# A 50,000 word essay, without the letter "e". **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 23, 2004, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-50-000-word-essay-without-the-letter-e/261047 "2004-08-23T04:18:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Muad\_Dib](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/35a633/32.png) [@Muad\_Dib](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muad_Dib)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2004, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-50-000-word-essay-without-the-letter-e/261047/1 "2004-08-23T04:18:04Z")
[I am not this clever.](http://www.spinelessbooks.com/gadsby/01.html) Or, perhaps, patient. ---
**Author:** ![RandMcnally](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b782af/32.png) [@RandMcnally](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandMcnally)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2004, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-50-000-word-essay-without-the-letter-e/261047/2 "2004-08-23T04:52:07Z")
That’s amazing. I have trouble writtin an essay with just correct spelling. ---
**Author:** ![Bob55](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Bob55](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bob55)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2004, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-50-000-word-essay-without-the-letter-e/261047/3 "2004-08-23T04:57:23Z")
That 50,000 word composition is hard to follow, but wow typing a post without using an “e” is awfully difficult. Ok not using “e” sucks. But somehow I did it in that 2nd sentence without even trying 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2004, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-50-000-word-essay-without-the-letter-e/261047/4 "2004-08-23T05:02:41Z")
Ah…Ernest Vincent Price’s masterpiece. For those who are interested in such things, they are called “lipograms.” Georges Perec, not to be outdone, penned a 200-page novel in French called “Las Disparitions”, without ever once using the letter E – which was translated into English by Gilbert Adair, also without using the letter E. ---
**Author:** ![aaslatten](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f14d63/32.png) [@aaslatten](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aaslatten)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2004, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-50-000-word-essay-without-the-letter-e/261047/5 "2004-08-23T05:50:50Z")
“Such a fine line between clever and stupid.”\* \*_Spinal Tap_ ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2004, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-50-000-word-essay-without-the-letter-e/261047/6 "2004-08-23T06:17:00Z")
> [@Muad'Dib](#): > > A 50,000 word essay, without the letter “e”. Shouldn’t that be “assay”? 😉 I hear tell that Ernst Wright, while writing _Gadsby_, had the “E” key on his typewriter tied down so that he couldn’t accidentally strike it. ---
**Author:** ![dnooman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/839c29/32.png) [@dnooman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dnooman)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2004, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-50-000-word-essay-without-the-letter-e/261047/7 "2004-08-23T07:49:08Z")
Sorry, but [this](http://www.muppetlabs.com/%7Ebreadbox/txt/al.html) is far more clever and meaningfull. IMO that is. ---
**Author:** ![Muad\_Dib](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/35a633/32.png) [@Muad\_Dib](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muad_Dib)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2004, 8:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-50-000-word-essay-without-the-letter-e/261047/8 "2004-08-23T08:04:08Z")
> [@dnooman](#): > > Sorry, but [this](http://www.muppetlabs.com/%7Ebreadbox/txt/al.html) is far more clever and meaningfull. IMO that is. Ha, I have that printed out and have caried it with me (in my back-pack) for over a year. ---
**Author:** ![wolf\_meister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf_meister/32/15202_2.png) [@wolf\_meister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_meister)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2004, 8:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-50-000-word-essay-without-the-letter-e/261047/9 "2004-08-23T08:26:00Z")
Here’s a good site that tells of the “tied down” typewriter key. And something no one has mentioned - Wright died on the day of the book’s publication. [http://phrontistery.50megs.com/lipworks.html](http://phrontistery.50megs.com/lipworks.html) **pulykamell** The author’s name is Ernest Vincent Wright and not _Price_. Sorry, but somebody had to play nitpicker. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2004, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-50-000-word-essay-without-the-letter-e/261047/10 "2004-08-23T14:34:59Z")
> [@wolf\_meister](#): > > Here’s a good site that tells of the “tied down” typewriter key. And something no one has mentioned - Wright died on the day of the book’s publication. > [http://phrontistery.50megs.com/lipworks.html](http://phrontistery.50megs.com/lipworks.html) > **pulykamell** > The author’s name is Ernest Vincent Wright and not _Price_. > Sorry, but somebody had to play nitpicker. No, that’s cool. That’s what I get for going by memory. I could’ve sworn it was Price, but maybe my brain came up with some sort of amalgamation between Wright and Perec (whom I usually mention in the same breath.) ---
