Submitted by Barry Popik on Wed, 11/29/2006 - 10:59pm.
Yes, this quotation is attributed to "Henry Cate VII" on about a thousand websites. Not one of those websites mentions anything else about Henry Cate VII. We don't know when he was born, when he died, or even the simple essential of when he said the quotation.
Such is the state of the internet. Copying made easy.
Fred Shaprio and I research the earliest and best citations using full-text databases. Our new book, the Yale Dictionary of Quotations, was recently mentioned in William Safire's "On Language" column in the New York Times Magazine.
Submitted by Barry Popik on Thu, 11/30/2006 - 1:13am.
Upon further review (Google Groups--search for "Henry Cate VII"), it appears that Henry Cate VII wrote for the newsgroup rec.humor in 1990. His name got attached as this quotation's author, to be repeated over and over, without question, on a thousand lazy websites!
The one-quote wonder of Henry Cate VII--who might not have been alive in 1958.
A cautionary web lesson for all of us. A thousand people can easily be wrong--check out the facts yourself!
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The problem with political jokes is they get elected.
– Henry Cate VII. Link.
Gur