The Official Explanations
Throughout history, our lives have been intermingled with people from all walks of life, bombarding us with little quips of knowledge, often ironic in nature, telling us how life really is. I think we all would like to be remembered by a philosophical ‘one liner’ that has our ‘name on him’, so that we might be forever immortalised. Although released in 1980, Paul Dickson, in his book ‘The Official Explanations’ (and of ‘The Official Rules’), has collected many of these. Of course, ‘new’ morsels of knowledge are being procured as we speak.
Have you ever used such an explanation to explain the inconsistency of life?
Bulen’s Advice. Don’t put off until tomorrow what you can put off until the day after tomorrow.
Byrnes Law of Concreting. When you pour it rains.
Clay’s Conclusion. Creativity is great, but plagiarism is faster.
Davis’s Dictum. Problems that go away by themselves come back by themselves.
Disney World Rule. Children under twelve must be accompanied by money.
Epperson’s Law. When a man says it’s a silly, childish game, it’s probably something his wife can beat him at.
Feather’s Discovery. Loneliness is something you can’t walk away from.
Fowler’s Note. The only imperfect thing in nature is the human race.
Frost’s Working Rule. By working faithfully eight hours a day, you may eventually get to be a boss and work twelve hours a day (Robert Frost).
Gandhi’s Observation. There is more to life than increasing its speed (Mahatma Gandhi).
From: The Official Explanations by Paul Dickson.
Bob Marshall