Most annoying misquotation?

[mollinary]

Did it involve a small hairy creature with a head like a mouse?   


( ... what's that you say? ...... it's not a lemming? .... a lemon .... oh ... )

Was it the story of a mammal from Madagascar and a Conservative Politican?   "A lemur and Tory, my dear Watson."

Oh, dear, no, my mistake. That was in the Sun last week!   

Mollinary

[getagrip]

It was more to do with lemon curd being used as a lubricant and, more than that, I'm not saying 

[mollinary]

It was more to do with lemon curd being used as a lubricant and, more than that, I'm not saying 

I was hoping (yes, I know that hope is not a method!) to divert this thread from going down that route (if you'll pardon that expression). 

Mollinary

[Westmarcher]

"A lemur and Tory, my dear Watson."

    Not bad, Mollinary!  Yes, it did look like it might get alimentary again, didn't it?

So, its not a lemming then, Grip (I'm glad I hate lemon curd.  )

[Westmarcher]

Nelson at the Battle of Copenhagen, 1801. At one point the Danish fire was so severe that a signal was sent ordering him to break off the action. Instead he put his telescope to his blind eye and said, "I see no ships." Wrong. 

Whilst he did famously raise the telescope to his blind eye, what he really said was something like, 'I see no signal!' (apparently there are slightly different versions). The British fleet then went on to win the battle.

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Kiss me Hardy? or Kismet Hardy?

He was a sailor...

[Ithoriel]

"La Garde meurt mais ne se rend pas!"

[mollinary]

"La Garde meurt mais ne se rend pas!"

"Apart from me, obviously."  General Cambronne.     

Mollinary

[Ithoriel]

Both Cambronne and Halkett, who captured him, agreed that Cambronne never said either of the things attributed to him.

According to Wikipedia, General Claude-Etienne Michel's children wanted a royal decree to the effect that their father had uttered the words attributed to Cambronne but the matter remained undecided, which I hadn't heard about before.

In which case it might be a misattribution rather than a misquotation. 

[FierceKitty]

Though since nobody's paying attention to the actual topic of this thread, for a change, does it matter?

[getagrip]

Though since nobody's paying attention to the actual topic of this thread, for a change, does it matter?

Nope

[Westmarcher]

Most annoying misquotation? 

Though since nobody's paying attention to the actual topic of this thread, for a change, does it matter?

Should be, "Though since most people are not paying attention to the actual topic of this thread, for a change, does it matter?"

[Hertsblue]

"Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned".

The actual quotation is "Heaven has no rage like love to hatred turned, Nor hell a fury like a woman scorned" - William Congreve, The Mourning Bride