The New York Times: Gameplay

Senior Director Chandler Dean chats with The New York Times columnist Sam Corbin about tricolons.

Do good things actually come in threes? Is the third time really the charm? And is it ever in fact as easy as one, two, three? I can’t answer any of these questions. But by asking them in sequence, I’ve executed a rhetorical device known as a tricolon.

What sounds like the name of a digestive malfunction is, in fact, a highly digestible means of conveying ideas. There’s just something about trios — the power of a secret third thing that suddenly gels what came before it, like verbal cornstarch. Two isn’t yet a list, but four feels like overkill. Eat, pray, love and laugh? No, thank you. But live, laugh, love? Now that’s catchy. In fact, it belongs on every surface of my home.