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 (i.e., sound) with no regard for semantics (i.e., meaning). It has been variously presented either as merely one beautiful instance of many, or as the most beautiful in the English language; as the author's personal choice, that of an eminent scholar's, or of a foreigner who does not speak the language.
Read more about Cellar Door: Phonaesthetics, History, Respellings
Famous quotes containing the words cellar and/or door:
“Look, we’re all the same; a man is a fourteen-room house—in the bedroom he’s asleep with his intelligent wife, in the living-room he’s rolling around with some bareass girl, in the library he’s paying his taxes, in the yard he’s raising tomatoes, and in the cellar he’s making a bomb to blow it all up.”
—Arthur Miller (b. 1915)
“The parent in charge is the disciplinarian.... I do not believe in letting discipline wait for another parent to handle it, nor do I think the father or mother should be allowed to become a shadowy figure who walks in the door and has to play the bad guy in the house.”
—Lawrence Balter (20th century)