On Spelling

In our conscious minds we are most meticulous about correct spelling. A word misspelt by ourselves causes a feeling of shame, one misspelt by another a feeling of scorn. In remarkable contradiction to this, however, correct spelling is completely neglected in the unconscious. In the unconscious the sound of the word conveys meaning, not the spelling; this gives an excellent opportunity for distortion. The purpose of the distortion is achieved when we dream of a specific object in order to conceal the fact that another is intended—both objects having the same name and the same, or a very similar pronunciation, although they are spelt differently. It is known that the joke often makes use of such homonymy; errors in speech also depend frequently on a similar substitution of one word for another which sounds like it.

A series of dream examples will best demonstrate the excellent use that is made of the complete indifference to spelling in the dream work: A male analysand dreamt of a mail box. The interpretation showed that he meant a “male” box, that is to say, a female genital with a penis as a protection against his own castration anxiety. A vulgar joke makes use of the same mistaken spelling: two girls were looking up at the sky: “What kind of plane is that?” asks one. “A mail plane,” is the reply. “Oh,” says the other, “I thought those two things hanging down were wheels!”

Another analysand's dream was about the United Tires Factory, which he often passed on his way to analysis. In the dream interpretation “rubber” company had to be changed to “robber” company, which referred to the Detroit Psychoanalytic Society's high fees for patients.

A patient dreamt of a dentist whom she knew, a friendly elderly man whose name was Dr. Furie; the latent content of her dream showed that the “Dr. Furie” of the dream stood for a “Dr. Fury” and represented the analyst, whose friendliness the analysand feared was merely a mask; one day, she thought, he would revenge himself furiously