“Let them eat cake” – the misinterpreted origin, recent political uses and some politically incorrect variations...

THE ALLEGED (BUT DOUBTFUL) ORIGIN: “Let them eat cake.” (“Qu’ils mangent de la brioche.”)        Attributed to Marie Antoinette (1755-1793)        Queen of France from 1774 to 1792; beheaded in 1793 in the wake of the French Revolution         This classic expression of disdain for the common people has traditionally been attributed to Marie Antoinette. She supposedly said it when she was told that most French people were do poor they were unable to buy bread to eat. Many scholars now doubt that she actually said it. Moreover, if she did say the line as traditionally given in French — “Qu’ils mangent de la brioche” — it has long been mistranslated and possibly misunderstood. In English, those words actually mean “Let them eat brioche,” referring to a bakery product that is not what we usually think of as a “cake.” Brioche is a light, fluffy pastry with a flaky crust. As explained by the excellent Phrase Finder site, French law in Marie Antoinette’s time required bakers to sell fancier products like brioche at the same price as a common loaf of bread, to prevent them from using too much of the limited flour supplies to make products that would typically be more profitable to the bakery but unaffordable to poor French families. Thus, “Let them eat brioche” could have been an expression of compassion rather than disdain, suggesting that poor people should have access to a product they would have been unable to afford without price controls.

THE POLITICAL PEAS VERSION: “While chastising the Republicans for not agreeing to a debt ceiling deal that would include his suggestions to cut Medicare and Social Security benefits, President Obama said Congressional members needed to do their work, reach a deal and just ‘eat their peas.’...While no one knows for sure if Marie Antoinette ever really said, ‘Let them eat cake,’ we do know the elite in France all those years ago in the 1700s were clueless to the cries of people who couldn't afford bread much less the cake they had been admonished to eat. It appears that in 2011 in the United States of America, we can now replace that admonition with our own: ‘Let them eat their peas.’”        Donna Smith        Healthcare reform activist and Founder of American Patients United        In an opinion piece posted on OpedNews.com on July 18, 2011

THE POLITICAL CORN (FLAKE) VERSION: “Now, once again the reincarnated Marie Antoinette Michele Bachmann is screaming from the floor of the House of Representatives and from Iowa televisions ‘I will not raise the debt ceiling under any circumstances. Let them eat corn!’ If the GOP once again drive the country and the world into a financial ditch can martial law and a fascist dictatorship in the United States be far behind?”        Karen Fish        Freelance blogger        In an op-ed posted on TheSpoof.com site on July 23, 2011

POLITICALLY INCORRECT VARIATION #1: “Let Them Eat Pussy”        Title of the 1998 debut album by the “psychobilly” rock band Nashville Pussy

POLITICALLY INCORRECT VARIATION #2: “I saw this video once, yeah, they was all dressed up like Marie Antoinette. Well, they wore the wigs. Let Them Eat Cock it was called.”        Actor Fraser Ayres        As the character Clint, in an episode of the BBC comedy TV series The Smoking Room (2004–2005)

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Alternative versions of the Pledge of Allegiance…

THE ORIGINAL PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE: “I pledge allegiance to my Flag and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”        Francis Bellamy (1855-1931)         American Baptist minister, Christian Socialist and magazine editor        This is the original Pledge of Allegiance, written by Bellamy and published in the September 8, 1892 issue of The Youth’s Companion magazine. The words were changed several times in following decades. In 1923, at the first National Flag Conference in Washington D.C., “my Flag” was changed to “the flag of the United States.” At the following year’s national Flag Conference, the words “of America” were added. In 1942, that version of the Pledge was made official by Congress. In 1954, Congress passed a resolution which added the words “under God” to the Pledge, creating the current version:       “I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands: one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”

THE MAD MAGAZINE FLAG POSTER VERSION: “I WILL PLEDGE ALLEGIANCE TO THE FLAG OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND TO THE REPUBLIC FOR WHICH IT STANDS WHEN IT IS ONE NATION UNDER GOD WITH LIBERTY AND JUSTICE FOR ALL INCLUDING KIKES, WOPS, SPICS, NIGGERS, WASPS, ETC.”         From a poster in a 1971 special issue of MAD magazine (Special Number Five)        These words are printed in capital letters in the red stripes of the poster’s flag image (shown at left).

THE WHITEST KIDS U’ KNOW VERSION: “I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America. Thank you very, very much for letting us little kids live here. It really, really was nice of you. You didn’t have to do it. And it’s really not freaky that us little, little kids mindlessly recite this anthem every day and pledge their life to a government before they’re old enough to really think about what they’re saying. This is not a form of brainwashing. This is not a form of brainwashing. This is not a form of brainwashing. This is really the greatest country in the whole world. All the other countries suck. And, if this country ever goes to war, as it often wants to do, I promise to help go and kill all the other countries’ kids. God bless Johnson & Johnson. God bless GE. God bless Citigroup. Amen.”        From IFC’s Whitest Kids U' Know comedy series        This skit is in Episode 7 of Season 5 (first aired on May 27, 2011).

