posted
A mathematician, a physicist and an engineer were asked to answer the following question. A group of boys are lined up on one wall of a dance hall, and an equal number of girls are lined up on the opposite wall. Both groups are then instructed to advance toward each other by one quarter the distance separating them every ten seconds (i.e., if they are distance apart at time 0, they are d/2 at t=10 s, d/4 at t=20 s, d/8 at t=30 s, and so on.) When do they meet at the center of the dance hall? The mathematician said they would never actually meet because the series is infinite. The physicist said they would meet when time equals infinity. The engineer said that within one minute they would be close enough for all practical purposes.
I'm close enough for all practical purposes.
Posts: 1862 | Registered: Mar 2000
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quote:Originally posted by Lisa: As far as I can see, it's as close as "Play it again, Sam". Which, as an exact phrase, probably appeared first in a Woody Allen movie, because it's never said in Casablanca. [/QB]
OMG!!! Now, I'm gonna have to watch that movie tonight. You're kidding me . . . *reels in shock and dismay* Oh, how memory plays mean tricks. *sniffle*
P.S. I'm fairly sure Bugs Bunny says it in at least one of his cartoons . . . Posts: 5609 | Registered: Jan 2003
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posted
I'm satisfied with the quote. It isn't exactly what we thought it was, but the definition is the same.
Posts: 684 | Registered: Jun 2002
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posted
I, on the other hand, have not attained satisfaction.
I don't know how you people can live with yourselves settling for what is obviously an unacceptable solution to this problem. Posts: 8741 | Registered: Apr 2001
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posted
I'm not looking for a supermodel, Strider. The quote that has been found is moderately pretty, and has a very good character and style. I like it.
Posts: 684 | Registered: Jun 2002
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posted
I've never seen that thing, so that's not where I heard the quote from...therefore, it is not an acceptable answer. Posts: 3516 | Registered: Sep 2002
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quote:Originally posted by katharina: Was that directed at me? I don't see how that's relevant...maybe it wasn't directed at me. Never mind.
Your post wasn't there when I hit reply. If I was responding directly to anybody, I was sort of more responding to Tom, and agreeing with him.
I don't think there's a chance that anybody under, say, 45 (meaning, the vast majority of the people who are having this debate all over the internets because they're convinced they've heard this), heard it from this source.
And I don't think it's just a matter of friends repeating it. I don't remember in any of the various discussions around the internet anybody going, "Oh, that quote? Yeah, I had a buddy who used to say that all the time."
I think the original quote is just has enough resonating phrases and such that it rings true. It's a jumble of enough cliches that it seems like somebody must have had to say it somewhere.
This clip proves somebody did.
I don't think there's a connection between the fact that this phrase rings so familiar to everyone and the fact that somebody actually did say it once.
The real challenge would be finding another mix of cliches that's never been used but sounded so right that everyone would think it has been.
Posts: 1894 | Registered: Aug 2000
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posted
I'm going to agree with Katie, too. Memory is a fuzzy and easily impressionable and falsifiable thing. To me, the fact that a lot of people "remember" it in the canonical form that we talk about does not mean that it ever existed in that form. I spend a good deal of my time at work verifying quotes from famous people. Probably the majority of them are modified from the original. Some of them are total fabrications. In other words, I know how easy it is for quotes to be modified and passed along without anyone thinking twice about it. Katie's examples are a perfect illustration of how pervasive and stubborn such false memories of a quote can be.
Posts: 9945 | Registered: Sep 2002
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posted
The original threads I linked in the IMDB post are a very useful read. I'll post some further thoughts later.
Of note, though, is this, from September 20, 2004:
quote:Originally posted by Misha McBride: I found this....
quote:Harold Harold is in the room tinkering with a complex Rube Goldberg machine. Bongs and various other noises emit from it. Harold Harold ("my mother had no imagination - that's a family joke") says his mother's name was Myrtle Myrtle and that may be why he stuttered. He dons an even thicker pair of glasses than the ones he had been wearing, and tells them that doesn't s-s-stutter any m-m-more. Burke asks him to turn the machine off and Harold says he takes it with him wherever he travels. He has an even larger one at home; it's his therapy and he's still perfecting it. It doesn't do anything, that's the beauty of it, it's his rebellion against efficiency.
