Homophones are words that sound the same but don’t mean the same, such as fare (food) and fare (cost of travel), or their and there. In Oulipo, you take a phrase and think of one which sounds like it. I believe that it is permissible to stretch the definition of “sounds like”, so I have taken advantage of that fact. Once you have a phrase, the idea is to construct a short story around it.
In the story below, there are three such phrases. See if you can pick them out, and identify the originals on which they are based. Answers next week!
Jackie swished in, dripping. “I’ve invited Toby for dinner tonight.”, she told me. “He was an absolute darling: saw me at the bus stop covering my head with a newspaper, and gave me a lift home. He didn’t have time for a cup of tea, so I thought I’d repay his kindness with a meal.”
I groaned. “Toby? Aw, not Toby? He can talk the hind legs off a donkey.”
“Look, it was the least I owe to a knight in a gale. Anyway, stop moaning, and look at this. I bought some new bird food. It contains suet, sunflower seeds, aduki beans, mealworm —”
“Eh? aduki beans?
“Indeed”, said Jackie. That’s what makes this rather special. One can’t overstate the importance of beans in a nest.”
“Beans! They certainly saw you coming! Beans indeed. Anyway, what time is your knight in shining armour arriving?”
“8 o’clock. So help me unpack this shopping, and then go and make yourself presentable.”
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