Bababadalgharaghtakamminarronnkonnbronntonnerronntuonnthunntrovarrhounawnskawntoohoohoordenenthurnuk

Bababadalgharaghtakamminarronnkonnbronntonnerronntuonnthunntrovarrhounawnskawntoohoohoordenenthurnuk is the thunderous voice of God made audible through the noise of Finnegan's fall in James Joyce's Finnegans Wake.

Turning Grief to Song

Blessed be thy tongue!
O magic word, that turns my grief to song!
—Pierre Corneille, Polyuecte, translated by Thomas Constable

Abba Zabba

Abba Zabba appears in a Captain Beefheart song of the same name (1974). The lyrics are a sort of nursery rhyme about childhood rituals and seem to suggest that the primal syllables abba zabba are “song before song before song.”

Abba Zabba is also the name of an old-fashioned peanut butter taffy candy bar.

Thrift

"One remembers his first modest advertisements headed with the magic word Thrift, Thrift, Thrift, thrice repeated; promising ten per cent on all deposits."
—Joseph Conrad, Chance (1913)

Rabbits

"'Little devils! . . . Shoot ’em! Jump on ’em with big boots! That’s the only way to deal with ’em . . . rabbits!' At that word, that magic word, she revived."
—Virginia Woolf, "Lappin and Lapinova" (1939)

Which Came First?

which came first
the blessing or the curse
—vox anon, "hemorrhaging"

Nicander, Melchior, Merchizard

Three magic words to make even an old, weak horse run like a champion:

"You turn his face eastward and you whisper into his ear, three times, the words: 'Nicander, Melchior, and Merchizard.'" —Umberto Eco, The Name of the Rose

Nicander is the name of an Egyptian saint. Melchior is the name of one of the Three Magi. Merchizard remains a mystery.