On your return. Many happy returns. We prayed for your safe return. Return from witch mountain. Return of the native. The rover's return. Return of the repressed. Eternal return.

Hit return

To return to what I was saying . . . Batman returns. Superman returns. The mummy returns. Return of the jedi, the dragon, the pink panther, the living dead. Returns and refunds.

Hit return

To return to your last point . . . Return to sender. Return ticket. Return journey. Return to your old ways. Return to how things used to be. Return to nature. Return to the womb.

Hit return

Return to work. Return to routine. Return to profit. Return on investment. Return to normal. Return of the king.

Hit return

She returns his gaze, his smile, his kisses, the ring he gave her . . .

Hit return

Return the favour. Return fire.

Hit return.

I returned to find . . . The point of no return. The river of no return. At my return . . . To dust ye shall return. In return, I shall return. Return to the land of the living. Return what I owe. Return what I stole. Return the serve. Return leg. Return again. Re-return.

Le retour à la raison

Return a corner. Return up. Return down. Return over a new leaf. Return of the shrew. Return of the screw. Return of the tide. Return and run. Return around. Returncoat. Returnip.

'Hit Return' is a whimsical/absurdist meditation on the multiple meanings, cultural associations, idiomatic usages, and sounds and rhythms of the English word 'return'. In the spirit of Sein und Werden, I translated the piece into German and back into English again - a return journey so to speak - using DeepL Translate. When I read the transformed English text returned via DeepL, it was like encountering another form of intelligence. I know it is all down to the crunching of complex algorithms, but when you are confronted with the sentences: 'Give back the leg. Give it back. Return it', which ostensibly have their origins in your own text, you can't throw off the uncanny feeling that something is addressing you.