the schadenfreudig editor

[thnidu]

Just sent to the source of Gmail's Quote of the Day:

Gmail just showed me your Quote of the Day, from Robert Half:

Not admiring a mistake is a bigger mistake.

I really don't think that admiring a mistake is a good idea. I would bet dollars to doughnuts that he said (or wrote)

Not admitting a mistake is a bigger mistake.

I await your response with

Comments

[scifantasy]

Don't pop that champagne yet, Doctor. Evidence suggests that Google was right.

I would assume that Half suggested that every mistake is to be treasured, as they are the key to wisdom, through analysis.

[thnidu]

You can find anything on the Internet... whether it's true or not. That link is to the same site that Google used for the quote of the day, so it's not even evidence.

I looked a bit past the first few hits and found it both ways. One problem with using ghit count to authenticate material is that a great many of these sites will be quoting each other -- i.e., quoting from the same source. You can get hundreds or thousands of hits that all trace back to the same origin, regardless of its accuracy.

[scifantasy]

That's true; I can't find a clear origin either way.

[annonynous]

That certainly sounds familiar, and a quick glance through the first several Google links to Robert Half shows unanimous agreement.

Ya don't suppose it would do any good to go back in time almost eight years and show shrub this Quote of the Day, do ya? :(

Ann O.

[annonynous]

OK, plugging in "admiring" instead of "admitting" does get some hits, but way less than "admitting". Anybody got hardcopy out there (of course it's true; I saw it on-line) to advise us on this?

Ann O.

No Longer Long Odds

[idea_fairy]

I would bet dollars to doughnuts

I recall when donuts cost a nickel each, so literal dollars to donuts would have been 20:1 odds. Now, depending on which store I go to, it's more like 4:3 or maybe closer to an even bet.

So is another cliche biting the dust?

[madfedor]

Using "a mistake is a bigger mistake Robert Half" as the search terms, "admiring" comes up at the top, and a browse of the next five or six pages finds nothing close to "admitting".

All that said, "admiring" is too vague for what seems to be the intended message. "Admitting" works much better.

[jwg]

Occasion it is fun to admire a mistake especially when you can find some humor to it.