My husband said he believed Rube Goldberg said it, so I did a search and this popped up.
It appears to be an episode summary of a TV show called Burke's Law, titled "Who Killed 711". If someone could find the actual transcript of that episode we could know once and for all who said it.
If you want to credit this particular quotation, I think credit should probably go to Misha McBride.
[Even though, again, "It doesn't do anything" isn't actually in the clip, although it is referenced in this post.
But also extra praise for whomever actually tracked down the clip on YouTube (or uploaded it there), be it sswayak or another IMDB poster -- of course.]
quote:Originally posted by Jon Boy: I'm going to agree with Katie, too. Memory is a fuzzy and easily impressionable and falsifiable thing. To me, the fact that a lot of people "remember" it in the canonical form that we talk about does not mean that it ever existed in that form. I spend a good deal of my time at work verifying quotes from famous people. Probably the majority of them are modified from the original. Some of them are total fabrications. In other words, I know how easy it is for quotes to be modified and passed along without anyone thinking twice about it. Katie's examples are a perfect illustration of how pervasive and stubborn such false memories of a quote can be.
And all of the young'uns involved with a feeling of frenzied, immediate recollection, and all of the rest of us -- all of us saw a 1965-ish episode of Burke's Law? Hmmm. I can buy that the quote was garbled in many people's memory, but I just can't buy that this show was the nitus for all these recollections. Let me post something from Frisco for context.
[I think Chris Bridges actually had the right of it -- see second post down from this one.]
Posts: 14017 | Registered: May 2000
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quote:Originally posted by Frisco: Okay, so I decided to get some help from my fellow New Yorkers on this, and I think I lowered the productivity of NYC a significant amount.
I posted an ad on Craigslist.com, and got 20 responses--most of them asking me to tell them so they can get back to work, because everyone in the office is trying to figure it out.
quote:You evil person, now you have me obsessing about this quote. I know I've heard it somewhere.
quote:I know that I've heard that movie quote many times and I can't place it. It's driving me nuts. Please tell.
quote:please, please, tell me where that's from. it's been killing me all morning
quote:It's killing me because I know this movie and I just can't place it. I am just interested in the name of the movie, please, help me out! If not, it will be goinig through my mind all day long!!
quote:this quote is driving me crazy. there are at least 8 people here at the office trying to figure it out. its just so familiar. i feel like I watched it this morning....
For the love of God, please let me know what this movie is Paul Amendola Federal Work-Study Coordinator Office of Financial Aid New York Law School
quote:We need help! Work is not getting done around here. We need a clue...please!! It is driving us crazy!
Thanks,
Adam Baranowsky Customer Relations Executive (212) 271-0838 abaranowsky@ideaglobal.com
quote:the quote: it's been on the tip of my brain. i know it, but i... just... can't... place... it.
you're killing me.
it's not bottle rocket (my initial hunch) because that's: "why do you have tape on your nose?" "exactly!"
i can even hear the way those lines were delivered... it's in my head.
please send help, (in the form of an answer).
i will be tormented until then.
quote:This is driving me insane! I know this one...I really do but I can't remember for the life of me. It is on the tip of my tong.....
Now I am at work, I have a lot of work to do but all I can think about is this darn quote. Thanks a lot! :-)
F.
Besides driving people up the wall, answers I've received have been:
Ghost Dog: Way of the Samurai
Big
Goldmember
News Radio
Meaning of Life
The Rise and Fall of Reginald Perrin
Seinfeld
Box of Moonlight
Watership Down
Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
Hudsucker Proxy
I looked over the Hudsucker script (as it seemed like the best guess), and found nothing. I hate you, Thalia.
.
"this quote is driving me crazy. there are at least 8 people here at the office trying to figure it out. its just so familiar. i feel like I watched it this morning...."
and
"the quote: it's been on the tip of my brain. i know it, but i... just... can't... place... it.
quote:Originally posted by Boon: I found this : "A perceptual notion machine," explained Moffat. "It's based on the theory of relatives actually, mostly uncles and aunts. "I see," said Jennifer but she didn't, not really. "I wish it was more economical though, the way it is now it takes a great deal of entropy to make it go." "Oh," said Jennifer. "What does it do, exactly?" "I'm not really sure," Moffat admitted. "That's the beauty of it! It might do any number of things and it probably does! I won't really know until afterwards, and even then it might be hard to tell!"
