Longtime readers of this blog might remember that I once complained about excessive usage of the phrase "sea change," only to be greeted by a tidal wave of skepticism from all of my friends, none of whom could remember ever seeing it in print. (The Beck album of the same name hadn't been released at this point, which should give you an idea of how long ago this was.)

Anyway, this led to a brief flurry of "sea change" mania, and Noah blogged about it here. Now, more than three years later, I've finally found the reference that got me to thinking about this phrase. It's on page 382 of Jacques Barzun's From Dawn to Decadence:

In academic writings as in journalism, [Rousseau's] name and the adjective Rousseauian are used to characterize opinions that he never held. These statements contrary to fact are repeated by rote when certain subjects arise, just as Shakespeare's phrase "sea change" is set down when the writer thinks of change.

There you go. And guess what? Apparently Microsoft, of all things, is in the middle of a sea change, too.