Cheeky Quote Day! 17 June 2009

Photo in Paris by Dragunsk @ flickr

From Denny: Have you been to the Quote Garden site that’s been around for over a decade on the web? There is so much going on over there! Here are some of their funny quotes about language usage:

The quantity of consonants in the English language is constant. If omitted in one place, they turn up in another. When a Bostonian "pahks" his "cah," the lost r's migrate southwest, causing a Texan to "warsh" his car and invest in "erl wells." ~ Author Unknown



Photo by PinkMoose @ flickr

English is a funny language; that explains why we park our car on the driveway and drive our car on the parkway. ~ Author Unknown

No one means all he says, and yet very few say all they mean, for words are slippery and thought is viscous. ~ Henry Brooks Adams, The Education of Henry Adams, 1907

Language forces us to perceive the world as man presents it to us. ~ Julia Penelope

Thanks to words, we have been able to rise above the brutes; and thanks to words, we have often sunk to the level of the demons. ~ Aldous Huxley

The great thing about human language is that it prevents us from sticking to the matter at hand. ~ Lewis Thomas

Language is the most imperfect and expensive means yet discovered for communicating thought. ~ William James



Photo by eye2eye @ flickr

One man's frankness is another man's vulgarity. ~ Kevin Smith

I personally believe we developed language because of our deep inner need to complain. ~ Jane Wagner

Euphemisms are unpleasant truths wearing diplomatic cologne. ~ Quentin Crisp

At no time is freedom of speech more precious than when a man hits his thumb with a hammer. ~ Marshall Lumsden



Photo by respres @ flickr

Slang is a language that rolls up its sleeves, spits on its hands and goes to work. ~ Carl Sandburg, New York Times, 13 February 1959

In certain trying circumstances, urgent circumstances, desperate circumstances, profanity furnishes a relief denied even to prayer. ~ Mark Twain

It's a strange world of language in which skating on thin ice can get you into hot water. ~ Franklin P. Jones



Photo by ibanda @ flickr

Man is a creature who lives not upon bread alone, but primarily by catchwords. ~ Robert Louis Stevenson

A good catchword can obscure analysis for fifty years. ~ Wendell L. Willkie

Our major obligation is not to mistake slogans for solutions. ~ Edward R. Murrow

I like the word "indolence." It makes my laziness seem classy. ~ Bern Williams

Language is the dress of thought. ~ Samuel Johnson

If you can speak three languages you're trilingual. If you can speak two languages you're bilingual. If you can speak only one language you're an American. ~ Author Unknown

Do you have any favorites? Let me know what you think! Quotes are always a great launching point for a post...