Xenoglossy
/I got an email recently from supporter Colin Robinson that was inspired by the trick, Shutterlock, from The Jerx, Volume 1. That’s a trick that uses two different peeks for two words on the same business card. And it justifies the word placement on the card presentationally so there is absolutely no question as to why the words are being written where they are.
Colin had come up with a couple presentational ideas to use along with peeks that were both interesting in their own right, but also helped justify the placement of the word to be peeked.
I’m going to give you one of those ideas today and another next month when I’ve had some time to play around with it a bit more.
The first idea is to be used with the Acidus Novus peek. This is a good peek that is taught in many places. The one weakness of the peek is that you only get a peek of the area in red below.
There are some good justifications for having the spectator draw or write their word there. And there are some terrible ones. Probably the worst one I’ve seen is when the performer will use up the other three quadrants to demonstrate how someone might write something down on a piece of paper.
“In a moment I’m going to have you write something down on this paper. It could be a word like mouse. Or a shape like a star. Or a number like 78.” And as he’s saying this, he writes those things in. Leaving only the right bottom corner blank.
That’s not a normal way to treat a person. “Hey, I’m going to have you write something on this small piece of paper. But I think you’re too stupid to understand that concept. So I’m going to demonstrate it. Not just once. But three times. So hopefully that will sink into your stupid brain.”
Colin’s idea gets the peek word into that position with 100% justification.
Here’s the basic idea from his original email to me…
Presentation: I ask the spectator to create a new word, from a new, fictional language. They write down both the new word and the translation into English on the inside of a business card and fold it up. The only hint I ask is that they pronounce the new word for me. I proceed to ask them several things about the word, like the part of speech and the history of it, who created it and when. I try to spell the word at one point, and then end up revealing I've discovered the translation.
Method: I fold up the card for the Acidus Novus Peek, and then when I write on the back I put "New Word ___________" on the top half of the card, and "Translation ________" on the bottom half, so the line with the translation ends up in position at the bottom left for the peek. After they fold it up I immediately have them put it down and start asking questions. When I attempt to spell the word, I write my attempt on the folded card and when I pick it up to ask if it's correct, I do the peek then.
I’ve expanded on this idea slightly, but it’s still more or less Colin’s idea.
What i do is I say, “Let’s try something. I’m going to have you create a new language. And even though it’s complete gibberish, I will attempt to learn your made up language. What should we call the language?”
Let’s say she says, Flurrpti.
I write this on a business card.
If you ask your spectator to come up with the name of a fake language and they say, “Ugghh…. I don’t know. I can’t think of one.” Tnen they’re either to dumb, uncreative, or disinterested to use this presentation with. Just say, “Oh, okay. Never mind.” And end it right there.
I go on…
“I want you to think of a word in Flurrpti. Anything you want. And write that word in that language here. Then write the english translation of the word here. Then fold it up into quarters and set it on the table. To make it more difficult, don’t pick something that’s in this room.” I turn away while she does this.
Imagine she writes
Flurrpti: Gorzum
English: Horse
I turn back to her. “What was the word you made up? Not the translation, but the word in your language.”
She says, “Gorzum.”
“Okay. Gorzum. Hmm… wait. In your imagination is Flurrpit like an alien language or an ancient language or a language that some isolated tribe speaks or what?”
I take whatever she says and nod as if that’s important.
“Okay. Okay… gorzum. Gorzum. Let me think. Gorzum. ‘I went to the gorzum.’ Hmm… I don’t know. ‘She was feeling very gorzum.’ Huh. That doesn’t sound quite right. Let’s see…,” And I continue this muttering and trying out the word in different scenarios. I don’t do it to the other person. I do it as if I’m talking to myself, for my own benefit.
I then point to the table and say, “What would the word for ‘table’ be in your language?” She says, “Hamlicker.”
“Hmm. Interesting. Table is hamlicker. Okay. This is coming together.”
I then pick up the business card and either say:
“Ok. What about this? What would you call a business card in your language?”
Or I’ll pick a word from the front of the business card and ask them the translation for that in their language. So if the business card says “phone” in the visible quadrant, I might ask how they say phone in their language.
Either way, this is the point where I get the peek.
I think Colin’s idea of getting it while you try and spell the word on the outside of the business card is good, but when I tried it, it didn’t really work due to their being too much printing on that side of the card I was using. Plus I didn’t really like having such a concentrated moment of my focus near the card. I wanted something that felt a little more casual.
So let’s say she tells me the word for “business card” in her language is “ludz.”
“Okay. ‘The ludz is on the hamlicker.’ That makes sense. ‘We’re sitting at the hamlicker and the ludz is on it.’ Okay, yeah.”
The idea here is that I’m familiarizing myself with the language and that’s going to allow me to interpret the word she gave me.
“So if the ludz is on the hamlicker, then the gorzum would be… hmmm…. it’s a noun. I’m pretty sure of that. It’s a thing. It’s not a place… I don’t think.”
“‘I’m going to eat some gorzum.’ No. Maybe? No. ‘I’m going to drive the gorzum’? That’s not quite it. Let’s see… ludz is business card… hamlicker is table… gorzum is… Oh! I got it!”
I concentrate for a few moments, as if I’m checking my math.
“Okay. Tell me if this makes sense. ‘I’m going to the stables to ride my gorzum.’ Yes?”
This presentation is essentially in the same family as my trick, Cryptophasia. It’s sort a simplified, one-phase version of that trick. Which is good, because that’s a fun trick to perform. And this is similar but completely impromptu.
Thanks to Colin for letting me share it with you. Next month I’ll share another idea from Colin that helps justify the word placement and the tearing in a center tear.