Slips of the Lips

If Mrs. Malaprop had been a politician, she would have felt right at home in the state legislature of Michigan. For the past eight years, reporters in Lansing have been collecting the most memorable utterances of the legislators, and their quotes would have done Malaprop proud. This homegrown version of Bartlett's now covers most of one wall in the capitol press room. Some show an appealing honesty. "Before I give you the benefit of my remarks," intoned one lawmaker, "I'd like to know what we're talking about." Others mangle metaphors. "From now on, I'm watching everything you do with a fine-tooth comb." Some don't add up at all. "Two and two don't make four in my book." Then there are the sayings that show a bit too much Freudian slip. "There comes a time to put principle aside and do what's right," goes one quote. "We've got them right where they want us," said another legislator. Proclaimed one statehouse leader: "The chair would wish the members would refrain from talking about the intellectual levels of other members. That always leads to problems." The chair sometimes must wish the members would refrain from talking at all.

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