Chasing sunsets?
March 9, 2021 10:05 AM Subscribe
What is the origin of this phrase? I've seen it pop up on Instagram, dating profiles, and in conversation. I googled it and the results yielded some romance novels and a LiveJournal entry from 2004.
I find this phrase irksome and on the level of the "take me back!" caption on Instagram posts of travel pics. I'm glad people are enjoying the beautiful things in life, but there have been an increase in shitty sunset pics with the caption of "forever chasing sunsets" or similar.
I find this phrase irksome and on the level of the "take me back!" caption on Instagram posts of travel pics. I'm glad people are enjoying the beautiful things in life, but there have been an increase in shitty sunset pics with the caption of "forever chasing sunsets" or similar.
It's the equivalent of "loves long walks on the beach." Trite, says nothing about you, applies to everyone. It's just a trend; if it doesn't speak to you, just disregard and judge away.
posted by juniperesque at 10:54 AM on March 9, 2021 [3 favorites]
posted by juniperesque at 10:54 AM on March 9, 2021 [3 favorites]
I would think it means that you will never get there, because the sunset is always going farther away.
posted by NotLost at 11:18 AM on March 9, 2021
posted by NotLost at 11:18 AM on March 9, 2021
It reminds me of the Little Prince by De Saint-Exupéry:
If you could fly to France in one minute, you could go straight into the sunset, right from noon. Unfortunately, France is too far away for that. But on your tiny planet, my little prince, all you need do is move your chair a few steps. You can see the day end and the twilight falling whenever you like...posted by Too-Ticky at 12:36 PM on March 9, 2021 [1 favorite]
"One day," you said to me, "I saw the sunset forty-four times!"
And a little later you added:
"You know-- one loves the sunset, when one is so sad..."
"Were you so sad, then?" I asked, "on the day of the forty-four sunsets?"
But the little prince made no reply.
As we learned definitively in the 80s: one of life's simple joys, after chasing sunsets, is playing with the boys.
So besides Kenny's incredible wisdom and declaring he coined the phrase, I agree that it seems like a play on chasing a rainbow. Something you can never catch. Or missing the beauty for the pursuit which is the opposite of what you proposed about enjoying the beautiful things in life. Like you aren't appreciating a rainbow if you're sprinting madly at it trying to catch it, sub in a sunset only with more eye damage.
posted by OnTheLastCastle at 2:27 PM on March 9, 2021
So besides Kenny's incredible wisdom and declaring he coined the phrase, I agree that it seems like a play on chasing a rainbow. Something you can never catch. Or missing the beauty for the pursuit which is the opposite of what you proposed about enjoying the beautiful things in life. Like you aren't appreciating a rainbow if you're sprinting madly at it trying to catch it, sub in a sunset only with more eye damage.
posted by OnTheLastCastle at 2:27 PM on March 9, 2021
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posted by phunniemee at 10:19 AM on March 9, 2021 [1 favorite]