Somewhere, a dog barked.

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Where is this originally from? I heard somewhere that it was from a Vonnegut novel (Slaughterhouse 5?) but I've never been sure. So.

― Prude (Prude), Tuesday, 23 September 2003 04:00 (twenty-two years ago)

Trying to help you out, Prude, with a spot of googling, I discovered it's a bit of a writing cliche! See for yourself:

http://www.google.com.au/search?q=%22somewhere%2C+a+dog+barked%22&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en&btnG=Google+Search&meta=

― colin s barrow (colin s barrow), Tuesday, 23 September 2003 04:26 (twenty-two years ago)

Hahaa wow. I used a line like that (I think mine was "somewhere in the distance a lone dog barked") in a story in high school. For a minute there I thought somehow someone had published my shitty old school work *chortle*.

― Trayce (trayce), Tuesday, 23 September 2003 04:33 (twenty-two years ago)

this is a great question. didn't peanuts predate slaughterhouse five?

one of the links from google is to a story from 1921:

http://depts.washington.edu/cartah/text_archive/byng/byng_1.shtml

it seems like a handy device to denote general intermittant quiet, but somewhat cinematic which makes me think it probably coincided with at least radio. i can't imagine people thinking of scenes in that way prior.

― Sterling Clover (s_clover), Tuesday, 23 September 2003 04:38 (twenty-two years ago)

Oh, it's certainly a writing cliche, Colin. The "bad noir prose" thread reminded me of it. Was it from Peanuts? Given Snoopy's affection for "It was a dark and stormy night," I'd imagine this line would wind up there sooner or later.

― Prude (Prude), Tuesday, 23 September 2003 04:42 (twenty-two years ago)

I think the general suggestion of it is loneliness. It's an odd, arbitrary sound that sets off the overall quiet. If the dog's barking "somewhere," it's presumably a distance away, and if you can hear it from where you are then there's nothing else to hear.

― Prude (Prude), Tuesday, 23 September 2003 04:46 (twenty-two years ago)

Elaine does a inner monologue in this vein while strolling in her Himalayan walking shoes. I think it was "In the distance, a child cries" though.

― oops (Oops), Tuesday, 23 September 2003 06:13 (twenty-two years ago)

It sounds like the kind of phrase a potboiler action writer like Clive Cussler might use - to convey an appropriate sense of desolation or loneliness - as mentioned upthread. Pace Mr Clover, it is a kind of gestural, cinematic phrase that quickly paints in the appropriate mood.

I'm reminded of the ubiquitous cricket in the Simpsons, which appears as a comic emblem of the irrelevance or stupidity of a character's comment, and the silence or lack of interest in the audience to whom the comment was directed. That, too, is an all-purpose (albeit comic) device.

― colin s barrow (colin s barrow), Tuesday, 23 September 2003 06:22 (twenty-two years ago)

I wish I could remember where I read something with "Somewhere, in the distance, a duck quacked," which made me laugh.

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Wednesday, 24 September 2003 19:56 (twenty-two years ago)

Haha! That's beautiful.

― colin s barrow (colin s barrow), Wednesday, 24 September 2003 20:37 (twenty-two years ago)

ten years pass...

That fucking dachshund in #602....

― #TweetFromAnUnknownWoman (j.lu), Sunday, 13 April 2014 05:38 (twelve years ago)

https://s-media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/736x/20/df/7c/20df7c3d87ea832504fcdcbacc7980c4.jpg

― Lie Bot (fireland), Sunday, 13 April 2014 18:18 (twelve years ago)

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