Tuesday, March 29, 2005

Language and coffee stains

The following floated into my inbox the other day, and it reminded me of the many times I've hopelessly tried to understand and look up an incorrectly or hastily-written kanji character with a mis-placed stroke or a coffee cup stain blurring the ink:

“Try reading the paragraph below. When I read it the first time...
...I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was
rdgnieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid. Aoccdrnig to a
rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer inwaht
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.”

Though this may be true, I'm still waiting for the day when I can properly read a coffee stain.

1 comment:

Winston said...

OOzAY AYSAY AT-THATAY EWYAY OWKNAY AT-THAY ENGLISH-AY AY-SAY EEE-THAY UTH-TRAY ON-LEE-AY. OOD UCK-LAY!!!