a good phrase?

we've all heard the phrase "early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise." it seems like a good enough phrase. a commentary on the productivity method of waking up early. if you took a random poll on the street, I would guarantee somewhere around 83% of people would attribute the phrase to benjamin franklin. they would be right, in a sense. but they would also be missing a key piece of information: this proverb was around long before benjamin franklin. it appears in written text as early as 1496 (the treatise of fishing with an angle) where it is referenced as an "old english proverb." that tells us that if it was already old in 1496, it has to be from at least 1396, if not earlier. there is no doubt it was a popular phrase before franklin, who wasn't even born until 1706. it is even rumored that aristotle said "it is well to be up before daybreak, for such habits contribute to health, wealth, and wisdom." hmm. sounds very familiar.

I guess my point is this: benjamin franklin, whether or not he intended (and he probably did), is a charlatan. a con man. a fraudulent trickster. either through our own naïve misreading of history, or his own twisted, nefarious dark intentions, an entire proverb has been rebranded as his own. if we are just handing out credit for things willy-nilly, I'd like to come forward and say that I said the phrase "you can't teach an old dog new tricks." I quite like that phrase. I'd like to note that I originally said it in jest after watching an old dog do something he or she had never done before. it is meant as a sarcastic comment to be said after witnessing someone complete a task that others doubted they could (for reasons of ageism). after all, you can teach an old dog new tricks. you just need an old dog with a sense of adventure and an appetite for learning.

oh, benjamin. you have found a good way to never be forgotten, stealing a popular phrase as your own creation. may you live long in infamy.

unless you think he might have come up with the phrase on his own, independent from the previous proverb... I suppose that could be possible... definitely something to think about.

-frank