When and where was the comment, "The average man will bristle if you say his father was dishonest, but he will brag a little if he discovers that his great-grandfather was a pirate" made?

skysmom65

The average man will bristle if you say his father was dishonest, but he will brag a little if he discovers that his great-grandfather was a pirate. — Bern Williams, National Enquirer. http://www.answers.com/dishonest Jan 21 07, 9:47 PM

queproblema

That's the where, now for the when. Jan 21 07, 9:52 PM

skysmom65

Dang! You're really making me work here!! In was Thursday October 20 , 2005!! At least according to this link... http://www.rglobal.net/users/padagge/october_week_4,_2005.htm Jan 21 07, 10:11 PM

queproblema

Sure am!! I have no idea what the answer is myself so I gave up looking for it and asked for help. :-) That pirate quote bugged me because I can't find out who "Bern Williams" is--only that at least four pithy quotes are attributed to him online. I think you just stumbled across somebody's blog. They copied the quote into it on that date. What sayest thou? Yea or nay? Jan 21 07, 11:32 PM

Baloo55th

An attribution to someone by the National Enquirer is somewhat suspect to my mind. As are attributions by Private Eye, the old Punch, The Onion and Viz. (It's the subject matter rather than the author that's suspect in the Quibbler, while in the Enquirer and the Onion both subject matter and author need close examination.) One reference to Bern Williams is actually a typo for Bert Williams rather than the elusive Bern. But wait - Bern Williams (b. 1929) English philosopher: http://www.wist.info/authors/w.html Or (also b. 1929) US TV programmer according to: http://tenhshiaopeng.wordpress.com/tag/quotes/ This is fascinating. The man seems to exist only as a source of quotes with no other life at all. One reference is to a Bern Williams working in publishing: http://www.thelittlesailor.com/bio.html This may illustrate, perhaps, the dangers of unchecked info being cut and pasted. Does Bern Williams exist, or is he a Lieutenant Kije? If he does, from whence have these people copied these quotes, for I can't find any books by him. Jan 22 07, 7:29 AM

lanfranco

Wow. I'm terribly impressed by a reference to Lieutenant Kije: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lieutenant_Kij%C3%A9_%28Prokofiev%29 Jan 22 07, 7:22 PM

Baloo55th

Ta, Frankie. I was hoping someone would pick up on that one. I knew Arpy would know it. Anyway, reverting to 'Bern Williams', I am putting him in quotes because that's what he appears to be. Quotes. And virtually no-one who posts his quotes actually cites a source. GingeryNutt and I spent over an hour on Google and Dogpile and we could find no evidence of his existence other than the rather contradictory ones I've already posted. Apart from the ubiquitous quoted, which appear in Spanish and probably other languages as well. Here's a challenge for everyone here: find some more evidence of the existence of Bern Williams (not the fellow at No 3 who breeds pigeons, but the author of these quotes). Editor's note: See Question #75964 http://www.funtrivia.com/askft/Question75964.html Jan 23 07, 6:54 AM