But, I Babble: Bafflegab!: Quote me

OK, I'm now done with quotes and paraprosdokians. Instead, I'm now using this space to save funny English language oddities that I feature in the English as she is spoke! sidebar. These come to us courtesy of World Wide Words ©.

An online advert for Virbac Yard Spray, Robert Bendesky discovered, lists the following as one of its benefits: "Kills fleas and ticks that infest your yard, and then your pet".
Paul Witheridge favoured us with an article from The Observer of Sarnia, Ontario, dated 18 October. It concerned the canonisation of Mary McKillop as Australia's first saint, noting that "McKillop was beautified by John Paul II in 1995".

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This is a place to save the quotes from my header, which I update regularly.

The chronological sequence is newest first, but it hardly matters!
(Note: I took a break from Quote me for awhile to do some paraprosdokians, but this will return soon.)

Never again in the halls of Washington, D.C., do I want to have to make explanations that I can't explain. - George W. Bush
If you don't stand for anything, you don't stand for anything! If you don't stand for something, you don't stand for anything! - George W. Bush
Natural gas is hemispheric. I like to call it hemispheric in nature because it is a product that we can find in our neighborhoods. - George W. Bush
A lot of times in politics you have people look you in the eye and tell you what's not on their mind. - George W. Bush
In Feb. 2008: "Wait a minute. What did you just say? You're predicting $4-a-gallon gas? ... That's interesting. I hadn't heard that." - George W. Bush
You teach a child to read, and he or her will be able to pass a literacy test. - George W. Bush
It's clearly a budget. It's got a lot of numbers in it. - George W. Bush
Our Nation must defend the sanctity of marriage. - George W. Bush
Natural gas is hemispheric. I like to call it hemispheric in nature because it is a product that we can find in our neighborhoods. - George W. Bush
It is clear our nation is reliant upon big foreign oil. More and more of our imports come from overseas. - George W. Bush
I want to thank you for taking time out of your day to come and witness my hanging. - George W. Bush
States should have the right to enact ... laws ... particularly to end the inhumane practice of ending a life that otherwise could live. - George W. Bush, as Governor of Texas, the state with the most executions
Most of our imports come from other countries. - George W. Bush
I think we agree, the past is over. - George W. Bush
If America shows weakness and uncertainty, the world will drift toward tragedy. That will not happen on my watch. - George W. Bush
I stand by all the misstatements that I've made. - Dan Quayle
We're going to have the best-educated American people in the world. - Dan Quayle
Quite frankly, teachers are the only profession that teach our children. - Dan Quayle
The Holocaust was an obscene period in our nation's history. I mean in this century's history. But we all lived in this century. I didn't live in this century. - Dan Quayle
When I have been asked during these last weeks who caused the riots and the killing in L.A., my answer has been direct and simple: Who is to blame for the riots? The rioters are to blame. Who is to blame for the killings? The killers are to blame. - Dan Quayle
We have a firm commitment to NATO, we are a part of NATO. We have a firm commitment to Europe. We are a part of Europe. - Dan Quayle
Republicans understand the importance of bondage between a mother and child. - Dan Quayle
I have made good judgements in the Past. I have made good judgements in the Future. - Dan Quayle
What a waste it is to lose one's mind. Or not to have a mind is being very wasteful. How true that is. - Dan Quayle

Must-reads

I came across this thoughtful, well-written, objective essay in Newsweek, discussing how the Teabaggers use the Constitution as their "bible" to get their message across, and how incredibly misguided and just plain wrong this notion is.

And an item about how the Republicans, in this election cycle, have decided that the electorate is just plain stupid (hmm...).

This article from Techdirt contemplates the nature of centralized vs distributed organisms, in the context of Wikileak's recent exposures of the U.S. Government's behavior in Iraq. Regardless of one's opinion of this particular situation, it's worth reading because it provides food for thought about what our future may look like.

English as she is spoke!

This space features funny language-related boo-boos from World Wide Words ©, with regular updates.

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Now that I'm back, I'm finally getting to update this...

• Last Saturday's Guardian included a quote from a woman whom it identified as Atha Cain "who carried her husband's ashes into Hull Crown Court for the trial of the woman who caused his death by wreckless driving."

• A recent comment about having a backup program that issued the message "An invalid argument was encountered" put Robert Hart in mind of a response he once received from an earlier generation of computers: "Wrong Error". He commented, "This was from IBM in its heyday. I feel it transcended mere obscurity and approached the metaphysical."

>> I can personally identify with this, having encountered and enjoyed many nonsensical errors over the years. My personal fave was the ever-present gem from IBM:
Error: An error has occurred.
Action: Correct the error.

Back then, you had to consult a hardcopy manual to discover this profundity. Sadly, to this day, I still see this sort of BS.

• The Observer's monthly food supplement in December recommended the
single malt Highland Park as "a genuine classic that never fails to disappoint."

• An aerial photo submitted to the Boston Globe, Anne Reece tells us, had the intriguing caption "A view of Diamond Head crater taking off from Honolulu at the end of August".

• On November 8, this was reported in the Huffington Post: "White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs grew so angry with Indian security officials on Sunday that he got into a heated shouting match with them - and even blocked a door they were trying to close with his foot." Maybe they shoulda just used their own hands?

• On his blog, Making Light, on 24 October, Patrick Nielsen Hayden reported an example of a classic error that's reminiscent of the famous (and apocryphal) book dedication, "To my parents, Ayn Rand and God". It was a caption to a picture of Merle Haggard in the Los Angeles Times of 21 July and referred to a documentary about him: "Among those interviewed were his two ex-wives, Kris Kristofferson and Robert Duvall".

• Peter Smith read an item on Sky News, dated 22 October, about a plane crash in the Congo that killed 20 people, including the pilot, Chris Wilson: "Generally viewed as being in a chronic state of disrepair, Mr Wilson had apparently expressed concern about the Czech-built Let-410 before the crash."

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