Tuesday, July 1, 2008

Phraselet Index

phraselets, n. short quotes compiled from arbitrary sources with the intention of exciting delight in a reader on the merits of their insightfulness or levity or wisdom or wit or winning turn of phrase or any combination of these and other worthy qualities that will remain unnamed for the sake of the reader; a book of said quotes begun by my sister-in-law on my behalf and continued by myself and my wife; a selection of such quotes published to a blog.

No. 14 ("The snow lay ...")
No. 35 ("A dull, gray voice at which Peter's flesh crept replied ...")
No. 37 ("With the first bite of the spade into the earth ...")
No. 38 ("The spotlight kept rowing back and forth ...")
No. 41 ("Only after the labor of birth ...")
No. 43 ("Over the years manufacturers, tailors, designers, and others of an interfering nature ...")
No. 44 ("Consider his definition of Tinsel Town's version of the golden rule ...")
No. 45 ("Yes, yes sir ...")
No. 47 ("Is the cat Creation's supreme invention?")
No. 48 ("Many common objects may be made the vehicles of retribution ...")
No. 51 ("She shuddered, a convulsive motion ...")
No. 52 ("The burger concept ...")
No. 53 ("I pity you for over-work ...")
No. 57 ("There was something in the hollow.")
No. 60 ("The beer had the kind of flavor ...")
No. 62 ("The story as I was told it ...")
No. 63 ("Chicago happened slowly, like a migrane.")
No. 68 ("[The Fundamentalists] were not a political party ...")
No. 69 ("Somerset Maugham once said ...")
No. 70 ("The road in from the airport had been dead straight ...")
No. 74 ("A pleasing woody, herbaceous blend ...")
No. 75 ("The man in front ... was a little shorter than Richard.")
No. 78 ("'Smoking was a real good friend of mine,' Kathy told me, remembering.")
No. 81 ("In the Bistro Californium, beneath Kristodulos's notorious frescoes ...")
No. 84 ("What of the hunting, hunter bold?")
No. 85 ("How can I ever make you understand Cassie and me?")
No. 88 ("The infantilization of drinkers remains the top marketing point ...")
No. 89 ("Alfonso the Learned modestly observed ...")
No. 90 ("The largest tax increase in history ...")
No. 91 ("I would recommend to all storytellers ...")
No. 96 ("Just when I'd conquered the decorator wars with my husband ...")
No. 97 ("Old Marley was as dead as a door-nail.")
No. 98 ("I think [grotesque heroes] are figures that come about ...")
No. 99 ("'Jesus!' the old lady cried. 'You've got good blood!'")
No. 100 ("Her wrist that had been broken grew a little stiff ...")
No. 101 ("Horsepower is not a quaint leftover of linguistics ...")
No. 103 ("'All right. Tell me what to do again.'")
No. 104 ("A Mooning Festival Is Something The Mayor Just Can't Get Behind ...")
No. 106 ("Dear Mr. Yusuf: Here is our memorandum, as promised ...")
No. 107 ("Office women in passing cars looked at him ...")
No. 110 ("The 'marks' surged in ...")
No. 111 ("Along the southern side of Dragon Forge there was a river ...")
No. 113 ("For a while he'd tried to talk to the men who brought him his meals ...")
No. 115 ("So when I lose my way, find me ...")
No. 116 ("The Reds and Greens as a phenomenon ...")
No. 117 ("When midlife approaches ...")
No. 118 ("The next morning Jillian Becker called me at eight-fifteen ...")
No. 120 ("Now, the barmaid was a lady in her thirties ...")
No. 121 ("She did not laugh, but studied his face most thoughtfully.")
No. 122 ("A child has little defense against the sight of a parent laid low.")
No. 123 ("'We're near the end,' he said ...")
No. 124 ("She stepped out of the modest peak-roofed clapboard ...")
No. 125 ("Part of Tarbean's vastness ...")
No. 126 ("The innkeeper drew the beer and handed it over silently.")
No. 127 ("If the human race has ever invented an institution more effective ...")
No. 128 ("For a Pickering, it is a long, multi-course meal ...")
No. 130 ("From inside, it possessed all the gloom of a museum after hours.")
No. 131 ("Zombies are big. The kids like zombies.")
No. 132 ("She could charm anyone when she set out to.")
No. 133 ("A mile from the village of Zennor ...")
No. 134 ("Long, low and wide, with a hood that can be measured in furlongs ...")
No. 135 ("'Why don't you go with him?'")
No. 136 ("I'm impressed with him like a snake behind glass.")
No. 137("Current theories on the creation of the Universe ...")
No. 140 ("She took off her housecoat, then timed it ...")

2 comments:

Kate Pilarcik ~ absolutely said...

(((Uh ... shhhhh, I've discovered something several years hidden down the basement and I'm enchanted at the chord struck in resonation at what I have in collective closets of my own sparked word-ways. Just wanted to thank you, your wife and sister-in-law for being Phraselet Pholks.

Wonders-full stuff. I left everything as I found it . . . and I've still got grin.))) ~ Absolutely*Kate

Loren Eaton said...

It's funny, but I'm always surprised how many of these things there are whenever I index a new one. They're like rabbits; they just keep popping up!

Glad you liked them.