Full Idea
Russell inadvertently started the philosophy of language by declaring that some sentences (like "Everything is identical with itself") that seem utterly in order are meaningless and express no proposition.
Gist of Idea
Russell started philosophy of language, by declaring some plausible sentences to be meaningless
Source
report of Bertrand Russell (Problems of Philosophy [1912]) by William D. Hart - The Evolution of Logic 2
Book Reference
Hart,W.D.: 'The Evolution of Logic' [CUP 2010], p.33
A Reaction
The normal candidate for this honour would be Frege, with the sense/reference distinction, but this idea sounds right to me. Declaring that some sentences are 'meaningless' really gets people excited and interested. I like the example!