About a Missing Symbol

2026-03-04

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Sava has a post, dating to a day ago, in which said author totally avoids any word containing a particular glyph.^ (I won't say which it is, but its omission just might jump out at you.) I found his log at a location that hosts "transmissions," popular among this small protocol that Sava and I inhabit. I want to follow along and try it too, so I'm doing so in this post right now.

I go crazy for tricky linguistic trials such as this. I should point out, though, that Sava's proposition is not original to his post. I know of a book that took on such a task "to a T," if you'll pardon my pun, and did so with aplomb: "A Void." Wright's "Gadsby" also pulls it off. I put a bit of my thoughts about "A Void" into a prior post on my own log many, many months ago,^^ but alas, it's still not in my library as of now. I still want to study it raptly, but at what point will I do that? I don't know. "Gadsby" is also missing.

Anyway, an act of avoiding common symbols or placing tight bounds on your writing is a difficult thing to comply with. I find it tough to say strictly what I want to say in such situations. What I actually wind up putting out might totally stink. (Say it ain't so!) But I cannot lack smarts or gumption if I'm going to try my hand at it, and I am bound to work it out. I will try and try and try again, until I do it right. I will not fail in my goal. And upon finishing, I can and should savor my work.

In fact, it's a way to grow my skills, which is partially why many authors do similar things to this. Limiting your tools or your domain of work is a fantastic form of artistic training. And if I display unusual sagacity during such a task, that's a good bonus--a win, you could say. I don't mind sharing a modicum of wit and wisdom in my posts, or tidbits of wry, sarcastic humor!

I must admit, though, that an omission as stark as this is hard to maintain with any lasting rigidity. I'm rapidly running out of things to talk about at this point. I'll wrap it up now, so that I don't trail off ignobly or--God forbid--toil for nothing by slipping up in a following paragraph.

Sava, thanks for your post! It was fun to look through and think about.

^ A Post Without The Letter "E"

^^ On "A Void"

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[Last updated: 2026-03-04]