That's Relativity. But Is It?

If Einstein did say this, he was surely joking. I'm pretty sure that this is not actually what the Theory of Relativity says.

Wikipedia gives two examples of what the Special Theory of Relativity says about time: firstly, "Two events, simultaneous for one observer, may not be simultaneous for another observer if the observers are in relative motion." And secondly, "Moving clocks are measured to tick more slowly than an observer's 'stationary' clock."

In other words: if two people are in motion, relative to each other, they experience time at different rates. And that has absolutely nothing to do with the observation in the alleged quotation.

Higher authorities than me are prepared to believe that Einstein did say something along these lines to his secretary. According to Wikiquote, "William Hermanns recorded a series of four conversations he had with Einstein and published them in his book Einstein and the Poet (1983), quoting Einstein saying this ... in a 1948 conversation." And the QuoteInvestigator reproduces an account published in 1929 in the New York Times, when Einstein was supposed to have said something similar.

At the end of the day, this round is supposed to be about people having a laugh. So if Einstein was joking, it doesn't matter whether it's relativity or not.

Just let's not forget this next time we have a quotations round!