Data Presents

A poor player / That struts and frets his hour upon the stage /
And then is heard no more.
theatlantic: ‘Beam Us Up, Mr. Scott!’: Why Misquotations Catch On Have you noticed how incorrect quotes often just sound right—sometimes, more right than actual quotations? There’s a reason for that. Our brains really like fluency, or the experience of cognitive ease (as opposed to cognitive strain) in taking in and retrieving information. The more fluent the experience of reading a quote—or the easier it is to grasp, the smoother it sounds, the more readily it comes to mind—the less likely we are to question the actual quotation. Those right-sounding misquotes are just taking that tendency to the next step: cleaning up, so to speak, quotations so that they are more mellifluous, more all-around quotable, easier to store and recall at a later point. We might not even be misquoting on purpose, but once we do, the result tends to be catchier than the original. Read more. [Image: Warner Bros.]

theatlantic:

‘Beam Us Up, Mr. Scott!’: Why Misquotations Catch On

Have you noticed how incorrect quotes often just sound right—sometimes, more right than actual quotations? There’s a reason for that. Our brains really like fluency, or the experience of cognitive ease (as opposed to cognitive strain) in taking in and retrieving information. The more fluent the experience of reading a quote—or the easier it is to grasp, the smoother it sounds, the more readily it comes to mind—the less likely we are to question the actual quotation. Those right-sounding misquotes are just taking that tendency to the next step: cleaning up, so to speak, quotations so that they are more mellifluous, more all-around quotable, easier to store and recall at a later point. We might not even be misquoting on purpose, but once we do, the result tends to be catchier than the original.

Read more. [Image: Warner Bros.]

alwaysiambic:

Patrick Stewart as Launce, with his dog Crab, during rehearsals for Robin Phillips’ production of ‘Two Gentlemen Of Verona’ for the Royal Shakespeare Company, London, 15th September 1970.