Evening star., 1943-02-16
McEvoyC
Me, Poy-doy'
Best Words
Also Puts Dinner,
Coffee on List Of
Beautiful Sounds
Ry 7, r, McFNOY,

BY ]. p. McEvoY.
A few years ago, my friend. Or.
Wilfred Funk. the eminent lexicog-
rspher, startled his public with list
of words which he declared to he
| the most pleasing TO the ear of the
English speaking people. They we're:
Dawn Murmuring
Hush Chimes
Lullaby Tranquil
Luminous Golden
Mist Melody
It's good ist-especially II you
find 1t difficult to go to sleep nights.
Just repeat it to yourself-dawn >.
hush lullaby >. luminous -.
etc. Take slow. deep breaths be
tween words. Relax the back OF
your neck and the base of your
spine Think of walking barefootsd
in the grass at twilight murmuring
chimes =. luminous g.. tram
quill How are you doing9
Hey! Wake up! ,e
Mist melody . mighty pleas
ing, too But I miss that most elb-
quent of all mob noises, as reported
by my dream man. Ludwig Bemef-
mans in his newest book, II Love
| You" (three tines. "' - they sat
down, and a sound of conversation
a deep murmur that came to my
ears like the words rhubarb, rhu-
barb repeated over and over"
How About Payday? -
There are other words as satisfy
ing as cat licking her paw. Can
you think of more beautiful conf
pound word than payday? Repeat
it to yourself-pay-day, payday.
payday, And take the simple three
letter word yes" Think of the oc-
casions on which you've heard that
word. Beautiful, wasn't it? AS for
me, one of my favorites is "dinner"
Lunch" isn't bad, either. And
breakfast" not only sounds good,
it smells good-buckwheat cakes,
sizzling sausages and coffee. Say.
there's word, "coffee!" When will
I hear it used again with that
gracious familiarity?
You wouldn't think that simple
and rather harsh-looking word hike
rejected" could be pleasant sound
to some young men-but so I am
assured by my draft board. On the
other hand, other young men assure
me that ''furlough" Is the sweet
est word in the English language.
How about Job? And "raise"7
In fact, the more I think about It,
the more feel my friend DR.. Funk
could have done better job 9of
listing the most pleasant sounding
words If he had come out of his
library and taken a walk around
the block. He would have learned
that a whole galaxy of beautiful
words have come into existence in
just the last few months. For ex-
ample: "Tire"-a word that simply
reeks with magic--while, on the
other hand, what could be more
dismal-what word more full of grim
foreboding-than flat?
Two Kinds of People.
And that brings me to DR.. Funk's
newest list contained In his latest
book, Thirty Days to More
Powerful Vocabulary" He calls it
the 10 most expressive words in the
English language. According to
him, the most tragic is death
the most bitter-"alone"-the most
revered, mother" Friendship" is
the warmest-"no," the coldest-
forgotten" the saddest-"faith, the
most comforting tranquility, the
most peaceful-"revenge," the cruef-
est-and "love," the most beautiful.
Well, maybe so. But it is odd how
you can change some of these words
around. There are times when
alone" Is the most beautiful-also
the most peaceful. There are times
when friendship" is the saddest
and tranquility" the most bitter
love" the cruelest and death" the
most beautiful. AS for 'no"-"no"
can be practically anything-cold,
hot, bitter, cruel, peaceful, beautiful.
Perhaps the only thing that this
list proves is that DR.. Funk also
belongs on a list of men who make
up lists. For the world Is divided
into two kinds of people-the kind
who make up lists Qike DR.. Funk
and the kind who are always going
around saying the world is divided
into two kinds of people, as though
they had just thought up something
new. That's me. Now, where does
that leave you? Well. you can make
up your own lists.
AS for me, I have my list. 1t
consists of one word. And that
word is not only the 10 most pleas
ant sounding to me of all words,
but also the 10 most expressive
most comprehensive and satisfying
all rolled into one. And why not2
For the word is simply me"
Distributed by McNausht Syndicate, Inc.)
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