**Author:** ![nikjohns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/53a042/32.png) [@nikjohns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nikjohns)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2004, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-50-000-word-essay-without-the-letter-e/261047/11 "2004-08-23T15:29:59Z")
> [@](#): > > A 50,000 word essay, without the letter “e”. “The end” oops ---
**Author:** ![Rufus\_Xavier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eada6e/32.png) [@Rufus\_Xavier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rufus_Xavier)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2004, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-50-000-word-essay-without-the-letter-e/261047/12 "2004-08-23T15:39:23Z")
> [@Bob55](#): > > That 50,000 word composition is hard to follow, but wow typing a post without using an “e” is awfully difficult. > > Ok not using “e” sucks. But somehow I did it in that 2nd sentence without even trying 🙂 You did not, in fact, do so. Particularly disturbing was how your quotation marks surrounded it as if to attract our sight to its position. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2004, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-50-000-word-essay-without-the-letter-e/261047/13 "2004-08-23T15:53:37Z")
> [@wolf\_meister](#): > > Here’s a good site that tells of the “tied down” typewriter key. And something no one has mentioned - Wright died on the day of the book’s publication. > [http://phrontistery.50megs.com/lipworks.html](http://phrontistery.50megs.com/lipworks.html) My favorite: “Gyles Brandreth is a modern British lipogrammatist and master of wordplay who has rewritten a number of Shakespeare’s more famous plays, dropping different letters from each. As far as I know, he has written Hamlet without any Is, Macbeth without As or Es, Twelfth Night without L or O and Othello without any Os.” ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2004, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-50-000-word-essay-without-the-letter-e/261047/14 "2004-08-23T16:02:00Z")
I always wondered if you could encode this, and then watch someone drive themselves crazy trying to decode it using standard frequency analysis. ---
**Author:** ![Jpeg\_Jones](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/4bbf92/32.png) [@Jpeg\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jpeg_Jones)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2004, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-50-000-word-essay-without-the-letter-e/261047/15 "2004-08-23T18:50:27Z")
> [@ArchiveGuy](#): > > …Macbeth without As or Es… Now _that_ I’ve gotta see! ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2004, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-50-000-word-essay-without-the-letter-e/261047/16 "2004-08-23T19:40:07Z")
> [@](#): > > You did not, in fact, do so. Particularly disturbing was how your quotation marks surrounded it as if to attract our sight to its position. **Rufus** did not use the letter in question, he mentioned it. There’s a distinction. ---
**Author:** ![sinjin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@sinjin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sinjin)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2004, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-50-000-word-essay-without-the-letter-e/261047/17 "2004-08-23T20:33:06Z")
So, our man is not bad at avoiding glyphs, but not so good at commas: > [@](#): > > “You can’t do this,” or “that puts you out,” shows a child that it must think, practically or fail. What is the comma just past ‘think’ doing? Just a thought, but a final proof would go a long way with this sort of thing. –Pat ---
**Author:** ![wolf\_meister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf_meister/32/15202_2.png) [@wolf\_meister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_meister)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2004, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-50-000-word-essay-without-the-letter-e/261047/18 "2004-08-23T20:49:44Z")
**Rufus** Looking at your posting, you fulfill all lipogram conditions. You claim Bob55’s posting should’nt count (quotation marks surround that taboo typing). In my mind, I think both of your postings satisfy any and all lipogram limitations. Wow !! I wish I could construct postings similar to both of yours. That is tough work. ---
**Author:** ![bonzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/45deac/32.png) [@bonzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bonzer)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2004, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-50-000-word-essay-without-the-letter-e/261047/19 "2004-08-23T23:21:36Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Georges Perec, not to be outdone, penned a 200-page novel in French called “Las Disparitions”, without ever once using the letter E – which was translated into English by Gilbert Adair, also without using the letter E. I dare not try Perec in French, but Adair’s translation (called _A Void_, since the literal translation would have several e’s) is readable, if inevitably somewhat stiff in places. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2004, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-50-000-word-essay-without-the-letter-e/261047/20 "2004-08-23T23:37:49Z")
I would think that both authors found signing off on Gadsby and Las Disparitions hard, as both would thus fail as lipograms. (This post was a pain in my ass, you know?) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-50-000-word-essay-without-the-letter-e/261047.md?page=2)