“. . . a Mondo 2000 scribe marvelled that “reading McLuhan is like reading Shakespeare – you keep stumbling on phrases that you thought were clichés, only this guy made them up!”
Here are some of the phrases that McLuhan coined that have become clichés;
“Some people use statistics as a drunk uses a lamppost – for support rather than illumination.
A man all wrapped up in himself makes a small package.
Many a good argument is ruined by some fool who knows what he is talking about.
The short cut is the long way around.
The future is not what it used to be; neither is the past.
The trouble with a cheap specialized education is that you never stop paying for it.
Diaper backwards spells repaid. Think about it.
Only puny secrets need protection. Big discoveries are protected by public incredulity.
History can be changed.
Art is what you can get away with.
Give more credit than you take.
Communication is what people with nothing to say do to people who won’t listen.
You don’t like these ideas? I got others!”
- Fitzgerald, Judith. Marshall McLuhan: Wise Guy. XYZ Publishing: Montreal, 2001. pg 89-90
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