Comments on: The iffy Truman-Washington dog quote: Used before Maureen Dowd did http://www.teleread.org/2008/07/31/the-iffy-truman-washington-dog-quote-stanford-economist-used-it-before-maureen-dowd-did/ News & views on e-books, libraries, publishing and related topics Sat, 21 Nov 2009 20:01:59 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: Daniel Udsen http://www.teleread.org/2008/07/31/the-iffy-truman-washington-dog-quote-stanford-economist-used-it-before-maureen-dowd-did/comment-page-1/#comment-865282 Daniel Udsen Fri, 01 Aug 2008 08:44:20 +0000 http://www.teleread.org/blog/2008/07/31/the-iffy-truman-washington-dog-quote-stanford-economist-used-it-before-maureen-dowd-did/#comment-865282 There's a lot of those plausible truths around where people absolutely know that they've been told by someome trustworthy that something is sure and cant remember just where or cant refference it anywhere. Urban legend exist because they could be, and is often only debunked because some minor detail got tangled up and written down wrong. A quote like that could have come from Roosevelt, Wilson or a less important people from Truman's administration and just wound up attributed to Truman. It could have been a saying floating around Washington at the time of Truman those kind of slang rarely ever made it to print before SMS, twitter and chats blurred the like between spoken and written language. There’s a lot of those plausible truths around where people absolutely know that they’ve been told by someome trustworthy that something is sure and cant remember just where or cant refference it anywhere. Urban legend exist because they could be, and is often only debunked because some minor detail got tangled up and written down wrong.

A quote like that could have come from Roosevelt, Wilson or a less important people from Truman’s administration and just wound up attributed to Truman.

It could have been a saying floating around Washington at the time of Truman those kind of slang rarely ever made it to print before SMS, twitter and chats blurred the like between spoken and written language.

]]> By: David Rothman http://www.teleread.org/2008/07/31/the-iffy-truman-washington-dog-quote-stanford-economist-used-it-before-maureen-dowd-did/comment-page-1/#comment-864859 David Rothman Thu, 31 Jul 2008 20:14:49 +0000 http://www.teleread.org/blog/2008/07/31/the-iffy-truman-washington-dog-quote-stanford-economist-used-it-before-maureen-dowd-did/#comment-864859 I agree with you, Mo MoDo. It isn't probable---since the Harry S. Truman library has investigated---but it is <em>possible</em>. One big argument against the quote, however, is this. Harry and Bess Truman supposedly thought of animals in practical terms and actually returned a dog given to them to be their pet. Anyway, with the TeleBlog raising the issue, maybe some people will come out of the woodwork and we'll get at the truth. For now, I need to reach Prof. Boskin and perhaps others. And maybe Ralph Keyes or the Truman Library can track down the estate of Samuel Gallu and see if someone can search his papers. Thanks for your continued interest. David I agree with you, Mo MoDo. It isn’t probable—since the Harry S. Truman library has investigated—but it is possible. One big argument against the quote, however, is this. Harry and Bess Truman supposedly thought of animals in practical terms and actually returned a dog given to them to be their pet. Anyway, with the TeleBlog raising the issue, maybe some people will come out of the woodwork and we’ll get at the truth. For now, I need to reach Prof. Boskin and perhaps others. And maybe Ralph Keyes or the Truman Library can track down the estate of Samuel Gallu and see if someone can search his papers. Thanks for your continued interest. David

]]> By: Mo MoDo http://www.teleread.org/2008/07/31/the-iffy-truman-washington-dog-quote-stanford-economist-used-it-before-maureen-dowd-did/comment-page-1/#comment-864774 Mo MoDo Thu, 31 Jul 2008 16:49:56 +0000 http://www.teleread.org/blog/2008/07/31/the-iffy-truman-washington-dog-quote-stanford-economist-used-it-before-maureen-dowd-did/#comment-864774 Isn't it possible that Harry Truman really did say it, and possibly often but just not in a context where it would be written down? There seem to be way too many people using it for there not to be a grain of truth in there somewhere. Isn’t it possible that Harry Truman really did say it, and possibly often but just not in a context where it would be written down? There seem to be way too many people using it for there not to be a grain of truth in there somewhere.

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