Q: Who Said “There’s a sucker born every minute”? | Blogcritics Home / Q: Who Said “There’s a sucker born every minute”? Q: Who Said “There’s a sucker born every minute”? Posted by: Mental_Floss December 6, 2006 in Uncategorized 10 Comments Please Share... 0 0 A: P. T. Barnum, you say? Pretty close, but no. Although nearly always attributed to Barnum, the aphorism about suckers was actually delivered by Barnum’s rival David Hannum, a grade-A sucker himself. You see, in the 1860s, tobacconist John Hull created an elaborate, money-making hoax in which he had a 10-foot-tall stone statue of a man carved and then buried in Cardiff, New York. The giant stone man was then dug up again and Hull was now able to sell it as an archaeological oddity. In 1869, Hannum and four business partners took the bait and paid $37,500 for the worthless artifact thinking that they could turn a profit by charging people to get a glimpse of it.

A lot of buzz was generated about the giant (was he a petrified biblical figure? an ancient Native American statue? a distant ancestor of Bill Walton?), and as thousands of people began to pay good money to get a gander, it looked like Hannum’s investment was going to pay off quite nicely. That is, until clever P. T. Barnum entered the picture. Always the sly one, Barnum built a giant of his own and claimed that it was the true Cardiff Giant – a fake of a fake! When people flocked to see Barnum’s creation, hapless Hannum (who didn’t even know at that point that he himself had paid roughly 40 grand for a fake) mused at the on-lookers, “There’s a sucker born every minute.” You said it, Hannum. Yet I eat 2 suckers every minute. They’ve got to up their production if they are going to last. Doris Stones Edwards W.C. Fields said it first in a classic movie. Can’t remember the name of it.

the dark one lol, wc fields said it in a movie first, with movies being invented in the 1860 (talkies coming in the 20s) and wc fields being born the same year as movies invented. Not even close….. Doris Stones Edwards Sure enough, Wikipedia revealed that Fields had written and starred in a 1941 film called “Never Give a Sucker an Even Break.” He had used the phrase several times before, first in a 1936 film called “Poppy,” and then in 1939′s “You Can’t Cheat an Honest Man.” toadaway Barnum was stealing Hannum’s show circa 1870. Field’s first use, according to your own account, happened in 1936. How does that make Field’s the first user? Doris Stones Edwards I’m done with this conversation, which started in 2006. I just stating some facts. Do an online Search, and answer your own question. I don’t have time for this. If I could delete my comment, I would and save myself the aggravation. the dark two Doris, you are an idiot plain and simple.

I guess you believe everything you read on the internet….I have a bridge in Brooklyn for sale if you’re interested???? Doris Stones Edwards Dark Two,…you are DARK. No wonder you hide your picture! You’re the only cyber bully asshole that I’ve had to merely tolerate in two decades. You don’t even know how to have a decent conversation without getting derogatory? Well, in Rome,…Get a life IDIOT, and just let it go! Or, no doubt you’ll have to add what you believe is a brilliant and assuming comeback. My final response at this point is, FUCK OFF you intolerable jerk and moron! James Mays There’s a Sucker Born Every Minute | Quote Investigator There’s a Sucker Born Every Minute P.T. Barnum? Hungry Joe Lewis? Artemus Ward? Mike McDonald? Apocryphal? Anonymous? Dear Quote Investigator: A famous saying about gullibility is usually attributed to the well-known showman P. T. Barnum. Here are two versions: There’s a sucker born every minute. There’s a fool born every minute. Whether Barnum actually used either of these expressions is controversial. Would you please examine this topic?

Quote Investigator: QI has located no persuasive evidence that Phineas Taylor Barnum who died in 1891 spoke or wrote this saying. Researcher Ralph Keyes presented a skeptical stance with his assertion in “The Quote Verifier” that “No modern historian takes seriously the routine attribution of this slogan to P. T. Barnum.” 1 There exists a family of closely related expressions with a long history. Here is a sampling together with years of occurrence. The first item listed employed dialectical spelling. The word “flat” was a synonym for “fool”.

The abbreviation “attrib” means that the words were attributed to an individual, but the evidence was indirect: 1806: there vash von fool born every minute 1826: a new fool is born every day 1835: there is a flat born every minute 1877: there is a fool born every hour 1879: there’s a sucker born every minute (anonymous adage) 1882: there was a sucker born every minute (attrib anon con man) 1885: there was a sucker born every minute (attrib Hungry Joe) 1888: there is a sucker born every minute (attrib Artemus Ward) 1889: a sucker is born every minute (attrib Mike McDonald) 1890: a fool was born every minute (attrib P.T. Barnum) 1892: there was a sucker born every minute (attrib P.T. Barnum) The above listing is a snapshot of current research results, and it will certainly change over time as more data is gathered. The earliest instances of these expressions were anonymous, and QI believes that later attributions had inadequate support.

