Let’s Quit While We’re Ahead on This Quote
I’m not sure whether this will be an issue in the recall election. But Tom Brennan of Santa Monica points out that a recent Times photo of the Hollenbeck Youth Center displayed a quote attributed to Arnold Schwarzenegger -- a quote that was in usage long before the actor’s 1968 arrival from Austria.
The American Heritage Dictionary of American Quotations says the “winner never quits ... “ line is “a traditional adage for football locker rooms,” adding that the origin is uncertain.
Some Internet sites attribute it to football coach Vince Lombardi, but they’re mixing that maxim up with, “Winning isn’t everything; it’s the only thing.” Lombardi didn’t say that one, either; at least, he claimed he didn’t, though it has become associated with him.
As for the saying attributed to Schwarzenegger, comic George Carlin once commented, “If quitters never win and winners never quit, what fool came up with, ‘Quit while you’re ahead’?” Let’s call it quits on this item.
Personal disclosure: I’m trying to remain objective about the election, which is relatively easy since I haven’t found one candidate I like (but then I’ve only studied about 100 of them so far).
Still, I must report that I have a family issue involved.
A few years ago, while driving in Pacific Palisades, my nephew Nick Stein honked at Schwarzenegger because the actor’s car was drifting into his lane.
Schwarzenegger sped ahead, preferring not to debate the issue.
Such a deal: Today’s selection of offbeat services (see accompanying) includes:
* A lingerie shop that specializes in alternating -- what? (submitted by Frank Kessler of Sylmar).
* An outfit that will turn the sprinklers on your mail (John Cronander of Thousand Oaks).
* And a cleaner that will keep your shoes in a state of disorder, not that I would need any help in that area (David Johannsen of Torrance).
Stand up! Sit down! Oh, shut up: An allegation of “loud cheerleading” was reported by the Huntington Beach Wave, which said that a resident “called police to complain that two or three college-age girls were practicing cheers in the driveway of a complex. The alleged cheerleading practice was taking place at 1:54 a.m.” The newspaper didn’t say whether the officers ordered the girls to surrender their pompons.
MiscelLAny: Scott Pitzer of Norwalk contends that when he hears Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft say “terrorism” on the evening news, it sounds like “tourism.” Pitzer thought back to the time last year when he was taking a photo of an old-fashioned coffee shop in Utah and a policeman asked what he was doing.
“I said I was a tourist,” Pitzer told the media Web site ronfine man.com. “Later I realized what a close call that was.”
Steve Harvey can be reached by mail at Metro, L.A. Times, 202 W. 1st St., L.A. 90012, and by e-mail at steve.harvey@ latimes.com.