When Rob and I were first dating we’d spend a ridiculous amount of time talking, usually on the phone and late into the night. It was then, in the early stages of “get to know you,” that I got an inkling that Rob was a pretty bright guy. There was one particular litmus test which  solidified my belief that he might be a card-carrying MENSA nerd.

Here’s what I said:

“I challenge you to use the following three words in a sentence: perspicacity, predilection, and penguin”.

Here’s what he did:

“The penguin’s perspicacity profoundly permitted the promotion of its predilection for perch.”

Come on!

I knew I was in trouble.

The alliteration was alarmingly annoying. (See the joke?)

I got to thinking of some of my favorite words, and I came up with three — right off the top of my head — all of which shared an alliterate theme:

1. Ostensibly: I much prefer this to “seemingly” or “supposedly;” mostly because I can’t hear the latter of the two without hearing my sister’s 5-year-old voice pronouncing it “sa-pose-ab-ly.
2. Obstreperous: I love how this word sounds like the behavior it describes. Unruly, difficult, undisciplined.
3. Ouroboros: A simple image (below) to remember not only the cyclical nature of all things but also the foolishness in eating one’s tail.

All three these “o” words have the “b” sound. Now, it could be they followed one after the other after I thought the first one. They sort of rolled off the tongue that way.

As far as trios go though, I like them.

And, I’m going to see if Rob can use all three in a sentence.  If he can, I’ll pay his 2016 MENSA dues.