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-   -   Can you read this? (http://www.sowpub.com/forum/showthread.php?t=6594)

Fishman October 15, 2009 01:33 AM

Can you read this?
 
Cna yuo raed tihs? Olny 55% of plepoe can.

I cdnuolt blveiee waht I was rdanieg. Due to the phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno’t mtaetr in waht oerdr the ltteres in a wrod are. The olny iproamtnt tihng is taht the frsit and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses, and you can sitll raed it whotuit a pboerlm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef but the wrod as a wlohe. Azanmig, huh? And I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt!

This was taken from Tim Ferris' first and original blog.

Here is the link-http://cubicleescapeartist.com/blog/index.php?paged=2

Sandi Bowman October 15, 2009 11:20 AM

Re: Can you read this?
 
No. It's childish gibberish and total waste of time.

Sandi Bowman

Ankesh October 15, 2009 01:04 PM

Re: Can you read this?
 
On the contrary.

I love such stuff. Illusions help us see the extent of our senses.

One awesome video about illusions:
http://www.ted.com/talks/beau_lotto_...ow_we_see.html

And of course, if you want to make practical use of it - just start a salesletter with the above gibberish text style. Instant attention winning trick. Should definitely improve your response rates.

Sandi Bowman October 15, 2009 02:43 PM

Re: Can you read this?
 
Ankesh, have you really paid attention to all the bad spelling and grammar on the internet? It's beyond belief!

As a writer, I seek to avoid such gibberish so it does not influence my writing when I want it to be 'just so'. Those who use this sort of gibberish are creating a self-defeating reality if they wish to be thought of as intelligent and a brilliant communicator, IMHO.

Bad habits, such as the use of gibberish, are very difficult to break and will, eventually, embarrass the person at some point in their lives (usually at a critical point). I've hired and trained enough people to know that incorrect usage and spelling WILL come out at often inappropriate times (such as on resume's) despite careful intents not to allow it.

"Time, and how we use it, is all there really is to life." - Sandra Bowman. Use your time well and it will reward you handsomely.

Sandi Bowman

Ankesh October 15, 2009 03:52 PM

Re: Can you read this?
 
As far as I can tell - Fishman doesn't intend to praise bad spellings.
His post is about tricking your brain.

Writing in the way his post mentions actually takes more time. Because its not errors. Its a *deliberate* arrangement of alphabets.

It makes most people go "oh wow" - this shouldn't be possible. But it is.

You probably don't want to write an entire website / letter / presentation with such lingo. But it does very well to make a point about how our brains interpret the written word. And is a great gimmick to win attention.

Dien Rice October 15, 2009 04:55 PM

How this phenomenon can hep you with self-improvement
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Fishman (Post 25412)
Cna yuo raed tihs? Olny 55% of plepoe can.

I cdnuolt blveiee waht I was rdanieg. Due to the phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno’t mtaetr in waht oerdr the ltteres in a wrod are. The olny iproamtnt tihng is taht the frsit and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses, and you can sitll raed it whotuit a pboerlm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef but the wrod as a wlohe. Azanmig, huh? And I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt!

Thanks Fishman!

Many people would be surprised to find out that there could be some practical use to this...

Anyway, inspired by your post, I did some research.

Many places you find this on the web claim that it comes from research at Cambridge University. Apparently, that's incorrect...

However, it may originally come from research done by Graham Rawlinson in 1976 at Nottingham University (in the UK), according to the book "Speed Reading for Dummies" (p.94)...

There has also been a followup study done in 2006 by researchers at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and the University of Durham.

They found that the jumbled words do slow your reading down.

People could read normally at 255 words per minute (wpm). However, when internal letters of the words were jumbled, they slowed down to 227 wpm. When only the final letter of each word was jumbled, their reading slowed down to 189 wpm (even slower than when internal letters were jumbled). When just the beginning letter of each word was jumbled, people's reading slowed down to 163 wpm.

This gives us clues on how we read. It shows that we place much more importance on the beginning and end letters for reading, than we do on the internal letters of a word.

How can this be used in a practical sense? Some software that is supposed to help you learn how to speed read jumbles the letters of the words, and lets you practice reading words with jumbled letters. Perhaps, by "training" yourself to read better with jumbled letters, you can improve your speed reading skills. (I don't know if this is proven - but we can put it forward as a hypothesis!)

Here is an example of such a web page...

Here is also an interesting summary of research on word recognition...

So, thanks for sharing that!

Best wishes,

Dien

Dien Rice October 15, 2009 05:36 PM

How spelling is fluid...
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Sandi Bowman (Post 25417)
Ankesh, have you really paid attention to all the bad spelling and grammar on the internet? It's beyond belief!

