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Reading the famous first lines has been fun. I began to wonder about famous one-word lines.
For instance, I love it in Romeo and Juliet when Tybalt, getting ready to use his sword, shouts this one-word, but meaningful line:
Fragment!
Probably these sort of one-word, one-liners don't come easily to mind, but our minds here are often easier than most. Not sure what I mean there.
Anyway, if you can think of famous one-word one-liners, it would be fun to read them--and please supply the context.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Nuts!
Battle of the Bulge. Response of surrounded American General Anthony McAuliffe to the German suggestion that he surrender.
It may be a euphemism.
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veteran
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veteran
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journeyman
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journeyman
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"Nevermore!" (quoth the Raven)
"Rien." (The King's comment in his diary, 14 July 1789)
And characteristic exclamations: "Inconceivable!" (the Sicilian, The Princess Bride), "Sapristi!" (Moriarty, The Goon Show), "D'oh!" (Homer Simpson), "Caramba!" (Gomez Addams), probably could be extended endlessly.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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This comes to me through a good friend:
"Having subdued (or formed alliances with) all of the other major Greek city-states, Philip II (the father of Alexander the Great) finally turned his attention to Lacedaemon, home of the recalcitrant Spartans (from whom the word 'laconic' derives). "You are advised," he warned, "to submit without further delay, for if I bring my army into your land, I will destroy your farms, slay your people, and raze your city." Philip soon received the enemy's reply: 'If.' "
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Carpal Tunnel
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journeyman
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journeyman
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IF"IF" is indeed laconic. And "IF" is also the title of a poem by Rudyard Kipling ... who also gave us "Nevermore!" [with a tip of the hat to Jenet]. http://www.swarthmore.edu/~apreset1/docs/if.html
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Stella !!!
(A Streetcar Named Desire)
Adrian !!!
(Rocky)
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Carpal Tunnel
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journeyman
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