# Famous First Words **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 1, 2000, 8:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-first-words/13588 "2000-02-01T08:14:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![TomH](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/90db22/32.png) [@TomH](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TomH)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2000, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-first-words/13588/21 "2000-02-01T16:41:00Z")
Mr Thin Skin, _Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance_, Robert M. Pirsig. ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2000, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-first-words/13588/22 "2000-02-01T16:47:00Z")
Try this one: “It can hardly be a coincidence that no language on earth has ever produced the expression ‘As pretty as an airport.’” * * * Chaim Mattis Keller [ckeller@kozmo.com](mailto:ckeller@kozmo.com) “Sherlock Holmes once said that once you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the answer. I, however, do not like to eliminate the impossible. The impossible often has a kind of integrity to it that the merely improbable lacks.” – Douglas Adams’s Dirk Gently, Holistic Detective ---
**Author:** ![Vestal\_Blue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/5e9695/32.png) [@Vestal\_Blue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vestal_Blue)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2000, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-first-words/13588/23 "2000-02-01T16:49:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally posted by pluto: > \*\* _Cat’s Cradle_ by Kurt Vonnegut? > > \*\* Nope. The Number of The Beast, by Robert A. Heinlein * * * VB This sigline is closed for renovation. ---
**Author:** ![TomH](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/90db22/32.png) [@TomH](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TomH)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2000, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-first-words/13588/24 "2000-02-01T16:58:00Z")
Porpentine, (1) = _Wuthering Heights_, Emily Brontë. (2) = Sounds like Hunter S. Thompson, but I couldn’t tell you any more than that. As for the rest of them, I haven’t a clue. cmkeller, It’s Douglas Adams (not Richard, this time), but I can’t remember where. ---
**Author:** ![Pixoid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Pixoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pixoid)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2000, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-first-words/13588/25 "2000-02-01T17:27:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally posted by cmkeller: > **"It can hardly be a coincidence that no language on earth has ever produced the expression ‘As pretty as an airport.’"** That’s _The Long Dark Tea Time of the Soul_. Douglas Adams. (Your sig suggests you’re a big fan of his. :)) Try Pix1:“I’ve watched through his eyes.” That might be too little…if you want more, I’ll give the first paragraph. ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2000, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-first-words/13588/26 "2000-02-01T17:42:00Z")
Guesses on titles that haven’t been named yet: * * * Originally posted by Fretful Porpentine: _2) “MASON CITY. To get there you follow Highway 58, going northeast out of the city, and it is a good highway and new.”_ WAG: Jack Kerouac, On the Road. _3) “Brother Francis Gerard of Utah might never have discovered the blessed documents, had it not been for the pilgrim with girded loins who appeared during that young novice’s Lenten fast in the desert.”_ A canticle for Leibowitz, Walter Miller Jr. _5) “On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays it was Court Hand and Summulae Logicales, while the rest of the week it was the Organon, Repetition, and Astrology.”_ The Once and Future King, T.H. White * * * TomH _“The Law, as quoted, lays down a fair conduct of life, and one not easy to follow. I have been fellow to a beggar again and again under circumstances which prevented either of us finding out whether the other was worthy. I have still to be broth to a Prince, though I once came near to kinship with what might have been a veritable King, and was promised the reversion of a Kingdom - army, law-courts, revenue, and policy all complete. But, today, I greatly fear that my King is dead, and if I want a crown I must go hunt it for myself.”_ The Man Who Would Be King, Rudyard Kipling ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2000, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-first-words/13588/27 "2000-02-02T06:00:00Z")
Here’s a couple of quickies for crime-fiction fans: U-1) “In the year 1878 I took my degree of Doctor of Medicine of the University of London, and proceeded to Netley to go through the course prescribed for surgeons in the army.” U-2) “The first time I laid eyes on Terry Lennox he was drunk in a Rolls-Royce Silver Wraith outside the terrace of The Dancers. The parking lot attendant had brought the car out and he was still holding the door open because Terry Lennox’s left foot was dangling outside, as if he had forgotten he had one.” If these prove too easy I can be much more beguiling. * * * Uke ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2000, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-first-words/13588/28 "2000-02-02T06:04:00Z")
Originally posted by Ukulele Ike: U-1) “In the year 1878 I took my degree of Doctor of Medicine of the University of London, and proceeded to Netley to go through the course prescribed for surgeons in the army.” Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, A Study in Scarlet. U-2) “The first time I laid eyes on Terry Lennox he was drunk in a Rolls-Royce Silver Wraith outside the terrace of The Dancers. The parking lot attendant had brought the car out and he was still holding the door open because Terry Lennox’s left foot was dangling outside, as if he had forgotten he had one.” Raymond Chandler, The Long Goodbye. If these prove too easy I can be much more beguiling. \*\* [/QUOTE] ---
