n+7 writing

In the latest Numberphile video, Marcus du Sautoy introduced me to the notion of n+7 writing/poetry.

Take an existing text, and replace the nouns with words seven places advanced in the dictionary.

I decided to apply this treatment to the most famous Star Wars crawl, from episode IV.

I used a 1999 Oxford English dictionary, and occasionally had to take a few licences. I used a list of women’s names to give Princess Leia the +7 treatment.

THE ORIGINAL:

Episode IV

A NEW HOPE

It is a period of civil war.

Rebel spaceships, striking

from a hidden base, have won

their first victory against

the evil Galactic Empire.

During the battle, Rebel

spies managed to steal secret

plans to the Empire's

ultimate weapon, the DEATH

STAR, an armored space

station with enough power to

destroy an entire planet.

Pursued by the Empire's

sinister agents, Princess

Leia races home aboard her

starship, custodian of the

stolen plans that can save

her people and restore

freedom to the galaxy....

And here it is n+7:

Epistolary IV

A NEW HOPLITE

It is a periodontitis of clabber.

Rebel spackles, striking

from a hidden basement, have won

their first video against

the evil Galactic Employee.

During the battue, Rebel

squabbles managed to steal secret

planes to the Employee’s

ultimate weather, the DEBACLE

STARE, an armored spade

stationery with enough poxvirus to

destroy an entire planigale.

Pursued by the Employee’s

sinister agile gibbons, Princess

Lela races home aboard her

starting pistol, customs union of the

stolen planes that can save

her pepper and restore

freehold to the galia melon….