There’s a theory that Z’s errors in reciting Koko’s "Little List" are the result of mishearing lyrics on a cast recording. If you believe that the Zodiac suffered from some sort of learning difficulty (i.e., dyslexia), it would make sense that he would absorb something like this aurally rather than agonize over trying to read it.

You might want to look at the thread with the lyrics to the Groucho Marx version of the Little List. They more closely resemble what Zodiac wrote in his letter.

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There’s a theory that Z’s errors in reciting Koko’s "Little List" are the result of mishearing lyrics on a cast recording. If you believe that the Zodiac suffered from some sort of learning difficulty (i.e., dyslexia), it would make sense that he would absorb something like this aurally rather than agonize over trying to read it.

That is mentioned in This Is The Zodiac Speaking. There is a huge chunk of a chapter devoted to the Mikado.

I personally think the spelling ‘errors’ are not errors but deliberate with some spelling a different word than intended purposely. But then again his spelling mistakes do appear to be consistent with dyslexia replacing an S with C in ‘Paradice’ and ‘Promiced’, adding an extra S to Christmass and School Buss. Consistent types of mistakes common in dyslexic’s. But assuming he can either learn to construct Cipher codes and messages being self taught, then for a dyslexic I would think that would be extremely difficult considering they struggle with basic English and yet here we have English and English encrypted within a bunch of new and complex symbols which is another language in itself. Or if he was taught this art of Cipher Encryption by, lets say, the Navy, then the Navy must be in the habit of picking it’s encoding message personal, whom will be trusted to send and receive highly secretive information, to Officers who can’t remember which way around b and d go or when a S is used and not C. Just not the Navy’s style to employ dyslexic’s to control Nuclear Launch Codes lol.

Let’s say that Z misspelled words on purpose. All things considered I suppose that is the likeliest explanation. But then there is this Mikado business. What he does in this letter, in which he quotes a lengthy (for a letter) passage from Ko-Ko’s rant, seems to go beyond misspelling words (whether on purpose or not).

All children who are up in dates and implore you with im platt.

All people who eat pepermint and phomphit in your face,

And that nice impriest…

These aren’t misspellings. This is nonsense. Based on what? Mishearing the lyrics? Quite possible. But it’s still nonsense – it has no meaning. The question, then, is this: How subtle was this guy? Did he pretend to have misheard the lyrics and then rendered them in this – meaningless – fashion?

There is something truly puzzling about this. Possibly even enlightening – as to what his true level of, say, learning actually was.

Let’s say that Z misspelled words on purpose. All things considered I suppose that is the likeliest explanation. But then there is this Mikado business. What he does in this letter, in which he quotes a lengthy (for a letter) passage from Ko-Ko’s rant, seems to go beyond misspelling words (whether on purpose or not).

All children who are up in dates and implore you with im platt.

All people who eat pepermint and phomphit in your face,

And that nice impriest…

These aren’t misspellings. This is nonsense. Based on what? Mishearing the lyrics? Quite possible. But it’s still nonsense – it has no meaning. The question, then, is this: How subtle was this guy? Did he pretend to have misheard the lyrics and then rendered them in this – meaningless – fashion?

There is something truly puzzling about this. Possibly even enlightening – as to what his true level of, say, learning actually was.

You make a really interesting point, and one that I had glazed over my first couple times of reading discussions on this letter. I can completely buy the idea that he only ever heard these lyrics and never read them, and thus made up ‘words’ that fit the sound of what he was hearing. We all do that.

Maybe this has been discussed in another part of the forum but are there other cases of zodiac using words that arent real? I know he misspells words quite frequently but many believe this is on purpose. I do find these replacement words puzzling but I don’t necessarily think it has any bearing on what his ‘level of learning’ was. How many of us still sing the wrong words to songs after how many years because we’ we never bothered to look them up. That doesn’t make us any less intelligent.

What is deeply puzzling to me though Is why he seemed not to care that they weren’t words. Assuming he hasn’t made up words in his other correspondences, why should we assume that he doesn’t realize these aren’t words? It is troublesome in the fact that he always seemed so meticulous with his writings, even crossing words out. Why then would he be so carefree about this one, especially regarding the heavy impact he certainly wanted it to make.

I know I didn’t really bring much to this topic but I often find myself thinking these things to myself and it helps to write things out sometimes.

Calder

I do find these replacement words puzzling but I don’t necessarily think it has any bearing on what his ‘level of learning’ was. How many of us still sing the wrong words to songs after how many years because we’ we never bothered to look them up. That doesn’t make us any less intelligent.

Quite so – and I didn’t mean to imply this indicates a lack of intelligence. More that it possibly gives us a hint as to his level of formal education, say. Whatever these phrases are, they certainly don’t make sense as intentional misspellings. They seem genuine somehow: As though he simply wrote down what he heard, assuming that the phrases meant something. One could argue that a well educated man wouldn’t do that – he would realize that the phrases, as he caught them, didn’t make sense, and thus concluded that he must have misheard what was being said (or sung).

And right there we have a possibility, of course, namely that he’s so damn clever that he is, in fact, imitating an uneducated (at least relatively speaking) man precisely by doing what he does. But is he really that clever? And, for that matter, how clever is it to be so clever that nobody gets it? Not much use, really, as a means to cover your tracks.

