“The right tool for the right job.”

FAMOUS ADVERTISING SLOGAN: “The right tool for the right job.”        Ad slogan used for True Temper tools since at least 1907         This may not have been the first use of the saying, but it did help popularize it in America.

THE SEXY VERSION: “When it come to lovin’ Honey, mama, I’m the one you want Well, I may not be the best lookin’ But I’m the right tool for the job.”        David Lee Roth        American rock music vocalist        In his song “Right Tool for the Job,” on the DLR Band album (1998)

THE UNSEXY VERSION: “Even if one’s intentions are good, the wrong tool for the wrong task is the wrong tool for the wrong task. Sex in an incorrect circumstance is not useful, no matter how good it feels.”        Joshua Miller        The Heart of Love (2009)

CRIMINOLOGY VARIATION: “The criminal justice system is a tool – one of several – for promoting national security, for protecting our country against terrorism. Sometimes it's the right tool; sometimes it’s the wrong tool.”        U.S. Assistant Attorney General David Kris        Speech at the Brookings Institution, June 2010

THEOLOGY VARIATION: “Perhaps it is time for atheists and anti-theists to take a break from the God arguments. In a way, by continuing the debates, they also continue to reinforce belief in God by theists, because the more they argue against it, the more their opponents lash back with their vehement responses for it. Why? Because they are using the right tool for the wrong job, like using cold reason to sympathize with a person in duress.”        Kris Hartung        Post on the Project Reason website, July 24, 2009

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Recommended book about proverbial sayings… Random House Dictionary of Popular Proverbs and Sayings Compiled by Gregory Titelman