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They Said It; Now They've Made The Top 10 List, Bro

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By SUSAN HAIGH, The Associated Press

Published: December 20, 2007

HARTFORD, Conn. - It was the plea heard round the world.

"Don't tase me, bro" - shouted by a University of Florida student as officers removed him from a speech by Sen. John Kerry - tops this year's list of most memorable quotes, compiled by the editor of the Yale Book of Quotations.

Second on the list is a quote from Lauren Upton, the Miss Teen USA contestant who gave a mangled response to a question about why one-fifth of Americans can't locate the United States on a map.

"I personally believe that U.S. Americans are unable to do so because some people out there in our nation don't have maps and I believe that our education like such as in South Africa and Iraq and everywhere like such as and I believe that they should our education over here in the U.S. should help the U.S. or should help South Africa and should help Iraq and the Asian countries so we will be able to build up our future for us," Upton said.

The words of both young people were immortalized in videos posted on YouTube, the video-sharing Web site.

"These new media are spreading these things," said editor Fred R. Shapiro, 53, associate librarian and lecturer in legal research at the Yale Law School. "I'm not listing the most admirable quotes, the most eloquent quotes. It's the most memorable quotes."

In the case of "Don't tase me, bro" - uttered shortly before the student, Andrew Meyer, was shocked with a Taser - Shapiro discovered the phrase was even printed on T-shirts and used as a cell phone ring tone.

"It's not Shakespeare, but there is a kind of folk eloquence in that. It wouldn't be a quote if he didn't say 'bro,'" Shapiro said. "That had just the right rhythm to make it memorable."

Shapiro said he struggled before deciding to include radio personality Don Imus' "nappy-headed hos" comment about the Rutgers University women's basketball team. The quote ended up fourth on his list.

"My book does mix the most eloquent and magnificent quotes with the sordid and sleazy materials from recent times."

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