# Do not go gentle into that good night **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 5, 2007, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-not-go-gentle-into-that-good-night/402919 "2007-05-05T20:48:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2007, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-not-go-gentle-into-that-good-night/402919/21 "2007-05-06T19:14:54Z")
Am I the only one who suspects that the only way a dead body would be found in a yoga pose was if the murderer posed it that way after the fact? In which case the death wouldn’t be in the least peaceful. ---
**Author:** ![descamisado](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@descamisado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/descamisado)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2007, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-not-go-gentle-into-that-good-night/402919/22 "2007-05-06T19:31:35Z")
[QUOTE=Exapno Mapcase] The cartoon seems to be a reversal of the usual mode of violent death. You would never say, “At least she died violent.” It has to be “violently.” For the caption to work as a comment, therefore, it has to read, “At least she died peacefully.” Accept no substitutes. [/QUOTE] FTR, I’m not seriously saying I could improve on Wilson’s work. I’m just taking the cartoon as a whole. The deceased’s being in a yoga-like position suggests a quest for or a state of inner peace when she died, not the opposite of dying violently. So, if Wilson was commenting on the former, he might have been seeing her _state of being_ as peaceful, not her actual manner of dying. Now, if she had been placed in her bed or something, well, peacefully might be the word to use. But then Wilson wouldn’t have had what amounted to a cartoon, would he? Also, FTR, most of us speak the way he wrote it in the caption, because it sounds better and because we don’t always strive to speak grammatically, even when it called for. And, **Chronos** , I think you’re on to something. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2007, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-not-go-gentle-into-that-good-night/402919/23 "2007-05-06T19:39:01Z")
At least in my dialect, “At least she died peaceful” is perfectly grammatical, once you parse it correctly. It’s not analogous to “At least she died violently” or “At least she died quickly” or any other “At least she died \”. It’s analogous to "At least she died happy"or “At least she died young” or any other “At least she died \”. That is, it works on the same process as, say, “He was born fat”, which is pretty acceptable as a sentence, no? (I take no position on which wording is _funnier_, though, and I think both could work for the cartoon) ---
**Author:** ![descamisado](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@descamisado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/descamisado)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2007, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-not-go-gentle-into-that-good-night/402919/24 "2007-05-06T19:46:33Z")
[QUOTE=Indistinguishable] At least in my dialect, “At least she died peaceful” is perfectly grammatical, once you parse it correctly. It’s not analogous to “At least she died violently” or “At least she died quickly” or any other “At least she died \”. It’s analogous to "At least she died happy"or “At least she died young” or any other “At least she died \”. That is, it works on the same process as, say, “He was born fat”, which is pretty acceptable as a sentence, no? (I take no position on which wording is _funnier_, though, and I think both could work for the cartoon) [/QUOTE] You have distinguished yourself by saying it better than I ever could. Both choices could work. Wilson’s choice of the position in which she died was the only thing that made me think about it beyond my initial chuckle. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2007, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-not-go-gentle-into-that-good-night/402919/25 "2007-05-06T20:57:31Z")
“She died peaceful” is okay, just as “she died wealthy” is. But just as the latter doesn’t mean her death was expensive, the former doesn’t mean that her death was quiet. ---
**Author:** ![descamisado](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@descamisado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/descamisado)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2007, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-not-go-gentle-into-that-good-night/402919/26 "2007-05-06T21:20:29Z")
[QUOTE=Liberal] “She died peaceful” is okay, just as “she died wealthy” is. But just as the latter doesn’t mean her death was expensive, the former doesn’t mean that her death was quiet. [/QUOTE] Based on the drawing (see link in original post), Wilson seems to be referencing, not how she dies, but her state of being when she died. ---
**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2007, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-not-go-gentle-into-that-good-night/402919/27 "2007-05-06T21:24:49Z")
Yeah, I do think the literal meaning he is conveying is “She died peaceful”, but that there’s a pun going on which makes him say “She died peacefully” (as though they were merely commenting on a woman who died in her sleep). ---
**Author:** ![descamisado](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@descamisado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/descamisado)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2007, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-not-go-gentle-into-that-good-night/402919/28 "2007-05-06T21:29:21Z")
[QUOTE=Indistinguishable] Yeah, I do think the literal meaning he is conveying is “She died peaceful”, but that there’s a pun going on which makes him say “She died peacefully” (as though they were merely commenting on a woman who died in her sleep). [/QUOTE] Once again, spot on. Anybody have any others, where such wording could be interchangeable? ---
**Author:** ![merrily](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@merrily](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/merrily)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2007, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-not-go-gentle-into-that-good-night/402919/29 "2007-05-06T22:25:45Z")
[QUOTE=Darryl Lict] Can anyone tell me how to pronounce his name? [/QUOTE] From [his official website:](http://www.gahanwilson.com/about.htm) Many people ask, “How do you pronounce his name?” Gahan is pronounced phoenetically “gay-in”, not “gay-han”, or “ge-han”. Gahan is an Irish name, from his family in Ireland. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2007, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-not-go-gentle-into-that-good-night/402919/30 "2007-05-07T01:54:42Z")
[QUOTE=5-4-Fighting] Based on the drawing (see link in original post), Wilson seems to be referencing, not how she dies, but her state of being when she died. [/QUOTE] Well, yeah. That’s what I said. ---
**Author:** ![descamisado](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@descamisado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/descamisado)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2007, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-not-go-gentle-into-that-good-night/402919/31 "2007-05-07T18:06:47Z")
[QUOTE=Liberal] Well, yeah. That’s what I said. [/QUOTE] I was just reiterating the original point since you didn’t reference the significance of that particular drawing or reference her state being vis-à-vis the drawing. I wasn’t disagreeing with you. Your words are correct. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2007, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-not-go-gentle-into-that-good-night/402919/32 "2007-05-07T19:07:21Z")
[QUOTE=5-4-Fighting] Also, FTR, most of us speak the way he wrote it in the caption, because it sounds better and because we don’t always strive to speak grammatically, even when it called for. [/QUOTE] Huh? The caption’s version sounds better because it’s both right and grammatically correct. It’s your version that would be incorrect in formal grammar. Your version would never make it into the magazine. It was The New Yorker, for Pete’s sake. An ungrammatical caption? Unthinkable. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![descamisado](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@descamisado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/descamisado)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2007, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-not-go-gentle-into-that-good-night/402919/33 "2007-05-07T19:35:20Z")
[QUOTE=Exapno Mapcase] Huh? The caption’s version sounds better because it’s both right and grammatically correct. It’s your version that would be incorrect in formal grammar. Your version would never make it into the magazine. It was The New Yorker, for Pete’s sake. An ungrammatical caption? Unthinkable. 🙂 [/QUOTE] Incorrect, even for what the drawing is actually referencing? Yeah, and I love how their ads use the word “complimentary” when they mean something is gratis. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2007, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-not-go-gentle-into-that-good-night/402919/34 "2007-05-07T19:55:26Z")
[QUOTE=5-4-Fighting] Yeah, and I love how their ads use the word “complimentary” when they mean something is gratis. :dubious: [/QUOTE] What’s wrong with that? ---
**Author:** ![descamisado](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@descamisado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/descamisado)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2007, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-not-go-gentle-into-that-good-night/402919/35 "2007-05-07T20:02:35Z")
[QUOTE=Indistinguishable] What’s wrong with that? [/QUOTE] Upon further research, destroying all that I have been taught by venerable teachers of the past, boy, have I completely put my foot in it. Carry on; there’s nothing to see here. :mad: \* - The only smilie that have a red face. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-not-go-gentle-into-that-good-night/402919.md?page=1)