cwb3 Posted January 13, 2015 Report Share Posted January 13, 2015 So I have a dear friend. A wonderful dog trainer in the "conventional" sense of attention and obedience and dexterity and foundation. All the stuff you would want your puppy grounded in. Alas this person is an enthusiastic AKC conformation centered border collie owner. This persons latest bitch is a beauty with brains and drive and spunk and all that. Can even accomplish those basic farm tasks of gathering, holding and moving stock. Striving for the coveted CH title this pup keeps being entered in those things. She is a short legged lil thing, I guess that is popular but perhaps she has too short for the fashion of the moment. The owner is sad cause the bitch only earned Reserve which I guess is not quiet champion. I've encouraged all to quit this nonsense to no avail. This is an active dog family far longer than I have been. When I learned of the disappointing outcome I wrote the following: "Judging a border collie by appearance is like star gazing while peering through the wrong end of the telescope." I am not that smart! Has that been written before and I just cannot place the source? It seemed clever and correct so I must have heard it somewhere else. Any thoughts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gideon's girl Posted January 13, 2015 Report Share Posted January 13, 2015 I fed it into google and got some very interesting results, but none were actually that quote or even very close. Other than that, IDK, but it seemed familiar to me also somehow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GentleLake Posted January 13, 2015 Report Share Posted January 13, 2015 ^^This. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maxi Posted January 13, 2015 Report Share Posted January 13, 2015 I agree with the others - a number of people have used similar quotes, but I think the originator may have been Dr Seuss "I like nonsense, it wakes up the brain cells. Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living, it's a way of looking at life through the wrong end of a telescope. Which is what I do, and that enables you to laugh at life's realities." ...and then others have liked the phrase 'wrong end of a telescope' and have ran with it ( in fact Dr Seuss, himself, seems to have used it more than once during interviews..but the most often quoted version is the one I've given here). ETA I was wrong about Dr Seuss because prior to him, Edith Wharton uses it in her short story, Roman Fever (published 1934) to describe how the 2 women in the tale view each other..and thenVladamir Nabokov used the phrase in his memoire (Speak, memory) to describe a sunset. He also reused it a few years later in his novel Lolita...maybe others can find earlier occasions of the phrase's use? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gideon's girl Posted January 13, 2015 Report Share Posted January 13, 2015 I've heard "wrong end of a telescope" my whole life in many different circumstances. To me it's just a common saying/analogy. I never thought about where that part of the quote may have came from. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cwb3 Posted January 14, 2015 Author Report Share Posted January 14, 2015 It must be like the phrase: "dance like nobody's watching"! I've heard it a bunch but have no idea where it came from! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maxi Posted January 14, 2015 Report Share Posted January 14, 2015 Cwb3 ...are you a country music fan?..If so, this may answer both your queries Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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