Churchillian (or Yogi Berra) Drift
Yogi Berra, 1950s
“If you don’t know the author of a choice quote, credit it to Churchill, Einstein, Lincoln or Martin Luther King, Jr.. Everybody will be impressed and they said so much that nobody will know the difference.”
I have been looking for a term to describe the numerous potted, inaccurate Churchill quotes: “A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth puts its trousers on” is big right now on Twitter. Also: “Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.”
Then there is: “If I were your husband, I’d drink it,” Churchill’s alleged retort to Lady Astor’s threat to poison his coffee, which was most likely uttered by his friend F.E.…