25.4 - Andy P's Task: Check Your Eyesight

[SRC Moderator, Moderator]

Task # 25.4 Andy P.’s task: Check Your Eyesight

As I get older my eyesight is less the perfect 20/20 I started out with. Often unrelated words that are spelled close to the same and are the same length have me rereading sentences several times until I find what I thought was an “i” was really an “l”. This led me to think about words of the same length but differing by one “interior” (not the first or last) letter.
For instance, Chair and choir differ only by their third letter.

Thus my idea for this season’s challenge.

As this is an activity for adults, no book with a Main Page Genre of Children or Kids may be used for this task. In addition, the total number of pages of your two books must be greater than 500 (at least 501).

Read two books whose titles/subtitles each contain a word of at least 5 letters that has only one “interior” (not the first or last) letter that is different. The words must be identical, except for the one changed letter. The two words must have different meanings, and cannot be singular and plural forms or alternate spellings of the same word.

Example: The Killer in the Choir and The Mermaid Chair

[Andy]

Reserved

[Andy]

This one is reserved also

[SRC Moderator, Moderator]

This thread is now open!

[TraceyL]

Can I take a letter away, like WIDOW and WINDOW?

[Kim, Moderator]

Would A Woman of Substance and Women in Sunlight work?

[Joanna]

How about Which and Witch -- only one letter is different, but the order is also changed.

[Andy]

TraceyL wrote: "Can I take a letter away, like WIDOW and WINDOW?"

No both words need to be the same length, and the letter that changes has to be in the same position in the word.

[Andy]

Joanna wrote: "How about Which and Witch -- only one letter is different, but the order is also changed."

No because the letter that changes has to be in the same position within the word.

[Andy]

Kim wrote: "Would A Woman of Substance and Women in Sunlight work?"

Kim wrote: "Would A Woman of Substance and Women in Sunlight work?"

I am consulting with a moderator on this one. I had intended the two words to have a different meaning other just a change from singular to plural. There are plenty of options out there, you just need to look for them. I will let the moderators have the final say on this one.
Andy

[Andy]

Kim wrote: "Would A Woman of Substance and Women in Sunlight work?"

No, this will not work, I have checked with the moderators and we are adding some clarification to specify that the words need to be different, not just plural or different spellings as American/British.
Sorry to spoil your plans, but I really do think when you start to look at words in books you want to read, you will find a word that is similar and then you just need to look for a book that has that word.
But thank you for making me make this clear early in the game
Andy

[Marie (UK)]

Oh dear I had intended woman and women

so back to the drawing board

I assume I am alright with WOMEN and WOVEN

[Dee]

i think i found mine...

Magical Blend
When Wishes Bleed

Blend and Bleed have 1 letter difference

[Bea]

I thought I would have to skip this task as all the words I could think of, other than the example, had either a beginning or end letter change...but...my brain on the way to sleep suggested horse and house!

Believe it or not, I have books in my TBR with those words!

[Teri-K]

Kim wrote: "Would A Woman of Substance and Women in Sunlight work?"

I'm so glad you asked! I had assumed they would work, as they fit the task as written, and had planned two in already, trying to read books I already own.

This is not a criticism of the task or its creator. I love tasks where we get to play around with book titles. Even when I've picked my books to read I keep coming up with new combinations, just for fun.

[Andy]

Marie (UK) wrote: "Oh dear I had intended woman and women

so back to the drawing board

I assume I am alright with WOMEN and WOVEN"

Yes this works. Thanks for understanding my lack of precision with my initial wording of the task;

[Andy]

Bea wrote: "I thought I would have to skip this task as all the words I could think of, other than the example, had either a beginning or end letter change...but...my brain on the way to sleep suggested horse ..."
Great, It is fun to let your brain exercise itself
Andy

[Andy]

Dee wrote: "i think i found mine...

Magical Blend
When Wishes Bleed

Blend and Bleed have 1 letter difference"
Looks good to me,
Andy

[Marie (UK)]

Andy wrote: "Marie (UK) wrote: "Oh dear I had intended woman and women

so back to the drawing board

I assume I am alright with WOMEN and WOVEN"

Yes this works. Thanks for understanding my lack of precision w..."

You are welcome Andy - tasks are not easy to get right I have had to make changes before on my own

[Julia]

Another clarification:

Can the word be five letters because it is a plural?

