As noted by many sources, “All the news that’s fit to print” — the famous slogan of The New York Times — is linked to the date February 10, 1897.…
“J’Accuse!” (“I Accuse!”)
On January 13, 1898, the front page of the French newspaper L’Aurore featured a scathing letter about the “Dreyfus Affair” written by popular author Émile Zola and addressed to the…
“We don’t need no stinking badges” — origins, uses & variations…
THE ORIGINAL 1948 MOVIE LINES: “Badges? We ain’t got no badges! We don’t need no badges! I don’t have to show you any stinking badges!” Alfonso Bedoya, as the Mexican…
Dr. Mardy Grothe’s new GreatOpeningLines.com website
On January 1, 2022, Dr. Mardy Grothe launched an amazing new online quotation website — GreatOpeningLines.com. As Grothe explains on the site’s home page, GreatOpeningLines.com is “the first website devoted…
“These are the times that try men’s souls…”
During the Revolutionary War, getting soldiers to stay in the Continental Army was one of the biggest problems facing the American commander in chief, General George Washington. Many American soldiers…
The odd links between “Louie Louie” and Ralph Nader’s “Unsafe At Any Speed”…
It’s truly odd, but true: the renowned rock song “Louie Louie” and the history-making book about car safety by Ralph Nader, titled Unsafe At Any Speed, are connected by both…
“When it rains, it pours” started out as a good thing…
Back in November 2009, not long after I first started writing this blog, I happened to see two news stories in a row that had quotes using the saying “When…
True or false: Stephen Colbert coined the word truthiness? (Hint: you’re right!)
During the very first Colbert Report show on October 17, 2005, the witty faux Conservative media pundit Stephen Colbert unleashed the word truthiness on the world. (Click here to see…
OCTOBER 2 – The day we crossed over into The Twilight Zone
On the evening of October 2, 1959, CBS aired the first episode of a new television series created by Rod Serling called The Twilight Zone. It became one of the…
April 2, 1865 – “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down”
On September 22, 1969, The Band released the great self-titled album that includes what became one of their most famous songs, “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down.” Like many…