Wikiquote's List of Misquotations
Just the facts, ma'am. That's what this page lists. Except, as Wikipedians are quick to point out, Sergeant Friday never uttered this beloved quote on the old radio and TV show "Dragnet." The detective actually said "All we want are the facts, ma'am." Likewise, Scotty beamed plenty of people up to the Enterprise on the original "Star Trek" series, but not a soul actually blurted "Beam me up, Scotty." The requests ran more to the likes of "beam me aboard" or "beam us up home." It's not just TV and movie lines that we mangle, either. Social theorist Karl Marx never said "Religion is the opiate of the masses" and no matter how much Winston Churchill might have wanted to, he never declared that "The only traditions of the Royal Navy are rum, sodomy, and the lash." Finally, the next time someone asks you for ID and you want to be clever, don't reply with "We don't need no steenking badges!" because, of course, the real quote from "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre" is much longer. It's faster to show your card and just pass through.
|