The man who coined this phrase had already been pilloried and imprisoned for writing satire people took literally. So the next time he went after Parliament, he built himself an escape hatch.
On this episode of Appraise The Phrase, Mario and Twenty unveil the origin, confirm the meaning, and assess the value of “if the shoe fits.” It starts in 1705 with Daniel Defoe — printed in London under the pretense that it came from Danzig, credited to an author who didn't exist, because the poem was a direct attack on the English Parliament. Defoe names nobody in it. He just writes that if a member recognizes himself in the satire, that recognition is the reader's act, not the writer's accusation.
Twenty's read: he invented the disclaimer.
Then the phrase crosses the Atlantic. May 1773, the New York Gazette and Weekly Mercury, a city weeks from tearing itself apart over the Tea Act, in the one genre where anonymity did the most work. And somewhere in that crossing, the object changes.
Also: the Cinderella theory and why it doesn't hold, the 1773 subtweet, what Google didn't bother correcting, and a Dictionary of Misinformation entry that will make you check your own vocabulary.
0:00 Green Goblin, Family Matters, And A Late Submission
1:03 The ATP Intro Theme
1:42 What's Good: LA, Venice Beach, And Morning Walks
7:02 Shout Out To Mo And The Event
8:01 Today's Phrase: If The Shoe Fits
10:25 Twenty: It Went From Positive To Negative
13:07 Mario Wrote This Episode From A Negative Place
14:27 Shout Out To Kayla And Kinara Books
15:27 Nobody Says “Wear It” Anymore
16:19 You Already Have The Shoe On
16:59 Confirm The Meaning: Four Dictionaries This Time
18:00 The Last-Minute Submission Always Wins
21:33 Which Ones Are Negative And Which Are Neutral
22:05 Twenty Picks Two Dictionaries — A First
22:53 Unveil The Origin: 1705, Daniel Defoe
23:12 The Green Goblin Problem
24:41 Printed In London, Credited To A Man Who Didn't Exist
26:09 Defoe Had Already Been Pilloried For Satire
27:13 A Legal Deniability Device
28:56 “He Invented The Disclaimer”
29:38 Have You Ever Jumped In Front Of A Bullet Nobody Fired?
31:27 You Gotta Show Me My ID In The Film
35:14 Are You Slower To Anger Now?
36:07 Why A Point Of No Return Is A Good Thing
37:28 Crashing Out, And The Flu Game Meme
38:43 May 1773: The Cap Becomes A Shoe
40:23 The Defensive Character Genre
41:26 Hugh Gaine, The Printer Who Stayed Neutral
42:46 Influence Before Influencers
43:00 The Tea Act And A City About To Break
44:41 The Original Subtweet
45:22 Twenty's Twitter Era
50:25 The Cinderella Hypothesis
52:00 Why The Case Against It Is Stronger
54:50 Google Didn't Correct The Story Either
56:33 Pop Culture Impact: The Top Four
57:30 #1 Hamilton, Cabinet Battle #1
58:37 The Appraisal
1:00:45 Dictionary Of Misinformation: The Subconscious Isn't Freudian
1:02:23 Closing Thoughts
1:02:55 Shop, Partners, And Credits
REFERENCED IN THIS EPISODE
Daniel Defoe, The Diet of Poland (1705) · Daniel Defoe, The Shortest Way with the Dissenters (1702) · New York Gazette and Weekly Mercury, May 1773 · Hugh Gaine, printer · Alexander McDougall writing as “Hampden,” New York Journal (1773) · Giambattista Basile, Pentamerone (1634) · Charles Dickens, Hard Times (1854) · Hamilton, “Cabinet Battle #1” · Spider-Man (2002) · Family Matters
COMMENT: Have you ever gotten defensive about something nobody was actually saying about you? And settle this — is a subtweet a disclaimer or a coward move?
ATP SHOP — every phrase gets a grade. Some of them get a mug.
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