Interesting Email that pertains to all the Forum Proofreaders.

pcnorton

pcnorton

Joined
Jun 11, 2001
Messages
5,105
My dad sent this. Made me think of all the times people hack on spelling when they know what you mean.

Can you raed tihs? Olny srmat poelpe can. :)


cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg.
The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch
at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers
in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat
ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you
can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid
deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.
Amzanig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt!

IF you can raed tihs psas it on !!
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Paul
 
Normally I do not allow copy/pasted email chain letters to make the rounds in Community. I will allow this one just once. ;)

Bottom of the page.
 
I've seen this one before, interesting and yet I do not totally agree.

It seems that internal letters are not randomly scrambled but selectively shifted, also you are not just reading words but seeing them in the context of a phrase and paragraph (you may be able to guess a full missing word from context). Also notice that every word has the correct letters, i.e. no missing letters, no extra letters, all words would be correctly spelled if letters were reordered.

As often happens with urban legends, no names are given, there's just mention of "a researcher at Cambridge University...".

From snopes: Status Undetermined.

http://www.snopes.com/language/apocryph/cambridge.asp

Luis
 
Don:

I agree it isn't as amazing as it seems at first. Most of the words have the consonants in the right order, and of course context helps.

But it is still interesting that we can read slightly disordered words so easy, and the fact that context appears so important and vowels so unimportant adds to it. We like to think we read letters and words as they are and "understand" one letter at a time, but I think this little novelty shows that reading involves a little more automation and non-conscious assembly than someone might think.
 
Carl64, yes I agree with that.

You know, while doing military service in 1975 I volunteered to teach illiterate adults to read and write, it was a great and interesting experience, first you teach letters and then you teach words, you can't read until you stop looking at letters one by one and start seeing whole words, I have noticed this with children when I read with them too.

Here's another interesting thing: at first these adults could not read and they could not answer a question like: "how much is 2 times 3?", but they could correctly solve a problem like: "a coke costs 3 pesos, a beer costs 5 pesos, you buy 3 cokes and 3 beers, you pay with a 50 peso bill, how much do you get change?".

Luis
 
Wether or not it has been researched it shows that you can understand what someone means even with typos. (I'm a horrible speller/typist) Yes in context its easy to read. How many of us really read word lists randomly? Or for that matter post random word lists to others.


I wasn't amazed at the thought of research on this, but the fact I read this and I didnt read it very slowly. It actually flowed.
Paul
 
Don Luis said:
Here's another interesting thing: at first these adults could not read and they could not answer a question like: "how much is 2 times 3?", but they could correctly solve a problem like: "a coke costs 3 pesos, a beer costs 5 pesos, you buy 3 cokes and 3 beers, you pay with a 50 peso bill, how much do you get change?".
Click to expand...

Have you seen this?
http://www.apa.org/monitor/feb05/fuzzy.html
 
Paul, what you posted is a great example of some of the neurological underpinnings of literacy, but it still leaves me cold when I find posts with

no capitalization
little or no punctuation
text messaging abbreviations like 2=to, 4=for, u=you
and significant amounts of nonstandard other abbreviations and misspelling

Bladeforums and internet forums generally are a fluid medium, a colloquial setting, and an informal conversation for the most part. Strict adherence to literary conventions would often be wasted on us. And we can certainly make allowances for non-English speakers.

Still, I find it unnecessarily discourteous when new members toss out carelessly composed statements and expect us to meet them more than halfway in figuring out what they mean.
 
Esav Benyamin said:
Paul, what you posted is a great example of some of the neurological underpinnings of literacy, but it still leaves me cold when I find posts with

no capitalization
little or no punctuation
text messaging abbreviations like 2=to, 4=for, u=you
and significant amounts of nonstandard other abbreviations and misspelling

.........................

Still, I find it unnecessarily discourteous when new members toss out carelessly composed statements and expect us to meet them more than halfway in figuring out what they mean.
Click to expand...

I agree. I feel we owe it to ourselves and the other members to do the best we can.
I'm far from perfect when it comes to spelling and punctuation, but I keep trying to improve.
But if you are really trying, and accidentally misspell a word, or don't use the correct punctuation and someone jumps your stuff because of it, then flash this on 'em.;):D
 
The main internet phenomenon I really hate is "leetspeak", or people who think they are cool and computer savvy when they type like 10 yr old computer hackers typing "pwn3d". Abbreviating words as Esav mentioned-2/to, 4/for, & "prolly" is annoying as well.
 
Rat Finkenstein said:
[...]they type like 10 yr old computer hackers typing "pwn3d".QUOTE]

Pawned? As in "I'm flat broke, how much will you give me for my wedding ring?"
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pcn - I tried reading the paragraph fast. It seemed easier than plodding through it word by word. I think that I sorted out phrases grammatically and anticipated the meaning from the context of a few words.
 
My problem (and the reason I'd make a horrible editor) is that I automatically correct things as I'm reading them. Unless something is totally off the wall, my mind will just correct it and continue on.
 
Carl64 said:
Rat Finkenstein said:
[...]they type like 10 yr old computer hackers typing "pwn3d".QUOTE]

Pawned? As in "I'm flat broke, how much will you give me for my wedding ring?"
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no, 'pwn3ed' is like one better than 'own3d' ie owned.

For example say they ran some stupid script and hacked a computer they would 'own' that computer. because p comes after o in the alphabet (yes, amazingly they know the alphabet :rolleyes: ) its even better than owning something

I'm mildly ashamed to admit I have this knowledge... :o In my defence part of my job is to keep up to date with the latest scripts these punks are messing with. :)

I agree with the other posts, this kind of mindless abbreviation is incredibly annoying. I think it affects peoples ability to use English correctly when they are constantly thinking and writing such an extreme form of slang.. I dont know if SMS/ text messaging is used in the US as much as here but some people use a similar style of writing in text messages. I often get messages from my sister such as 'wot av u dun 2day?' :rolleyes:
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Inside a game or chatroom is one thing, but on a discussion board, where you're supposed to be conversing with your peers, I find hate it when people use shorthand, leetspeak, bad spelling/grammar/punctuation, or neglect to proofread. It's rude and inconsiderate. It's like saying "I want you to take the time to answer my question, but I can't be assed to waste my time to use proper English".

I'm much more likely to answer a question that looks like it was asked by someone who cares, and with more than a 3rd grade command of the English language.

Non-native speakers are exempt of course.
 
Planterz said:
Non-native speakers are exempt of course.
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It's funny how often I have seen someone apologize for their bad English in advance, and yet their English is better than the average person on that particular forum, aside from a few "weird" but correct ways of saying things.
 
aside from a few "weird" but correct ways of saying things.
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It took me quite a while to learn the difference between speaking good english and speaking english well.

TLM
 
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