THE BEAUTY OF LANGUAGE

Cellar Door is, debatably the most beautifully phonaesthetic compound noun in the English language, sell-a-dore, it rolls off the tongue, and sounds almost tuneful, but its a bugger trying to slip it into everyday conversation. 

The French, I think have more flexibility with their language and pronunciation, Sacrableu sounds far more theatrical and classy than 'oh fuck', particularly when it is enhanced with that lovely gutteral sound peculiar to the French. I have always found the accent sensual and when faced with an attractive French waiter, I never miss the opportunity to ask 'what is Cointreau'.   

I often focus on words that I like the sound of, words that add drama and interest to prose and speech and when I latch onto a word, I use it unashamably until I get bored.  For a while 'debris' was a favourite, but pronounced in the American way 'deh bree' rather than the English 'day bree', but it was a difficult one to use in everyday conversation. 'Oh sacrableu, your room is covered in major debris' I would screech at the kids, who for some reason, rarely took me seriously.  

I dislike 'gobsmacked' intensely, it conjures up an image that is not in the least bit attractive, ditto 'pants', which my boys quickly learned, could actually cause steam to emit from my ears.  I get that 'wicked' now means good, and 'sick' has taken on a new meaning entirely, but even in its original form, it never had a nice ring to it, probably because of its association with vomit (yuck). I much prefer the genteel 'indisposed', far more ladylike, but after a night on the tiles, 'indisposed as a pig' doesn't really work.