# The ethics of deliberate misattribution
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ethics-of-deliberate-misattribution/638101
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [October 18, 2012, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ethics-of-deliberate-misattribution/638101 "2012-10-18T05:15:09Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)
#### Post date: [October 18, 2012, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ethics-of-deliberate-misattribution/638101/1 "2012-10-18T05:15:09Z")
I watched this meme explode out of the womb over the past day and this quip popped into my head. I did a bit of cursory searching for its origin because, well, you know, there is nothing new under the sun. It is witty and has interesting nuances, so I liked it and wanted to make sure someone (no, you did not come up with it, sorry) would not get a hair up if I used it. So, to CMA, I decided to attach an obvious misattribution thusly:
_The Internet: faster than the speed of thought_ – Oscar Wilde
I mean, it honestly could be mine, every few years I hit a patch of creative wit, but I have no particular desire to own IP, as it were. What are the ethical implications of sullying the name of a dead guy (who might well have made a similar comment in the modern age) with words he clearly never could have uttered?
---
### Author:  [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)
#### Post date: [October 18, 2012, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ethics-of-deliberate-misattribution/638101/2 "2012-10-18T05:18:26Z")
Let’s move this over to IMHO.
Colibri
General Questions Moderator
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### Author:  [@Francis\_Vaughan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Francis_Vaughan)
#### Post date: [October 18, 2012, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ethics-of-deliberate-misattribution/638101/3 "2012-10-18T05:48:02Z")
Given he clearly could never had said it, the attribution isn’t an attribution, it forms part of the wit of the entire quip. So there is no ethical issue with respect to Oscar Wilde.
So with attribution it becomes:
```
*The Internet: faster than the speed of thought – **Oscar Wilde*** - For You
```
Now, if you knew who came up with the initial quote, and deliberately avoided attribution, it is harder. Adding Oscar Wilde makes it funnier. So it is a derivative work. But if you attributed it to John Doe, you are deliberately mis-attributing it to avoid credit being given to the originator - and that isn’t ethical.
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### Author:  [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)
#### Post date: [October 18, 2012, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ethics-of-deliberate-misattribution/638101/4 "2012-10-18T06:15:13Z")
> [@Francis\_Vaughan](#):
>
> Given he clearly could never had said it, the attribution isn’t an attribution, it forms part of the wit of the entire quip. So there is no ethical issue with respect to Oscar Wilde.
Won’t stop it from showing up on Snopes.
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### Author:  [@PlainJain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PlainJain)
#### Post date: [October 18, 2012, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ethics-of-deliberate-misattribution/638101/5 "2012-10-18T06:32:55Z")
Sylvia Plath seems to be the target of these.
“The trouble with quotes on the Internet is that you can never know if they are genuine.”
- Abraham Lincoln
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### Author:  [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)
#### Post date: [October 18, 2012, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ethics-of-deliberate-misattribution/638101/6 "2012-10-18T06:54:13Z")
These are jokes and not subject to the ethical aspects of misattribution. More to the point is Fox News which fabricates quotes, takes existing ones out of context, selectively edits them to make a point, or takes real ones an attributes them to the wrong person. This is done deliberately and willfully, and with the intent to decieve.
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### Author:  [@Francis\_Vaughan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Francis_Vaughan)
#### Post date: [October 18, 2012, 7:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ethics-of-deliberate-misattribution/638101/7 "2012-10-18T07:29:35Z")
A better misattribution for the original came to me.
_The Internet: faster than the speed of thought._ - Al Gore.
Much more fun for the possibilities of ethical problems.
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### Author:  [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)
#### Post date: [October 18, 2012, 8:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ethics-of-deliberate-misattribution/638101/8 "2012-10-18T08:25:33Z")
First: Oscar Wilde quotes? Someone’s been reading Uncyclopedia! Oscar Wilde is King there.
Second: I think Winston Churchill wins otherwise for false attributions. Either that or Mark Twain. Voltaire may have mainly one falsie, but it’s misattributed a lot.
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### Author:  [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)
#### Post date: [October 18, 2012, 8:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ethics-of-deliberate-misattribution/638101/9 "2012-10-18T08:55:27Z")
I’ll bet God has the most false attributions.
