“The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco”
Who said it? Mark Twain is credited with saying it, but that is the incorrect answer. I really need to find out who actually said it. (It’s an extra credit question for my college class.)
I have searched all over the Internet and asked around, but I cannot find the correct answer. Now it’s going to bug me until I get the correct answer! Can anyone enlighten me or at least point me in the right direction to find the answer?
quote:"The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco,'' a saying that is almost a San Francisco cliche, turns out to be an invention of unknown origin, the coolest thing Mark Twain never said.
Huh, I'll keep lookin' this evenin’ and post if I find anything new.
ETA: Apparently, the San Francisco Court of Historical Review attempted to verify the authenticity of the quote. I haven't been able to locate their final results, though.
-------------------- The salty fragrance of L’EauD’I’mNotDedalus - made entirely of and entirely for sea turtles. Posts: 1983 | From: Chicagoland, IL | Registered: Feb 2005
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quote: ...anywhere is better than Paris. Paris the cold, Paris the drizzly, Paris the rainy, Paris the damnable. More than a hundred years ago somebody asked Quin, "Did you ever see such a winter in all your life before?" "Yes," said he, "Last summer." I judge he spent his summer in Paris.... - letter to Lucius Fairchild, 28 April 1880, reprinted in Mark Twain, The Letter Writer
My guess is that is the origin of the supposed quote.
Posts: 225 | From: Adelaide, Australia | Registered: Nov 2004
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posted
For years Mark Twain tried to tell people that the comment "everybody talks about the weather, nobody does anything about it" wasn't original with him. Twain was quoting an Indianapolis newspaper editor, Charles Dudley Warner. At one point, Twain wrote to Warner to explain that he was trying to attribute the quote to Warner, but to no avail. Warner wrote back saying that he understood Twain's problem. After all, Warner had written something catchy and witty, so of course it was attributed to the man who was known for catchy, witty sayings. Nowadays, Warner is known only as the man who actually wrote one of Twain's most famous sayings.
-------------------- Ad astra per asparagus. Posts: 4806 | From: Groton, CT | Registered: Jul 2005
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posted
Mark Twain/Samuel Clemens was also credited by many of being the ghostwriter of US Grant's Memoirs. Many simply could not believe that Grant could produce such an excellent work, and some assumed that his good friend and his publisher - Samuel Clemens - had to have been the author. Clemens denied being anything more than friend, publisher and a source of encouragement for Grant as he finished the writing, even while he was dying (Grant died just 9 days after approving the proofs).
-------------------- Once a Warrior Prince Posts: 496 | From: California | Registered: Apr 2002
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