"just one letter away" (UNCLASSIFIED)

Wed Sep 22 15:58:18 UTC 2010

Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: NONE

Newsbank has cites going back to 1989.  Cat is 1 letter from Rat; anger
is 1 letter from danger; diet is 1 letter away from die; Bob is one
letter from boob; HPV is one letter from HIV; etc

> -----Original Message-----
> From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On
Behalf Of
> Jonathan Lighter
> Sent: Wednesday, September 22, 2010 10:41 AM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: "just one letter away"
>
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
----------------------
> -
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      "just one letter away"
>
------------------------------------------------------------------------
------
> -
>
> 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."
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: NONE

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org