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I've wondered for a long time how a misquote of the famous reveal in The Empire Strikes Back crystalized in pop culture history rather than Vader's actual line:

No, I am your father.

How did the popularization of the misquote occur?

TheIronCheek
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    It's about contextualization. To simply say the actual quote doesn't cue the reader in to the reference as much as prefacing it with "Luke". It's similar to how Kirk never said "Beam me up Scotty". Getting the idea across is important than the actual words used. – Mwr247 Apr 25 '16 at 15:55
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    So you're suggesting it just naturally occurred among fans who wanted to make sure they were quoting in a way that people knew what they were talking about? And then it just stuck? – TheIronCheek Apr 25 '16 at 15:58
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    Pretty much. It's fairly common actually. See this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beam_me_up,_Scotty#Similar_misquotations – Mwr247 Apr 25 '16 at 15:59
  • @Mwr247 - Hmmf, I always figured it was misquoted in a famous commercial, talk show, or interview somewhere and was popularized because of that. Kind of disappointing if you're right. – TheIronCheek Apr 25 '16 at 16:03
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    Added as an answer. These sorts of quote alterations are particularly interesting, ad they occasionally make their way back into the originating media as well. For "Beam me up Scotty", William Shatner as Captain Kirk says it in an audio adaptation well after it had been popularized. Likewise with "Elementary, my dear Watson" having appeared in none of the original works by Doyle, but has shown up in later adaptations. – Mwr247 Apr 25 '16 at 16:09
  • It can be quoted as "Luke ... I am your father" – Gorchestopher H Apr 25 '16 at 17:42
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    I didn't even realize that he doesn't actually say "Luke, I am your father" until I read this question. Also interesting is that when people quote this line, they put a lot of emphasis into the "Luke" part that you would think it was part of the original dialogue. – Cave Johnson Apr 25 '16 at 18:40
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    Semantically it would be the same as if he had said "No Luke, I am your father" and then it's a simple matter of dropping the "No" off the front. –  Apr 25 '16 at 19:02
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    @Andrew - If I remember right, there's some sort of Force telepathy that goes back and forth at the very end of the movie that goes something like, "Luke...", "Father!", That very well could be where the Luke part came from. – TheIronCheek Apr 25 '16 at 19:21
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    See also, "Alas, poor Yorrick, I knew him well". Even Shakespeare is not immune to being widely misquoted, and in this case probably for the exact same reason (i.e., the real quote doesn't make sense without the context). – Todd Wilcox Apr 25 '16 at 20:30
  • Maybe the direct quote came from time travelers who were quoting the next version after the next retroconning takes effect. – TOOGAM Apr 26 '16 at 07:52
  • @TheIronCheek ... "Hmmf, I always figured it was misquoted in a famous commercial, talk show, or interview somewhere and was popularized because of that. Kind of disappointing if you're right" Of course you are correct, obviously. To state that "it just happens" is not sensible. – Fattie Apr 26 '16 at 12:33
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    The same way that Morpheus is always quoted as saying, "What if I told you...", but he never did. It sounds like something he would say, and you can hear it in your head, and you've heard people claim it enough that you just assume it's all correct. – phantom42 Apr 26 '16 at 12:47
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    @TheIronCheek it doesn't have to have occurred in a specific highly public forum, although it certainly did occur in several. Tracing the first public appearance of the term would do nothing to trace its true origins, as it was almost certainly said independently by different people (as are most common phrases). – Darren Ringer Apr 26 '16 at 17:16
  • @Mwr247 Funnily, "Scotty, beam us up fast" is in TOS, and plain "Scotty, beam me up" ST IV: The Voyage Home – Izkata Apr 27 '16 at 16:19
  • Not much of a misquote, because he's talking to Luke, and if you pull it out of the movie, it's quicker and easier to write "Luke.... I am your father" than "no, I am your father (speaking to Luke Skywalker)" – PoloHoleSet Jun 30 '16 at 13:31
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    See also “Play it again, Sam” — believe it or not, most people are more interested with saying something that sounds good, rather than quoting accurately. – Paul D. Waite Jun 30 '16 at 15:41

2 Answers2

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Contextualization matters more than words

In common speech, the quote is fairly vague, and likely only those who have seen the movie would understand the reference (at least, right away, to the desired effect). But by prefacing it with "Luke", you cue people in to the reference better by offering more context.

It's quite similar to how Kirk never said "Beam me up Scotty" during the run of Star Trek. To simply say "Beam me up" might be more accurate, but throwing in the name is better. Getting the idea across is more important than the actual words used, and it's fairly common.

These sorts of quote alterations are particularly interesting, in that they occasionally make their way back into the originating media as well. For "Beam me up Scotty", William Shatner as Captain Kirk says it in an audio adaptation well after it had been popularized. Likewise with "Elementary, my dear Watson" having appeared in none of the original works by Doyle, but has shown up in later adaptations.

