January 10, 2015

Suddenly, 10 things.

1. The blog has a theme today. This is something that happens sometimes, and at the point when I notice I use my "blog has a theme today" tag and — if I'm in the mood — I try to construct a 10-item list on that theme. As the post title indicates, the theme is: "sudden."

2. "Three gunmen, who have been hired to assassinate the President, hold a family hostage while waiting for their target. Interesting B film which focuses on psychopathic killer well-portrayed against type by Frank Sinatra." It's titled "Suddenly," and you can watch it in its hour-and-15-minute entirety here.

3. In the phrase "all of a sudden" (or "all of the sudden"), "sudden" is a noun. But we never use the noun in any other context. It's hard even to try to do that, even though it's obvious that the noun means something that is sudden. I challenge you! (By the way, I grew up around people who used the less common "all of the sudden," and it took me a long time to accept the dominance of "all of a sudden.")

4. Good writers should know that "suddenly" is a cheeseball word. One of Elmore Leonard's 10 rules of writing is "Never use the words 'suddenly' or 'all hell broke loose.'" I agree but would make an exception for intentional and delightful cheesiness, as in: "Why do birds suddenly appear/Every time you walk near?"



5. Hearing that, Meade suddenly says "Hey, don't forget, Bissage named his blog Suddenly Bissage." Bissage was a dearly beloved commenter on this blog who disappeared one day, when the uncooperative dear became uncooperative. I've tried to call him back: "Come back, Bissage. We're counting oranges again. Remember? 42. 42. 42..." To no avail.

6. Analyzing sentences in "The Great Gatsby" — the old "Gatsby project" — there was a day, a couple years ago, when we lit upon: "Through this twilight universe Daisy began to move again with the season, suddenly she was again keeping half a dozen dates a day with half a dozen men, and drowsing asleep at dawn with the beads and chiffon of an evening dress tangled among dying orchids on the floor beside her bed." About that "suddenly," I said: "This lone female is suddenly joined by numerous men. Though the unnamed men never get definition as individuals, they presumably get one-on-one dates with her, since the numbers match up: half a dozen dates a day with half a dozen men. This is the kind of 'dating' one associates with a prostitute." What would Elmore say about that? I'm inclined to justify anything in "The Great Gatsby" as exactly what it has to be, so I want to say that the "suddenly" is hilarious, but why? Perhaps because it's absurd — 6 men popping up in a sequence on each day within a season of days. Presumably, those men and more are always there, seeking dates with Daisy. It's her whimsical option — exercised suddenly — to accept the dates and put them in sequence, 6 per day, day after day. It's an endless flow, not sudden at all. The suddenness is in Daisy's waking up again in this twilight universe.

7. "Sudden death" — to refer to a method of tie-breaking — goes back to 1834, according to the OED, which found the quote: "‘Which’, said he, ‘is it to be—two out of three, as at Newmarket, or the first toss to decide?’ ‘Sudden death’, said I, ‘and there will soon be an end of it.’" Wikipedia has a page on the topic, with specific details on 16 different sports/games and: "Sudden death may instead be called sudden victory to avoid the mention of death, particularly in sports with a high risk of physical injury. This variant became one of announcer Curt Gowdy's idiosyncrasies in 1971 when the AFC divisional championship game between the Kansas City Chiefs and Miami Dolphins went into overtime." Ha. That didn't catch on. If you're that anxious about someone getting hurt, why are you watching?

8. Meade laughs at something he wrote in the comments to "We vomit on all these people who suddenly say they are our friends": "I wish that for just one time you could stand inside my shoes/And just for that one moment I could be you/Yes, I wish that for just one time you could stand inside my shoes/You'd know what a drag it is to have vomit in your shoes." And my response to that — because I'm working on this list here — is to do a word search for "suddenly" at bobdylan.com. One of the great ones comes up — "It's Alright Ma, I'm Only Bleeding":
You lose yourself, you reappear
You suddenly find you got nothing to fear
Alone you stand with nobody near
When a trembling distant voice, unclear
Startles your sleeping ears to hear
That somebody thinks they really found you
9. Sudden infant death syndrome. To be distinguished — we hope! — from infanticide. "The misdiagnosis of infanticide as SIDS 'happens all over... A lot of doctors and police don't know how to handle it. They don't take it as seriously as they should.'" Said Jamie Talan, co-author of "The Death of Innocents: A True Story of Murder, Medicine and High-Stakes Science." That book is from 1997. That's a controversy that seems to have melted away.

