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.