Tonight, in the cold glare of the lights in the Borders on Diversey, Clark and Broadway, we may very well have come across the worst first sentence in all of human history (of course a signal of bad writing is bad atmospherics and exagerration, so this seems a fitting opener for this entry.) Susan thought she had it, with the opening sentences of A Woman in Berlin: "It's true, the war is rolling toward Berlin. What was yesterday a distant rumble has now become a constant roar. We breathe the din." I mean really, can one breathe din? But then Kate came up with one even better than that in Why They Kill: "The James River flows through Richmond Virginia like human time." Ok, maybe we haven't read all the first sentences in human history, but how much worse could it get than that?
4 comments:
We breathe the din.
Bad sentence. BUT that's the third sentence so that does not qualify for the worst first sentence ever.
I agree, however, you can't breathe din. Maybe it is a typo.
We breathed in.
:)
It IS the third sentence. We count on our scientist friends to reveal our starting empirical errors ;^) Let the record show that a certified medical expert has now confirmed that it is impossible to breathe din.
We think you might be right about the typo. Are you breathing din or in as your new house comes along?
Good to hear from you.
Susan and Kate
Whoops, we meant startling. Irony not intended the first time around -- at least not consciously.
Susan and Kate
Wow--those are really bad! Love your blog!
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