Would you have been at all tempted to mark the *first* occurrence of "scudding clouds"? Or would that be too heavy-handed? I have always assumed that "scudding clouds" was essentially a metaphor implicitly comparing clouds racing across the sky before the wind like ships, and I confess a slight irritation with the phrase on first encounter because it seems like a dead metaphor, even a cliché.
I checked the OED to see if my sense was accurate, and apparently not--"racing or hurrying" is the oldest documented meaning (1532), with the nautical usage following at a gap of some 50 years. "Scudding" for the movement "Of clouds, foam, etc....driven by the wind" comes later, but still quite a long time ago (1699, though "scud" as a noun for such clouds or foam is dated 1609). So now I feel less irritation--I guess because it seems less like trying to be clever or poetic, and more like being just...accurate, as long as not overused?
I agree that “scudding clouds” is already a bit of a cliche, and it causes me irritation too. (I’m even more irritated by “sea change,” but that’s a topic for another day.) So yes, I would have WANTED to challenge the first occurrence. I probably would have felt obligated to let the author have that one (it’s his manuscript, after all), but at the same time, I could hope that when the author came to my notes at all the other occurrences of that phrase, he might actually go back and reconsider even that first one.
Would you have been at all tempted to mark the *first* occurrence of "scudding clouds"? Or would that be too heavy-handed? I have always assumed that "scudding clouds" was essentially a metaphor implicitly comparing clouds racing across the sky before the wind like ships, and I confess a slight irritation with the phrase on first encounter because it seems like a dead metaphor, even a cliché.
I checked the OED to see if my sense was accurate, and apparently not--"racing or hurrying" is the oldest documented meaning (1532), with the nautical usage following at a gap of some 50 years. "Scudding" for the movement "Of clouds, foam, etc....driven by the wind" comes later, but still quite a long time ago (1699, though "scud" as a noun for such clouds or foam is dated 1609). So now I feel less irritation--I guess because it seems less like trying to be clever or poetic, and more like being just...accurate, as long as not overused?
I agree that “scudding clouds” is already a bit of a cliche, and it causes me irritation too. (I’m even more irritated by “sea change,” but that’s a topic for another day.) So yes, I would have WANTED to challenge the first occurrence. I probably would have felt obligated to let the author have that one (it’s his manuscript, after all), but at the same time, I could hope that when the author came to my notes at all the other occurrences of that phrase, he might actually go back and reconsider even that first one.