The pretentious poetry of precipitation

Guest · **Posted:** Sun Dec 22, 2002 4:56 pm

Does this happen only in the Pacific Northwest? A sampling from today's eidtion of The Seattle Times:-- From a story about the aesthetic pleasure of the season's first mountain snowfall(!):"Seething rain may be strafing the lowlands, but up here, the prattle of rain, like a fractious toddler, is silenced by cold mountain air."-- From the lead of sports-section story about Seattle Seahawks coach Mike Holmgren:"He raiived under the cloak of night, with the rain falling in sheets and dancing off the wings of team owner Paul Allen's private jet. The limousine carrying Mike Holmgren sped off into the night, splashing through the glistening streets and toward a coronation."-- From the lead of a sports-section story about a Seattle athlete thriving at Iowa State:"She traded rain, family proximity and the Pacific Northwest for flat terrain, farms and Ames, Iowa -- big city fading into big time."*** Should these writers be forcibly prevented from reproducing for the good for future writing generations?

Rio · **Posted:** Mon Dec 23, 2002 3:14 am

<blockquote>quote:<hr>Originally posted by Jim Thomsen:
"Seething rain may be strafing the lowlands, but up here, the prattle of rain, like a fractious toddler, is silenced by cold mountain air."<hr></blockquote>I've had two "fractious toddlers," and neither one was or is silenced by "cold mountain air." :roll: On the other hand, I get the impression that Seattle Times reporters get too much mountain air. Let's hope they return soon to sea level, where the oxygen is.[ December 23, 2002: Message edited by: Gary Kirchherr ]

Powderhorn · **Posted:** Tue Dec 24, 2002 1:46 am

First of all, the mountains around Seattle aren't high by any standards -- unless you're using a pica pole, and then, yes, it is a fair schwack.But second, we're talking about the Times here ... that's their fortÃ©.

palepink · **Posted:** Fri Jan 10, 2003 4:02 am

<blockquote>quote:<hr>Originally posted by Pete Hahnloser:
First of all, the mountains around Seattle aren't high by any standards -- unless you're using a pica pole, and then, yes, it is a fair schwack.<hr></blockquote>Oh, c'mon. Rainier is 14,410 feet. Only three U.S. states have higher points. Rainier is also well within Seattle's weekend-activity radius, as demonstrated by the traffic jams on its approaches.In such a target-rich environment, why waste bullets shooting at shadows?

Rio · **Posted:** Fri Jan 10, 2003 4:37 am

So are you saying I'm right, and Seattle reporters really are suffering from oxygen deprivation? :)

Guest · **Posted:** Fri Jan 10, 2003 4:16 pm

No ... due to literary overpopulation (time to start thinning the herds with seal clubs, in my opinion), virtually everyone who writes for a living in the Pacific Northwest seems to think every sentence for print has to be ponderously and pompously crafted in the elegantly impenetrable style of "Snow Falling On Cedars" ....

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