Here are selected citations in chronological order. In 1806 an article titled “Essay on False Genius” was published in “The European Magazine and London Review”. Within the article an instance of the saying was attributed to a fictitious commodity seller. The passage reflected the prejudices and stereotypes of the milieu, and the phrase was written in dialect. Boldface has been added to excerpts: 2 It was the observation of one of the tribe of Levi, to whom some person had expressed his astonishment at his being able to sell his damaged and worthless commodities, “That there vash von fool born every minute.” And perhaps the calculation might be brought to the proof, that not more than fifty men of genius are born in half a century. In 1826 “The New-York Evening Post” reprinted an article about a letter that appeared in a London newspaper and appended the following remark. A version of the adage using “day” instead of “minute” was placed between quotation marks and designated a “principle” indicating that it was already in circulation.

No attribution was given: 3 The writer of this letter wonders that the English will continue to trade with America, and can account for it only on the principle that “a new fool is born every day.” In 1835 “Bell’s Life In London and Sporting Chronicle” printed an instance of the saying that used the word “flat” instead of “fool” or “sucker”. The term “flat” in this article was applied to an individual who mistakenly entrusted money to a swindler for safekeeping: 4 It is only surprising, after the repeated exposures of this species of robbery, that fresh flats are so frequently picked up; but, as these ingenious speculators say, “there is a flat born every minute;” and it is not likely the race will become extinct. In 1839 “Fraser’s Magazine for Town and Country” printed an instance of the saying that used the word “flat” in the domain was horse racing: 5 Man may be fairly styled an animal of the class “gullible.” From the hour of his birth till the day of his death, never does the organ of credulity cease to bump out his cerebrum.

It is a common saying among the legs of the turf, that “there is a flat born every minute.” No dictum can be based on better grounds. In 1855 “The Yale Literary Magazine” published a comical poem about a baby show that mentioned P. T. Barnum and included word play with the terms “succor” and “sucker”. Note that a breast-feeding baby may be designated a “sucker”. Also, according to the Oxford English Dictionary the sense of “sucker” as a greenhorn or simpleton was already established by 1838: 6 7 They all were there in beauty so bright, Arrayed in their very best bib and tucker: Mr. Barnum provided for each one’s needs, And gave needed succor to each little sucker. Thus, the poem stated that Barnum was attending to the needs of newly born suckers. Nevertheless, the earliest known evidence for the saying “sucker born every minute” was dated 1879, and the ascription to Barnum only occurred more than a decade later as detailed further below.

In 1877 a London newspaper quoted a “sharper”, i.e., a criminal trickster, using a version of the expression with “hour” instead of “minute’: 8 “There is a fool born every hour,” said one of these sharpers to an informant of Mr. Anderson, the member for Glasgow, “and, thank Heaven, the majority of them live!” In January 1879 the earliest instance using “sucker” appeared in an article titled “Gambling in Chicago” printed in “The Inter-Ocean” newspaper of Chicago, Illinois. The following words were attributed to an “old-timer”, and the saying was enclosed in single-quotation marks signaling that the phrase was already in circulation: 9 . . . in the season they make a bit on base ball, or on the races, and then, you know, ‘there’s a sucker born every minute,’ and rigid city legislation drives the hard-up gambler, who would be a decent one of the kind, to turn skin-dealer and sure-thing player.

In January 1882 another instance using “sucker” appeared in an article titled “Keep Your Money: People Would Do Well to Look Carefully before They Leap” printed in a Chicago, Illinois newspaper: 10 It was an expert confidence man who said that “there was a sucker born every minute, and some have remained suckers all their lives.” In 1883 other instances of the phrase with “sucker” appeared. For example, a newspaper in New Haven, Connecticut ascribed an extended version of the adage to archetypal gamblers: 11 Gamblers call all outside their fraternity suckers. They say “There is a sucker born every minute, and New York is the best place in the world to catch them.” In 1885 a 41 page biographical sketch titled “The Life of Hungry Joe: King of the Bunco Men” was published, and the saying was ascribed to the notorious confidence man Joseph Lewis, aka Hungry Joe: 12 It was always a saying with Joe that there was a sucker born every minute, and all through his business career he acted on that basis, and generally found a good crop of them.

