The Importance of One Misplaced Letter

When you become tired, do you sometimes misread a word?  I did recently, and it got me thinking about words.  I misread Mercy as Me cry.  One misplaced letter changed the truth about Mercy!  Is that true for other words?

Our human brain creates meaning and sees patterns.  We justify or debate any position.  And, we can come together... when we choose.

I wonder what would happen if we changed one letter, altered our thoughts or positions, and looked for ways to respect others?

What object does your mind focus on?
(Photo Credit:  Tipping Point, Elizabeth Turk, Catalina Island Museum)

Words have fascinated me since an early age: the ability to form a word by stringing letters together; naming the objects around us; explaining who we are and what we are thinking or feeling.  Word games like Word Search, crossword puzzles, or spelling bees stimulated me to discover new words, to seek patterns, and to understand meaning.  I was even one of those Word Geeks who liked to diagram sentences! (Click on How to Diagram Sentences.)

Recently, I came across Word Letter Change that allows the user to replace one or more letters and change the rules (same order or scrambled).  I began playing with this tool... and discovered a few surprises!

What is seen when you focus on what is important to you?
(Photo Credit:  Tipping Point, Elizabeth Turk, Catalina Island Museum) 

Lesson 1:  Selecting specific words and changing one or more letters — but keeping the same order — will produce a finite number of words:

• Mercy: changing 1 letter can produce 9 other words.

  Example:  Mercy is transformed to Merry by changing C to R. 
• Peace: changing 1 letter can produce 15 additional words.

  Example:  Peace becomes Place by changing E to L.

But changing a word like Dialogue requires changing more than 1 letter to get other results:

• Changing 1 letter produces 0 words. 
• Changing 2 letters can produce 5 words.
  Example: Dialogue becomes Dialogic by changing UE to IC. 
• Changing 3 letters can produce 8 words.

  Example:  Dialogue becomes Collogue by changing DIA to COL.
  (Collogue means to talk confidentially or conspiratorial.)

What do you see when you change positions?
(Photo Credit:  Tipping Point, Elizabeth Turk, Catalina Island Museum) 

Lesson 2:  Changing letters and scrambling the order produces many more results — and sometimes, unusual results!

• Integrity:  changing two letters and scrambling the order produces 470 words... including Betraying (changing IT with BA and then scrambling)

Again, using the word Dialogue -- with the ability to scramble the letter order -- almost explodes the number of possible words:

• Changing 1 letter and scrambling produces 33 words
.
  Example: the word Idealogy occurs when U changes to Y.
• Changing 2 letters and scrambling produces 929 words.
  
Example: Cloudier is produced when AG is changed to CR.
• Changing 3 letters and scrambling produces over 1,000 words just between A and Bluehead!

  Example: Bigotted is formed when ALU is changed to BTT.
  (Bigotted is defined as prejudiced intolerance of the opinion of others.)

Maybe these two lessons can help us as we attempt to dialogue with another person:

• Are we willing to look at the content (what is said) and the order (how we understand)? 
• Do we realize we may move away from facts and add our own meaning when we are tired and don't pay attention? 
• Can we see that ideological, cloudy, or prejudiced filters may transform Dialogue when words, meanings, and intentions are not explored?

This week, may we create a peaceful place for dialogue and exploration by considering the words we choose and the ways we engage!

 

Larry Gardepie

Dialogue San Diego Consulting

(click on link for website)