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I wrote this short story a while back, but I'm afraid I made a mistake. Can you spy it for me?

This puzzle is from CG. with love. Good luck

I once knew a Young Young lad
The Guy was Young Lewis from chad
On a Hunt he was, looking for a Guy
A Guy was looking for a Guy

You see, Lewis had forgotten a sentence
The best Lewis managed was this;
While james had had John John John John John ...
But he knew very well that that was not it.

After a while, he found a can of Campbell's
And asked his buddy Roger for help
His buddy he Opted for noodles from Lee
But was still only offered a Campbell

They ate their soup while discussing,
Could it be Marc, john or Sam?
It's definitiely Sam, he exclaimed
And decided to give him a call.

Hint 1:

Hints can sometimes help if The text is not enough.

Hint 2:

I hope someone will find the mistake soon. Later this year there might be No time to try.

Hint 3:

If you don't get it today you may Try another day.

Hint 4:

Capital letters are capitalized for a reason.

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    $\begingroup$ I assume the odd capitalisation is part of the puzzle, but is "definitiely" also a deliberate spelling error? $\endgroup$
    – Rand al'Thor
    Jan 5, 2020 at 20:24
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    $\begingroup$ Yes, the capitalization is part of the puzzle. And the error is not related to grammar or the like. English is not my first language. You'll know the error when you understand the puzzle. $\endgroup$
    – CG.
    Jan 5, 2020 at 20:46

2 Answers 2

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Following up on @ZanyG's nice work. I think the mistake is

Opted instead of Apted. Indeed, all other directors are either referred to by their correct first name or last name

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  • $\begingroup$ Hmmmm. You're right. It could be either of these. In fact, yours seems a little more plausible. $\endgroup$
    – ZanyG
    Jan 8, 2020 at 10:56
  • $\begingroup$ This is the correct answer. His name was the only one that would be very easy to Google if spelled correctly, and could at the same time easily be made into a different word. $\endgroup$
    – CG.
    Jan 8, 2020 at 11:07
  • $\begingroup$ @CG. You couldn't have opted for Michael? $\endgroup$
    – ZanyG
    Jan 8, 2020 at 11:11
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    $\begingroup$ Yes, I could have adApted it, but that would make it more obvious. $\endgroup$
    – CG.
    Jan 8, 2020 at 11:19
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The hints represent

James Bond film titles, with substituted words.
- The Text is not Enough -> The World is not Enough
- No Time to Try -> No Time to Die
- Try Another Day -> Die Another Day
- From CG With Love -> From Russia With Love

Regarding Marc, John, and Sam:

There have been a number of characters with these names across the Bond franchise, but the most consistent match is with the directors Roger Spottiswoode (Tomorrow Never Dies), Mark Forster (Quantum of Solace), and Sam Mendes (Skyfall/Spectre).

As CG has confirmed this to be correct, I'd take a gander at the other names:

Lewis is Lewis Gilbert, Guy is Guy Hamilton, Campbell is Martin Campbell, Hunt is Peter R. Hunt, Opted is Michael Apted, Lee is Lee Tamahori, and Young is Terence Young. All of the capitalised words (excluding the start of lines) are thus assigned to a director. I suspect the order of the films, chronologically, is the same as the order of the mentions in this poem.

Referring to a very useful Wikipedia page, we find

that the order of directors is Y, Y, G, Y, L, H, G, G, G, L, L, J, J, J, J, J (thankfully matching with the incorrect sentence), C, S, O, Lee, C, Mark, S, S. This matches perfectly with the order of directors... except: the newest director, Cary Joji Fukunaga, has been excluded, which I suspect is CG's mistake.

This matches with

the story having been written a while ago.

Irrelevant information:

The sentence Lewis had forgotten is "James while John had had had had had had had had had had had a better effect on the teacher," a famous example of lexical ambiguity in the English language.

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    $\begingroup$ That's the sentence Lewis had forgotten, but it's not the mistake I made when I wrote the story. $\endgroup$
    – CG.
    Jan 6, 2020 at 7:03
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    $\begingroup$ @CG. To clarify: it's you, not Lewis, who made the mistake? $\endgroup$
    – ZanyG
    Jan 6, 2020 at 7:08
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    $\begingroup$ Correct. Lewis is just part of the story. $\endgroup$
    – CG.
    Jan 6, 2020 at 7:15
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    $\begingroup$ You're in the ballpark ... :) $\endgroup$
    – CG.
    Jan 7, 2020 at 7:48
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    $\begingroup$ yes, they are. :-) $\endgroup$
    – CG.
    Jan 8, 2020 at 6:12

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