In October 1888 a New York newspaper described a jewelry-based swindle and the unfortunate souls who were deceived. The article ended with an instance of the saying ascribed to the popular humorist Artemus Ward, pen name of Charles Farrar Browne: 13 Old men and young men bit alike and the experience, although dearly bought will, no doubt, be a lesson to them. Then, too, they can console themselves with that famous expression of Artemus Ward’s that “there is a sucker born every minute.” In September 1889 a Rockford, Illinois newspaper printed the saying and credited a well-known Chicago criminal named Mike McDonald: 14 They have long since proved the truth of Mike McDonald’s celebrated maxim that a sucker is born every minute.” In October 1890 a clothing store ran an advertisement in the “Chicago Tribune” that ascribed to P.T. Barnum a version of the adage with the word “fool”.

This was the earliest linkage to Barnum found by QI: 15 Any of these so-called Dry Goods stores go into the Clothing business by hiring a salesman from some clothing house, send him down to New York, and when he returns they “ADVERTISE” his purchases 40 per cent LESS than Clothing Store Prices. However, they don’t care a “—–” what they say in the papers, anything to get the crowd. Barnum said many years ago that a fool was born every minute. In November 1891 the same clothing store ran another advertisement in the “Chicago Tribune” and credited Barnum with a slightly different phrasing that replaced “fool” with “new fool”: 16 The “Immortal” Barnum said every minute a new fool is born, and he catered that way and was successful. He could have kept successfully a “Department” Store. In July 1892 a newspaper in Victoria, British Columbia reprinted a tale from a Montreal paper about a young Englishman who was swindled. The introduction presented an instance of the adage with the word “sucker”.

This was the first linkage of Barnum to the “sucker” version of the maxim found by QI: 17 The appended sad story is clipped from the Montreal Herald of July 13, and, will be read with interest by Victorians: “The late P. T. Barnum, the king of showmen, often remarked that there was a sucker born every minute, and one of the slick gentlemen in Montreal evidently believes that it is true.” In October 1892 the maxim was again ascribed to the defrauder Joseph Lewis, aka Hungry Joe, in the pages of a New York newspaper: 18 When Inspector Williams was only a Captain, and the notorious bunco steerer “Hungry Joe” was in the zenith of his very questionable fame, the Captain, in a fit of laudable curiosity, asked the swindling expert how it was that he managed to live so well by his wits. “Why, don’t you know that there is a sucker born every minute?” Hungry Joe answered, in a tone of honest surprise that the Captain had not discovered the fact.

Secondary and tertiary sources have associated the adage with George Hull, David Hannum, Joseph Bessimer, Adam Forepaugh and others. However, the data in this article is based directly on passages in newspapers and books with known dates. In conclusion, the two expressions “there’s a fool born every minute” and “there’s a sucker born every minute” both had anonymous attributions initially. Over time they were reassigned to prominent individuals of the time period. However, only the fame of P.T. Barnum has endured. Today, the phrase “there’s a sucker born every minute” is often ascribed to him. Yet, support for this ascription is very weak. Citations occurred at the very end of his life and after his death. (Special thanks to PatriotFan whose query led QI to formulate this question and motivated QI to write up results primarily obtained in 2010. Great thanks to Bill Mullins who located the January 7, 1882 citation. Bill also found a valuable citation using flat in June 1835. Thanks to other ADS discussants. Also thanks to Barry Popik for his valuable research on this topic.

In addition, thanks to the volunteer Wikipedia editors and jb5911 who clipped the 1879 citation with “sucker” at newspapers.com) Update History: On May 17, 2016 the citations dated February 22, 1835 and January 2, 1879 were added. Notes: 2006, The Quote Verifier by Ralph Keyes, Quote Page 215, St Martin’s Griffin, New York. (Verified on paper) ↩ 1806 January, The European Magazine and London Review, (By the Philological Society of London), Volume 49 (XLIX), Essay on False Genius, Start Page 25, Quote Page 26, Column 1, Published by James Asperne, London. (Google Books Full View) link ↩ 1826 April 8, The New-York Evening Post (Evening Post), (Comment on article “From the Boston Statesman, April 5”), Quote Page 2, Column 3, New York.

(GenealogyBank) ↩ 1835 February 22, Bell’s Life In London and Sporting Chronicle, Police Intelligence: Union-Hall, Quote Page 4, Column 2, London, England. (British Newspaper Archive) ↩ 1839 June, Fraser’s Magazine for Town and Country, Volume 19, Number 114, Anatomy of the Chess Automaton, Start Page 717, Quote Page 717, Published by James Fraser, London. (Google Books Full View) link ↩ Oxford English Dictionary: OED Online, Entry: sucker, noun, I, 1b figurative; Oxford University Press. (Accessed oed.com on April 10, 2014) ↩ 1855 July, The Yale Literary Magazine, Conducted by the Students of Yale College, Volume 20, Number 8, Editor’s Table, Start Page 317, Quote Page 320, Published by Thomas H. Pease, New Haven, Connecticut.