I’m not sure if I’m making sense. An example: I hear someone utter the phrase "jurisprudence is ultimately a matter of interpretation" and I write it down as "Judy Prudence is the ultimate mothership". That makes some sense. I mishear what’s being said and render it as a meaningful – if obscure, to me – sentence. Like you say, we often mishear song lyrics in this way.

But if I transcribe the same words as "Juspreences ultiman matthostation" I’m clearly doing something very different. And what might that be? Do I assume that the words have a meaning (some sort of technical jargon, perhaps, that I’m not familiar with at all)? Or am I transcribing something I KNOW is just gibberish?

I find it very puzzling. I have this feeling that he somehow slips up here – and reveals something about himself.

Anyway, thanks for commenting!

One I’m not sure if I’m making sense. An example: I hear someone utter the phrase "jurisprudence is ultimately a matter of interpretation" and I write it down as "Judy Prudence is the ultimate mothership". That makes some sense. I mishear what’s being said and render it as a meaningful – if obscure, to me – sentence. Like you say, we often mishear song lyrics in this way.

But if I transcribe the same words as "Juspreences ultiman matthostation" I’m clearly doing something very different. And what might that be? Do I assume that the words have a meaning (some sort of technical jargon, perhaps, that I’m not familiar with at all)? Or am I transcribing something I KNOW is just gibberish?

I find it very puzzling. I have this feeling that he somehow slips up here – and reveals something about himself.

Anyway, thanks for commenting!

I understand what you are saying here, Norse, and I agree. It seems to me that the writer is not so much very clever (intending to disguise himself as uneducated) but that he is under some kind of influence — mental illness, or drugs or alcohol — writing these words with a confidence that they are somehow clever, or creative, or deeply meaningful.

Love this topic.Love everyone’s thoughts on the subject. Some very good ideas. Love hearing things I would not have thought about.Good job everyone!

These aren’t misspellings. This is nonsense. Based on what? Mishearing the lyrics? Quite possible. But it’s still nonsense – it has no meaning. The question, then, is this: How subtle was this guy? Did he pretend to have misheard the lyrics and then rendered them in this – meaningless – fashion?

There is something truly puzzling about this. Possibly even enlightening – as to what his true level of, say, learning actually was.

What if Zodiac only heard it once, and wrote it down later? Who could do that and why?

I find it very puzzling. I have this feeling that he somehow slips up here – and reveals something about himself.

Consider that it is Rick Marshall showing off his ability of almost total recall:

Also, I have something of a gift of mimicry, and I just enjoy what a pompous ass I am.

Marshall also claims he’s one of those rare people blessed with almost total recall.

Marshall’s claim to posses almost total recall memory is interesting in relation to the odd incorrectness of Zodiac’s Little list. I hypothesize that Marshall (as Zodiac) wrote down the Little list eidetically after just hearing it once (or a few times, who knows). And that this is the reason for the odd incorrectness of the reproduction.

Eidetic memory:

Eidetic memory ( a.k.a. total recall memory) refers to the ability of an individual who can accurately recall a large number of images, sounds and objects in a seemingly unlimited volume.

And here is another quote that may explain the incorrectness of the Little list:

Eidetic imagery is the ability to remember an image in so much detail, clarity, and accuracy that it is as though the image were still being perceived. It is not perfect, as it is subject to distortions and additions (like episodic memory), and vocalization interferes with the memory.

Also, reaching a bit, there may be a link between Eidetic memory and language skills such that adults with Eidetic memory may have language issues:

Children possess far more capacity for eidetic imagery than adults, suggesting that a developmental change (such as acquiring language skills) may disrupt the potential for eidetic imagery.

In the large scheme of things it could explain a whole lot more as allot of Zodiac’s stuff has been found to have been sourced from something.

I disagree with the idea of incorrect total recall in this, Jarlve. To me this is learning by rote (parrot-fashion) in repeated listening to the soundtrack record.

In knowingly writing such errors, – and in his misspellngs elsewhere – Z is trying to conceal his cleverness, which reveals that he is more well schooled or skilled than he’s making out.

My hunch is that Z was Catholic-schooled, where priests or nuns would often beat grammar and spelling into kids in those days. Which follows on from what Norse says here…

… we have a possibility, of course, namely that he’s so damn clever that he is, in fact, imitating an uneducated (at least relatively speaking) man precisely by doing what he does.

I find it very puzzling. I have this feeling that he somehow slips up here – and reveals something about himself.

I disagree with the idea of incorrect total recall in this, Jarlve. To me this is learning by rote (parrot-fashion) in repeated listening to the soundtrack record.

In knowingly writing such errors, – and in his misspellngs elsewhere – Z is trying to conceal his cleverness, which reveals that he is more well schooled or skilled than he’s making out.

That is indeed more likely. Two people I loosely knew were super intelligent and made mistakes on purpose to appear less intelligent. That is perhaps an extreme interpretation of the phenomena.

I also remember one person that had some form of total recall. He could draw 20 people without looking at them and would entertain people with brilliant mimicry. As a form of expression he liked to spell out certain words phonetically or with a twist, often ridiculing the word a bit. That is an interesting data point in relation to Rick Marshall who reported total recall and a gift of mimicry.