Would you prefer to coin a phrase like “a fate worse than death” that is commonly used and part of the language for a very long time, but to whom few people know its origin – OR – have a famous and widely-served sandwich named after you like the Reuben?
Which, largely anonymous but long-lived, sort of fame would you prefer?
Sandwich. Maybe one made using shaved tongue or some other interesting ingredient.
Phrase. I love a good phrases and would be proud to come up with one.
I love sandwiches too, but they’re not very intellectual.
Phrase. In fact, here goes: when somebody does something really noteworthy, amazing, or profoundly stupid, the expression is “wow, that’ll get a sandwich named after you!”
Sandwich. I already coined “Mind like a steel sieve” and “It’s not rocket surgery.”
I’ll take the sandwich. If I managed to come up with a turn of phrase so pithy that everyone used it, I’d go absolutely nuts getting no recognition for my one tiny spark of genius. Especially if they didn’t use it quite right. And I’m just betting if I tried to tell anyone, they’d be like, “Sure, Nzinga, you came up with “sneak brag” all by yourself.”
But everybody knows Nzinga made up “sneak brag.” That’s how she got the sandwich named after her.
True. I think of her every time I order back bacon and peanut butter on a kaiser roll.
Is that Spam on challah with a few dabs of caviar hidden inside?
Pretty sure the latter, at least, is a case of multiple discovery. I’ve “coined” quite a few phrases that (much to my disappointment) returned several thousand hits on Google.
Neither of those are remotely original to you, and both are plays on previous phrases, which makes them less than original coinages in any case.
Probably the former as well.
Definitely a sandwich.
Is there an ‘eat your words’ in there somewhere?
I have coined phrases, which have at least some local currency. Nothing like “A fate worse than death,” but, for instance, “Relentless Furry Fandom.” (If you know furries, you know: we are relentless!) A few others.
Then again, I created a salad once… Is that comparable, here, to a sandwich? But I didn’t name it after myself; I call it “Orinoco Salad.” (It’s very hot.)
Guess I’d rather have a sandwich named after me. An awful, chewy, bitter sandwich.
Definitely a phrase. I don’t care about my name, per se, but about my contribution to humanity. No one knows the name of the first person to use the wheel or control fire, but yet we will all recognize they made significant contributions to humanity. What does someone’s given name tell us other than the culture they were in. All I know about Reuben is that he has a sandwich named for him. Did he do something good, was he just a friend or relative of the inventor, was he the inventor himself? Unless it’s actually named for the inventor, he didn’t even contribute the sandwich. Sure, a phrase doesn’t live up to culling fire, but a good phrase does add something useful or at least fun.
Give me the sandwich, easy.
The quote will get misattributed too easily within five years.
How long till the sandwich gets misattributed? Aren’t there several places claiming to be the original home of the Margarita?
I suppose that falls on the individual’s name. The Smiths of the world are fucked. If you have a last name as unique as Buttafuoco, I think it’ll stick.
Yeah, I’ve coined lots of famous phrases. Then those bastards Lincoln and Churchill stole them from me.