The trout of evidence

[libertango]

"Some circumstantial evidence is very strong, as when you find a trout in the milk." -- Henry David Thoreau

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This reminds me. I was once told that Thoreau's family didn't pronounce the name as if it was French -- thor-EAU -- but accented the first syllable. (THOR-eau. Like "thorough.")

This led to what I thought was a subtle joke. There was a book seller who took out an ad on the back cover of the American Scholar who specialized in academic titles. Tagline:

"We're Thoreau. And Swift."

Comments

[akirlu.livejournal.com]

The trout of evidence, and the salmon of enlightenment. Together, they fight crime.

[hal-obrien.livejournal.com]

I picture a logo sequence where the two are slapped down on a plaque in an X. Similar in tone to Jack Webb's old Mark VII Limited at the end of Adam-12.

[akirlu.livejournal.com]

Yes, that's it exactly.

[gerisullivan.livejournal.com]

Good tagline!

I can confirm that the employees at Walden Pond pronounce the name like "thorough" and gently instruct visitors in the pronunciation you were once told. I was so surprised that I first thought it sounded like a prank that bored, burned out employees had come up with. By the time I left the park, I was convinced that I'd been pronouncing it wrong for the last 40+ years. Oops.

[supergee.livejournal.com]

James Joyce noted that Swift was stern and Sterne was swift.

[kate-schaefer.livejournal.com]

If I found trout in my milk, I would think of this line, but I still wouldn't know what it meant.

[hal-obrien.livejournal.com]

From here:

"The expression comes from that bygone era when milk fresh from the cow was placed in wide mouth cans and cooled in the creek. There was always the temptation to dilute the product. Hence:
"Some circumstantial evidence is very strong, as when you find a trout in the milk" [i.e., the milk has been watered] - H.D.Thoreau, "Journal", Nov.11,1854."