Absent Punctuation = Semantic Possibilities

Last year I shared some 6-Word Stories written by 9th graders with reading disabilities. I was recently sent another collection of these stories and would like to share one in particular.

We search so much for nothing.

Because there is no internal punctuation, my dialectical background allows me to interpret this story in two different ways.

We search so much...for nothing. (We search all the time for nothing in particular.)

and

We search...so much for nothing. (We search/ed and it wasn't worth the effort because we never found what we were searching for.)

The second reading is based on the fact that "so much for nothing" was used as an idiomatic expression in my youth. The kids in my neighborhood would shout it out anytime they were disappointed in the outcome of an action.

Six Words - Brevity is the Soul of Wit (and Wisdom)

My father passed along the following e-mail from his friend Rick Hebert, a Houston teacher of 9th graders with reading disabilities:

"Here are a few of those “6-Word Stories” that “Ricky’s Kids” wrote; I’m quite proud of these guys…of course, I had to spell a few words for them (and keep repeating, “6 words, 6 words only, no more than 6 words, no less than 6 words), but…"

My Mind Wanders; Hope It Returns

“Perfect” Takes Time I Don’t Have

Life is Fair; People Are Not

Others Are Losers; I Found You

We Are a Lack of Words

She Fears No Evil; She Lies

He Dies Every Day Doing Nothing

Can’t Stop Loving, But He’s Bogus

….and my 2 favorites

What Happens Here Stays on YouTube

American Dream Running Out of Time

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Six word stories belong to a recently-named genre called "flash fiction" or "microfiction" and originated with a story that may or may not have been written by Hemingway: "For sale: baby shoes, never worn."

There is now a website called Six Word Stories that has a collection of these stories categorized by author and subject. Here are a few I found under my favorite subject "word play":

The day unfolds. I fold laundry. - R. Armour

Girl on fire. An old flame? - nihualahain

Love triangle. You get the point. - Dan


P.S. "Brevity is the soul of wit" is a line from Shakespeare's Hamlet that just happens to be six words.