Tuesday, December 18, 2007


Cliches and Conundrums...


"You Learn Something New Every Day"

Actually, you learn something old every day. Just because you've just learned it doesn't mean it's new. Other people already knew it, Columbus is a good example of this. Edison and Einstein are the exception.

"The Sky's The Limit"

Well, how can the sky be the limit? The sky never ends. What kind of a limit is that? The earth is the limit. You dig a hole and what do you keep getting? More earth. The earth is the limit.

"You Get What You Pay For"
Clearly this is not true. Have you been shopping recently? Only a very naive person would believe that you get what you pay for. In point of fact, if you check your purchases carefully, you'll find that you get whatever they feel like giving you. And if corporations get any more powerful, you soon might not even get that.

"Everything Comes in Threes"

Not true. In reality, everything comes in ones. Sometimes, when three "ones" come in a row, it seems like everything comes in threes. By the way, in medieval times it was widely believed that everything came in twenty-sixes. They were wrong, too. It just took them longer to recognize the pattern.

"Nice Guys Finish Last"
Not true. Studies have shown that, on average, nice guys finish third in a field of six. Actually, short guys finish last. By the way, in medieval times it was widely believed that nice guys finished twenty-sixth. You can see how limited those people were.

"If You've Seen One, You've Seen Them All"
Do we even have to talk about this one? This should be obvious. If you've seen one, you've seen ... one. If you've seen them all, *then* you've seen them all. I don't even understand how this one got started.

"It Takes Two to Tango"
Sounds good, but simple reasoning will reveal that actually it takes only one to tango. It does take two to tango together, maybe. But one person is certainly capable of tangoing on his own. He just might look a little silly.

"If It's Not One Thing, It's Another"
No, not always. Sometimes if it's not one thing, not only is it not another, but it turns out to be something else entirely.

Hope everyone has a great day, if you live where it is COLD, here it is 24F at 8:30am, keep warm.

6 comments:

Merle said...

Dear Patty ~ ~ More words of wisdom that I enjoyed very much. I was about to post the one about "Habits." It
is a good one too, Glad you liked the
joke about Mrs Custer. You sure have some well known names in your family.
I hope you are managing to keep warm
as it sounds VERY cold where you are.
Have a wonderful Christmas and a happy, healthy New Year in 2008.
Take care, Love, Merle.

Greg C said...

Great wirds of wisdom but you can't teach an old dog new tricks, lol Thanks for the laughs.

Anonymous said...

Hahaha, I loved that one. A guy I work with is fond of saying, "It's always something." I hope so, because it sounds really silly to say, "It's always nothing." ;-)

Wanda said...

Oh another fun filled post!! Love it. BTW I had my husband watch Mrs. Hughes and we really got a laugh too!! Funny lady.

Anonymous said...

I like the post a lot. I don't know about Einstein's theories or Edison's electricity. Those things they are given credit for discovering were actually there, it is just nobody knew how to put them all together to make them work.

The idea of a wheel has always been there. It took one smarter than the rest person, perhaps a lady, like you, to think to put an axle in the middle and then another round wheel on the other side and a basket on the axle and then get their husband to push them around.

I think the last one is the real clincher.

You are a doll. So now will you fix me some mush and eggs?

Patty said...

Well you finally got your mush and eggs, did you relish it? It was store bought mush, but I think you still enjoyed it.