Sunday Wordplay
If you’re a touch-typist, you’ve probably typed a word without realizing that you had placed your hand in the wrong position. As it turns out, sometimes this can yield a different existing word:
If your left hand is one key to the right:
- sofa → dogs
- sissy → diddy (No one tell P. Diddy, okay?)
- set → dry
- duet → fury
- does → ford
- dibs → find (“I found it! Dibs!”)
- boat → nosy
- art → sty (ever seen an artist’s studio?)
- veiny → briny
- sob → don
- row → toe
- rot → toy
- rob → ton
- rib → tin
- purr → putt (cats playing mini-golf?)
- pet → pry
- odd → off
- loft → logy
- good → hoof
- fur → gut
- four → gout
- for → got
- food → goof
- fold → golf
- fib → gin (the exception to “in vino veritas”)
- ego → rho
- due → fur
- dub → fun
- dow → foe
- door → foot (door, foot, cast…)
- doe → for
- bowl → noel
- boob → noon
- apt → spy
- air → sit
- won → eon
- tummy → yummy (now we know where Ohio Express got their inspiration)
- sunk → dunk
- sump → dump
- rook → took (clearly a chess pair)
- roll → toll
- punt → puny
- pour → pout
- lilt → lily
- gunk → hunk
- gum → hum
- gull → hull (no, gulls are usually on deck, not on the hull)
- golly → holly
- funk → gunk
- fun → gun
- full → gull
- dunk → funk
- bull → null (which is why you shouldn’t dereference a bull pointer)
- book → nook
- akin → skin
And if you shift your right hand one position to the left, you get:
- yule → tyke
- stimy → stunt
- roll → rikk (you’ve been rikk-rolled!)
- mile → nuke
- manner → nabber
- joy → hit
- him → gun
- grimy → grunt
- Jakob → hajib
- yore → tire (ah, the tires of yore!)
- yap → tao
- yale → take (have you seen how much tuition costs these days?)
- toy → tit
- tine → tube
- time → tune (in music, it’s important to keep time)
- spry → sort
- soy → sit
- son → sib (a family pair)
- some → sine
- slot → skit
- slayer → skater (skating is not a crime!)
- sin → sub (what about doms, though?)
- rim → run
- pit → out
- pay → oat
- pal → oak
- note → bite
- nod → bid
- Neal → Beak
- nay → bat
- name → bane
- midge → nudge
- man → nab
- lot → kit
- loss → kiss
- kite → jute (nylon kites work better than jute kites, though)
- jot → hit
- jig → hug
- hover → giver
- hot → git (good-looking jerk)
- hog → gig
- hitter → gutter
- heel → geek
- harmer → garner
- grin → grub
- dome → dine
- dole → dike
- dip → duo
- din → dub
- dime → dune
- deny → debt
- boy → bit
- Bali → Baku (gee, my vacation didn’t really go as planned)
- anode → abide
- anise → abuse
- Tina → Tuba
- wary → wart
- warm → warn
- trust → tryst
- tale → take
- sway → swat
- swan → swab
- stiff → stuff
- steal → steak
- stayed → stated
- stale → stake
- spar → soar
- sore → sire
- soft → sift
- slate → skate
- sire → sure
- scan → scab
- scam → scan
- sale → sake (Japanese liquor 20% off!)
- rote → rite (yes, rituals are usually memorized)
- ride → rude
- reel → reek (a real stinker of a movie)
- ray → rat
- orate → irate (an angry speaker)
- nest → best
- leg → keg
- hear → gear
- have → gave
- fox → fix
- excise → excuse
- easy → east
- dog → dig
- diet → duet
- dent → debt
- decode → decide
- debit → debut
- coder → cider (are programmers fond of apples?)
- bray → brat
- bitter → butter
- bigger → bugger
- Faeroe → faerie (is that were the magical creatures live?)