Nice Guys Finish Seventh: False Phrases, Spurious Sayings, and Familiar Misquotations [Paperback]

Ralph Keyes (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1993

Leo Durocher is best remembered for saying, "Nice guys finish last." He never said it. What the Brooklyn Dodgers' manager did say, before a 1946 game with the New York Giants, was: "The nice guys are all over there. This is just one of hundreds of misquotations that Ralph Keyes dissects in this informative and entertaining book. Keyes discovered that "The opera ain't over 'til the fat lady sings," comes from an older saying: "Church ain't out 'til the fat lady sings." He determined that Winston Churchill did not originate the phrase "iron curtain," and never said, "blood, sweat and tears." Keyes also confirmed that "Winning isn't everything, it's the only thing," was the slogan of UCLA coach Red Sanders, not Vince Lombardi. According to him such words voice observations we want made. Freud may never have said "Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar," for example, but we certainly wish he had. Keyes calls this "the flypaper effect." Orphan quotes or comments by unknowns routinely gravitate to noted figures such as Churchill, Lincoln, or Twain. Other syndromes Keyes discusses include bumper stickering (condensing a long comment to make it more quotable), lip syncing (mouthing someone else's words as if they were your own), and retro-quoting (putting words in the mouths of famous dead people). "Nice Guys Finish Seventh" is a fascinating, eye-opening book. It's both fun to read and a reliable work of reference.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Gone are the days when a book of quotations was just that--a list of bons mots arranged by author or subject, usually accompanied by the source of the quote. Now the expression must be explained (both in and out of context), its source discussed, and its content compared with what others have said, an approach that meets with varying degrees of success. With its lengthy bibliography and copious "Notes" section, Keyes's book has a much more scholarly tone than Tad Tuleja's Quirky Quotations ( LJ 8/92). There is also an extensive keyword index and author index. This talky tome will appeal more to borrowers than to reference librarians. Buy one for each if your budget allows.
- Paula M. Zieselman, Fulbright & Jaworski, New York
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

Lively, informed...Reading this is great fun. --Seattle Times

Keyes's research unearths interesting, often surprising facts about who said what when -- as well as enough errors in standard references to suggest his volume deserves a place in most quotation collections. --Booklist

A book my friend Gene Shalit sent me the other day [is] called appropriately enough "Nice Guys Finish Seventh." ... If you want to know more of who didn't say what -- including a whole list of things that Mark Twain never said -- get the book. --Michael G. Gartner in the Louisville Courier-Journal --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Harpercollins (September 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0062720392
• ISBN-13: 978-0062720399
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,418,850 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Ralph Keyes's sixteen books include the bestselling Is There Life After High School? which became a Broadway musical still produced in this country and abroad. His book Chancing It was a New York Times Notable Book, and The Courage to Write has been in print for 15 years. Keyes has discussed his work on Oprah, The Today Show, Tonight Show, ABC World News Tonight and 20/20 as well as NPR's Fresh Air, All Things Considered, Talk of the Nation, and On the Media. In addition to his books he has written hundreds of articles and essays for publications ranging from GQ to Good Housekeeping. An article Keyes co-authored for the Harvard Business Review won its prestigious McKinsey Award for Best Article of the Year. After graduating from Antioch College in 1967 Keyes spent was Assistant to the Publisher of Long Island's Newsday for two years. After that he spent a decade as a Fellow of the Center for Studies of the Person in La Jolla, California, then worked as a freelance writer in the Philadelphia area Keyes now lives in Yellow Springs, Ohio with his wife Muriel where he writes, lectures, and is a Trustee of the Antioch Writers' Workshop.

Customer Reviews

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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If only I had bought this sooner ...., September 12, 2007

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This review is from: Nice Guys Finish Seventh: False Phrases, Spurious Sayings, and Familiar Misquotations (Paperback)

Prior to making a technical presentation in China, I asked my translator to quickly write 'One picture is worth a thousand words' on one of the transparencies. He was not aware of this ancient Chinese proverb.

It was only on my return to the US that I found this book and "The Rules of Misquotation - Corollary 2F: In a pinch, any orphan quote can be called a Chinese proverb". Frederick Barnard did so in 1927 ...