i'm only happy when it rains*
This evening, just before dusk, the sky brightened to an uncanny blue. I went out to the backyard, and, pointing the camera straight up, took picture after picture, hoping I could capture the sudden sense of unbounded expectation.
*But shouldn't that be "I'm happy only when it rains?" Misplaced modifiers trouble me unduly.
12 comments:
I think you captured it beautifully. It reminds me so much of the sort of blue sky that bursts forth in my corner of the world.
Stop making me like you so much. I'm going to get a crush.
Misplaced modifiers trouble me unduly.
Are you toying with me? I think I'm going to have to refer you to this post, written when no one was reading my blog.
And are you left-handed, too?
Damn, girl. We'd better go get some coffee and hash out these uncanny likenesses.
Slouching Mom That's too funny. I'm not really left-handed, but I mouse (is that a verb?) left, which is why I was thinking about sidebar positioning.
I agree, though it is possible that she could be saying that when it rains, she is only happy. Not hungry, not cold, not anxious. Like when you're only lonely.
Okay, I can't resist.
"I'm only happy when it rains."= I am completely happy-not sad, not angry-when it rains. You are saying that happiness is all you feel when it rains.
"I'm happy only when it rains."= the only time that I am happy is when it rains.
I think you mean the second one, right?
Julia, Furrow great minds and all that, but I'm pretty sure that, while "only happy" is certainly a possible interpretation it's far from the much more likely "happy only."
I meant Julie. Sorry about that.
I know.I've heard the song. Devil's advocate, and all.
...happy...only
you are correct.
I just got home and decided to read a bit before posting. The post I had planned is titled "rain, rain, rain" because that is what it is doing and has been doing for three days straight now. And not just a little rain, but the kind of rain that makes you start to contemplate building an ark. I love it. It does make me happy.
Ah, the misplaced limiting modifier. That's one of those things I reconsider each year. Is it worth my time to teach a class on it, given the wholesale disregard for this principle, among not only my students, but everyone else as well? (And given that I actually just retyped that sentence from the original "not only among...")
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