We all make mistakes with quotations. They’re one of the easiest things to get wrong. Knowing the common causes of errors helps us to avoid them.
Inaccurate memories
It’s quite difficult to remember long quotes with 100% accuracy. Words can be lost in the time it takes to turn from your book to your computer.
After writing a quote down, check it against the original source.
Common misquotations
Some quotes are so well loved that people bring them up in conversation all the time. Inevitably, they sometimes lose bits of themselves.
Before writing down a popular quote, look for its original source. If you find that the common misquotation is better than the original, you can acknowledge that in your writing.
Newspaper headlines
Newspaper headlines are necessarily short. They sometimes contain paraphrases of things that people said. When we read too quickly, we may assume that the paraphrases are direct quotes.
Always look in the body of the original article to find the quote. If the journalist has paraphrased from a TV show or podcast, you may have to listen to that too.
Generative AI and paraphrases
Many quotation errors these days come from Generative AI. It can present one person’s writing about another person as a direct quote made by the second individual.
Generative AI also has a hard time tracking down the original source of quotes. For example, if I quote from the BBC, it may then present the quote as coming from me or someone like me.
Old-fashioned web searches help us to deal with this problem. Look for where the quote’s exact wording has been used online. If those precise words appear in content that looks like ordinary web copy, be very careful.
Wishful thinking
Some erroneous quotes spread around the internet because they’re lovely. When they’re attributed to famous figures known for their wisdom or goodness, we tend not to question whether the quotes are real.
It’s always worth checking online to see whether anyone has debunked the quote. If we’re lucky, we’ll find that someone has posted what the person really said. It may be even better than the popular version.
I’m a blogger from the UK. I’m interested in the way that information flows between people, traditional media, and the modern internet. You can find me at TIDE and CANUTE.
Image comes from a photo library made available to WordPress users: Rahime Çiftçi on Pexels
TIDE and CANUTE 