THE ANIMAL HOUSE VERSION: “I, state your name, do hereby pledge allegiance to the frat with liberty and fraternity for all. Amen.”        The Delta House fraternity pledge, in National Lampoon’s Animal House (1978)

A MATHEMATICIAN’S VERSION: “I pledge my support for the semiautonomous, evolving, complex dynamical network known as the United States of America and for those principles that maximize the degrees of freedom and independence of its human nodes.”        John Allen Paulos        Professor of Mathematics at Temple University        One of a number of alternate versions of the Pledge of Allegiance submitted to the Washington Post for a special section in the July 4, 2005 edition.

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“If I can make it there, I’ll make it anywhere…”

A RECENT VARIATION ON A FAMOUS SONG LYRIC: “Now that we’ve made it here, we'll make it everywhere.”        Evan Wolfson        American civil rights attorney and leading advocate of same-sex marriage        Comment in a June 25, 2011 news story about the recent state law legalizing gay marriage in New York

ORIGIN OF THE FAMILIAR LINE: “If I can make it there, I’ll make it anywhere It’s up to you, New York, New York.”         Fred Ebb        American song lyricist        Lyrics from the song “Theme from New York, New York” (1977)        This song, often referred to simply as “New York, New York,” was originally used as the theme song for Martin Scorsese’s movie musical New York, New York, released on June 21, 1977. Ebb wrote the lyrics and his longtime songwriting partner John Kandar wrote the music. The song was sung by Liza Minnelli in the film. Frank Sinatra recorded a popular version in 1979 and made it one of his signature songs. Ebb and Kandar’s “Theme from New York, New York” is sometimes confused with the song “New York, New York,” which was written by Betty Comden, Adolph Green and Leonard Bernstein for the 1944 Broadway musical On the Town. (That song includes the famous lyrics “New York, New York, a helluva town / The Bronx is up but the Battery’s down.”)

THE L.A. VERSION OF THE OLD BIG APPLE ADAGE: “When did the old adage about the Big Apple become: ‘If you can make it there, it’s probably because everyone else has set a really low bar’? Um...just now, I guess. (Start spreadin’ the news.)”        Amy Reiter        American pop culture critic        Her dry comment in a June 23, 2011 post on the L.A. Times “Show Tracker” blog regarding an episode of America’s Got Talent that featured people from New York

AN OLD BLUES MUSICIAN’S TAKE ON L.A.: “Well, if a man can make it Los Angeles, he can make it anywhere But you got to have one of those used Cadillac cars, yes boys, and you can stay square.”        Charles “Crown Prince” Waterford (1919-2007)        American blues and jazz musician        In his song “L.A. Blues,” included on the album The Very Best of Crown Prince Waterford

THE EXTREMOPHILE VARIATION: “The recent discovery of bacteria on Earth in the most unlikely spots-under the ocean floor, in rivers orange with dissolved iron-has lent support to the argument that if life can make it there, it can make it anywhere.”        News story in the January 2006 issue of Popular Science magazine        (Scientists call organisms that live in extremely harsh environments “extremophiles.”)

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Things that friends don’t let friends do, according to Roger Ebert and other pundits...

A RECENT CONTROVERSIAL VARIATION ON A FAMOUS AD SLOGAN: “Friends don’t let jackasses drink and drive.”        Roger Ebert         American movie critic        This was a Twitter tweet Ebert posted on June 20, 2011 shortly after news stories announced that Ryan Dunn, the star of MTV’s wild Jackass series and movies, had been killed in a late-night, high-speed car crash in Pennsylvania. His tweet was a seemingly snarky variation on the familiar public service ad slogan “Friends don’t let friends drive drunk.” Ebert assumed Dunn was drunk, given reports that he’d been drinking at a local bar that night with friends, though toxicology results were not yet available when Ebert wrote the post. Dunn’s friends and fans immediately attacked Ebert online. One responding tweet that grabbed media attention was by Dunn’s Jackass castmate Bam Margera, who said: “About a jackass drunk driving and his is one, f**k you! Millions of people are crying right now, shut your fat f**king mouth!” Two days later, in a blog post on the Chicago Sun-Times site, Ebert (a former alcoholic) apologized, but also stood by the point of his tweet. “I don’t know what happened in this case,” he wrote,”and I was probably too quick to tweet...I do know that nobody has any business driving on a public highway at 110mph, as some estimated – or fast enough, anyway, to leave a highway and fly through 40 yards of trees before crashing. That is especially true if [as reported in some news stories] the driver has had three shots and three beers.” The next day, a toxicology report showed that Dunn had blood-alcohol levels that were more than twice the legal limit.

