Talk:Wordplay (The Twilight Zone)

Untitled
I'm looking to make all the "New Twilight Zone" episodes in this format and with complete info. If you can help, please contact me. -Wieners 10:09, 5 May 2006 (UTC)

BetacommandBot (talk) 05:32, 21 January 2008 (UTC)

Key plot point
It's been a long time since I've seen this episode, but if memory serves, the synopsis left out a key plot point. When the boy is taken to the emergency room, the doctors can only save him with Lowery's assistance, because medical manuals are the only things he can understand. I leave it to someone with access to the DVD to confirm this. 167.206.122.66 (talk) 17:44, 3 January 2011 (UTC)

Actual Condition
I remember seeing this episode back in the '80s. Looking at it now it sounds an awful lot like he is suffering from a condition called receptive aphasia, also known as Wernicke's aphasia. It is the result of damage to certain parts of the brain dealing with language and comprehension. The person loses the ability to understand language, either written or spoken, and when they try to communicate they produce only "word salad." But from the patient's point of view he or she is speaking correctly and it is everyone else who is suddenly producing gibberish. Such a person might hear the word "lunch" and in their mind it brings up the image of a huge extinct reptile. They would in effect, like Bill Lowery in this episode, have heard "dinosaur" instead of "lunch." The same goes for all the other words they hear or see written. It is as if their entire understanding of language has been scrambled. The overall effect, from their point of view, would be very similar to what is portrayed here. Beetfarm Louie (talk) 09:57, 25 February 2015 (UTC)