How trying it is, soulwise, in these dark hours.
Look at them:
"These are the times that try men's souls."
"These are days that try men's souls."
"Times like these try men's souls."
"The soul is tried in these dark times."
Sure, the first one is the famous version. But the others aren't that bad. They would have been fine if Thomas Paine had used any of these versions. They would seem like the ordinary version and the others would seem silly. That's the power of fame for you.
It's stayed with me since I first read the Elements of Style -- how wrong they were about this topic. They thought there was a magic cadence to the eight words Paine spoke, but I couldn't believe in that. I couldn't believe in Strunk and White! Of all their little advice blurbs, the only thing that stayed with me was that "Times like these try men's souls" is a phrase that could never make it on its own. Sure, right. When I invent a time machine I'll get Paine to change it and we'll see.
Tonight I washed my clothes, and dried them on medium. As I was hanging the shirts up, I realized that my nice new shirts are supposed to be dried on low, not medium! I started to cuss, and quickly tried one on. As I buttoned it up, I thought, "no big deal, you can just go to Target and get more, they're only $30 a pop," but when I was done buttoning it I realized it wasn't shrunk. I took it off and hung it up and mulled on how the tiny tag in my shirt had tricked me.
"These are the times that try men's souls."
"These are days that try men's souls."
"Times like these try men's souls."
"The soul is tried in these dark times."
Sure, the first one is the famous version. But the others aren't that bad. They would have been fine if Thomas Paine had used any of these versions. They would seem like the ordinary version and the others would seem silly. That's the power of fame for you.
It's stayed with me since I first read the Elements of Style -- how wrong they were about this topic. They thought there was a magic cadence to the eight words Paine spoke, but I couldn't believe in that. I couldn't believe in Strunk and White! Of all their little advice blurbs, the only thing that stayed with me was that "Times like these try men's souls" is a phrase that could never make it on its own. Sure, right. When I invent a time machine I'll get Paine to change it and we'll see.
Tonight I washed my clothes, and dried them on medium. As I was hanging the shirts up, I realized that my nice new shirts are supposed to be dried on low, not medium! I started to cuss, and quickly tried one on. As I buttoned it up, I thought, "no big deal, you can just go to Target and get more, they're only $30 a pop," but when I was done buttoning it I realized it wasn't shrunk. I took it off and hung it up and mulled on how the tiny tag in my shirt had tricked me.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home