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Usenet Posted 22 years ago
Usage

We all have heard?

I'm about to add a sentence from a client onto a web page. I'm unsure which of these is correct. The first is his submission, and it sort of looks grammatically correct to my non-scholarly eye. Yet I would have used the second in conversation.
'We all have heard of the phrase, a picture paints a thousand words.' 'We have all heard of the phrase, a picture paints a thousand words.'

Terry, West Sussex, UK
  

Top answer

[nq:1]I'm about to add a sentence from a client onto a web page. I'm unsure which of these is correct. '[/nq] Well, it's the first time I've heard of it, in any case.

  • [nq:1]I'm about to add a sentence from a client onto a web page.
  • I'm unsure which of these is correct.
  • '[/nq] Well, it's the first time I've heard of it, in any case.
  • " than either of the above.
  • But either form looks acceptable to me (though I would think that more of us have heard "a picture is worth a thousand words").
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24 Answers
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[nq:1]I'm about to add a sentence from a client onto a web page. I'm unsure which of these is correct. ... phrase, a picture paints a thousand words.' 'We have all heard of the phrase, a picture paints a thousand words.'[/nq]
Well, it's the first time I've heard of it, in any case.

I'd be more likely to say, "We've all heard the phrase ..." than either of the above.
But either for
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[nq:1]I'm about to add a sentence from a client onto a web page. I'm unsure which of these is correct. ... phrase, a picture paints a thousand words.' 'We have all heard of the phrase, a picture paints a thousand words.'[/nq]
This may be a pondial difference (UK v US), but I've always heard "a picture is worth a thousand words."
Also: I think it better to say "we have all heard the phrase"
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[nq:2]I'm about to add a sentence from a client onto ... heard of the phrase, a picture paints a thousand words.'[/nq]
[nq:1]This may be a pondial difference (UK v US), but I've always heard "a picture is worth a thousand words."[/nq]
It's that Telly Savalas bloke confusing us.
m.
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[nq:2]I'm about to add a sentence from a client onto ... heard of the phrase, a picture paints a thousand words.'[/nq]
[nq:1]Well, it's the first time I've heard of it, in any case. I'd be more likely to say, "We've all heard the phrase ..." than either of the above.[/nq]
I agree. "We've all heard the phrase..."
[nq:1]But either form looks acceptable to me (though I would think that mo
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[nq:1]It must a be more modern than it feels maybe tied to the invention of cameras and printing processes?...[/nq]
Yes, especially to the rise of advertising: in 1927, in the magazine Printers' Ink, but the published version is "One picture is worth ten (sic) thousand words." Its coiner, F. R. Barnard, obscured its origins by calling it a Chinese proverb. He'd used the one-thousand-words vers
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Oh great, now I have that dumb song running through my head.
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Terry Pinnell wrote on 30 Apr 2004:
[nq:1]I'm about to add a sentence from a client onto a web page. I'm unsure which of these is correct. ... phrase, a picture paints a thousand words.' 'We have all heard of the phrase, a picture paints a thousand words.'[/nq]
Either one is fine grammatically. But I agree that the "of" should be deleted and that the first would be better as "We've all hea
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[nq:1]I'm about to add a sentence from a client onto a web page. I'm unsure which of these is correct. ... phrase, a picture paints a thousand words.' 'We have all heard of the phrase, a picture paints a thousand words.'[/nq]
The second is definitely more idiomatic.
"of" is odd here: one would more likely hear a phrase than hear *of* it without actually hearing it. So I'd delete "of".
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[nq:2]It must a be more modern than it feels maybe tied to the invention of cameras and printing processes?...[/nq]
[nq:1]Yes, especially to the rise of advertising: in 1927, in the magazine Printers' Ink, but the published version ... the one-thousand-words version a few years earlier, but evidently decided to prefer a higher order of magnitude. See here: [/nq]
Thanks for identifying "Ba
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[nq:2]It must a be more modern than it feels maybe tied to the invention of cameras and printing processes?...[/nq]
[nq:1]Yes, especially to the rise of advertising: in 1927, in the magazine Printers' Ink, but the published version ... but evidently decided to prefer a higher order of magnitude. See here: What do the Chinese characters actually say?[/nq]
The last two characters are "wan4

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