Hooray! Tiny writing and a completely correct quotation on fingernails. From chapter 8 of the original Winnie-the-Pooh (1926) in which "Christopher Robin leads an expotition to the north pole", this is Eeyore's passive aggressive way of encouraging folk not to sit on thistles because it ruins the taste for others. The full quote: "A little Consideration, a little Thought for Others, makes all the difference."
Here's another popular one: Pooh expresses the desire to kill himself one day before you die so he doesn't have to live alone. I mean, WTF? No, this isn't in any book by Milne or movie by Disney. As far as I can tell, it comes from a publication called "Pooh's Little Instruction Book", which, while occasionally credited to Milne, was not written by Milne. Milne had nothing to do with it. The cover reads "Inspired by A. A. Milne". That's like me making a potato salad, and saying this salad was inspired by Nicki Minaj, therefore Nicki Minaj made my potato salad. The author of "Pooh's Little Instruction Book" is in fact Joan Powers, aphorist extraordinaire. I'm beginning to suspect that many of what I'm considering Pooh misquotes are aphorism by Joan Powers 'inspired' by Milne. Technically, Dutton Children's Books owns copyright to Pooh, so owns anything that comes out of his fictional pie-hole. Dutton employs Joan Powers to write aphorism in a book with pictures of Pooh in, so these become Pooh cannon. But I say: wrong, wrong, wrong! These aphorism are not part of any Pooh story (you know, one with characters and a plot); these are not things Pooh or his associates have said, so are not, in my book, legitimate Pooh quotes.
Postscript: 11/15/2014. Since writing this blog, I've found a section right at the end of Milne's "House on Pooh Corner" (1928) which is no doubt the origin of the quote above. Christopher Robin is leaving Pooh (presumably to grow up; not because he has a terminal illness), which they discuss, ending with: "Pooh, promise you won't forget about me, ever. Not even when I'm a hundred." Pooh thought for a little. "How old shall I be then?" "Ninety-nine." Pooh nodded. "I promise," he said. Note: the conspicuous absence of anything about dying, because that would be a very depressing way to end the last page of a children's storybook. Also note the absence of the phrase 'a hundred minus one day' because neither Pooh nor Christopher Robin say shit like that. Nope, not something Pooh said, as far as I can tell. Not that this has stopped people going online to discuss the meaning of this quote.
Pooh and colleagues have a lot to say about being friends forever, but not this specific quote. It's like jewellery manufacturers have never heard of the American Psychological Association's style guide for correct referencing. For the record, at the beginning of "Pooh's Grand Adventure: The Search for Christopher Robin" (1997), some singing does occur with the lines "Forever isn't long at all when I'm with you" and "We could just be we; forever you and me" etc. Plus later there's the less uplifting line "I used to believe in forever; But forever's too good to be true". And in "A Very Merry Pooh Year" (2002) someone says "The important thing is that we're pals forever." And in "Pooh's Heffalump Halloween Move" (2005) there's a bit of "We're friends forever; we'll be brave forever" action. But as far as I can tell, no one at any point in any movie or book says: "We will be friends until forever, just you wait and see", although it is a popular misconception that this is an accurate Pooh quote.
|
Archives
January 2018
Categories
All
|