January 08, 2006

 

FROM SUCKING TO DUCKING
THERE IS BUT A TOUCH
OF THE FINGER

I was in the middle of writing a sentence in which the word sucking appears.

The fact that I was writing about sucking is irrelevant to what I want to relate and illustrate here.

I had just typed the word sucking when I realized I had made a mistake.

Instead of hitting the S key on my keyboard my finger had struck the D key. The key immediately next to the S on the right. Inadvertently I had written Ducking instead of Sucking.

I was about to make the correction with my spell-check when it struck me that by changing the first letter of the word Sucking with another letter I produced an interesting relation of words.

Ducking! Sucking! A metaphorical connection could easily be made between the acts describe by these two words.

And so I started experimenting. Right there in the middle of the sentence I was writing.

I changed the initial S of sucking with all the consonants on the alphabet.

Like this.

Bucking
Cucking
Ducking
Fucking
Gucking
Hucking
Jucking
Kucking
Lucking
Mucking
Nucking
Pucking
Qucking
Rucking
Sucking
Tucking
Vucking
Wucking
Xucking
Zucking

As I contemplated the list I had just made I realized that I had written a kind of poem describing all the activities concerning human relations.


I decided to push the experiment further

I changed the U in sucking to an O.

Like this.

Bocking
Cocking
Docking
Focking
Gocking
Hocking
Jocking
Kocking
Locking
Mocking
Nocking
Pocking
Qocking
Rocking
Socking
Tocking
Vocking
Wocking
Xocking
Zocking

And I saw that I now had another poem describing other activities related to human relations.

Well no need to experiment further with the other vowels of the alphabet.


Those of you interested in such words as sucking may try it themselves.

I just wanted to relate here what happened when accidentally while writing a sentence I made a spelling mistake which led to a digression about human relations right there in the middle of the sentence I was writing about sucking.

Go explain that.

 

SIX GALLERY PRESS


Six Gallery Press says: Federman is already well-known for his extensive publications in poetry, criticism and fiction, including Here and Elsewhere: Poetic Cul de Sac, from Six Gallery Press. This new book, called More Loose Shoes and Smelly Socks, is a collection of fragments of writing. They range from pure fantasy to poignant memoir to deceptively simple ramblings--something for which Federman is known. Like his previous work, More Loose Shoes catches you off guard, always speaking with two tongues--one glib, the other serious; one English, one French (the book is bilingual). In it, he explores the difficulties of self-expression, the futility of writing, thoughts of "changing tense" and golf. More Loose Shoes continues to develop the Federman story that has been spun through his previous works.

This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?