annabenedetti
like marbles on glass
.....cellar door?
Interesting synopsis here:
The English compound noun cellar door (especially in its British pronunciation of /sɛləˈdɔə/) is commonly used as an example of a word or phrase which is beautiful in terms of phonaesthetics (sound) with no regard for semantics (meaning).[1] It has been variously presented either as merely one beautiful instance of many, or as the most beautiful in the English language; either as the author's personal choice, that of an eminent scholar's, or of a foreigner who does not speak the language.[1][2]
The rhythmic or musical quality of the phrase was referenced by H. L. Mencken in 1920, by professor David Allen Robertson in 1921,[1] and by critic George Jean Nathan in 1935.[1]
A passage from J. R. R. Tolkien's 1955 essay "English and Welsh" has been cited as the origin of the idea:[1]
I'd been thinking about words I would consider beautiful, not by virtue of their meaning, but by how they sound:
Delilah
lyrical
ephemeral
At the other end of the spectrum are the ugly words. My vote for the worst-sounding word, one that's a family joke because the more times you say it the worse it sounds:
moist.
Interesting synopsis here:
The English compound noun cellar door (especially in its British pronunciation of /sɛləˈdɔə/) is commonly used as an example of a word or phrase which is beautiful in terms of phonaesthetics (sound) with no regard for semantics (meaning).[1] It has been variously presented either as merely one beautiful instance of many, or as the most beautiful in the English language; either as the author's personal choice, that of an eminent scholar's, or of a foreigner who does not speak the language.[1][2]
The rhythmic or musical quality of the phrase was referenced by H. L. Mencken in 1920, by professor David Allen Robertson in 1921,[1] and by critic George Jean Nathan in 1935.[1]
A passage from J. R. R. Tolkien's 1955 essay "English and Welsh" has been cited as the origin of the idea:[1]
"Most English-speaking people...will admit that cellar door is 'beautiful', especially if dissociated from its sense (and from its spelling). More beautiful than, say, sky, and far more beautiful than beautiful. Well then, in Welsh for me cellar doors are extraordinarily frequent, and moving to the higher dimension, the words in which there is pleasure in the contemplation of the association of form and sense are abundant."
It's only after being introduced to the concept that I could recognize the inherent beauty in such an ordinary word, a good reminder that beauty can be found in even the most ordinary things.
I'd been thinking about words I would consider beautiful, not by virtue of their meaning, but by how they sound:
Delilah
lyrical
ephemeral
At the other end of the spectrum are the ugly words. My vote for the worst-sounding word, one that's a family joke because the more times you say it the worse it sounds:
moist.
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