Whilst shopping online today, I learned something. No, it was not the usage of “whilst.” I already knew that. I was dithering about buying your sister an inspirational planner with cute animals and pithy quotes in it. I clutched my pearls at the sight of a misattributed quote.
Do one thing every day that scares you
— Mary Schmich
I huffed. Who were these goofy planner people, spreading bad information? I knew this was said by Eleanor Roosevelt. I was positive. Before I sent a huffy message to the planner people, I decided to double-check, just in case.
That is when I found Quote Investigator. It’s not the sort of place where you will find every quote, yet. They did not have the background on one of my favorites:
I thought I was wrong once, but I was mistaken
— currently unknown to askyermom
Quote Investigator did have the whole story on the daily scare quote and it was Mary Schmich, after all.
Sorry Mary!! Sorry planner people!! I’m not buying the planner, but I’m happy that you got your attributions correct.
humbly yours,
askyermom
askyermom 