10. This is a 10-point list so we must stop here. Did I miss something you were hoping for? "Suddenly Susan"? "Suddenly Seymour"? "Suddenly, Last Summer"?

37 comments:

Gahrie said...

That's a controversy that seems to have melted away.

Of course..it made women look bad.

Besides, isn't it really just a form of really late term abortion?

Hell Singer writes books saying it should be legalized.

m stone said...

Uh...what was the question?

Dave said...

I use "all of the sudden." I didn't realize "all of a sudden" was dominant. Now that I think of it, I'm not sure I've ever heard/seen "all of a sudden." Maybe my eyes and ears have been autocorrecting. Will be monitoring for the rest of the day and will report back if I find anything.

Anonymous said...

Suddenly, 'The Gatsby Project' ended.

Although I do like my 'Spillane' version in the linked post.

Mem'ries,
Light the corners of my mind
Misty water-colored memories
Of the way we were...

Anonymous said...

Suddenly, all hell broke loose.

Suddenly, Spring!

Fashion mags used to be big on Suddenly.

Laslo Spatula said...

Porn would be a lot shorter with the words "Suddenly, I came!"

I am Laslo.

traditionalguy said...

Suddenly is used for when what was not there appears...love experience, born again experience, facination with a new person.

A kiss.

Ann Althouse said...

"Suddenly, 'The Gatsby Project' ended."

It ended because it required a comments section and I had that problem in the summer of 2013 where I had to shut off the comments. I later got the moderation function fixed and was able to put the comments back on, subject to on-and-off moderation to control the trolls, but the streak was broken and I never restarted the project.

Ann Althouse said...

@traditionalguy

Yeah, that's the point: it's cheeseball.

Find another way to express that if it has some meaning that's other than trite.

Laslo Spatula said...

Ex-Lax, then: suddenly.

I am Laslo.

Anonymous said...

Hemingway:

“How did you go bankrupt?"
Two ways. Gradually, then suddenly.”

I'd like to see Elmore Leonard and Hemingway duke it out on this one.

traditionalguy said...

Try, "Suddenly Time seems to stop or goes into slow motion in a crisis."

So I guess suddenly is like ripping off an adhesive tape instead of a slow pulling it off.

Bill said...

Of people caught in a flood: their sudden was sodden.

virgil xenophon said...

Come on, Laslo/Betamax3000, make up your mind. One or the other..

66 said...

It was the sudden that was most unexpected in the big bang.

From Inwood said...

As Frank might put it:

You see a pair of laughing eyes And suddenly you're sighing sighs.

My take on the movie Suddenly. The bad guys don't recognize what's goin' on around them with all those exchange of glances among the good guys?

My take here: Suddenly, after awakening, Prof A realized she had writer's block. :-)

Stephen Taylor said...

Saw "Suddenly" many years ago on Cinemax. Great little movie.

rhhardin said...

Having marshalled his army in three lines, and in a short time performed a march of eight miles, he arrived at the camp of the enemy before the Germans could perceive what was going on; who being suddenly alarmed by all the circumstances, both by the speediness of our arrival and the absence of their own officers, as time was afforded neither for concerting measures nor for seizing their arms, are perplexed as to whether it would be better to lead out their forces against the enemy, or to defend their camp, or seek their safety by flight.

Anonymous said...

On Arrested Development, Buster gives an excuse, claiming "intellectual pursuits", and his mother Lucille says "Suddenly playing with yourself is an intellectual pursuit."

m stone said...

