Puzzling Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for those who create, solve, and study puzzles. It only takes a minute to sign up.
Sign up to join this community
A friend of mine is an English teacher, but he's always enjoyed listening to the sound of music in the classroom while he works, so I'm thinking he's looking for a change of job soon. Maybe these notes I found on his desk will help me figure out his (not so) new interest?
e eay ie r w - iea 𝄇
I'm not so convinced your friend actually is looking for a new occupation - I think he's pretty much an English teacher through and through, although he really does like...
...The Sound of Music, doesn't he?!
He has a song stuck in his head, for sure. Namely:
Do-Re-Mi from the 1959 musical, in which the Von Trapp children are introduced to the Solfège method of teaching musical notes via a chorus which goes:
Do, a deer, a female deer
Re, a drop of golden sun
Mi, a name I call myself
Fa, a long, long way to run
So, a needle pulling thread
La, a note to follow So
Ti, a drink with jam and bread
That will bring us back to Do (oh, oh, oh...)
What your teacher friend has gone and done, however, is...
...treated this as a spelling test and corrected all the spellings!
e = Add 'e' to 'Do' to make 'Doe' (a deer, a female deer);
eay = Remove 'e' from 'Re' and add 'ay' to make 'Ray' (a drop of golden sun);
ie = Replace 'i' in 'Mi' with 'e' to make 'Me' (a name I call myself);
r = Add 'r' to 'Fa' to make 'Far' (a long, long way to run);
w = Add 'w' to 'So' to make 'Sow' (a needle pulling thr- Wait, a sec...);
- = Do nothing to 'La - that one's fine!
iea = Remove 'i' from 'Ti' and add 'ea' to make 'Tea' (a drink with jam and bread);
𝄇 = A musical repeat symbol, because that brings us back to Do!
Only one problem though...
He's made a spelling error of his own. 'Sow' should be spelled 'Sew' in a needlecraft context. Perhaps he really should be looking for a different profession after all...!
