In the 2001 film, Donnie Darko, Drew Barrymore’s character, Karen Pomeroy, says: “…of all the phrases in the English language, of all the endless combinations of words in all of history…‘cellar door’ is the most beautiful.” Not convinced? Try saying it like this, ‘selladore’. The claim has been attributed to various writers: JRR Tolkien (1955), HL Mencken (1920), and before them all, Cyrus Lauren Hooper (1903) in a novel called ‘Gee Boy’. But the fact of the matter is, no one is absolutely certain that Hooper was the originator of the idea. Dorothy Parker preferred ‘check’ and ‘enclosed’. For my money, it’s ‘monosyllabic’ (it means one syllable but it has FIVE! Makes me giggle every time), and ‘seminal’, as in, “It was a seminal work.” Geez, how can that not make you titter. Of course, I also like ‘titter’. Any other suggestions? nytimes/2010/02/14/magazine/14FOB-onlanguage-t.html?_r=0
Posted on: Sat, 21 Sep 2013 06:25:52 +0000
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