(Google Books Full View) link ↩ 1877 August 18, The West-End News and London Advertiser, Betting Agencies and Fools, Quote Page 3, Column 1, London, Middlesex. (NewspaperArchive) ↩ 1879 January 2, The Inter-Ocean, Gambling in Chicago, Quote Page 5, Column 2, Chicago, Illinois. (Newspapers_com) ↩ 1882 January 7, Daily Inter Ocean, Keep Your Money: People Would Do Well to Look Carefully before They Leap, Quote Page 7, Column 3, Chicago, Illinois. (GenealogyBank) ↩ 1883 March 17, New Haven Evening Register, How Gamblers Win: Forty Millions Squandered, Quote Page 3, Column 3, New Haven, Connecticut. (GenealogyBank) ↩ 1885, The Life of Hungry Joe: King of the Bunco Men, Author name not specified, Subtitle: Dedicated to Countrymen with the Compliments of the Author, Quote Page 22, Published by Frank Tousey, New York.

(Verified with scans from the Harvard College Library pamphlet digitization program) link ↩ 1888 October 6, The Nunda News, Geneseo Suckers, Quote Page 3, Column 4, Nunda, New York. (Old Fulton) ↩ 1889 September 5, Morning Star, It Was Yellow Day: Saffron-Hued Ribbons and Sunflowers the Order of the Hour, Quote Page 3, Column 3, Rockford, Illinois. (GenealogyBank) ↩ 1890 October 19, Chicago Tribune, Advertisement for Willoughby & Hill Clothing Store, Quote Page 39, Column 4, Chicago, Illinois. (ProQuest) ↩ 1891 November 6, Chicago Daily Tribune, Advertisement for Willoughby & Hill Clothing Store, Quote Page 5, Column 2 to 4, Chicago, Illinois. (ProQuest) ↩ 1892 July 21, The Daily Colonist (Victoria Daily Colonist), The Old, Old Story, Quote Page 5, Column 1, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.

(Old Fulton) ↩ 1892 October 11, The Sun, The Hussar’s Treasure: Again the Rainbow Vanishes at Whose Foot It Lies, Quote Page 7, Column 5, New York. (Old Fulton) ↩ There's a Customer Born Every Minute: P.T. Barnum's Amazing 10 ''Rings of Power'' for Creating Fame, Fortune, and a Business Empire Today -- Guaranteed! by Joe Vitale, Hardcover | Barnes & Noble® Soundview Executive Book Summaries P.T. Barnum's Greatest Sales Approach On Earth In addition to being one of the greatest showmen and businessmen ever, P.T. Barnum is author, copywriter and marketing expert Joe Vitale's mentor from beyond. Vitale therefore takes exception to the fact that most people only know of Barnum's management of the famous circus that still bears his name, and stresses that Barnum was involved with the famed circus only during the last years of his life. It was his American Museum (audaciously purchased with no cash down and a swampy island as collateral) — and his almost mythical promotion of General Tom Thumb (Charles S.

Stratton) and Swedish songstress Jenny Lind — that made P.T. Barnum his money and fame. Tell Your Story to Everyone Who Will Listen P.T. Barnum's observation that too many businesses hide their light under a bushel resonates profoundly with Vitale's experience as a marketer and copywriter. Barnum's simple and direct approach to communicating value to potential customers remains as true today as it did in his time. The master showman knew that if potential customers don't know what you have to offer, they aren't going to buy it. Beneath the gutsy tales of bold promotions, anecdotes about wild animals and crazy contests (or the story of how Barnum was nearly hanged) the book presents simple, applicable advice. Find a business you love, promote it like crazy then give paying customers more than they expect. According to Barnum (and Vitale), it's an approach that cannot fail. Barnum's 10 Rings of Power Vitale also holds Barnum up as a man who understood the power of positive thinking decades before it was a pop psychology phenomenon.

He was a man who endured tremendous personal and business tragedies (he went bankrupt twice), but had the attitude and strength of character to persevere and build immediately upon (at one point literally) the ashes of his defeat. Vitale draws out 10 points — or "Rings of Power" — that originate in the personal beliefs Barnum held on the subject of success in business. According to Vitale, Barnum's actions and writing attest that: He believed there was a customer born every minute (not a sucker as the common saying would have us believe). Barnum went against the grain of our current "targeting" approaches, believing that the more people who know about your offer, the larger the pool of potential customers. He believed in using skyrockets. He was the king of dreaming up audacious ways to grab attention, and in doing so invented the baby contest and the beauty contest. He believed in giving people more than their money's worth. A quality as irresistible now as it was then. He fearlessly believed in the power of printer's ink. Barnum understood the power of information. He believed that customers will listen to any story if it is sufficiently entertaining. He believed in persistently advertising.