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### Author:  [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)
#### Post date: [October 18, 2012, 11:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ethics-of-deliberate-misattribution/638101/10 "2012-10-18T11:43:25Z")
False attributions are the bane of legitimate discourse. - Winston Smith
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### Author:  [@Alka\_Seltzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alka_Seltzer)
#### Post date: [October 18, 2012, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ethics-of-deliberate-misattribution/638101/11 "2012-10-18T13:01:34Z")
> [@DrFidelius](#):
>
> False attributions are the bane of legitimate discourse. - Winston Smith
Wasn’t that Will Smith?
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### Author:  [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)
#### Post date: [October 18, 2012, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ethics-of-deliberate-misattribution/638101/12 "2012-10-18T13:55:48Z")
> [@Alka\_Seltzer](#):
>
> Wasn’t that Will Smith?
Aw, hell no! - Will Smith
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### Author:  [@PoorYorick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PoorYorick)
#### Post date: [October 18, 2012, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ethics-of-deliberate-misattribution/638101/13 "2012-10-18T14:37:49Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#):
>
> First: Oscar Wilde quotes? Someone’s been reading Uncyclopedia! Oscar Wilde is King there.
>
> Second: I think Winston Churchill wins otherwise for false attributions. Either that or Mark Twain. Voltaire may have mainly one falsie, but it’s misattributed a lot.
Paul Harvey is way up there, too, especially with patriotic glurge.
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### Author:  [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)
#### Post date: [October 18, 2012, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ethics-of-deliberate-misattribution/638101/14 "2012-10-18T14:41:03Z")
> [@PlainJain](#):
>
> “The trouble with quotes on the Internet is that you can never know if they are genuine.”
>
> - Abraham Lincoln
That’s the one that was immediately brought to mind by the OP.
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### Author:  [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)
#### Post date: [October 18, 2012, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ethics-of-deliberate-misattribution/638101/15 "2012-10-18T17:38:01Z")
PlainJain:
> [@](#):
>
> “The trouble with quotes on the Internet is that you can never know if they are genuine.”
>
> - Abraham Lincoln
You’re not gonna fool any of the people any of the time with that one.
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### Author:  [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)
#### Post date: [October 18, 2012, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ethics-of-deliberate-misattribution/638101/16 "2012-10-18T17:44:40Z")
No need to attribute anything to Oscar Wilde. It’s implied.
“If, with the literate, I am
Impelled to try an epigram,
I never seek to take the credit;
We all assume that Oscar said it.”
– Dorothy Parker
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### Author:  [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)
#### Post date: [October 18, 2012, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ethics-of-deliberate-misattribution/638101/17 "2012-10-18T18:17:51Z")
[QUOTE=Adolf Hitler]
What are the ethical implications of sullying the name of a dead guy (who might well have made a similar comment in the modern age) with words he clearly never could have uttered?
[/QUOTE]
Beats me.
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### Author:  [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)
#### Post date: [October 18, 2012, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ethics-of-deliberate-misattribution/638101/18 "2012-10-18T18:24:27Z")
There is a fun variation where you take a famous quote, attribute it to the wrong person (but from a related media), and then put it on a picture of another different person (again from a related media)
For example: “Do, or Do Not. There is no Try.” – James T. Kirk, superimposed over a photo of Gandalf.
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### Author:  [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)
#### Post date: [October 18, 2012, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ethics-of-deliberate-misattribution/638101/19 "2012-10-18T19:34:55Z")
“I never said most of the things I said.”
-Yogi Berra
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### Author:  [@Taomist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taomist)
#### Post date: [October 18, 2012, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ethics-of-deliberate-misattribution/638101/20 "2012-10-18T19:58:23Z")
> [@iamthewalrus\_3](#):
>
> No need to attribute anything to Oscar Wilde. It’s implied.
>
> “If, with the literate, I am
> Impelled to try an epigram,
> I never seek to take the credit;
> We all assume that Oscar said it.”
>
> – Dorothy Parker
Bravo! I really like that.
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