Commenting on Alas, a blog, one DonBoy writes:
Damon Runyon, original version:
One of these days in your travels, a guy is going to come up to you and show you a nice brand-new deck of cards on which the seal is not yet broken, and this guy is going to offer to bet you that he can make the Jack of Spades jump out of the deck and squirt cider in your ear. But, son, do not bet this man, for as sure as you are standing there, you are going to end up with an earful of cider.
Year 2003 Version:
Never, never, never, agree to be on a reality show.
(I observe in passing that Blogger‘s BlogThis bookmarklet takes care of demoting nested quotation marks, a custom that is lately in deplorable decline. You don’t see it because I replaced the inverted commas, as they say in the Former Empire, with indentation.)
2004 Sep 01: Last week I saw the film version of Guys and Dolls, in which the phrase “do not bet this man” becomes “do not accept this bet.” Non c’è più religione.