True, wine words can be pretty hilarious, mostly unintentionally, but for the record, at least some of the phoniest-sounding--take "road tar" for instance, or "petrol"--turn out to be easily experienced, reproducible results.

FORBES: Faking It

As a sign of how quickly hackles can rise, take the reaction to a sensible-sounding plan by the Clinton administration to speed the approval of military-equipment sales to favoured allies who are prepared to match America's defence-export restrictions.

ECONOMIST: Defence contractors: Arms across the sea | The

Take the oh-so-pleasant-sounding "You Must Be Out of Your Mind, " from Realism, the new album by Merritt's group The Magnetic Fields.

NPR: The Magnetic Fields' Hard-Headed 'Realism'

Mr Cameron enables the party to take conservative positions on social and cultural issues without sounding censorious.

ECONOMIST: The Conservatives' mini-malaise: Tory blues | The

Here is a man who can take his instrument and produce from it the sweetest-sounding violin or the power-pumped beat of a drum kit.

BBC: Bono in action

March-April: IRS agents begin giving extra attention to tax-exempt applications from groups associated with the tea party or with a political sounding agenda in their names, such as "Patriots, " "Take Back the Country" or "We the People, " according to the IRS inspector general.

NPR: A Timeline Of The IRS's Scrutiny Of The Right

They can take their time in ordering without one of our guys on the other end of the phone line maybe sounding impatient.

FORBES: Domino's Global Growth Feeds Pizza Chain's Rising Success

Instead, a spokesman for the relevant British arts agency (sounding a bit like he was just coming out of a pub himself, and in a mood to take a flyer) promised to increase lottery funding for film by 60 percent by 2014.

FORBES: Strapped States Go Hollywood On You, The Taxpayer