The Relationship Between President Obama’s “Bucket List” Joke and Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn:  Did Mark Twain put the “F” word in the title?

Yesterday, I saw a rebroadcast of a comedy event at which President Obama told a joke. He set up his joke by saying that some people have a “bucket list,” which is a list of things they want to do before they die, before they “kick the bucket.” He said that he doesn’t have a bucket list, but he does have a list that rhymes with “bucket.”

Today, I was thinking of what books I might read next month. And since I once had a whole series of posts in this blog about Mark Twain, I thought it was about time that I got around to reading and discussing his most famous novel, Huckleberry Finn.

So today I was thinking about the title. My first thought was that I wouldn’t name a boy “Huckleberry.” But the character was mostly called “Huck,” and that sounds all right. “Huck Finn” struck me as vaguely amusing, but that’s all.

But then (possibly as an aftereffect of Obama’s joke) I thought, What if you exchanged the first letters of “Huck Finn” (leaving the “h” silent)?

The novel’s use of the “N” word has always been controversial. But what if the “F” word is in the title?