"cellar door"

Garson O'Toole adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM
Fri Feb 19 01:10:38 UTC 2010


Fred Shapiro said
> And Woody Allen in "Deconstructing Harry" said the most beautiful words in the English language were "it's benign."

That is a fine joke with a somber edge, but it is not clear if Woody
Allen was the originator.

IMDB gives a release date of 12 December 1997 for "Deconstructing
Harry" directed and written by Woody Allen. The memorable quotes page
for the movie has the following:

Harry Block: The most important words in the English language are not
"I love you" but "It's benign."

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118954/quotes

Erma Bombeck used the same concept for an epigram in her 1993 book.

Citation: 1993, A marriage made in heaven - or, too tired for an
affair by Erma Bombeck, Page 234, HarperCollins. (Google snippet view,
Worldcat agrees with date.)

Mother's doctor approached and sat down beside me. He then spoke the
most beautiful word in the English language, "Benign."

http://books.google.com/books?id=IzwgIx5mk2MC&q=%22beautiful+word%22#search_anchor

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