Girish Mahajan (Editor)

Popular Fallacies

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Charles Lamb wrote, as Elia, 16 popular fallacies.

I. That a Bully is always a Coward
II. That Ill-gotten Gain never Prospers
III. That a Man must not Laugh at his own Jest
IV. That such a One shows his Breeding.—That it is Easy to Perceive he is no Gentleman
V. That the Poor Copy the Vices of the Rich
VI. That Enough is as Good as a Feast
VII. Of Two Disputants, the Warmest is Generally in the Wrong
VIII. That Verbal Allusions are not Wit, because they will not Bear a Translation
IX. That the Worst Puns are the Best
X. That Handsome is that Handsome does
XI. That We must not look a Gift-horse in the Mouth
XII. That Home is Home though it is never so Homely
XIII. That You must Love Me, and Love my Dog
XIV. That We should Rise with the Lark
XV. That We should Lie Down with the Lamb
XVI. That a Sulky Temper is a Misfortune

Lamb's popular fallacies (all printed in 1826) were born in response to a specific socio-linguistic context and expose the pretences that constitute false social behavior. Three of the fallacies, “That You Must Love Me and Love My Dog,” “That We Should Lie Down With the Lamb,” and “That We Should Rise With the Lark” all feature prominent animal imagery.

References

Popular Fallacies Wikipedia