. I'm almost tempted to quote the whole thing, but I'll refrain. "In the academic world, custom dictates that you may be considered a legend if there is more than one well-known anecdote about you. Morgenbesser, with his Borscht Belt humor and preternaturally agile mind, was the subject of dozens. In the absence of a written record of his wisdom, this was how people related to him: by knowing the stories and wanting to know more. The most widely circulated tale -- in many renditions it is even presented as a joke, not the true story that it is -- was his encounter with the Oxford philosopher J. L. Austin. During a talk on the philosophy of language at Columbia in the 50's, Austin noted that while a double negative amounts to a positive, never does a double positive amount to a negative. From the audience, a familiar nasal voice muttered a dismissive, 'Yeah, yeah.'" ("Asked to prove a questioner's existence, Morgenbesser shot back, 'Who's asking?'"). Publishers: I'd drop everything to read his biography.
Sidney Morgenbesser
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