As a writer, I seek to avoid such gibberish so it does not influence my writing when I want it to be 'just so'. Those who use this sort of gibberish are creating a self-defeating reality if they wish to be thought of as intelligent and a brilliant communicator, IMHO.

Bad habits, such as the use of gibberish, are very difficult to break and will, eventually, embarrass the person at some point in their lives (usually at a critical point). I've hired and trained enough people to know that incorrect usage and spelling WILL come out at often inappropriate times (such as on resume's) despite careful intents not to allow it.

"Time, and how we use it, is all there really is to life." - Sandra Bowman. Use your time well and it will reward you handsomely.

Hi Sandi,

I know what you're saying, though I certainly don't think what Fishman wrote is "gibberish". It's related to psychological research, and while what he posted was a bit of fun, it has potential practical applications. (I already mentioned a possible application to speed reading in another post. It also has practical applications regarding the design of fonts and spacing, to improve ease of reading.)

I've generally had a "knack" for spelling correctly, but we should also recognize that spelling is fluid - it's not constant - and that English language spelling changes over time.

Right now, some people cringe when they read "cu l8r" ("see you later") - but who knows, that "spelling" could be the way of the future!

I was just looking at the United States Constitution for examples of how spelling conventions change over time...

Here are some...

Article I, section 2:

"The House of Representatives shall chuse their Speaker and other Officers..."

(Of course, we spell it "choose" nowadays, not "chuse." The words "chuse" and "chusing" are sprinkled throughout the U.S. Constitution.)

Article I, section 6:

"...or the Emoluments whereof shall have been encreased during such time..."

(Of course, we spell it as "increase" nowadays, not "encrease." Also, "emoluments" is not a commonly-used word any more.)

Article I, section 10:

"...and all such Laws shall be subject to the Revision and Controul of the Congress."

(We spell it as "control" nowadays, not "controul.")

My point is that spelling is fluid... For example, if enough people start spelling it as "choose" rather than "chuse," then, over time, "choose" will eventually be considered to be the "correct" spelling.

Best wishes,

Dien

Fishman October 15, 2009 06:12 PM

Re: Can you read this?
 
Thank you all for your thoughts.

And no, I wasn't refering to the use of jumbled letters as a better means of getting attention or anything else.

I came acrossed it and found it very interesting and just wanted to share.

For me, when I read it, at first I was thrown off guard and was like "what the..?" but then it was like a lightbulb came on and it seemed as though the more I read the easier it became. Not for all the words but for most.

It was so new and odd that it made me laugh out loud uncontrollably.

I was hpiong eyvreynoe esle wulod get the smae ejynonemt. Ha! Ha!

I agree with you Sandy. I prefer correct (or as correct as humanely possible) spelling and grammer. It is frustrating to read something that you want to take the TIME to read and find too many errors and too many tangents. Some I can live with, but too many aren't acceptable.

And for all of you that do like to write and read, I have a quote that I have kept with me for a long time and that I try to follow. It is this "philosophy" that I wish all who are trying to educate at any capacity would follow.

Here it is...

"The Writer does the most, who gives his reader the most knowledge...
...and takes from him the least time...

-Sydney Smith 1771-1845


Once again, thank you all for taking the TIME to read my post.

Fred

Sandi Bowman October 15, 2009 06:23 PM

Re: Can you read this?
 
I hear you, Dien. My argument is that, if people want to be taken seriously in business or otherwise (for the most part) they'd best know how to put together a good sentence using commonly accepted (note commonly accepted) grammar and spelling.

These shortcuts are okay for your notes but really not suitable for general communication where clarity is the goal.

I'm not into language development but can appreciate where you're coming from.

Keep smilin'
Sandi Bowman

Phil October 15, 2009 07:36 PM

How this phenomenon can help you with self-improvement... A few more, Anagrams too...
 
Just for the Fun of it... :)

Maybe even a few Unusual business ideas...

With a little Brainstorming...

MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit
http://www.mrc-cbu.cam.ac.uk/search/?qt=word+jumbling
http://www.mrc-cbu.cam.ac.uk/people/...vis/Cmabrigde/

http://www.businessballs.com/scrambledwords.htm

Very Cool! ... Could make for some interesting business ideas/Niche blogging etc. etc... ;)
http://anagramtimes.blogs.wordsmith.org/

http://wordsmith.org/anagram/
http://www.anagramsite.com/

http://vimeo.com/6953945
http://www.anagrammer.com/anagram

Phil


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