Only great minds can read this

parakeet

Got this in an email today. Have fun!

This is weird, but interesting!

fi yuo cna raed tihs, yuo hvae a sgtrane mnid too

Cna yuo raed tihs? Olny 55 plepoe out of 100 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 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? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt! if you can raed tihs forwrad it.

prophecor

Fcsaanaitng

under_believer

Here is a very excellent analysis of this popular and relatively ancient bit of Internet memery, by an actual Cambridge researcher:

http://www.mrc-cbu.cam.ac.uk/~mattd/Cmabrigde/

Here's an excerpt:

it doesn't matter in what order the letters in a word are, the only important thing is that the first and last letter be at the right place

This is clearly wrong. For instance, compare the following three sentences:

1) A vheclie epxledod at a plocie cehckipont near the UN haduqertares in Bagahdd on Mnoday kilinlg the bmober and an Irqai polcie offceir

2) Big ccunoil tax ineesacrs tihs yaer hvae seezueqd the inmcoes of mnay pneosenirs

3) A dootcr has aimttded the magltheuansr of a tageene ceacnr pintaet who deid aetfr a hatospil durg blendur

All three sentences were randomised according to the "rules" described in the meme. The first and last letters have stayed in the same place and all the other letters have been moved. However, I suspect that your experience is the same as mine, which is that the texts get progressively more difficult to read.[...]

Hopefully, these demonstrations will have convinced you that in some cases it can be very difficult to make sense of sentences with jumbled up words. Clearly, the first and last letter is not the only thing that you use when reading text. If this really was the case, how would you tell the difference between pairs of words like "salt" and "slat"?

Frannie Banannie

If this really was the case, how would you tell the difference between pairs of words like "salt" and "slat"?

By the context in which they're used.

Frannie

restrangled

I love this. I do the daily jumble in the paper and also making as many words as you can from the daily word. With a little practice it really is fun.

r.

AuldSoul

I wluod, but I dno't forwrad chian emials.

By the way, 55 out of 100 people being able to do something doesn't make that something strange, it makes it normal. The ones who can't have the strange minds.

under_believer

But Frannie, the assertion is that one can read a word simply by using the first and last letters. It doesn't say anything about context. In fact the assertion itself misses the point that context is everything in reading that sentence.

It's also important to realize that several important (key) words aren't mixed up in that paragraph, vastly increasing readability.

J-ex-W

I think this is an exercise in brain hemisphere dominance, more than anything--or, more specifically, right brain involvement in visual processing of information (as opposed to auditory stimuli, for example).

Edit: The right brain looks at things as a 'whole' and decides where pieces of information fit; the left brain processes info in a sequential, linear fashion. (step a, step b, step c)

I find it interesting that only about half of people are either naturally geared to taking in visual stimuli this way or are properly 'trained' into it. I'm sure brain dominance and type of education has something to do with it. This could be a test of how well attuned to working 'together' a person's two brain hemispheres already are (whether innate or culturally learned, or both enhancing the other).

Mrs Smith

But Frannie, the assertion is that one can read a word simply by using the first and last letters. It doesn't say anything about context. In fact the assertion itself misses the point that context is everything in reading that sentence.

under_believer, relax and just enjoy the post. It's under the jokes section, not under the lets analize this to death section. Take a deep breath and relax.

parakeet

Thanks to all who responded. As Mrs. Smith pointed out, I posted it for its chuckle value. Please don't take it seriously. It certainly has nothing to do with having or not having a "great mind."

parakeet

Only great minds can read this

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