Barnum understood that hit-and-miss advertising doesn't work, but a consistent message, told over and over, hits its mark. He believed in helping people get results (what goes around comes around). Barnum was building strategic alliances with complementary businesses long before the term came into being. He believed in negotiating creatively, treating employees and performers with respect. Fairness, respect and treating people as you would wish to be treated goes a long way now as it did in his time. He believed all was well. He knew the energy expelled in being bitter over losses could be better channeled into overcoming adversity. He believed in the power of the written word. He believed in the power of speaking. Barnum knew that people pay attention to experts. Success in Life Is Everything Perhaps one of the most useful and memorable sections of the book is a reprint of The Art of Money Getting, penned by Barnum himself. In addition to containing the origins of the salient business practices echoed in Vitale's 10 Rings, Barnum's wonderfully homespun advice included warnings to not spend more than you make, not to drink or smoke, and to seek out simple pleasures. Why We Like This Book Success stories are irresistible. So are unique characters.

Vitale has given us plenty of both in this wonderfully personal, yet extremely relevant and applicable guide for anyone who wants to make their business the greatest show on earth. His advice is also a life lesson, as pertinent today as when he first imparted it. Copyright © 2006 Soundview Executive Book Summaries The Story Behind “There’s A Sucker Born Every Minute” | Nosey Parker The Story Behind “There’s A Sucker Born Every Minute” Alan Parker - April 6th, 2011 “There’s a sucker born every minute” was the defining motto of 19th Century American showman and impresario P.T. Barnum. Although the words are often attributed to Barnum, they were actually said about him by a jealous rival, not by the great man himself (according to Barnum, anyway). Barnum was the most flamboyant, outrageous, daring — and successful — of the many entrepreneurs who dazzled and delighted North American audiences throughout the 19th Century with shows of natural and unnatural wonders — the bigger and more bizarre the better.

Barnum introduced awestruck Americans and Canadians to the 2-foot-5 dwarf performer General Tom Thumb (Barnum’s cousin), Nova Scotia giantess Anna Swan, the original “Siamese twins” Chang and Eng (from Siam — modern Thailand — of course), and a panoply of unusual humans and exotic animals, including the original Jumbo elephant (who died in St. Thomas, Ont., after being struck by a circus train; Barnum had Jumbo’s skin stuffed and continued to exhibit it for years). Barnum also put up a breathtaking $200,000 to bring the world’s first superstar, Swedish Nightingale Jenny Lind, to North America for a tour that lasted years in the 1850s, making them both fabulously wealthy in the process. So P.T. Barnum was always looking to put on a show that would entice audiences to part with their hard-earned cash. But he never considered his customers to be “suckers” and he gave them full value for the price of admission — usually. But in the case of the Cardiff Giant, Barnum gave the paying customers what they wanted — even if it wasn’t real.

In fact, Barnum’s Cardiff Giant was a fake copy of an original fake. Let me explain. It all started shortly after the end of the U.S. Civil War, when New York City tobacconist George Hull — a vocal atheist (not that uncommon for the time) — got into an argument with a fundamental creationist about whether or not the Bible could be believed when it said (Genesis 6:4) the Earth was once populated by a race of giants (sometimes interpreted as aliens). Hull decided to stick it, so to speak, to the Biblical literalists by creating his own petrified Genesis giant; he spent a small fortune and a good deal of time and effort doing so. First he had a 12-foot-long block of gypsum cut for him in Iowa and shipped to Chicago, where he promised to pay German tombstone carver Edwin Burkhardt handsomely to carve out a giant human form and keep his mouth shut. (According to Burkhardt’s descendants, the stonecarver died soon after completing his work and all Burkhardt’s widow ever got from Hull was $10.) Hull and the sculptor then went to work on the stone giant with stains and acids to give it the appearance of great age.

They even managed to create what looked like pores in the “skin” of the statue. The result was what Hull hoped his gullible religious opponents would take to be the petrified remains of one of the giants that once supposedly roamed the world. When finally satisfied with his handiwork in November 1868, Hull crated his monster and shipped it to the farm of his cousin, W.C. Newell, near Cardiff in upstate New York. The two men buried the stone statue deep in a field behind Newell’s barn and waited … and waited … and waited. Finally, almost a year later, the dug-up earth had settled and grown over enough that it seemed undisturbed ground and Hull launched his endgame. Farmer Newell — known as “Stub” to his friends and neighbours — hired two locals in October 1869 to dig a well behind his barn. Lo and behold, the two labourers made an incredible discovery — the petrified, preserved remains of an ancient human, soon to be known far and wide as the Cardiff Giant.

