This is topic "Complete the Quote" . . . an informal survey . . .see how you do in forum Books, Films, Food and Culture at Hatrack River Forum.


To visit this topic, use this URL:
http://www.hatrack.com/ubb/main/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=2;t=048530

---

Posted by Samuel Bush (Member # 460) on :
 
Please help me out here with an informal survey on an extremely TRIVIAL point of knowledge. I’m just trying to find out if my own response was average or off the scale in one direction or the other.

So pretend you are in some kind of trivia game and the following “complete the quote” is asked to you. DO NOT GOOGLE THIS OR GRAB ANY REFERENCE BOOKS. JUST ANSWER AS YOU WOULD, RIGHT NOW, AS THOUGH YOU WERE IN A GAME SORT OF SETTING.

And an answer like, “I don’t have a stinkin’ clue!” Is a perfectly OK answer.

Of course, after you have answered, then feel free to do the Google thing. In a couple of days I will explain why this came up and how I answered it. (In case anyone cares.) (There is the remote possibility that this could lead to the chance of winning bets and stuff. We’ll see.)

So anyway here is the question: Complete the following quote -

“Water water everywhere . . .”
 

---

Posted by Phanto (Member # 5897) on :
 
and not a drop to drink, water water, everywhere, and all the boards did shrink.

Easy.

Next!
 

---

Posted by rollainm (Member # 8318) on :
 
What he said.

You should probably include something like "Don't read any of the replies below until you've posted your answer."
 

---

Posted by Occasional (Member # 5860) on :
 
" . . . except on land." That is what I thought of before reading the other one.
 

---

Posted by Belle (Member # 2314) on :
 
Actually, I'm pretty sure the quote is this:

"Water, water everywhere, and all the boards did shrink,
Water, water everywhere, nor any drop to drink"

I didn't google, but I did write a paper on this poem just this semester, and I know I quoted that line, so I'm about 97% confident I have it right.
 

---

Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
 
". . . nor even a drop to drink."
 

---

Posted by Samuel Bush (Member # 460) on :
 
Yeah, what rollainum said. Just post don't read. Until after.

This is getting some interesting responses already. Keep going.

Thanks.
 

---

Posted by Fusiachi (Member # 7376) on :
 
Personally, I wonder if anyone will get the original punctuation off the top of their head...
 

---

Posted by maui babe (Member # 1894) on :
 
but not a drop to drink
 

---

Posted by Leonide (Member # 4157) on :
 
and not a drop to drink
 

---

Posted by anti_maven (Member # 9789) on :
 
...nor any drop to drink.


It's from an Iron Maiden song...



 

---

Posted by Feer (Member # 9846) on :
 
and not a drop to drink
 

---

Posted by Bella Bee (Member # 7027) on :
 
nor any drop to drink
 

---

Posted by Fyfe (Member # 937) on :
 
Nor any drop to drink.
 

---

Posted by Tante Shvester (Member # 8202) on :
 
...And all the boards did shrink;
Water, water, everywhere,
Nor any drop to drink.

When I was a rising senior in high school, I spent a summer in North Carolina, taking classes at Duke U. There was an intro poetry class, and this poem was covered. The professor liked to ask one student to read a poem and another to interpret the poem. He picked me to read this.

The entire class, professor included, convulsed with laughter when I recited in my thick New York accent: "Wawtah, wawtah evrywheah, and awl the bawds did shrink; wawtah, wawtah evywheah, naw any drop to drink".

Thank you for bringing up such a painful memory. While you're at it, why don't you give me a nice paper cut and pour lemon juice in it?
 

---

Posted by dkw (Member # 3264) on :
 
What comes to my mind first is "and not a drop to drink."

I know it isn't the actual wording in the poem that it's from, but it's become a proverb in that form and I'd bet "Water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink" is said more often than the original. I know I've heard it much more often that way.
 

---

Posted by Omega M. (Member # 7924) on :
 
I answered, "... and not a drop to drink.", which a quick search shows both is slightly off and omits the "boards" line that comes before the "drop" line.

Also, apparently the original poem says "every where", not "everywhere".
 

---

Posted by ricree101 (Member # 7749) on :
 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Omega M.:

Also, apparently the original poem says "every where", not "everywhere".