Martha
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Mwr247
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    The same can be said of "Play it again Sam" which was never actually used in Casablanca. – Tony Duran Apr 25 '16 at 19:15
  • What's funny is "Scotty, beam me up" appears. – Joshua Apr 26 '16 at 23:05
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    A notable counterexample: "Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him well." is a common but less contextualized misquotation of Hamlet's original, "Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio." – Psychonaut Apr 27 '16 at 11:33
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    @Psychonaut I'd venture to guess that leaving off the end name is still enough context to get the point across, and the inclusion of "Alas, poor Yorick!" was considered more vital to the idea than ", Horatio". A very good counterexample though. – Mwr247 Apr 27 '16 at 15:31
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    "likely only those who have seen the movie would understand the reference" Yes, all three of the people who haven't seen Star Wars will be confused for a few seconds. – reirab Apr 27 '16 at 17:51
  • @reirab While this used to be the case, as time have moved forward there actually has been a growing number of the younger generation that hasn't seen them. – Mwr247 Apr 27 '16 at 18:37
  • The Mandela effect. – Overmind Jul 01 '16 at 08:53
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    @reirab Hey, I haven't seen Star Wars! Nor do I intend to, for that matter. – Rand al'Thor Jul 03 '16 at 17:26
  • Another example: "Elementary my dear Watson" is never said. – marcellothearcane Sep 11 '20 at 17:50
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First off, it's arguably NOT! a misquote of the "whole Star Wars canon and universe" since in

1983

it was, apparently, actually read that way in the

Radio version of Star Wars !

Found by reirab.

The earliest misquote meme-starting reference, using the "name-first" form, found so far is

1995

in Tommy Boy, found by Jesse Sielaff:

The earliest misquote meme-starting reference, using the "name-first" form, which I found is

1999

In the Austin Powers film.

Obviously, The Empire Strikes Back was in 1980. I'm sure, someone can find an earlier misquote meme-starting reference, but this will get the ball rolling. (Jessie did!)

Not all, but many, "famous misquotes" come from some particular at the time popular source which instanced the misquote. For example, it could be a TV news show at the time, perhaps a cast member being interviewed, or a parody on TV or film.

So, maybe someone can find an even earlier example, but there you go, 1999; now 1995.

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Fattie
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    As someone who lived through the release of all three Star Wars movies, I assure you that people were saying, "Luke, I am your father" in the months immediately following the movie and not because of some misquoting in some other media source. This kind of quote "mutation" happens all the time with movies in a similar way. Our brains aren't so good at remembering things perfectly, but we remember how big a moment it was, so we fill in the cracks in our memory so we can try to bring that moment to other people. – Todd Wilcox Apr 26 '16 at 13:13
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    "As someone who lived through the release of all three Star Wars movies, I assure you that ... in the months immediately..." it's incredible you have that good a memory for oldsters of our age, Todd! I can't remember what continent I was living on in the 70s. :) – Fattie Apr 26 '16 at 13:16
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    Now that you mention it, I think my memory is just focused. For example, I just now remembered that there are actually like seven Star Wars movies now. – Todd Wilcox Apr 26 '16 at 13:19
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    @ToddWilcox You say "lived through" as if it was a war zone or something... – corsiKa Apr 26 '16 at 14:52
  • @JoeBlow If you remember what continent you lived on in the 70s, you were not in the 70s :) – Hagen von Eitzen Apr 26 '16 at 15:12
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    @ToddWilcox is correct. However, I think JB is also correct that there has to be some kind of "misquoter zero" who first used this particular verbiage which everyone else picked up and ran with. It's unlikely to be in a clip available on youtube though. – T.E.D. Apr 26 '16 at 18:12
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    @T.E.D. I dunno about that. Who's to say that is wasn't everyone making the same "mistake," all over at around the same time? It's not like this is such a huge departure in the meaning of the line, just one word (which adds a lot to contextualization) changed. – Shokhet Apr 27 '16 at 15:05
  • Sure: Situation "A". It was caused by one particular notable misquote. (So for example, we could actually discover that, literally, (for example) "Dan Rather on January 1982 misquoted, and it seems to have taken off from there." OK?) OR, situation "B". As many have argued, it is an "obvious" misquote so there is no particular source: folks just "started doing it", reinforcing each other and it would be incorrect to think of some "particular first famous happening". OK, so BOTH "A" and "B" are perfectly reasonable, and both are possible. Neither are "impossible". – Fattie Apr 27 '16 at 15:21
  • However, note that with such misquotes, indeed "A" is often the case. There is a specific actual "first misquoter". Folks who here are suggesting "only B is possible" are wrong. (Conversely, if you think "A" must be the case - you are wrong.) I've given an actual decisive "A-like" example: if someone found other "A-like" examples (hopefully far earlier than mine), that would be a Good Thing. But again - by all means - both "A" and "B" could, certainly, be the explanation here. – Fattie Apr 27 '16 at 15:24
  • It appeared at least once earlier on film, in Tommy Boy (1995): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TsI3lFHkU_s –  Apr 27 '16 at 17:40
  • @JesseSielaff : Brilliant – Fattie Apr 27 '16 at 17:52
  • @JoeBlow Both are possible, but 'B' seems a lot more likely in this case. Certainly, as others have said, this phrase was in common usage way before 1995. – reirab Apr 27 '16 at 17:58
  • Hi @reirab ! if you say "this phrase was in common usage way before 1995" you should surely be able to find in print or video, some example of that. That would be great. It would support your case, too. – Fattie Apr 27 '16 at 18:02
  • @JoeBlow Apparently the line was even used in a radio dramatization as early as 1983. That said, others have already posted personal experience from the months following the movie, which is not particularly surprising. – reirab Apr 27 '16 at 19:41
  • brilliant find, @reirab ! following http://english.stackexchange.com standards, personal recollections mean nothing, only references mean anything. Note too that, indeed, everyone agrees that the misquote has "always been known". It's entirely possible that, just after the film was released, some "famous misquoting" happened (on a TV show - whatever) and that is why we all started misquoting it early. (I simply don't know if it's a case of "A" or "B", but as already repeated one can't dismiss either.) – Fattie Apr 27 '16 at 19:52
  • @JoeBlow reference :) (j/k, of course.) – reirab Apr 27 '16 at 20:07
  • Hey, whoever sent over the phat bounty - thanks! – Fattie Jul 05 '16 at 11:29