A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE FAMILIAR AD SLOGAN: “Friends don’t let friends drive drunk.”        Ad slogan first used in 1982 by the Outdoor Advertising Association of America        This well-known slogan and the long-running ad campaign featuring it were created in December 1982 as an outgrowth of a presidential Commission on Drunk Driving during Ronald Reagan’s administration. The primary goal was to reduce drunk driving, especially during the Christmas and New Year’s Eve weekends, when drunk driving fatalities are traditionally at their highest. The campaign began with billboards and radio ads sponsored by the U.S. Department of Transportation, the Outdoor Advertising Association of America and the Licensed Beverage Information Council. During the 1982 holiday season, “Friends don’t let friends drive drunk” ads were shown on 3,000 billboards and used in public service radio spots by 1,200 radio stations nationwide. The campaign was praised by President Reagan in 1983 and continued. In 1990, it was taken over by The Ad Council.

NAOMI JUDD’S FASHION ADVICE FOR WOMEN: “Friends don’t let friends wear ugly shoes.”        Naomi Judd        American country music singer, songwriter and author         A guideline included in her book Naomi’s Guide to Aging Gratefully (2008)

MAC LIFE’S FASHION ADVICE FOR GEEKS: “Friends don’t let friends wear their iPods on their belts.”        Photo caption in Mac Life magazine, August 2008

A FASHION OPTION FOR ZOMBIE MOVIE FANS: “Friends Don’t Let Friends Reanimate.”         Slogan on a t-shirt sold by BuyZombie.com

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The “light at the end of the tunnel” – from Joseph Alsop and Robert Lowell to Hunter Thompson

THE PRO-WAR JOURNALIST’S FAMOUS QUOTE: “At last there is light at the end of the tunnel.”        Joseph Alsop (1910-1989)        American journalist and newspaper columnist         An oft-cited comment he made about the Vietnam War in his September 13, 1965 syndicated column         Many books and websites about quotations or the Vietnam War mention this line by Alsop. It’s often assumed to be either the origin of the metaphor or the first use related to Vietnam. In fact, the figurative use of “light at the end of the tunnel” dates back to at least 1922. And, ironically, it had been used in reference to Vietnam in 1953 by French general Henri Navarre, who told reporters he could see France’s eventual success in its war with communist leader Ho Chi Minh’s troops “clearly, like light at the end of a tunnel.” A year later, Minh’s troops decisively defeated French forces at the battle of Dien Bien Phu and France lost control of its former colony. Joseph Alsop’s use of “light at the end of the tunnel” in 1965 was in a column predicting that America would eventually defeat Ho Chi Minh’s troops in Vietnam. Alsop said the French lost because they fought “with grossly insufficient resources.” He wrote: “This is in fact the real flaw in the argument of the silly people who parrot the assertion that this kind of war cannot be won, because the French failed...Today, however, American power is fully committed here, side by side with the considerable and courageous army of South Viet Nam. The American troops in the country already number more than 100,000. And eventually the U.S. force in South Viet Nam is likely to reach 200,000...at last there is light at the end of the tunnel.” Of course, 10 years later, after more than 58,000 Americans had been killed (along with an estimated 2 million Vietnamese troops and civilians), America essentially lost the war and pulled out of Vietnam.

THE ANTI-WAR POET’S COUNTERQUOTE: “If we can see light at the end of the tunnel It’s the light of the oncoming train.”        Robert Lowell (1917-1977)        American poet, World War II conscientious objector and anti-Vietnam activist         These lines are from “Since 1939,” a poem originally published in Lowell’s book Day by Day (1977)

DÉJÀ VU ALL OVER AGAIN: “Leon Panetta leaving the CIA to replace [Robert] Gates at the Pentagon and General David Petraeus taking Panetta’s job in Langley just seems like a revolving door that bodes ill (more drone attacks and missile strikes) for the people in the AF/Pak  war...There seems no light at the end of the dark tunnel U.S. policy makers have put us in and which most Americans continue to enable with their passive indifference.”        Dave Lefcourt        American blogger and book author        In an opinion piece about the war in Afghanistan and U.S. military operations in Pakistan, posted on the OpEdNews site, June 11, 2011

DÉJÀ VU ALL OVER AGAIN — AGAIN: “When Mr Obama assured the UN and the world that the ‘kinetic military action’ would quickly subdue Libyan military forces, he forgot an axiom of war. It is easy for a national leader to start one; but once started, it is impossible to stop...NATO airstrikes have fostered a war, which has turned into an inconclusive trudge through the swamp. Not only is there no light at the end of the tunnel, there appears to be no tunnel.”        A Bangkok Post editorial titled “What are they doing in Libya?” (June 10, 2011)

HUNTER THOMPSON’S OBSERVATION: “This was the fatal flaw in Tim Leary’s trip. He crashed around America selling ‘consciousness expansion’ without ever giving a thought to the grim meat-hook realities that were lying in wait for all the people who took him too seriously...a generation of permanent cripples, failed seekers, who never understood the essential old-mystic fallacy of the Acid Culture: the desperate assumption that somebody — or at least some force — is tending that light at the end of the tunnel.”        Hunter S. Thompson (1937-2005)        American “gonzo” journalist and novelist        In his novel Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1971), about the darkly comic misadventures of the semi-autobiographical character “Raoul Duke.” (A slightly altered version of these words are also spoken by Johnny Depp, as Raoul Duke, at the end of Terry Gilliam’s 1998 film adaptation of Thompson’s novel.)

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