And from far and wide gawkers soon came to witness this miraculous thing — and willingly paid 25 cents (50 cents within a few days — about $40 in today’s money) to Stubb Newell and George Hull for the privilege. Exhibit tent on Newell’s Farm, 1869 With greed overtaking his philosophical pranksterism, Hull sold his two-thirds ownership share of the Giant for the whopping sum of $36,000 to a showbiz syndicate headed by banker and horse trader David Hannum. David Hannum, above, and the Cardiff Giant being shipped to Syracuse, below. Hannum moved the Cardiff Giant up the road to the bustling city of Syracuse, N.Y., where it continued to draw such crowds that P.T. Barnum soon became interested in acquiring the Giant for his museum of oddities down in New York City. Barnum offered $50,000 for the petrified man, but Hannum turned him down flat.

Barnum, being ingeniously resourceful and unscrupulous, then bribed Hannum’s night watchman to secretly admit a craftsman in Barnum’s employ to make a wax model of the “real” Cardiff Giant. Back in New York City, Barnum had a plaster replica made of the wax model and put it on display, claiming that Hannum had sold him the “real” Giant and that the one Hannum was now showing in Syracuse was, in fact, a fake. What amazing gall. P.T. Barnum’s “fake” fake This is the point at which Hannum lashed out at Barnum and the gullible masses flocking to see P.T.’s New York City “fake.” And it was a chortling Barnum who told the New York newspapers that it was Hannum who told him, “There’s a sucker born every minute.” Hannum responded by suing Barnum for slander and loss of income for calling the Syracuse Giant a fake. Unfortunately for Hannum, the case was heard in a New York City court where Barnum was a generous contributor to the judge’s political campaigns.

It didn’t help that George Hull decided to pull the plug on his prank/fraud by admitting to a newspaper on Dec. 10, 1869, that he had faked the Cardiff Giant and set up the elaborate charade of its “discovery.” When Hannum’s civil suit came to trial on Feb. 2, 1870, both Hull and his cousin, Stub Newell, testified that the Cardiff Giant was a total fake, inspired by Hull’s anti-religious fervour and turned into a huge money-making event by the public’s thirst for new and strange sensations. The judge promptly ruled that there was no slander in calling a fake a fake — even if Barnum was unaware the “original” was indeed a fake — and threw out Hannum’s suit. The court case actually increased the public’s interest in the Cardiff Giant and both Barnum and Hannum continued to display their two fakes for years and continued to make money, minute by minute, from new generations of suckers, er, paying customers.

Hannum’s “original” fake Cardiff Giant was even an attraction at the 1901 Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, although it was overshadowed by things like the gaudy display of new-fangled electric lights powered from nearby Niagara Falls and by the assassination of President William McKinley at the expo site. If you feel like paying the price of admission (sucker), you can still see both Hull/Hannum’s Cardiff Giant and P.T. Barnum’s replica. One’s at the Farmers’ Museum in Cooperstown, N.Y., and the other’s at Marvin’s Marvelous Mechanical Museum in Farmington Hills, Mich., near Detroit. I’m not telling you which is which. (Postscript: George Hull decided he was onto such a good thing that he created another buried giant — this time made of clay, ground bones, meat and plaster — that was “discovered” in Beulah, Colorado, in 1877.

Hull and partner William Conant made a tidy profit from this new petrified giant, dubbed The Solid Muldoon since it was hidden on Muldoon Hill and there was a music-hall song, then currently popular, called “Muldoon, the Solid Man.” And, yes, P.T. Barnum’s fingerprints are attached to the Solid Muldoon: It’s likely he financed Hull’s latest enterprise and he was sniffing around Beulah within days of the “discovery” — but he seems to have decided there just wasn’t enough public interest to bring the Muldoon to New York City. Or perhaps the meat was just rotting too much. The Solid Muldoon disappeared from public awareness shortly thereafter, as did George Hull. As far as I can tell, Hull avoided having his photo taken during his hucksterhood.) The Solid Muldoon, R.I.P. There's a sucker born every minute. - YouTube There's a sucker born every minute. Want to watch this again later? Sign in to add this video to a playlist. Need to report the video? Sign in to report inappropriate content. The interactive transcript could not be loaded. Loading... Rating is available when the video has been rented.

This feature is not available right now. Please try again later. Published on Sep 16, 2015 The phrase, "there is a sucker born every minute" is often incorrectly attributed to P.T. Barnum. Its origin is even more interesting and at its core was one of the 19th centuries greatest hoaxes. This video showcases the incredible story of how this phrase came to be and is taken from the book, Scammed and is narrated by author, Stephen Cloete. Scammed is available at all leading bookstores or online. There’s a sucker born every minute. P.T. Barnum | Dictionary of Quotes There’s a sucker born every minute. P.T. Barnum There’s a sucker born every minute. P.T. Barnum In a minute there is time for decisions and revisions which… In a minute there is time for decisions and revisions which a minute will reverse. -T. S. Eliot "Put your hand on a hot stove for a minute, and it… "Put your hand on a hot stove for a minute, and it seems like an hour. Sit with a pretty girl for an hour, and it seems like a minute.