This is the first few lines of chapter 5 in a book called "Search for the New-Moon Stones" by Allen Morgan. I'll keep looking.
quote:Originally posted by Avadaru: My sister reminded me of the Seinfeld episode about the show about nothing:
"What it is about?" "It's not about anything. That's the beauty of it!"
That really does sound right, but then what is the quote on KLSU from?!
quote:Originally posted by Lefty the One-armed Man: This one's from the blog. It's unsubstantiated, though.
Sherlock Holmes And The Computer AUG 05 03 by Thomas H. Hunter, http://www.icubed.com/~thunter/stories/computer.htm "But what does it do, Holmes?" "Anything, Watson! That's the beauty of it--a machine that is not restricted to a single task, but can do anything you ask of it." "But what is it doing now?" "Er, nothing really." muttered Holmes as he tried to block my view of the clattering typewriter. (Pretty good, but needs date)
quote:Originally posted by Chris Bridges: The reason William Shatner comes to mind is because he used a similar line in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, when explaining to Spock why he can sell the glass that McCoy gave him in the future.
Spock: Weren't those a gift from Dr. McCoy? Kirk: And they will be again. That's the beauty of it.
Close, but no cigar. I'm starting to think that the quote is a combination of phrases that have been used in different places, but sound maddeningly familiar because the cadence sounds right.
I don't see Burke's Law in a separate, extra-crispy category from these. I think Chris Bridges nailed it, actually, in that last post referenced above.
---
Edited to add: But I think it's also probably important sometimes to get closure on this sort of thing, even moreso sometimes than actually answering the question in a strict way. [And sometimes more important to keep a quest alive, regardless of what proof has been offered! It goes both ways. ] I've been happy with Chris Bridges' take, and I'd be delighted to know that some people are still looking -- as to convincing others that they should not be convinced, well, that requires a higher level of interest and motivation than I have. I'm happy just to present context and options, and let the individual decisions come as they may.
However, I do think IMDB should be updated, if anyone [Lyrhawn? *smile] is willing to do it.
quote:Originally posted by prolixshore: I have never heard this quote outside of all the times it has been discussed on Hatrack, so I think you all just made up this quest.
--ApostleRadio
Ditto. This is just a trick to get me to waste more time at work.
Posts: 2596 | Registered: Jan 2006
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quote:Originally posted by ClaudiaTherese: And all of the young'uns involved with a feeling of frenzied, immediate recollection, and all of the rest of us -- all of us saw a 1965-ish episode of Burke's Law? Hmmm. I can buy that the quote was garbled in many people's memory, but I just can't buy that this show was the nitus for all these recollections.
I've never seen Gone with the Wind or Casablanca, but I'm sure I've heard "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn" and "Play it again, Sam." Everyone's heard them, but they don't actually exist. I think a similar thing is going on here—the source is obscure enough that few people have seen it, but the quote was good enough to spread into the public consciousness and mutate. I think it's the only reasonable explanation. Edit: And as Chris said in that post you quoted, it's probably a conglomerate of some sort—a mishmash of old TV or movie quotes and cliche phrases. This clip can be the (main) ultimate source without being the proximate source for anyone.
Posts: 9945 | Registered: Sep 2002
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posted
See, it is far easier for me to believe that the quote is merely assembled out of misremembered similar lines than to believe that Burke's Law is the actual source of the memory.
Posts: 37449 | Registered: May 1999
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quote:Originally posted by TomDavidson: See, it is far easier for me to believe that the quote is merely assembled out of misremembered similar lines than to believe that Burke's Law is the actual source of the memory.
posted
But doesn't this version most closely resemble the one we've been talking about on Hatrack? I'm not saying it's the actual source of the memory, just that it might be the original quote that inspired many other similar quotes.
Posts: 9945 | Registered: Sep 2002
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posted
Really? Maybe I haven't been following along closely enough, but I'm not aware of any that are closer.
Posts: 9945 | Registered: Sep 2002
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