People have long memories.

[vectra]

Hello,

These are the lines from the course book 'ProFile 1' by OUP:
'Never try to make yourself popular through silly jokes or bad behaviour - people have long memories.'

My students have flooded me with their VoiceThread presentations and I keep hearing 'people have a long memory' and 'people have a bad memory'.
As for 'a bad memory', it is clearly a wrong choice. What about 'a long memory'?
Can I say such a sentence: 'Avoid telling him jokes. If he misunderstands your joke, you are in trouble. He has a long memory.'

Thank you for your time and help.

[emsr2d2]

Hello,

These are the lines from the course book 'ProFile 1' by OUP:
'Never try to make yourself popular through silly jokes or bad behaviour - people have long memories.'

My students have flooded me with their VoiceThread presentations and I keep hearing 'people have a long memory' and 'people have a bad memory'.
As for 'a bad memory', it is clearly a wrong choice. What about 'a long memory'?
Can I say such a sentence: 'Avoid telling him jokes. If he misunderstands your joke, you are in trouble. He has a long memory.'

Thank you for your time and help.

Yes, your example sentence is fine.