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139:(1940), there was a similar saying amongst con men: "There's a mark born every minute, and one to trim 'em and one to knock 'em." Here 'trim' means to steal from, and 'knock' means to persuade away from a scam. The meaning is that there is no shortage of new victims, nor of con men, nor of honest men.
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Barnum's biographer Arthur H. Saxon tried to track down when Barnum had uttered this phrase but was unable to verify it. According to Saxon, "There's no contemporary account of it, or even any suggestion that the word 'sucker' was used in the derogatory sense in his day. Barnum was just not the type
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Early uses of the phrase refer to it as a catchphrase among gamblers. In an 1879 discussion of gambling in
Chicago, an "old-timer" is quoted as saying, "oodness knows how they live, it’s mighty hard times with the most of them; in the season they make a bit on base ball, or on the races, and then,
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hoax. Hannum was exhibiting the "original" giant and had unsuccessfully sued Barnum for exhibiting a copy and claiming that it was the original. Crowds continued to pay to see Barnum's exhibit, even after both it and the original had been proven to be fakes. A circus competitor to Barnum,
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you know, 'there’s a sucker born every minute', and rigid city legislation drives the hard-up gambler, who would be a decent one of the kind, to turn skin-dealer and sure-thing player." The use of quotation marks indicates that it must already have been an established catchphrase.
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tables being installed and their ability to get enough players. McDonald then allegedly said, "Don't worry about that, there's a sucker born every minute."
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Joseph "Paper Collar Joe" Bessimer. Other sources say that it was actually uttered by David Hannum in reference to Barnum's part in the
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https://medium.com/skeptikai/the-real-story-behind-the-quote-theres-a-sucker-born-every-minute-1db9a7220d34
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EK KHILADI EK HASEENA Full
Bollywood Hindi Movie | Bollywood Movies | Fardeen Khan, Koena Mitra
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gives a hindi counterpart of it - There is sucker born every minute; and two to con him
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237:"HistoryReference.org: P. T. Barnum Never Did Say "There's a Sucker Born Every Minute""
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The Big Con: The Story of the
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mentions the phrase as he explores the possibility of a con artist at work, and
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when his partner expressed concern over the large number of roulette wheels and
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In a slightly different form, the phrase shows up in the
January 1806
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A Pair of
Shootists: The Wild West Story of S.F. Cody and Maud Lee
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346:(February 2011). "Grifters, Bunco Artists & Flimflam Men".
131:: "That there vash von fool born every minute.'" According to
278:. Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press. p. 32.
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as the originator of the aphorism. According to the book
31:. Early examples of its use are found among gamblers and
27:, an American showman of the mid-19th century, although
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Another source credits late 1860s
Chicago saloon owner
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Some sources claim that it is most likely from famous
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The phrase appears in print in the 1885 biography of
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Phrase associated with
American showman P. T. Barnum
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751:Bridgeport, Connecticut, Centennial half dollar
510:Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus
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365:The Life of Hungry Joe, King of the Bunco Men
120:The Life of Hungry Joe, King of the Bunco Men
29:there is no evidence that he actually said it
368:. New York: Frank Tousey. 1885. p. 22.
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411:. New York: Bobbs Merrill / Anchor Books.
76:interview in an attempt to discredit him.
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392:The European Magazine and London Review
352:. Vol. 19, no. 2. p. 90.
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85:Gem of the Prairie: Chicago Underworld
72:, attributed the quote to Barnum in a
23:" is a phrase closely associated with
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223:P. T. Barnum: the Legend and the Man
205:"Debunking the Myth of P. T. Barnum"
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784:There's a sucker born every minute
203:Brooks, Andree (October 3, 1982).
180:attributes the phrase to Barnum.
21:There's a sucker born every minute
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313:. January 2, 1879. p. 5
225:. Columbia University Press.
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585:Annie Jones (bearded woman)
211:. Retrieved April 27, 2014.
56:to disparage his patrons."
47:A photo of P. T. Barnum by
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714:The Greatest Show on Earth
630:Millie and Christine McKoy
545:Captain George Costentenus
405:Maurer, David W. (1999) .
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741:Barnum's Aquarial Gardens
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183:The Hindi Bollywood film
178:Lieutenant Commander Data
736:Barnum's American Museum
81:Michael Cassius McDonald
388:"Essay on False Genius"
174:Captain Jean-Luc Picard
540:Henry Alexander Cooper
457:Quotations related to
168:season 4 episode 13 ("
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767:The Herald of Freedom
555:John Diamond (dancer)
307:"Gambling in Chicago"
272:Kuntz, Jerry (2010).
221:Saxon, A. H. (1989).
185:Ek Khiladi Ek Haseena
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39:Attribution to Barnum
33:confidence tricksters
731:John "Grizzly" Adams
707:The Greatest Showman
684:Fictional portrayals
600:William S. Hutchings
565:Colonel Routh Goshen
525:Chang and Eng Bunker
535:Circassian beauties
670:Wild Men of Borneo
625:Maximo and Bartola
515:Anna Haining Bates
209:The New York Times
160:In Popular Culture
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700:The Mighty Barnum
650:General Tom Thumb
615:Count Primo Magri
503:Acts and exhibits
285:978-0-8061-4149-7
149:The 42nd Parallel
128:European Magazine
49:Charles Eisenmann
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821:1870s quotations
816:1870s neologisms
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645:Isaac W. Sprague
590:Hannah Battersby
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461:at Wikiquote
459:P. T. Barnum
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620:Master Juba
560:Admiral Dot
170:Devil's Due
137:The Big Con
800:Categories
761:Nancy Fish
610:Jenny Lind
575:Joice Heth
344:Jay, Ricky
247:2017-02-20
191:References
154:Mark Twain
116:Hungry Joe
87:(1940) by
773:Iranistan
694:(musical)
520:Eli Bowen
317:April 18,
291:7 October
93:The Store
74:newspaper
374:78310948
724:Related
438:YouTube
103:History
61:con-man
692:Barnum
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146:novel
51:, 1885
595:Jumbo
349:Wired
413:ISBN
370:OCLC
319:2016
293:2021
280:ISBN
172:"),
97:faro
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