# The omnibus short story ID thread **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 2, 2023, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-omnibus-short-story-id-thread/977497 "2023-01-02T03:09:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2023, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-omnibus-short-story-id-thread/977497/1 "2023-01-02T03:09:52Z")
I’ll start this thread with this: A guy wakes up with what appears to be aphasia. Words just don’t mean what he thinks they mean. There’s something about ‘encyclopedia’ meaning ‘dog’. He has to learn vocabulary all over again. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2023, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-omnibus-short-story-id-thread/977497/2 "2023-01-02T03:13:33Z")
Sounds like [Wordplay](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wordplay_(The_Twilight_Zone)). ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2023, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-omnibus-short-story-id-thread/977497/3 "2023-01-02T03:16:26Z")
That’s it. I would have sworn it was a short story that I read. I guess not. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2023, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-omnibus-short-story-id-thread/977497/4 "2023-01-02T13:34:19Z")
I read a story around 1990 in one of those Great American Short Stories collections, or maybe a Great British short story collections. It was about twin siblings who shared a mental connection. They went to a birthday party where they played hide-and-seek in the dark. One of them was very frightened, and when the lights came back on, he was dead. The surviving child was surprised, because he felt the other’s fear going on and on. Anyone know it? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2023, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-omnibus-short-story-id-thread/977497/5 "2023-01-02T14:14:21Z")
“The End of The Party,” by Graham Greene? ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2023, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-omnibus-short-story-id-thread/977497/6 "2023-01-02T15:56:19Z")
That’s it! Thank you. 😁 ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2023, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-omnibus-short-story-id-thread/977497/7 "2023-01-03T01:35:34Z")
A Garden Of Eden variant (I read it one of my Dad’s books. It was a greatest Fantasy collection. I remember That Hellbound Train was in it) Lilith sees Adam in the Garden and makes a body to interfere with The Divine Plan and have sex with Adam. Eventually she finds herself caring about Adam too much and leaves the body. She chats with the Serpent and decides to reinhabit the body. She finds she cannot as Eve’s soul has been placed into it. Lilith finds she cannot make another physical body. She and the Serpent plot against The Lord. In the end Adam decides not to rebel with Lilith (a rebellion it’s strongly hinted could succeed) and eats the apple after Eve offers it to him. He and Eve leave the garden. Adam says ‘Before Eve, I had a woman of my own and she never did me any harm.’ ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2023, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-omnibus-short-story-id-thread/977497/8 "2023-01-03T02:03:29Z")
“Fruit of Knowledge,” C.L. Moore? ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2023, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-omnibus-short-story-id-thread/977497/9 "2023-01-03T05:03:01Z")
I thought we already had one of these threads. > [@Ask the guy who is pretty good at SF Story Identification](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ask-the-guy-who-is-pretty-good-at-sf-story-identification/462417): > > Hi there. It’s been just about 4 years since I signed onto the SDMB, but I’m back. A few weeks back I helped out in this thread [Help me find this Science Fiction short story - Cafe Society - Straight Dope Message Board](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=476861) with a story identification (by emailing the answer to Wendell). If you’ve got a story you’d like me to try to identify for you, give a description (include a rough idea of when you read it, and as many details as you remember) and I’ll give it my best shot. Andy I mean, it goes back to 2008, so it’s pretty long in the tooth, but it hasn’t been closed yet. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2023, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-omnibus-short-story-id-thread/977497/10 "2023-01-03T14:30:26Z")
That one’s for science fiction stories only. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2023, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-omnibus-short-story-id-thread/977497/11 "2023-01-03T15:45:03Z")
Wait, there are other kinds of fiction stories? 🤪 Thanks for pointing out what I overlooked.