The Hollow Hills
Deck the Halls

Or does this not fit the intent because Hill and Hall are four letters even though they are five letters in these titles?

[Andy]

Julia wrote: "Another clarification:

Can the word be five letters because it is a plural?

The Hollow Hills
Deck the Halls

Or does this not fit the intent because Hill and Hall are f..."
I am going to say no because that opens up a chance to just pick two four letter words that work instead of using five letter words (or longer) as specified in the task. There really are plenty to choose from. Honest!

Julia wrote: "Another clarification:

Can the word be five letters because it is a plural?

The Hollow Hills
Deck the Halls

Or does this not fit the intent because Hill and Hall are f..."<

[Julia]

Andy wrote: "Julia wrote: "Another clarification:

Can the word be five letters because it is a plural?

The Hollow Hills
Deck the Halls

Or does this not fit the intent because Hill ..."

Understood.
I'm thinking about re-reading Mary Stewart's Arthurian series so figured it was worth asking.

[Deedee]

Would these work?

Grave - Grace - Grade

Thanks

[Stephanie]

Are proper nouns okay?

I have Paris and parts?

Paris to the Moon and The War of Don Emmanuel's Nether Parts

[Stephanie]

Biscuits, I guess parts is plural. Nvm...lol...but I think I got it with Think and Thing.

[Stephanie]

Ohmygosh...I can't meet the page count now, lol...can I do thinks and things since they are five letter words before being plural?

[Stephanie]

Lol...and I forgot that it hast o be an interior letter! Oh boy.

[Stephanie]

Okay...trying again...Prime and Prize

The Solitude of Prime Numbers and The O. Henry Prize Stories 2005

[Teri-K]

Just in case folks are reading this help thread for ideas, I'm using BLEND and BLIND for my words, but I also thought of CHANGE and CHANCE or QUILT and QUIET or BLEND and BLEED. FWIW

[Aprilleigh]

Stephanie wrote: "Biscuits, I guess parts is plural. Nvm...lol...but I think I got it with Think and Thing."

Yes, but it's a completely different word from Paris. The plural thing was about avoiding stuff like women and woman. I don't think Andy meant to exclude all plurals.

[Aprilleigh]

Other suggestions I looked at while hunting for ideas (Teri-K already mentioned the one I used):

fried - freed
white - write
white - while
sport - short
scare - share
share - shore
short - shout

[Stephanie]

Ah! Thank you for sharing!

[Navi]

Would "parts" and "party" work?

[Navi]

Navi wrote: "Would "parts" and "party" work?"

Never mind. I just read that the last letter doesn't count - sorry!

[Julia]

Are proper nouns acceptable?

The Wizard of London
Miss Landon and Aubranael

[Andy]

I hadn't really considered that anyone would use proper names and don't really want to accept them, but check with the moderators. If there is already a precedent where someone else has used proper names and gotten credit for it then I will accept you choices. There really are many 5 letter words (and a few that are longer) that meet the criteria without using proper names.
Sorry. Andy

[Andy]

Stephanie wrote: "Ohmygosh...I can't meet the page count now, lol...can I do thinks and things since they are five letter words before being plural?"
yes

[Andy]

Stephanie wrote: "Okay...trying again...Prime and Prize

The Solitude of Prime Numbers and The O. Henry Prize Stories 2005"

Yes

[Andy]

Andy wrote: "I hadn't really considered that anyone would use proper names and don't really want to accept them, but check with the moderators. If there is already a precedent where someone else has used proper..."

I have checked with Sandy and she says I get to pick, so no proper names. Once you start looking, words that fit are quite prevalent.
Andy

[Julia]

Andy wrote: "I hadn't really considered that anyone would use proper names and don't really want to accept them, but check with the moderators. If there is already a precedent where someone else has used proper..."

I'll take this as no and won't bother the moderators with it. I know there are lots of other words that fit the task.

(This came up because I was recently reminded of a scene in a Mercedes Lackey book which I *think* was The Wizard of London and I thought as long as I was looking for the scene, I might re-read the whole book so I was looking to see whether it would fit in any tasks that I haven't done yet. I'll either just skim through it or wait until June to see if it fits any of the Summer tasks before re-rereading.)