Jack and the Twoderful Beans

Authors

Richard Lederer

Abstract

Many years ago, the comedian and pianist Victor Borge invented the idea of inflationary language. Since prices keep going up, Borge reasoned, why shouldn't language go up, too? In the English langage there are words that contain the sounds of numbers, like wonder, before and decorate. If we inflate each sound by one, we come up with twoder, befive, and decornine. Here is an original passage that will allow you to read and hear inflationary language in all its inflated grandeur. Try your eye and ear at translating this text back into regular English.

Recommended Citation

Lederer, Richard (1985) "Jack and the Twoderful Beans," Word Ways: Vol. 18 : Iss. 3 , Article 17.
Retrieved from: https://digitalcommons.butler.edu/wordways/vol18/iss3/17