All Quiet
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"All quiet" is apparently a very elastic concept. I tag "all quiet" every time the author writes quiet day, but often he also mentions on the same line some shelling or batteries retaliate or "some rifle fire" or something not so very quiet.
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ral104
moderator, scientist
In general, I also tag 'all quiet' when the author writes that it has been a quiet day. Often that doesn't mean absolutely nothing has happened, but that the battery has simply done nothing out of the ordinary.
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cyngast
moderator
I agree that it is an elastic concept. I suppose if you've been under heavy bombardment for hours during the night, a day with only two or three shells seems quiet.
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Stork
I've noticed that, also- I've seen 'Quiet day,' and then the very next sentence says that they were shelled and 3 men were killed. I agree with cyngast above- it's a relative term.
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cyngast
moderator
I've just tagged an entry in the 43rd Bde. RFA diary for Jan. 1916. The author says it was a very quiet day with no activity observed at all on their trenches. But he also says they fired 154 Lyddite shells!
I've sometimes had a sense that all quiet refers only to what the enemy is, or is not, doing.
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erik.schaubroeckscarlet.be
in response to cyngast's comment.
They certainly applied different standards than us (or is it we?)
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cyngast
moderator
We is the correct pronoun here because the phrase beginning with than implies "than we do now." (I had to look it up in an English grammar book I've had since I was 15. I've kept it all these years because I've worked as either a copy editor, a writer, or a teacher most of my life and it comes in handy now and then.)
But, yes, their standards were different than ours!
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ral104
moderator, scientist
We need to add a 'Grammar Consultant' tag to Cynthia's profile! 😄
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