4 6 MAGIC WORDS pens!' Was it comprehensible? Was it possible that this mysterious behest could apply to the terrible event that had just taken place? 'Whatever hap pens!' the behest had gone on to say, 'do not lose your faith or your trust in those who have pledged their honour to save you, and who have never failed to keep their word.' Eve had obeyed the command to destroy the missive as soon as read. But she had committed every word to memory. Until a few hours ago these words had been to her like a profession of faith and of hope. She had sworn before God that she would never lose her faith. But now that faith began to waver, and hope to recede into clouds of despair, she recited them sotto voce over and over again forcing hope to return to her, and faith to revive. 'Whatever happens' was comprehensive, she kept on reiterating to herself, forcing herself with all the will-power she possessed to trust and to believe. Whatever happens! The words at the close of the missive had been underlined. Whatever happens, her arrest and that of her children, the terror, the humiliation, the terrible predicament in which she now was, being driven along, whither she knew not, guarded by a posse of soldiers who of a surety would never allow her to escape -- were all these horrors hinted at in the magic word: 'Whatever'? . . . In vain did she try and infuse hope into her stricken soul. In vain did she make brave efforts to keep two magic words before her mind: "Whatever happens . . ." -- Baroness Orczy, Mam'zelle Guillotine (1940) Whiz Bang Whiz, bang, wave of hands. -- Donald A. Norman, The Design of Everyday Things (2002) Variations and Incantations: • Whiz Bang Fu Man Chu This phrase is featured in the virtual world "LegendMUD" (2001). In Literature: • "My mom had some chairs dipped and all the paint came off, whiz bang, like magic." -- Judy Delton, Angel's Mother's Wedding (1987) Whoopi-Ti-Yi-Yo Facts: Whoopi-Ti-Yi-Yo is associated with a cowboy's lament. Variations and Incantations: • Whoopee Ki Yi Yo -- Douglas Preston, Mount Dragon (1997)