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Cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg.

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Latest post Fri, Jul 3 2009 1:11 AM by Kooyeen. 2 replies.
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Anonymous  +  802134 Wed, 01 Jul 09 09:05 AM
When you can understand the text below, you know you're getting good at English. ;-)

 

Cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid. Aoccdrnig to 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.

 

http://blog.ted.com/2005/11/raed_tihs_yuor.php
Anonymous
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Kooyeen  +  802377 Wed, 01 Jul 09 11:04 PM
It works in Italian too, it's a relatively old "game". It just shows that people don't read one letter at a time, but they just "guess" and go faster.

It only works well with relatively simple sentences with relatively simple words, especially short words. It also depends on how the letters are swapped around, so the order matters a bit.

I tried to make it as difficult as I could, by the way. Here's my version: (it seems more difficult to me, but I can't really tell, since I'm the one who did it and therefore I am "biased" now).


Clondut biveele taht I culod alutalcy usdnnrated waht I was rinedag. The ponnahemel pweor of the haumn mnid. Andcirocg to raceresh at Cidrgambe Uitersnviy, it densot mteatr in waht oerdr the ltreets in a wrod are, the olny iaoptrnmt tnihg is taht the fsrit and lsat lteetr be in the rhgit pcale.
Kooyeen
Joined on Thu, Dec 22 2005
Italy
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Kooyeen  +  803675 Fri, 03 Jul 09 01:11 AM
Wasn't there another reply here? I'd seen it... Now I don't remember what was in it though.

Anyway, I just think you don't just need the first and the last letter. You don't read one letter at a time, so you can just go faster and pick up "clues".

u...d

What word is that? You can't know. You need clues. Clues comes from context (whole sentences), length of the word, and the letters in it too.

uxxxxxxxxd

What word? Still too difficult.

undreanstd

Heh, seems easier. In context, it would be understandable. But notice that some "clusters" still give you some clues. Dr, st, ean, un... Let's swap them around and see if we can remove those clues:

usdnnrated

Seems more difficult. That's the one in my version, where I even tried to create some false clues, making it sound like something that might really exist (it ends in "rated").


So your brain needs clues to guess. I don't know what they are exactly or how many there are, but those who studied this thing should know. Interesting though.

Kooyeen
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