This afternoon, my writing led me to the phrase 'accentuate the positive, eliminate the negative'. The sentiment was close to what my leading character was thinking ('Shit happens; get over it.') and so I jotted down the chorus of the Johnny Mercer song from which it's taken, in case I might want to use it.
You’ve got to accentuate the positiveEliminate the negativeLatch on to the affirmativeDon’t mess with Mister In-Between.
The first time I heard this song, it was Bing Crosby's version, although lip-synched by Michael Gambon and others in Dennis Potter's 1986 television series The Singing Detective (what an excellent program that was). Needless to say, I got sidetracked into visiting YouTube to hear Johnny Mercer and The Pied Pipers do their stuff, followed by a segment of The Singing Detective. Nevermind, although the word count seems to be going backwards at the moment, I've spent enough hours for one day playing with words.
