Commodore George Dewey issued a famous command to Charles Gridley to begin to fire his weapons at the Battle of Manila Bay. Someone changed the quote at Wikipedia today from "Fire when ready, Gridley!" to "Fire when you are ready, Gridley!" Never content to let an edit like that stand unchallenged, I checked Google and found that hits for the "fire when ready" quote outnumber the longer version three-to-one, but Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of Allusions actually explains that the "Fire when you are ready" quote is correct but simply not as popular as "Fire when ready". You live and learn.
Thursday, December 18, 2008
When You're Ready
Commodore George Dewey issued a famous command to Charles Gridley to begin to fire his weapons at the Battle of Manila Bay. Someone changed the quote at Wikipedia today from "Fire when ready, Gridley!" to "Fire when you are ready, Gridley!" Never content to let an edit like that stand unchallenged, I checked Google and found that hits for the "fire when ready" quote outnumber the longer version three-to-one, but Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of Allusions actually explains that the "Fire when you are ready" quote is correct but simply not as popular as "Fire when ready". You live and learn.
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