**Author:** ![pluto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f08c70/32.png) [@pluto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pluto)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2000, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-first-words/13588/29 "2000-02-02T06:08:00Z")
U-1: It’s elementary that that’s Dr. Watson speaking, but I can’t identify the work. WAG: Wasn’t _A Study in Scarlet_ the first Sherlock Holmes story? ---
**Author:** ![TomH](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/90db22/32.png) [@TomH](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TomH)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2000, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-first-words/13588/30 "2000-02-02T06:16:00Z")
Arnold, Spot on. I was beginning to wonder if it was a bit too obscure (hence the earlier clues). ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Thin\_Skin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@Mr\_Thin\_Skin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Thin_Skin)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2000, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-first-words/13588/31 "2000-02-02T06:25:00Z")
Ok, A couple more. MTS2: Form the possesive singular of nouns by adding 's. MTS3: Call me Jonah. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2000, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-first-words/13588/32 "2000-02-02T06:29:00Z")
MTS: One of them is _Moby Dick_ and the other is Strunk and White’s _The Elements of Style_. ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Thin\_Skin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@Mr\_Thin\_Skin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Thin_Skin)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2000, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-first-words/13588/33 "2000-02-02T06:33:00Z")
PolyCarp, See P1 above for _Moby Dick:_ “Call me Ishmael” You right about _Elements of Style_ ---
**Author:** ![MadPoet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8c91f0/32.png) [@MadPoet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MadPoet)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2000, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-first-words/13588/34 "2000-02-02T06:53:00Z")
“It’s a sin to write this.” “The sky above the port was the color of a television, tuned to a dead channel.” * * * [http://www.madpoet.com](http://www.madpoet.com) I’ve got a little black book with me poems in. I’ve got a bag, toothbrush, and a comb. ---
**Author:** ![TomH](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/90db22/32.png) [@TomH](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TomH)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2000, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-first-words/13588/35 "2000-02-02T06:55:00Z")
MTS3: Call me Jonah. My parents did, or nearly did, they called me John. That _is_ Cat’s Cradle. ---
**Author:** ![MadPoet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8c91f0/32.png) [@MadPoet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MadPoet)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2000, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-first-words/13588/36 "2000-02-02T06:55:00Z")
“It’s a sin to write this.” “The sky above the port was the color of a television, tuned to a dead channel.” * * * [http://www.madpoet.com](http://www.madpoet.com) I’ve got a little black book with me poems in. I’ve got a bag, toothbrush, and a comb. ---
**Author:** ![TomH](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/90db22/32.png) [@TomH](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TomH)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2000, 6:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-first-words/13588/37 "2000-02-02T06:59:00Z")
MTS3: Call me Jonah. My parents did, or nearly did, they called me John. That _is_ Cat’s Cradle. ---
**Author:** ![MadPoet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8c91f0/32.png) [@MadPoet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MadPoet)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2000, 6:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-first-words/13588/38 "2000-02-02T06:59:00Z")
“It’s a sin to write this.” “The sky above the port was the color of a television, tuned to a dead channel.” * * * [http://www.madpoet.com](http://www.madpoet.com) I’ve got a little black book with me poems in. I’ve got a bag, toothbrush, and a comb. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2000, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-first-words/13588/39 "2000-02-01T19:02:00Z")
Mr. TS: Is “Call me Jonah” from Vonnegut’s CAT’S CRADLE? AW: Very impressive! Try this one, from one of the great crime short stories of all time (which is NOT to say it isn’t obscure): U-3) “At six o’clock of a January evening Mr. Whybrow was walking home through the cobweb alleys of London’s East End. He had left the golden clamour of the great High Street to which the tram had brought him from the river and his daily work, and was now in the chess-board of byways that is called Mallon End.” * * * Uke ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2000, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-first-words/13588/40 "2000-02-01T19:03:00Z")
Mr. TS: Is “Call me Jonah” from Vonnegut’s CAT’S CRADLE? AW: Very impressive! Try this one, from one of the great crime short stories of all time (which is NOT to say it isn’t obscure): U-3) “At six o’clock of a January evening Mr. Whybrow was walking home through the cobweb alleys of London’s East End. He had left the golden clamour of the great High Street to which the tram had brought him from the river and his daily work, and was now in the chess-board of byways that is called Mallon End.” * * * Uke [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-first-words/13588.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-first-words/13588.md?page=3)