THAT'S relativity." - Albert Einstein "Character isn’t something you were born with and "Character isn't something you were born with and can't change, like your fingerprints. It's something you weren't born with and must take responsibility for forming." - Jim Rohn 6 réponses à “There’s a sucker born every minute. P.T. Barnum” … There's a sucker born every minute" is a phrase often credited to P.T. Barnum (1810 – 1891), an American showman. It is generally taken to mean that there are (and always will be) a lot of gullible people in the world. When Barnum's biographer tried to track down when Barnum had uttered this phrase, all of Barnum's friends and acquaintances told him it was out of character.

Barnum's credo was more along the lines of "there's a customer born every minute" — he wanted to find ways to draw new customers in all the time because competition was fierce and people could become bored easily.[citation needed] While some sources claim the quote is most likely from famous con-man Joseph ("Paper Collar Joe") Bessimer,[1], other sources say it was actually uttered by David Hannum, spoken in reference to Barnum's part in the Cardiff Giant hoax. Hannum, who was exhibiting the "original" giant and had unsuccessfully sued Barnum for exhibiting a copy and claiming it was the original, was referring to the crowds continuing to pay to see Barnum's exhibit even after both it and the original had been proven to be fakes. In turn, Barnum's fellow circus owner and arch-rival Adam Forepaugh attributed the quote to Barnum in a newspaper interview in an attempt to discredit him. However, Barnum never denied making the quote.

It is said that he thanked Forepaugh for the free publicity he had given him.[citation needed] Yet another source credits late 1860s Chicago "bounty broker, saloon and gambling-house keeper, eminent politician, and dispenser of cheating privileges…" Michael Cassius McDonald as the originator of the aphorism. According to the book Gem of the Prairie: Chicago Underworld (1940) by Herbert Asbury, when McDonald was equipping his gambling house known as The Store (at Clark and Monroe Streets in Chicago) his partner Harry Lawrence expressed concern over the large number of roulette wheels and faro tables being installed and their ability to get enough players to play the games. McDonald then allegedly said, "Don't worry about that, there's a sucker born every minute There’s a Sucker Born Every Minute | PUTTIN' COLOGNE ON THE RICKSHAW PUTTIN' COLOGNE ON THE RICKSHAW February 22nd, 2015 by William There’s a Sucker Born Every Minute The phrase, “There’s a sucker born every minute” is often credited to Phineas Taylor (P.

T.) Barnum (1810 – 1891), an American showman and businessman remembered for founding the Barnum & Bailey Circus. However, the phrase most likely came from a banker named David Hannum, who coined the phrase in criticism of P. T. Barnum’s typical customer. It simply means that many people are gullible and there’s no shortage of them. Fact is being gullible, or a sucker, is quite the norm in our society. That’s why scam artists abound and there are so many telemarketers and cyber-scams (like the Nigerian money transfer scam) that it’s a daily topic on the nightly news. This all is enabled by the fact that there’s no shortage of people who will fall for these scams. None of us think we can ever be fooled, let alone fall for a scam, yet ironically the man (Hannum) who was critical of Barnum’s customers was in fact a sucker himself. As the story goes, back in the 1860s, tobacconist John Hull created an elaborate, money-making hoax in which he had a 10-foot-tall stone statue of a man carved and then buried in Cardiff, New York.

The giant stone man (referred to as The Cardiff Giant) was then dug up again and Hull planned to sell it as an archaeological oddity. In 1869, Hannum and four business partners took the bait and paid $37,500 ($657,894 in today’s dollars) for the worthless artifact thinking that they could turn a profit by charging people to get a glimpse of it. A lot of buzz was generated about the giant, and as thousands of people began to pay good money to see it, it looked like Hannum’s investment was actually going to pay off quite nicely. That is, until P. T. Barnum entered the picture. Seems Barnum built a giant of his own and claimed that it was the true Cardiff Giant. When people flocked to see Barnum’s creation, hapless Hannum supposedly mused at the on-lookers, “There’s a sucker born every minute.” Hannum was talking about the masses that are easily deceived and will “fall” for any lie. What Hannum and Barnum did was to perpetrate a grand lie.

