>I just could not stop laughing at "said one man" piece, as it reminded me the well known in Russia "OBS" "news agency". OBS is the acronym for "odna baba skazala" ("one old lady said") meaning the least trusted source of info. In the Russian context it repesents a group of old ladies gossiping an spreading the rumors.
I think in English the equivalent phrase is "friend of a friend" (for instance, "I heard it from the friend of a friend"). Of course, if a piece of news goes through many people, it tends to become distorted.
Difference in opinions hath cost many millions of lives: for instance, whether flesh be bread, or bread be flesh; whether whistling be a vice or a virtue; whether it be better to kiss a post, or throw it into the fire... (from Gulliver's Travels)
