Drunkard's Walk Forums

No, I didn't know about the poll, either.
Apparently, Oscar Wilde has been voted the top Brit wit by viewers of a TV station I've never heard of before.
(Edit: Never mind that the top two "Brits" were Irish. After all, the pollsters didn't.)
The Register article linked above lists the top ten from the poll, with at least one quote from each. I especially like the Noel Coward line they chose...

-Rob Kelk
"Read Or Die: not so much a title as a way of life." - Justin Palmer, 6 June 2007
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

The channel, "Dave", is a new UKTV thing. Like, I mean, it's new enough that they're still busy advertising the fact it exists, at least in London. I recall seeing an ad in the paper a couple days ago. It's a humour channel, broadly speaking..."Who's Line is it Anyway", "Top Gear", that sort of thing.
As for what constitutes "British", well, it depends on who you ask, doesn't it? Strictly speaking it would be all of England, Scotland, Wales, and the bits of Ireland that are under the United Kingdom. But usage varies...
-- Acyl

I'm afraid I have to be a nitpicker again here. I've checked Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, Peter's Quotations, The Cynic's Lexicon, and The Portable Curmudgeon. Oscar Wilde has a place of honor in all of them, but in none is he credited with the remark about America going directly from barbarism to decadence. That remark is attributed (by Bartlett, Peter, and The Portable Curmudgeon) to Georges Clemenceau, who, being French, is not qualified to compete as a "Brit Wit."
Wilde did, however, say, "The Americans are certainly great hero-worshippers, and always take their heroes from the criminal classes."
I'm astonished that Samuel Johnson didn't make it into the top ten.-----
Those who believed the laws of physics made things "possible" or "impossible" were mistaken. Time travel violated one of those laws. Physics took its *revenge*.
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Big Brother is watching you.  And damn, you are so bloody BORING.