Yogi Berra: famous for his misquotes
Yogi Berra: famous for his misquotes
By Ian Blackshaw
We cannot let the passing, at the age of ninety, of Yogi Berra, the American professional major league baseball catcher, manager and coach with the New York Yankees, who was also well known for his ‘yogi-isms’, go unnoticed without sharing a word or two of them!
Perhaps the most famous example of his mangling of the English language is the following quote: “It’s déjà vu all over again!”
Another of his sayings: “You should always go to other people’s funerals; otherwise, they won’t come to yours.”
And another one: “I never blame myself when I’m not hitting. I just blame the bat and if it keeps up, I change bats. After all, if I know it isn’t my fault that I’m not hitting, how can I get mad at myself?”
Also, a rather profound one: “You can observe a lot by just watching.”
And, in the same vein: “The future ain’t what it used to be.”
Finally, he is reported to have once said: “A lot of guys go, ‘Hey, Yog, say a Yogi-ism.’ I tell ‘em, ‘I don’t know any.’ They want me to make one up. I don’t make ‘em up. I don’t even know when I say it. They’re the truth. And it is the truth. I don’t know.”
