Dave Barry's 16 Things

[snopes]

Comment: Is this really a Dave Barry column? Funny enough, but something
about it doesn't sound right (esp #16!); it's doing the usual
"forward-to-all-of-your-friends" route..

==== snip ====

From: XXXXXX
Sent: Tuesday, February 20, 2007 2:30 PM
To: Undisclosed-Recipient:;
Subject: FYI- Dave Barry's 16 Things



16 Things it took me over 50+ years to learn
By: Dave Barry, Nationally Syndicated Columnist

1. Never, under any circumstances, take a sleeping pill and a
laxative the same night.

2. If you had to identify, in one word, the reason why the human race
has not achieved, and never will achieve, its full potential, that word
would be "meetings."

3. There is a very fine line between "hobby" and "mental illness."

4. People who want to share their religious views with you almost
never want you to share yours with them.

5. You should not confuse your career with your life.

6. Nobody cares if you can't dance well. Just get up and dance.
(This one is very important.)

7. Never lick a steak knife.

8. The most destructive force in the universe is gossip.

9. You will never find anybody who can give you a clear and compelling
reason why we observe daylight savings time.

10. You should never say anything to a woman that even remotely suggests
that you think she's pregnant unless you can see an actual baby emerging
from her at that moment.

11. There comes a time when you should stop expecting other people to
make a big deal about your birthday. That time is age 11.

12. The one thing that unites all human beings, regardless of age,
gender, religion, economic status or ethnic background, is that, deep
inside, we ALL believe that we are above average drivers.

13. A person, who is nice to you, but rude to a waiter, is not a nice
person. (This is very important. Pay attention. It never fails.)

14. Your friends love you anyway.

15. Never be afraid to try something new. Remember that a lone amateur
built the Ark. A large group of professionals built the Titanic.

16. Thought for the day: Men are like fine wine. They start out as
grapes; and it's up to the women to stomp the crap out of them until they
turn into something acceptable to have dinner with.

[Ryda Wong, EBfCo.]

I have no idea if it is really Barry, but I think Number 13 is just about the truest thing I've ever seen on one of these type of forwards.

That being said, Number 16 annoys me.

[Cervus]

My wild guess, from being a Dave Barry fan, is that #2, 10, 11, and 12 are more likely to have been written by him.

The others are lifted from columnists like Erma Bombeck, Reader's Digest, church newsletters, random emails, etc.

[ganzfeld]

Answered on Dave Barry's FAQ:
http://www.davebarry.com/faq.html

Did Dave really write that piece floating around the internet, "16 Things I've Learned in 50 Years?"

Well, he wrote something like it. But it's been changed during its travels around the world in email, and you can no longer count on anything in it being Dave's actual work.

[snopes]

I think this might be the original Dave Barry piece:

http://www.piffe.com/jokes/25things.phtml

- snopes