Cellar door

Last night my son asked me what I thought of “cellar door.”  I puzzled over the questions for a few minutes trying to come up with any associations to cellar doors. Could he be talking about a new musical group, referring to the cellar door in the Wizard of Oz, or the scary portal where ghost stories often begin?Finally I did what any self- respecting mother would do, I googled “cellar door.” And what I found surprised me. J.R.R. Tolkien thought it the most beautiful combination of sounds in the English language. Annie Dillard disagreed, voting for “sycamore.” Is this why Stephen King has a photograph of a cellar door on the cover of his book On Writing? It is true that some words compel just by the combination of sounds like dusk, and thistle. In all of these words, the sibilant “s” is the culprit our ears long to hear.Cast your vote for the most beautiful combination of sounds in the English language here. Writers take note–perhaps titles with sibilants sell more.