We all have our idiosyncrasies. I'm not ashamed to admit that. One of my weird habits is collecting Yogi Berra sayings. You might not think that you know Yogi Berra, the quirky American baseball manager who was probably the model for the cartoon character Yogi Bear, but I'm certain you've heard of a famous saying that has been attributed to him, "It's not over until the fat lady sings."
According to one urban legend, Yogi Berra uttered these words to a pack of journalists who were staking out an opera house, the first time the rough, rather uncouth Berra got roped into attending an opera. When Yogi Berra emerged from the opera with a puzzled look on his face, the journalists reportedly asked him, "What did you think about the opera?" Yogi answered, "All I know for sure is it ain't over until the fat lady sings."
Over the years other people have claimed Yogi Berra wasn't the first to say this. They say the most Berra can claim to have said is, "It's not over until it's over." Other journalists have reduced Berra's comment about the opera to "I really liked it. Even the music was good."
Why in the world anyone would want to destroy a good urban legend is beyond me. In any case, there are many other Yogi-isms that are just as entertaining for their ability to show the misuse of language, a problem that many people have elevated to a fine art. Here are some of my favourite Yogi-isms:
• 1. "Never answer an anonymous letter." (What could he have been thinking?)
• 2. "It's déjà vu all over again." (Clearly Berra should have avoided French.)
• 3. "Steve McQueen looks good in this movie. He must have made it before he died." (No comment from me on this one. )
Math was definitely not Berra's forte. He seemed to have trouble counting, and many people felt he was a baseball manager because it required nothing more than counting four bases. He reportedly once told his players to "pair up in threes" and he once said, "You give 100 per cent in the first half of the game, and if that isn't enough, in the second half you give what's left."
He called the 1969 New York Mets baseball team "overwhelming underdogs" and elevated the oxymoron to a fine art. When New York lost the 1960 series to Pittsburgh, he attributed the loss to "too many wrong mistakes." There are Web sites devoted to Yogi-isms, and there you'll find Yogi Berra saying things like, "You can observe a lot by watching."
In a time when people did not admit to stripping the hotels they stayed in, Yogi Berra once admitted, "The towels were so thick there I could hardly close my suitcase." That was the 1950s and 1960s, and those were the days before well-known Ponzi schemes and blue-collar crime, so that statement didn't have the impact it would have today.
Yogi Berra was famous for giving advice. He had his own philosophy and he said things like, "You should always go to other people's funerals, otherwise they won't come to yours." Generally a good sport, he was fond of saying, "You wouldn't have won if we'd beaten you." Yogi Berra, a big burly man with a tough façade, believed in the truth, and he always wanted people to know the truth. That's why he said, "Half the lies they tell about me aren't true."
These days coaches can get away with being rude to reporters, but I never remember Yogi Berra being rude. There was a sense of mutual respect. Reporters smiled at his fumbling attempts to be profound, but I can't remember them laughing out loud in front of his face. Yogi Berra answered all their dumb questions and never berated them either. There was more respect back then in the 50s and 60s.
Today, when people are ready to throw just about anyone under a bus, Yogi Berra could have made a jail for language abuse, but in his time Yogi Berra was perceived as a loveable man who just couldn't quite make words work. In hindsight, his language abuse was rather harmless. (That sounds a lot like a yogi-ism.)
For some time I have been trying to figure out why I have saved Yogi-isms over the years. It seems an odd thing for an English teacher, librarian and journalist like me to do. After all, my job is to try my best to make language work in the most efficient manner. I don't poke fun at people, so what's the attraction?
Last week, I finally figured out why Yogi-isms interest me. Yogi-isms are a form of nostalgia. In this cut-throat world, words are most often misused in a mean-spirited, hurtful way. Phrases are twisted to make people look dumb in a cruel way. No one comes off as being cute and hopeless like Yogi Berra.
Remember Geraldo Rivera's hoodie tirade last week when he was discussing the "real" reason for Trayvon Martin being shot and killed in Florida? Geraldo's thoughtless words cost him a flood of criticism and an embarrassing apology. This is where talking without thinking will get you today. There's no such thing as a refreshing mistake anymore-and that is a Yogi-ism I stand by.