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by SenojRetep:
"water, and nary a drop to drink." Its Coleridge, I think.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by rivka:
". . . nor even a drop to drink."

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by SenojRetep:
"water, and nary a drop to drink." Its Coleridge, I think.

---

quote:

---

Day after day, day after day,
We stuck, nor breath nor motion;
As idle as a painted ship
Upon a painted ocean.

Water, water, everywhere,
And all the boards did shrink;
Water, water, everywhere,
Nor any drop to drink.

---

quote:

---

Water, water everywhere,
As I search deep within
Water, water everywhere,
And all I want is Gin.

---

I'm no Coleridge, but I know what I like.
 

---

Posted by The Pixiest (Member # 1863) on :
 
"...So let's all have a drink" -- Homer Simpson

My real answer is "But not a drop to drink" So I was wrong like almost everyone else.
 

---

Posted by Samuel Bush (Member # 460) on :
 
I was going to wait until Monday but, OK Dragon, here is what caused all this. (And BTW it's kind of nice that my daughter is in her twenties and I'm finally smart again.) Anyway, she phoned me and said, "Quick! Complete this quote for me: 'Water, water, everywhere . . ."

I said, "That's easy. It's, 'Water, water, everywhere and not a drop to drink.' It's from The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Coleridge."

I heard her then loudly gloat to whomever was in the room with her, "Ha ! Ha ! See, I was right. I win."

Then I said to her, "I'm certain that's what it is but wait a minute and I'll Google it so we can have confirmation in case anybody challenges it." Which I proceeded to do and, sure enough, I was wrong. The actual line is: "Nor any drop to drink."

The whole quatrain is :

Water, water, every where,
And all the boards did shrink ;
Water, water, every where,
Nor any drop to drink.

Oh well, at least I got the poem name and author right.

But what interested me more was the fact that almost all of the Google index items that appeared at my search had "Water, water, every where and not a drop to drink." So it seems to be a rather rampant misquote.

Extremely fascinating huh? And extremely trivial like I said.

So now that Belle, and Tante, and others (you know who you are) have set the record straight on this, I'd still be interested to know how many others, like me, thought
it was, "And not a drop to drink." or some such.

Meanwhile, I'm going to try to win some bets with this.

Tante, I'm really sorry this dredged up a painful memory. If I'd have known it was going to do that I'd have rubbed it in a little more.

And what Homer Simpson said. Only make it a double.

Sam
 

---

Posted by Samuel Bush (Member # 460) on :
 
I keep running into popular misquotes. I’d always thought that the Laurel and Hardy quote was, "Well, that's another fine mess you've gotten us into." But apparently Ollie never said that.

What he always said was " . . . another NICE mess . . ." That's at least according to the following source:

http://www.patfullerton.com/lh/movies/finemess.html

At any rate, even Robert Asprin parodied the misquote for the title of his book “Another Fine Myth."

But that's OK. It was a nice fine book anyway.
 

---

Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
 
. . . which was listed in catalogs as "Another Fine Mess." (Not so much a myth-take as missing a deadline. )
 

---

Posted by Nighthawk (Member # 4176) on :
 
I run in to these a lot. People somehow think I'm some sort of foremost expert on movie quotes or something; not sure what I did to earn that title.

Thinks like "Play it again, Sam" never being spoken in Casablanca, or Kirk never saying "Scotty, beam me up!" It happens more often than people think.

Songs... that's a whole other monster.
 

---

Posted by ClaudiaTherese (Member # 923) on :
 
I knew there was something unexpected about the line, as I noted. I put my first thought, since that seemed to be what you were going for.

Thanks for giving us the backstory.
 

---

Posted by vonk (Member # 9027) on :
 
I haven't read the thread yet, in order to give an accurate answer. Time to go read it and find out I'm way to late to answer.

"... you're gonna get wet."

Edit: Ahhahahahah! I kill me! You guys are all thinking literary quotes and stuff and here I am quoting a children's song on the Kid's Songs videos from when I was younger. Heh, I'm such an ignoramus.
 

---

Posted by vonk (Member # 9027) on :
 

quote:

---

Thinks like "Play it again, Sam" never being spoken in Casablanca, or Kirk never saying "Scotty, beam me up!" It happens more often than people think.

---