"just one letter away"

[Jonathan Lighter]

Stephen Colbert pointed out last week that, indisputably, "Reason is just
one letter away from treason."

A search shows that, as a humorous formula, "just one letter away" has been
in traceable under-the-radar use for about a decade.

Perhaps it's popped up occasionally since literacy evolved. However, the
earliest I can find online is from 2000.  The first time I heard it was
probably around that time - on _The Daily Show_, in fact.  Jon Stewart (who
took over the show in 1999) was "interviewing" somebody (possibly Colbert or
Mo Rocca) who said, "Remember, 'Freud' is just one letter away from
'fraud.'"

It could not have been after early 2005, when we moved from the house I
heard it in.  Rocca left the show in 2003.  My "feeling" is that it was
earlier than that.

JL

 --
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

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