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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/5879
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Okay, I tried finding this on Google to no avail, and lit.se is gone, so this is sort of my last resort, so I'm trying to make it a writing question.

I'm breezing through _The Perks of Being a Wallflower,_ since I missed it when I was in middle school and now the movie's coming out and I hate seeing the movie before I read the book.

Anyway, the author references a television show called "More"inA"inSo"inHave." Now, I can see the obvious reference to M\*A\*S\*H; that isn't difficult if you know your culture at all. What I don't get is why it's obscured the way it is. More than just changing the words the acronym stands for, the author also adds "in" before every word after the first one, making it almost complete gibberish.

I can discern no reason or sense in this. Does anyone have any insight?

I also have virtually no idea what to tag this, so I went with formatting. Retag at will, commander.

Here is the passage in question:

> I won't start listing television episode memories, except one because I guess we're on the subject, and it seems like something everyone can relate to in a small way. And since I don't know you, I figure that maybe I can write about something that you can relate to.
> 
> The family was sitting around, watching the final episode of More"inA"inSo"inHave, and I'll never forget it even though I was very young. My mom was crying. My sister was crying. My brother was using every ounce of strength he had not to cry. And my dad left during one of the final moments to make a sandwich. Now, I don't remember much about the program itself because I was too young, but my dad never left to make a sandwich except during commercial breaks, and then he usually just sent my mom. I walked to the kitchen, and I saw my dad making a sandwich ... and crying. He was crying harder than even my mom. And I couldn't believe it. When he finished making his sandwich, he put away the things in the refrigerator and stopped crying and wiped his eyes and saw me.
> 
> Then, he walked up, patted my shoulder, and said, "This is our little secret, okay, champ?"
> 
> "Okay," I said.

The book is an epistolary novel from the perspective of a high school freshman, and it's by far the single most targeted book I've ever read in my life. It's just meant to be read by people in high school and give them someone to sympathize with. It's just about all the many travails of adolescence, and coming to grips with who you are and trying to make sense of all the confusing nonsense that packs the world to the point of bursting.

Original score: 1