Talk:It was a dark and stormy night

Enable auto-archiving?
Looks like we have posts on this page that are from over a decade ago. Any opposition to archiving threads once they've hit...let's split the difference and say five years? If I don't hear any opposition after at least a week, I'll get it up and running. Thanks! DonIago (talk) 01:30, 28 January 2018 (UTC)

Usage needs evidence of significance
Please note that per WP:IPCV, sources provided for the "usages" section should establish not only that the phrase was used but that independent sources considered the usage significant in some manner. Cheers. DonIago (talk) 22:28, 28 September 2019 (UTC)

Washington Irving
Why no mention of earlier usage of this expression? E.g. Washington Irving's "A History of New York", 1809, which doesn't have it as the opening line, but nevertheless does say it:

"It was a dark and stormy night when the good Antony arrived at the famous creek … ."

— https://books.google.ca/books?id=yELteneHlHEC&pg=PA40&source=gbs_toc_r&cad=2#v=onepage&q=stormy%20night&f=false


 * If you enter a custom date in google book search, you will find plenty of earlier books from the 18th century and sometimes earlier, not all of them used to mark the beginning of a new chapter or book. Here is one from the 17th century: https://www.google.de/books/edition/The_Portugues_Asia/0fs-UXy1FeEC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=it+was+a+dark+and+stormy+night&pg=PA149&printsec=frontcover (midsentence), one from 1766 (at the beginning of a new paragraph) https://www.google.de/books/edition/A_Voyage_to_the_East_Indies/s7wRAAAAYAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22it+was+a+dark+and+stormy+night%22&pg=PA203&printsec=frontcover and 1757 (https://www.google.de/books/edition/The_Scots_Magazine/2O45AQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22it+was+a+dark+and+stormy+night%22&pg=PA317&printsec=frontcover) -- Mathias Schindler (talk) 15:09, 27 June 2021 (UTC)

Usage in Star Trek
Star Trek TNG, S2 E12, "The Royale", features the phrase as the opener of the book "Hotel Royale" by Todd Matthews, both fictitious. Captain Picard reads the first sentence and comments: "That's not a promising beginning ..." 188.230.176.112 (talk) 21:18, 23 March 2022 (UTC)
 * Per WP:IPCV you'd need a source that discusses this use of the phrase in some level of detail. DonIago (talk) 03:26, 24 March 2022 (UTC)