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Q&A How similar is too similar?

When a phrase from a novel or movie becomes so widespread that it can be considered a common figure of speech, using it is no longer plagiarism. No-one in their right mind would accuse you of plag...

posted 10y ago by System‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by System‭

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#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T03:20:00Z (over 4 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/10112
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T03:20:00Z (over 4 years ago)
When a phrase from a novel or movie becomes so widespread that it can be considered a common figure of speech, using it is no longer plagiarism.

No-one in their right mind would accuse you of plagiarism when you opened a review with: "To read or not to read, that is the question."

Tolkien's _Lord of the Rings_ is one of the most read books of our time, and using certain catchphrases from it cannot be seen as plagiarism, for the simple fact that everyone and their grandmother recognize the borrowing. **The basic prerequisite for plagiarsim is that you want to deceive your readers about the authorship of your sentences, and you cannot deceive anyone if everyone knows that that sentence is not from you.**

And it doesn't matter, if _you_ thought that that was your sentence and the similarity is merely coincidental.

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2014-01-23T07:23:31Z (over 10 years ago)
Original score: 1