Wish I'd said that - January 18, 2021

“Drawing on my fine command of the English language, I said nothing.”

It turns out I’m not the only one who wishes they had said it, or that someone else had. It’s widely attributed to Robert Benchley though also sometimes to Mark Twain, and sometimes given as “Drawing on my fine command of language, I said nothing.” The Quote Investigator makes a persuasive case that it evolved slowly but that Twain never said it at all and Benchley certainly didn’t invent it; the variants given there as it evolved include this 1900 version “’He has a fine command of language,’ says Mr. Dooley; ‘he seldom lets any escape.’” So apparently it was crowd-sourced. Drawing on my command of English, I shall say no more… on this point.