Long periods of boredom...

Posted by Pamela on August 12, 2008 at 01:56

In Reply to: Long periods of boredom... posted by Smokey Stover on August 11, 2008 at 03:38:

: : : There are many phrases used to describe soldiers, airlines, police work, geological events and probably many others the go something like "long periods of boredom interrupted by short periods of stark terror". What is the original phrase and what is a reference for where it was used?

:
: : Haven't found it so far.

: I've heard it (read it) many times, but always in connection with police work. You've offered some interesting alternatives, but I still believe the original reference was to police work. The life of a soldier is also a good choice, however.

I've heard this in connection with flying: "Airline travel is hours of boredom inturrupted by moments of stark terror" or similar. That particular version is the one I found on Google and is attributed to Al Boliska, sometime in the 1960s(?), but I can't verify that.

Pamela