The Psychology of Euphonic Writing

I have always been fascinated--okay, maybe only in the last few years--by pleasant-sounding writing. Indeed, it has become an obsession with me.


I have about ten notebooks filled with writing I like; the bulk of the writing is from others, but some of the material I wrote myself. Most of it is simply phrases, some are sentences, and even fewer are paragraphs.


Here's a sampling:


--"deep, Cimmerian caverns" (dictionary.com)


--"a fascination with perplexity" (Denis Dutton)


--"A maze and amazement go together, no?" (Jorge Luis Borges)


--"its behind-the-scenes creative force" (Mike Sacks)


--"then just played to exquisite silence from the audience" (James Downey)


--"and polished by the erosive action of wind-driven sand" (dictionary.com)


--"dismissed his embattled chief strategist" (Ashley Parker)


--"who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation" (myself)


--"aides and advisers going rogue" (Ashley Parker)


--"now fallen into literary silence" (Richard Brody)


--"The silence lessened; in other words, the noise rose." (myself)


Euphonious writing has a way of calming my helter-skelter mind. And for that, I'm thankful.

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Easily Forgotten

I do commend Sen. Orrin Hatch for bringing up a salient point recently. Concerning the Charlottesville, Virginia, incident he brought up his brother serving in WWII, and the brother fighting against Nazism.

It is easy to forget. Even though these racist groups seem small in numbers and don't appear able to do much damage, it is good to remember some of what they stand for.

I am sure, though, many people in the world wondered after WWII, how in the world could a civilized country like Germany reach such a level? Maybe it began as something small.

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The Heat May Keep on Coming

I read an interesting--and shocking--article at news.nationalgeographic.com titled, "Parts of Asia May Be Too Hot for People by 2100." The title sounded like something in one of the tabloids, something akin to "Vampires Learning to Steal Identities from Cyberspace with the Help of Al Gore and Richard Simmons." Yet, being from National Geographic, it does command attention.

One quote captures the warning of the article: "Unless carbon emissions are curtailed, climate change may expose 1.5 billion people in South Asia to potentially lethal heat and humidity in the near future." And one quote captures the takeaway of the article. "Emission cuts will make a big difference in the lives of the most vulnerable people in the region. This is not an abstract concept," said [Elfaith] Eltahir [MIT professor of environmental engineering].

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