Hi,
I'm teaching a course on translation studies, and I'm looking for examples of unintentional quotations. What I mean by that is cases where a writer (or, if you like, painter, graphic artist, composer, etc.) has used a form of words (images, melody, etc.) that make up a well-known quotation or cultural reference, but without being aware that they were doing so.
So, a hypothetical example would be someone using the form "rest in peace" to refer to peaceful rest, without knowing that the phrase carries strong references to death through its common use on gravestones and announcements of decease.
I'm looking for clear examples, preferably with disastrous effects, which I hope to use to demonstrate the importance of studying culture and language together in the course I'm running.
Many thanks in advance for all answers

swyves

Interesting query! never thought of this. Will have to look at my collection with new eyes.

Do you think this one fits the bill?

"As long as you are not aware of the continual law of Die and Be Again, you are merely a vague guest on a dark Earth."
-- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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much love, light and laughter,
ananya.

*~Come play with my children feel the peace and Scatter some joy.~*
~*Blowing out someone else's candle doesn't make your's burn any brighter.*~
We can't all be stars, but we can all twinkle.
We may not have it all together, but together we have it all.

I am not sure but I try...
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Segregation is the adultery of an illicit intercourse between injustice and immorality.
~Martin Luther King, Jr.

Man is as full of potentiality as he is of impotence.
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When the going gets tough, the tough get going.
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The future is purchased by the present.
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Where fear is present, wisdom cannot be.
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One need not have been Caesar in order to understand Caesar.
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Contentment is natural wealth, luxury is artificial poverty.
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My motto is: Contented with little, yet wishing for more.
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Those who mind don't matter, and those who matter don't mind.
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Events are in the saddle and tend to ride mankind.
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