Footnotes, Walking Down Stairs, and Making Love

Here’s one for the Stories-Get-Distorted-In-The-Retelling collection, from the Wall Street Journal’s Law Blog.  It made me laugh out loud.

Commenter A says:  "I have done my share of footnotes, as a law review editor, but am also mindful of the saying that asking a reader to read footnoted text is like asking a man to make love while walking down stairs." 

Commenter B asks:  "how is reading footnoted text like asking a man to make love while walking down stairs?   it’s not, at all."

Commenter C clarifies matters: "Actually, the quote is by Noel Coward, who said: ‘Having to
read a footnote resembles having to go downstairs to answer the door
while in the midst of making love.’"