We often say that things 'roll off of
our tongues', to mean that particular things are enjoyable to say in
some fashion. This, of course, is different from things 'falling out
of our mouths', which is not so good.
Some words I enjoy saying because of
the sounds they require. Rhyme basically works like this, but I've
never been fond of it. 'Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious' is
perhaps the finest example of something that is fun to say just
because it is.
Why do we find pleasure in the sound of
a word, or in the contortions of the mouth and tongue that are
required to say it? My mom taught me: 'Marseydotes n doseydotes n
liddulkidseydivey, a kidduleedivey to, wouldn't you?” It's really
fun to say, and moreso when you realize it's actually
Mares eat oats
and does eat oat
and little kids eat ivy
a kid'll eat ivy, too, wouldn't you?
(kid = baby goat as well as human
child, in case you weren't aware).
There are other words that merge the
physical pleasure of mouth contortions, sound and meaning. My
favorite of these is callipygian, which means 'having well-formed
buttocks'. I like the feel, the sound and the meaning of that word
(as well as women who are, themselves, callipygian). There's also
the fact that it's an utterly unnecessary and totally beautiful word
to have in a language. Nonsense, silliness and perfection, all in
one place.
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