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I remember reading what I believe is a short story about a brother and sister who somehow come into possession of some toys which turn out to be from aliens. Through playing with them they develop a language their parents can't understand and start to develop mentally far faster than any human.

Does anyone recognize this story, or remember who wrote it or what it's called?

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    The toys are actually from far-future post-humans. Might as well have been aliens ;-)
    – Martijn Heemels
    Dec 13 '11 at 23:59
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    @Martin - Where did you see that? Just curious, as I didn't get that impression when I reread the story.
    – morganpdx
    Dec 21 '11 at 17:41
  • I don't know that that's what the original story said. It was in the movie.
    – xdhmoore
    Aug 28 '15 at 5:25
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Aha! I found it! It's called "Mimsy Were the Borogoves" by Lewis Padgett (pseudoynm). It's even cooler sounding than I remembered!

Wikipedia: Mimsy Were the Borogoves

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    What an intriguing idea for a story, I had never heard of it. Thanks for the tip.
    – Chris Tybur
    Jan 12 '11 at 23:04
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    There was also a feature film based on this story: The Last Mimzy imdb.com/title/tt0768212
    – Tony Meyer
    Jan 20 '11 at 4:07
  • @TonyMeyer - thanks for the pointer to the film - I had no idea it existed. This was a favorite story of mine as a kid.
    – davidbak
    Dec 29 '15 at 2:49
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    The movie bore little resemblance to the short story.
    – can-ned_food
    May 1 '17 at 12:36

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