The best-known version of a famous line is often one that was never said, because retelling polishes a quotation into a punchier form than the original.
The trope takes its name from Star Trek, whose original series never used the exact phrase: Kirk said 'Scotty, beam us up' and 'Beam me up' in different episodes, and the line was in print as a catchphrase by 1976. The same happened to 'Elementary, my dear Watson', which is not in Conan Doyle's stories, 'Play it again, Sam', which nobody says in Casablanca, and 'Luke, I am your father', where the film's line begins with 'No'.
In practice
- A company's founding motto, quoted at every induction, turns out to be a tidier version of something the founder said once in passing.
- A family's favourite line from a grandparent is repeated at every wedding in a form she would not recognise.
- Possible explanations
- One explanation is that retelling favours rhythm and brevity, so each repetition trims a line towards its most quotable form. Another is merging: a remembered gist is joined to a name that makes it portable. A third is that the polished version spreads further, so it becomes the one people check against.
- In its favour
- Supported by a long list of documented cases, and consistent with Bartlett's finding that retold material becomes shorter and more conventional.
- Against it
- A collection of cases rather than a measured rate, and some misquotations are fair summaries of what was said. Several famous examples were later said deliberately in sequels and adaptations, which blurs error into adoption.
- Standing
- Compare Chinese whispers and the Mandela effect.
- Further reading
- Wikipedia
- Subject
- Communication & Media
- Essay
- What happens to a message after it is sent