Mick Jagger, Bogart, Star Trek.. and a rotten fart

One of my more curious headlines I suppose.

What's the connection. It's something to do with quotations and the way people change words around to suit themselves.

Mick Jagger was reputed to have once said

"I'd rather be dead than singing 'satisfaction' when I'm 45".

Did he actually say it?

I don't know. Many people have quoted him but there is no way of knowing for sure whether he actually said it.

And where is he now?

63 years old and still singing 'satisfaction'.

Humphrey Bogart, playing Rick Blaine in Casablanca is believed by many to have uttered the immortal quote "Play it again Sam".

Well firstly it was Ingrid Bergman's character, Ilsa Lund who uttered the quote except the actual quote was "Play it, Sam".

Nobody seems to care because everyone is happy with the whole Humphrey Bogart and "Play it again, Sam" combo. Time passes and facts evolve.

The actual "Play it again, Sam" quote is from the Marx Brothers film, "a Night in Casablanca" from 1946.

It's also common to hear people saying the whole "beam me up, Scotty" in a reference to Star Trek. Except as we all know now, it was never actually uttered, not ever. Ah well.

Which brings me to the rotten fart. I was reading LA Frog's Blog yesterday and she had a great article showing an advert for a local company that had put together a witty name. It was offering pet care and animal services and called itself Pet Pourri. LA Frog points out that the witty name in fact translates directly as 'rotten fart'. Now that's daring marketing if you ask me. Read about it here.

And finally, there's the tale of Todd Beamer, the passenger on United flight 93 which crashed on that fateful day, september 11 2001. He is famed for uttering the immortal words "let's roll" as the passengers made one final push to retake control of the aircraft. A website dedicated to his memory quotes him. Unfortunately the 9/11 commission report found that he in fact was overheard to say "roll it", a clear reference to the fact that the passengers were planning to roll the drinks trolley against the cockpit door in an attempt to gain access.

Sometimes we prefer the modified version of what people actually said. And sometimes it's smarter to let people believe what they want, especially when their version of the quote reads better than the original.