24 Feb 2009

Misquotations.

An article in today’s Daily Telegraph newspaper informs us that the top ten misquotes, by British people, are (the correct words in the brackets):
1) A damp squid (a damp squib)
2) On tender hooks (on tenter hooks)
3) Nip it in the butt (nip it in the bud)
4) Champing at the bit (chomping at the bit)
5) A mute point (a moot point)
6) One foul swoop (one fell swoop)
7) All that glitters is not gold (all that glisters is not gold)
8) Adverse to (averse to)
9) Batting down the hatches (batten down the hatches)
10) Find a penny pick it up (find a pin pick it up)

Being somewhat pedantic, I found that very interesting. However, the Bible is also misquoted, or is claimed to be the source of a quotation that doesn’t appear in the Scriptures. Here are a few – please feel free to add any others that you know, as a comment!

List 1 Biblical misquotes:
· Money is the root of all evil! (very topical, but read all of I Tim.6:10)
· All things work out for the best (read Rom.8:28)
· The truth will set you free (not as much a misquote, as a part-quote. See Jn.8:32, and note that Jesus actually ties the definition of truth to obedience to Himself!
· Spare the rod, spoil the child (not quite what it says in Prov.13:24)

List 2 “Biblical” quotes that are not in the Bible!:
· God helps those who help themselves (sometimes referred to as the “Shoplifter’s Charter”, and actually from Aesop’s fable, Hercules and the Waggoner)
· Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise (may well be true – but comes from the writings of Benjamin Franklin)
· Cleanliness is next to godliness (this was said by John Wesley)
· You can be so heavenly-minded that you are of no earthly good (all too true of some – but it isn’t in the Bible!)
· God works in mysterious ways (very true – but penned by William Cowper in a poem “On the loss of the Royal George”)
· It’s better to serve in heaven than to reign in hell (sounds biblical, at least from a “hell-fire and damnation” perspective – but it’s not!)

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