Enough carbon dioxide

I was just checking in on Mapping Mars and saw for the first time Amazon’s intriguing list of the “Statistically Improbable Phrases” (learn more) it contains:

astrogeology branch, earthly bacteria, layered terrains, valley networks, outflow channels, transit circle, northern lowlands, polar wander, layered deposits, geological units, television team, multiple working hypotheses, control net, space elevator, enough carbon dioxide, impact basins, ground ice

I guess I’d have expected quite a few of these improabilities, and I’m delighted by my company in some of them (Charlie Stross, Alastair Reynolds and Sir Arthur himself, natch, for “space elevator”) But I particularly like “enough carbon dioxide”, a seemingly anodyne phrase which I seem to use more than anyone else in the world (intriguingly, Al Reynolds uses this one, too -- but only a little). I have just checked the work in progress, and I find that, without any conscious intention, it too uses the phrase more than any other book around. And I’m sorely tempted to up the count...

I expect there are lots of people out there writing about “too much carbon dioxide”, and doubtless with good reason. But there’s only one person to turn to if you want a truly elegant sufficiency of fixed air.

Oliver Morton -- the only writer with enough “enough carbon dioxide”

Update 22/vii/05: This post, predictably enough, now tops the Google "enough carbon dioxide" list (which I'll admit was part of the point). A very small claim to fame -- not like topping the list for horcrux...

Comments

[Rupert Goodwins]

You'll not be wanting a glass of this rather charming cava, then...

R

[David Chandler]

Well! Never one to shrink from a challenge, I can see that I will now have to strive to incorporate that phrase, even more than I otherwise might have, in the book that I'm now working on (which you and I have discussed), which has to do with the habitability of environments on and off Earth. If I fail to win any awards or achieve bestsellerdom, maybe at least I can console myself with eventually toppling you from your eCO2 Amazon apex, and even your Google glory!
Then again, maybe I should just make it my own and construct it a little differently: "Had we but carbon dioxide enough, and time . . ."
(PS, I wonder what this will do to the Google rankings for "Amazon apex" and "Google glory"?)