The Psy-Phy Channeler

Do you know what I’m thinking?

I’m thinking that an error is going to appear, and we’re going to need assistance from a physicist, a physician or a psychic. Psyche! We’re going to need an editor.

A physicist’s interest is the physical. A psychic is sensitive to the nonphysical. They exist in diametric contradiction. For one, matter matters. For the other, matter is immaterial. We must never confuse physics with psychics, which are a “paranormal” words. We risk creating a Franken-freak, some sort of psychedelic physicist … or physical psychiatrist. Enough with the psychoanalysis.

My friend Lindsay, of IAMNOTASTALKER, forwarded a photo Kime Buzzelli posted on her Instagram page back in January. It found its way to me about a year after Buzzelli, a painter and costume designer in California, had come across another buzz-worthy error. When it comes to Buzzelli’s latest find, any resemblance to real words — living or dead, physical or spiritual — is purely coincidental.

Photo courtesy of Kime Buzzelli

This psychic reader needs a better psychic writer.

The fourth word on the sign is an amalgamation, an unusual pairing not unlike a griffin, a centaur or a popcorn jellybean. My heightened editing senses are informing me that the word in question is a tad too physical. Phychic, like an athlete readying for a big game, needs to get psyched up. I can sense it.

Psychic looks good. So does physics. Phychic, however, is never très chic.

If we replace that opening h with an s, we’ll find a happy medium.