Nicole Stockdale at A Capital Idea writes about two books that we all may want to add to our Christmas Lists.  "The Yale Book of Quotations” and "What They Didn't Say."   They look like interesting reads, but may upset accepted notions of who said what. 

According to a recent review of “The Yale Book of Quotations” by Arthur Spiegelman:

Showman P.T. Barnum never said "There's a sucker born every minute" although he wished he had. And Civil War Admiral David Farragut probably never said "Damn the Torpedoes! Full Speed Ahead" -- words that have inspired generations of fighting men.

To make things even more complicated, it is doubtful that Paul Revere warned that "The British are coming" when he would have at the time of the American Revolution thought himself British, although a revolting one. He probably would have said "The Redcoats are coming."

    In “What They Didn’t Say:  A Book of Misquotations,” editor Elizabeth Knowles addresses “many supposedly historical lines, such as Napoleon's ‘Not tonight Josephine’, but also covers modern icons including Star Trek. No one ever said ‘Beam me up Scotty’, and Mr Spock never said "’It's life Jim, but not as we know it.’"  In a review in the Guardian, Ms Knowles said: "The last thing we want is to be seen as clever clogs, saying that these quotes are wrong. The fascination lies in how and why they were altered. Misquotations are much more interesting than mistakes."

      Next thing you know, they will be saying there is no Santa.

Lynn Gaertner-Johnson has a great post on “How to Scare Away Customers.”  The same would apply to scaring away clients.  She quotes this message that a sales representative (yes, this person was trying to sell something) sent to a friend: 

thank you for the rapid response I am grateful for the follow up. as far as information, I sending you an up coming schedule of class's we are offering but let me tell you this, I would like to purpose a special offer of 15% off for all your employee's, plus multi enrollment discounts and periodic specials like buy 2 get one free on select class's. thank you for your time should you need more information please let me know. I look forward to doing some business with you.

It’s easy to feel a little sanctimonious when reading that appalling missive.  But it should be a good reminder that the things we write say a lot about us and our work. 
 

In his Writing Tools blog, Roy Peter Clark has an interesting take on active vs. passive.  As you know, passive voice has long been criticized as being, well, too passive.  Active voice, on the other hand, is generally seen as being more powerful and persuasive.  Clark, however, points out that the two voices can be used together very effecively.  Read his example here.  This is the writing tool to remember: 

When you are trying to emphasize the victim or receiver of the action, use the passive voice. But when the subject turns to direct action, use the active voice to describe it.

The ABA issued a press release on November 9, 2006 about a new ethics opinion:

The opinion is contrary to the view of some legal ethics authorities, which have found it ethically impermissible as a matter of honesty for lawyers to search documents they receive from other lawyers for metadata or to use what they find, according to the ABA Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility.

I have not seen the full opinion, but it should make all of use review our procedure for transmitting documents. 

 Thanks to Wisblawg!