An intyeresting perspective on language.

[grooke]

Can you raed tihs? Olny srmat poelpe can. I 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 that 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.

Arnzanig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt!

If you can raed tihs psas it on !!.

Gil

 

[SilentAiche]

That's really cool (Note- I switched the "o's" in cool). Anyone notice?

Seriously, I had little trouble reading the OP.

I would sign this "Tim" but the rule gives little room for intrigue with such a short name. "Tim" vs. "Tim" as it were.

Thus, we're left with some form of SilentAiche.

Hmm.

S[blue]cheatnili[/blue]e

S[blue]atechilin[/blue]e

I give up.

MiT

[blue]______________________________________________________________
I love logging onto Tek-Tips. It's always so exciting to see what the hell I
said yesterday. [/blue]

 

[2ffat]

I wonder if anyone has done any research on how long one has been reading English to understand this? I doubt that second or third graders could understand it as easy as a high schooler could.



James P. Cottingham
-----------------------------------------
^{I'm number 1,229!
I'm number 1,229!}

 

[AnotherHiggins]

Aha! I fnilaly funod it.

Tihs was cvoreed hree bforee:

thread1256-945817

Related reading:

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

[tt]_____
[blue]-John[/blue]
[/tt][red]Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum viditur[/red]

Help us help you. Please read FAQ181-2886 before posting.

 

[tsdragon]

Notice that the two variations Tim gave on his handle are not as easy to read as the OP? Apparently while people read familiar words as units, unfamiliar words are a different matter. I also believe that context has a lot to do with it. Once you've read enough you start to recognize certain common patterns of words, and that helps your brain to figure out what a particular word should be, even when it is jumbled.

Tracy Dryden

Meddle not in the affairs of dragons,
For you are crunchy, and good with mustard.

 

[CajunCenturion]

In addition to context being a big clue, there are a number of other factors that come into play, including word shape, letter proximity, transpositions, and word options to name a few.

With respect to word shape, look at Cmabrigde in the original post. The key letters which determine shape - those will tails and extenders - are the 'b', 'g', and 'd'. The 'b' is in the right place, and the 'g' and 'd' are simply transposed. The effect is that the word shape is very close to the shape of the correctly spelled word. That makes it easier to read than if it were spelled 'Cigmdrabe'.

Look at all the mis-spelled words in the original quote and see how many retain a similar shape.

Also look at the spelling errors. How many are simply two-letter transpositions? It's not difficult for our brains to resolve two-letter transpositions. Further, when all you have is a transposition, each incorrect letter is close to where it is supposed to be. As long as letter proximity remains high, it is easier to see the correct word.

Another factor is using only the correct letters. The word 'iprmoatnt' contains all the right letters, and only the right letters. Only their position is wrong. With respect to word options, 'important' is the only word (at least that I know of off the top of my head) that can be formed from the letters 'iprmoatnt', which again helps in the deciphering process. It become much more difficult when more than one word comes into play from the same set of letters.

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[Toshilap]

Bravo, CC!
I can actually write faster if I put letters where they belong. LOL

But nevertheless it is a very interesting observation on human brain. I am wondering what have Cambrige wizards gonna do with this discovery? Probably money well wasted.

 

[CajunCenturion]

==> I am wondering what have Cambrige wizards gonna do with this discovery? Probably money well wasted.

Given that Dr. Matt Davis, who works at the Cambridge CBU, and specializes in neural and computational language processing and word recognition, knew nothing of this research until the sentence was shown to him a couple of years ago, I doubt that Cambridge has wasted much money on this at all.

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To get the most from your Tek-Tips experience, please read FAQ181-2886
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[Toshilap]

So you are saying it is type of hoax when they using name of University in vain? LOL

 

[AnotherHiggins]

Toshilap,

Have a look at the link I provided earlier:

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

In case you are not aware, snopes.com is a website that specializes in debunking (or confirming) urban legends.

[tt]_____
[blue]-John[/blue]
[/tt][red]Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum viditur[/red]

Help us help you. Please read FAQ181-2886 before posting.

 

[tsdragon]

The discussion on the LanguageHat[/b] board is particularly interesting. I just wasted some valuable work time reading it.

Tracy Dryden

Meddle not in the affairs of dragons,
For you are crunchy, and good with mustard.