IT WAS A DARK AND STORMY NIGHT
dalmatia at eburg.com
dalmatia at eburg.com
Mon Nov 2 22:40:57 EST 1998
TonyProst at aol.com wrote:
>
> Well, here is the origin of that tired old phrase. It is the grounds for an
> annual turgid prose contest, perhaps someone can cite the text from which is
> modernly taken, but Nonnos is 1500 years in advance of literature!
>
> Chapter 18, line 87:
>
> Nux gar ee^n skotie^, duspemphelos.
>
> "It was a dark and stormy night"
>
> There is nothing new under the sun!
Well, here goes my old memory again, but I am recalling Phil Bolger [a
boat designer] quoting the beginning of a poem about a ship at sea in
a storm in the St. Lawrence Seaway ~ A particularly nasty stretch of
water during a winter storm ~ And it began:
It was one dark and stormy night
And the wind she blow blow blow...
My feeling was that there was not a good outcome to this tale...
George
******************************************
Lisa Messmer..................ICQ# 5666415
George Blaisdell dalmatia at eburg.com
Have you seen Dulcie? Look for her Heart!
http://www.eburg.com/~dalmatia/dulcie.html
Last Chance for Animals...Fight Pet Theft!
http://www.lcanimal.org
More information about the B-Greek
mailing list