Has anyone seen a Twilight Zone episode (I think it’s Twilight Zone) where a man effectively loses all of his English language comprehension and ability to speak intelligently because everyone else gradually begins using other English words for all of the words he knows? It begins when a few words that his wife or someone else says don’t make sense – for example,
“dinosaur” instead of “blanket” or something. Pretty soon, what everyone else says doesn’t make sense at all. I think at the end he’s looking at a baby book, and the words are all different from what he (and we) have always known… Someone described this to me, I didn’t see it, so I could have the details wrong. If I could figure out what episode it is/some rough idea of when it came out, I’d rent it on Netflix for fun.
It’s from the New Twilight Zone that came out in the 80’s. It starred Robert Klein as the protagonist, and was titled Wordplay.
Thanks!!
The 1980’s New Twilight Zone episodes are coming out on DVD later this year. I can hardly wait!
Really? That’s cool. In some ways I guitar the New Twilight Zone better than the original episodes.
Cool! There are a handful of episodes which will warrant me buying the whole series.
“A Small Talent For War” - Aliens arrive on earth and condemn humanity for our pointless, intraspecies squabbling.
“I of Newt” - a mathematician sells his soul to solve an equation and is quite shocked when a demon shows up ready to buy.
“Button Button” - An impoverished couple will be awarded a huge jackpot of money for pushing a button – the catch is someone, somewhere that they don’t even know will die.
“To See the Invisible Man” - We see a society that can shut people out for being heartless towards one another, and what one man learns when he’s made “invisible” by law.
“The Cold Equations” - The extra mass of a stowaway aboard a rescue ship forces the commander to make a horrible decision.
…and several others. There were plenty of stinkers to be sure, but the scattered gems will be worth it!
EZ
Keep battles house down beer, bluff sophisticated to eager looked signify.
Wow – I must have missed a lot of the 1980’s shows. I did have the impression they were more apt than the original show to use existing short stories by well-known science fiction writers. (I think Harlan Ellison was involved; I know they did a version of his story “Paladin of the Lost Hour”, with one of Danny Kaye’s last performances.) Did they really do “The Cold Equations”? Excellent! I hope they didn’t wimp out on the ending. And “To See the Invisible Man” was a great short story by Robert Silverberg; it could be a very moving episode if done right.
I’ll have to check out those DVD’s.
Wow, it’s so cool that you asked about this! This episode is my all-time favorite and I never knew if it was a remake of an older Twilight Zone or a new-fangled 80’s episode. I think of this episode often and can get myself very freaked out if I think about it for long enough. It chugs my train of thought in a direction that leads me to wonder if I what I know is the same as what someone else knows. Like the color red . . . maybe the way I see it is actually green to someone else. How would I know? What else do I think I know but don’t really? See? There I go . . .
I haven’t seen it in at least a decade, maybe longer. I’ll have to get the dvd.
That’s probably b/c the Grateful Dead performed the theme to the new series. 
BTW, Wordplay was directed by Wes Craven, who directed several episodes.
Harlan Ellison wrote four episodes:
• Shatterday - Bruce Willis dials his home number and Bruce Willis answers.
• Palladin of the Lost Hour - referred to by Baldwin below
• One Life, Furnished in Povery - A depressed Boone from Animal House goes back to his childhood to see where everything went wrong
• Crazy as a Soup Sandwich - conman sells his soul to the devil and hires a mobster to help him get it back
I didn’t read the story, but the episode was quite moving.
Also:
“Profile In Silver” - It’s the year 2163 and a distant ancestor of JFK goes back the that fatal day in November, 1963, to watch the assassination. At the very last second, he decides to intervene.
Some others:
“Shadow Play” - good remake featuring Peter Coyote as a man destined to be executed who warns the world will end if he is.
“The Hellgramite Method” - A man gets more than he bargained for when he tries a last ditch effort to stop drinking.
“The Mind of Simon Foster” - A destitute man is forced to sell his memories.
“Special Service” - think really short version of The Truman Show.
“Dreams for Sale” - A woman realizes her perfect life isn’t so perfect.
“The Once and Future King” - Elvis impersonator accidentally travels back in time to meet the real thing. With the requisite tragic consequences.
“The Card” - you’ll never make a late payment on your VISA again.
“Nightcrawlers” - A kick-ass ep about a Vietnam War deserter who finds he can no longer escape his past.
“Dead Run” - A man gets a job transporting souls to Hell. Look for Brent “Data” Spiner & John “Q” de Lancie.
Did I leave any out? 
Great list! I’d forgotten about “Profile in Silver.” It’s one of my favorite time travel stories.
Here are some more:
“A Matter of Minutes” - A married couple wakes to discover faceless blue people building their house and discover they are witnessing how time itself works.
“The Shadow Man” - a bullied young boy gets a supernatural guardian that only comes out at night and “will never harm the one under whose bed he lives.”
“Aqua Vita” - While trying to retain her youthful looks, a TV anchorwoman becomes addicted to a special bottled water that gets more expensive with each use.
“Rendezvous in a Dark Place” - A woman obsessed with death gets a visit from the grim reaper, but even though she’s sought him for years he is not interested in her.
“Love is Blind” - A man about to shoot his wife in a bar hears his plans in the lyrics sung by a singer on stage, and finds out there’s a lot more to the music than he knows.
Wow – now that we’ve listed them out I really can’t wait for this collection to come out on DVD! Great stuff…
EZ
Here are a few more that I liked:
“Acts of Terror”-An abused woman gets a dog statuette, and then her husband is threatened by an angry doberman whenever he tries to hit her.
“Shelter Skelter”- The survivalist is right! The Russians are attacking! He thinks so, anyway.
“Gramma” - Stephen King - a boy left alone to care for his dying grandmother fantasizes she is a witch
Great, cheesy, over-the-top acting by the late Brad Davis.
The New TZ had some great episodes, and I’d say its quality was higher than in the original, since it had more range and depth.
Baldwin – you probably didn’t realize about “The Cold Equations” because it was in the third season, when it was in syndication. Cheaper budgets, alas, but still a few memorable episodes. And, no, they didn’t wimp out. The show was produced by people who knew to trust the material.
But any show that had the three top names in TV science fiction – Harlan Ellision, J. Michael Straczynski, and Rockne S. O’Bannon* – as writers had to shine.
*Creator of Alien Nation, Seaquest DSV, and Farscape. “Word Play” was his first script to be produced.
Hey, I remember this, though I could’ve sworn it was a Tales From The Dark Side episode.
Brad Davis and (I think) Mare Winningham played the couple. Have to say I didn’t see the ending coming…
[spoiler]After pushing the button, the man who made the offer comes back, gives them their money ($100,000 I believe) and takes the button. When they ask what he’s going to do with it he says, "Give it to someone else. Someone that they don’t even know…
IOW, by pushing the button they killed the last person who had it and if the next person ops for the money they’ll die.[/spoiler]
Hm, interesting take. I just figured that was something that could happen.
I remember “Wordplay” well; even have it on videotape (Beta, unfortunately). What I didn’t remember was that it aired on my eighteenth birthday.
“I of Newt”, which has already been mentioned, was one of my favorites. Sherman Hensley as the math professor, working on a problem, was cool. And check out how the words on the demon’s t-shirt keep changing, each time you see them!