I have used "in a flash" instead.

From Inwood said...

Suddenly, in the 1950s a great opera piece "Komm mit mir ins Chambre séparée," became a hit song with the English title Suddenly"

Bob R said...

Dave Barry points out that "Why do birds suddenly appear/Every time you walk near?" was the basis for a Hitchcock horror movie.

From Inwood said...

rhh

Having been forced to read Caesar in HS, I suddenly remembered where you were quoting from.

PS: Suddenly, when faced with commenting on the Paris massacre which might show that Al Q had not been defeated, or continue with his Gruber-izing text about free goodies for the masses, Obama opted for the latter.

Not necessarily to his advantage. Or ours.

PPS Obama's gall is divided into three Parts, Personal, Domestic & Foreign

PWS said...

Billy Collins uses the prohibition on using "suddenly" with amusement in his poem "Tension."

Laslo Spatula said...

Excerpt from "Suddenly! The Magazine for Premature Ejaculators":

We returned to my apartment after dinner, and she took off her black wool coat, showing off her amazing body in a red dress that fit her like the proverbial glove.

She brushed a lock of her lustrous hair from her cheek and asked if I minded if she 'got more comfortable.'

She took off her shoes, and -- suddenly -- I came.

I am Laslo.

Laslo Spatula said...

Excerpt from "Suddenly! The Magazine for Premature Ejaculators":

After a long walk upon the beach we sat on a white-washed bench, watching the late-afternoon waves crash onto the shore.

The weather was starting to turn cool, and she snuggled up warmly against me and gently put a hand on my thigh. Suddenly, I came.

I am Laslo.

Laslo Spatula said...

Excerpt from "Suddenly! The Magazine for Premature Ejaculators":

I was on the morning bus when she appeared, a striking figure of poise and allure, her black stockings accentuating her long, firm legs.

After paying her fare she passed by me on the way to the back of the bus, her red leather purse with the bronze clasp brushing my elbow. "Sorry," she said to me, and -- suddenly -- I came.

I am Laslo.

Laslo Spatula said...

Excerpt from "Suddenly! The Magazine for Premature Ejaculators":

It was Christmas Eve when I first met my girlfriend's family.

Her father had a firm handshake as he invited me into their home, and her mother looked lovely, and amazingly young, as she reached in to give me a welcoming hug. Suddenly, I came.

And kept coming.

I had the most amazing, pulsing orgasm of my life, right against my girlfriend's mother's hip.

Quickly, I excused myself, claiming I forgot something in the car.

In the car I reached for the Kleenex in the glove compartment, thought of my girlfriend's mother dressed like a dirty whore, then came again.

I am Laslo.

Known Unknown said...

The most interesting thing about Suddenly is that it featured Frank Sinatra in a leading role as a villain. Not a lot of stars of Sinatra's caliber of that day (or any other) would choose to play the bad guy.

Good little movie.

Known Unknown said...

"Suddenly you're sighing sighs"

The Tender Trap is also a fun film. Sinatra and Debbie Reynolds are okay, but wow do David Wayne and Celeste Holm steal scene after scene as Joe McCall and Sylvia. A great watch just for their performances.

Known Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
chillblaine said...

Billy Ocean rocking his dreds.

chillblaine said...

Suddenly the Seahawks are ahead 14-7.

I don't understand how the receiver can straight-arm the defender before the ball gets there. Either it's a foul or it isn't.

Bobber Fleck said...

Suddenly,
I'm not half the man I used to be,
There's a shadow hanging over me,
Oh, yesterday came suddenly.

Steve said...

Hey, can you provide a link to that OED definition that you cite?

Unknown said...

www.pindeldyboz.com/ifsubito.htm

A story in which I began each new section with Suddenly. This was when I used the name I. Fontana (which I did for a while).

This story did not make the cut into my collection, but I still think it has some charm.

richard mcenroe said...

"Suddenly, the Wheels are In Motion," from "Xanadu," ELO