dylancatlow

dylancatlow OP t1_j8p5yte wrote

Reply to comment by Bonneville865 in TIL that the phrase "It was a dark and stormy night" was the opening line to an actual novel published in 1830, but runs on for another 51 words: "It was a dark and stormy night; the rain fell in torrents — except at occasional intervals, when it was checked by a violent gust of wind which..." by dylancatlow

Semicolons aren't interchangeable with periods, otherwise we wouldn't bother with them. What they accomplish often could be easily inferred from the context anyway, but ambiguity of that sort can be jarring and unpoetic. If what followed the semicolon was not equally terrible, the sentence might have been salvageable.

−3

dylancatlow OP t1_j8ouf72 wrote

Reply to comment by Bonneville865 in TIL that the phrase "It was a dark and stormy night" was the opening line to an actual novel published in 1830, but runs on for another 51 words: "It was a dark and stormy night; the rain fell in torrents — except at occasional intervals, when it was checked by a violent gust of wind which..." by dylancatlow

The interest point about it is, that the first to use the phrase did not end the sentence where people do today. Which gives it a somewhat different meaning.

3

dylancatlow OP t1_j8oeaoo wrote

Reply to TIL that the phrase "It was a dark and stormy night" was the opening line to an actual novel published in 1830, but runs on for another 51 words: "It was a dark and stormy night; the rain fell in torrents — except at occasional intervals, when it was checked by a violent gust of wind which..." by dylancatlow

I think what makes it such an iconic sentence is that it's so perfectly lacking in originality that all share equally in the embarrassment that if not for its author, those words might have been theirs. All that separates him from the rest of us is that when creativity was refusing to make an appearance at the desired moment, he wanted the world to know it too.

0

dylancatlow OP t1_j8o46fd wrote

Reply to comment by DiogenesOfDope in TIL that the phrase "It was a dark and stormy night" was the opening line to an actual novel published in 1830, but runs on for another 51 words: "It was a dark and stormy night; the rain fell in torrents — except at occasional intervals, when it was checked by a violent gust of wind which..." by dylancatlow

Sure, but all subsequent usages of this phrase are plays on the original, since it's so well known by now that no writer says it without having heard it first.

5