Does anyone know where I can find the short story described below?
November 29, 2015 8:41 PM Subscribe
I'm trying to find a short story i read years ago. The plot revolves around a man who accidentally comes into knowledge of a magical word, and any time you say it, the person listening to you instead hears the best possible thing you could have said in that moment. In the story (and the title of the short story too, i believe) this word is stylistically written as gibberish characters overlaid on top of one another, the result looks something like "RAETHBO".
A bit more detail on the plot: A man buys a self-help cassette, but instead of what he purchased, he receives a tape that simply says: "The only word you need to know is 'RAETHBO'." Trying to figure out what this word is, he calls his stock broker to see if there is a stock called raethbo, and his stockbroker hears "universal conglomerates" or something, buys a bunch and it turns out to be the highest performing stock of the day. However, the people who control the word don't like that it is out in the world, they start hunting the guy down and he keeps using the word to evade them.
I read this story as a teenager, so it's probably in a young adult anthology of some sort. However, since the title of the story is just random characters printed atop one another in a jumbled mess, it has been incredibly tricky for me to hunt down. Is anyone familiar with this story and know of the anthology I can find it in? Much appreciated?
A bit more detail on the plot: A man buys a self-help cassette, but instead of what he purchased, he receives a tape that simply says: "The only word you need to know is 'RAETHBO'." Trying to figure out what this word is, he calls his stock broker to see if there is a stock called raethbo, and his stockbroker hears "universal conglomerates" or something, buys a bunch and it turns out to be the highest performing stock of the day. However, the people who control the word don't like that it is out in the world, they start hunting the guy down and he keeps using the word to evade them.
I read this story as a teenager, so it's probably in a young adult anthology of some sort. However, since the title of the story is just random characters printed atop one another in a jumbled mess, it has been incredibly tricky for me to hunt down. Is anyone familiar with this story and know of the anthology I can find it in? Much appreciated?
Best answer: This reddit has a question along the same lines and the answer seems to be The Word by F Paul Wilson, which is currently found in this anthology. In this other reddit, with another question similar to yours, unanswered, says the magic word is something like "Rcredipeo".
posted by the webmistress at 9:23 PM on November 29, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by the webmistress at 9:23 PM on November 29, 2015 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: You guys rock! That was totally it.
Fun Fact: That anthology has notes from the author accompanying every story, apparently this short story was originally released in "David Copperfield's Tales of the Impossible", so he had the typsetter double overprint DAVID/COPPE/RFIEL all on top of one another which resulted in the gibberish word you see.
posted by shovel_mage at 9:40 PM on November 29, 2015 [6 favorites]
Fun Fact: That anthology has notes from the author accompanying every story, apparently this short story was originally released in "David Copperfield's Tales of the Impossible", so he had the typsetter double overprint DAVID/COPPE/RFIEL all on top of one another which resulted in the gibberish word you see.
posted by shovel_mage at 9:40 PM on November 29, 2015 [6 favorites]
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posted by jordemort at 9:07 PM on November 29, 2015