:50 am &#183; Filed by Mark Liberman under Humor << This delayed and dominating echo | Physiological politics >> --> << previous post | next post >> A footnote in Steven Strogatz's NYT opinion piece on negative numbers (he's in favor of them, I think) is a good excuse to revisit my inadequate (but apparently canonical) collection of the witticisms of Sidney Morgenbesser (" If P, so why not Q? ", 8/5/2004), and to ask if anyone has more to add to the list. I'll contribute some quotatio

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