While lying is part of the fabric of our culture, in today’s workplace world, I’m not so sure it’s the most damaging behavior. I’m convinced that more people practice plain old bullshitting more than lying. Why do I think the average worker partakes more in bullshitting than flat-out lying? First, understand that most people use these two terms interchangeably to describe the typical behavior they see and practice in the workplace. Let’s take a closer look at the art of bullshitting, how it compares to lying, and the effect it has on the workplace. Dictionary.com defines a lie as: a false statement made with deliberate intent to deceive; an intentional untruth; a falsehood; something intended or serving to convey a false impression; imposture; an inaccurate or false statement; the charge or accusation of lying. For Hannum and Barnum the false statement was that their statues were the real thing. In contrast, the definition of bullshit is: foolish, deceitful, or boastful language; something worthless, or insincere; insolent talk or behavior; to speak foolishly; to engage in idle conversation.

In the definition of lying, the word “false” appears numerous times, yet in the definition of bullshit, it doesn’t appear at all. Since a falsehood is defined as an untruth, a lie is therefore the telling of an untruth–just as both Hannum and Barnum did. On the other hand bullshitting is boastful, worthless, insincere language. There’s a big difference. Boastful, worthless, insincere language doesn’t necessarily equate to an untruth. Here’s a timely example. Everyone who utilizes the professional social media site LinkedIn probably has numerous “skills” and “endorsements” listed on their profile. Along with each skill there are a number of people who supposedly vouch that the person actually possesses that skill. None of those skills are necessarily untruths as we all gain a wide range of experience from what we’re exposed to during our careers. But with all these supposed skills it’s really a matter of degree. Remember one of the descriptors of bullshit is “boastful language” and that’s all those skill lists really are.

If we wanted the list to reflect true skills that we’ve gained though our career we’d be listing such things as: “firefighting,” “sabotaging colleagues,” “ass-covering,” or “regurgitating buzzwords.” The list goes on. An interesting infographic titled, “The Lies We Tell on Resumes,” details the not so surprising statistics on the pervasiveness of lying and bullshitting on resumes. Please visit: P.T. Barnum said, "There's a sucker born every minute" -- and that's especially true in Denver | Westword P.T. Barnum said, "There's a sucker born every minute" -- and that's especially true in Denver Remember Me Or sign in with a social account: FACEBOOK GOOGLE + TWITTER YAHOO! Don't have an account yet? Sign Up › Connect. Discover. Share. Get the most out of your experience with a personalized all-access pass to everything local on events, music, restaurants, news and more. Enter your email or sign up with a social account to get started FACEBOOK TWITTER GOOGLE+ YAHOO! Don't have an account yet? Sign Up › P.T.

Barnum said, "There's a sucker born every minute" -- and that's especially true in Denver Wednesday, September 29, 2010 at 6:43 a.m. Print Article "There's a sucker born every minute," P.T. Barnum supposedly said That includes all those suckers who still believe the stories about how Barnum, the founder of the Greatest Show on Earth, which rolled into town yesterday, called Denver home over a century ago. The Greatest Show on Earth was originally called P. T. Barnum's Grand Traveling Menagerie, Caravan and Circus, and survives today as the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, which will offer ten days of performances starting tomorrow -- and is already inspiring a PETA sideshow regarding the treatment of its elephants . Barnum, a world-famous showman, coined the terms "Siamese Twins" and "Bearded Lady" and invented the concepts of the three-ring circus and modern marketing.

In one famous hoax, "suckers" handed over their hard-earned money for a glimpse of an African-American woman named Joice Heth, who Barnum claimed was the 161-year-old former nursemaid of George Washington. When ticket sales started to falter, Barnum changed the story, claiming that Heth (who was actually eighty) was a machine made of whale bone and leather. The exhibit's popularity soared once again. Barnum was also a wheeler-dealer, making money by buying up land and building hotels around the country. In 1871, he bought a 765-acre tract near what was then Denver, part of which is now the Barnum neighborhood. But Barnum was the sucker in that deal: Instead of the elegantly landscaped area he had been promised by the Chicago businessmen who sold him the land, it was a giant mud puddle. Barnum sold off some of it and turned the rest into Barnum Town, which Denver later annexed. And Barnum never lived on any of it, according to this 2001 Westword cover story , which took the show out of the showman.

But local legend still has Barnum housing his circus entourage, including his famed elephants, in Barnum Town -- and there's even a photo that allegedly shows an elephant pushing a circus train up Boreas Pass to Breckenridge. As Barnum said -- or did he? -- there's a sucker born every minute. Patricia Calhoun co-founded Westword, Denver’s News and Arts weekly, in 1977; she’s been the editor there ever since. She’s a regular on the weekly Colorado Public Television roundtable Colorado Inside Out, the former president of the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies -- a post that got her an unexpected interview with former President Bill Clinton in front of a thousand people (while she was in flip-flops) -- and played a real journalist in John Sayles’s Silver City. Contact:

Question: According to P.T. Barnum, there's a what born every minute?
Answer: Sucker