Perhaps the most important job for a copy editor is to ensure that text is free of spelling mistakes. But is error-riddled text any less understandable?
On repeated occasions researchers have found that people can still understand the meaning of sentences even if they are completely made up of jumbled words.
For example: We culod sracbmle the wrods in wtehaver form we wsih. As lnog as we awlyas miatiann the odrer of the frist and lsat ltteer the txet wlil sltil mkae snese.
You may have already seen examples like the one above, as a similarly scrambled paragraph was featured in a popular e-mail a few years back. Many are surprised to learn that such a jumble can still be understood with little effort.
This scrambled word comprehension phenomenon is said to have begun with a Cambridge University study, though there is still controversy surrounding its true origin. Regardless of who began the experiment, some researchers say it offers insight into how we read. According to their understanding, our ability to comprehend the jumbled example above shows that our minds perceive words as a whole and not just letter by letter.
So, does our ability to interpret these severe misspellings reveal that words, at least for those who can already read, exist at a subconscious level in our memories?
We are taught to read through phonics—using sounds of the alphabet to comprehend unknown words. Later, we begin to rely less and less on this phonemic system for word recognition as our growing vocabulary is gradually committed to memory. Eventually, we no longer have to sound words out—save for the occasional unusual example—because our minds instantly recognize the words with which we are familiar.
Researchers have continued to test this linguistic theory with increasingly severe corruptions of our language. It’s been demonstrated that disorganized text can be understood even if some of the letters are wrong. Thas expirament is reely biutaful: It daemnstraits how the irtnial mnid ptts tsxt in a grenural from.
This idea seems to have been taken to ridiculous extremes, as a similar experiment demonstrates that text can be correctly understood even when space between words has been applied arbitrarily throughout the text.
For example: Thi spar ticu larstud ywa sdone atahun gari anun ivers ity.
Although the letters are in the right order in this example, this case is found to be even more difficult to interpret than the jumbled letter examples. Some believe that this speaks to the way in which the human mind works. When a letter is missing or found out of place, the mind tends to ignore errors and focuses its resources on the general message. Yet when the principal structure of the text is altered—as in the last example—the mind has the comparatively difficult task of having to reconstruct the known words from our incorporated vocabulary.
Yet another example shows that even numbers can be incorporated into our words (mimicking our alphabet) and we can still correctly interpret the message. The following text tells the story of two girls:
“4 C3R7A1N D4Y 0N3 5UMM3R, 1 W45 0N 7H3 B34CH 0853RV1N6 7W0 61RL5 JUM91N6 1N 7H3 54ND W0RK1N6 H4RD C0N57RUC71N6 4 54ND C457L3 W17H 70W3R5, H1DD3N 573P5 4ND 8R1D635. WH3N 7H3Y F1N15H3D 4 W4V3 C4M3 4ND D357R0Y3D 17 4LL, R3DUC1N6 17 70 4 M0UN741N 0F 54ND 4ND F04M. 1 7HOU6H7 7H47 4F73R 50 MUCH W0RK, 7H3 91RL5 W0ULD 574R7 70 CRY, 8U7 1N5734D, 7H3Y R4N D0WN 7H3 834CH PL4Y1N6 4ND 8364N 70 8U1LD 4N07H3R C457L3.
1 UND3R5700D 7H47 1 H4D L34RN3D 4 6R347 L3550N. W3 5P3ND 4 L07 0F 71M3 1N 0UR L1V35 0N 0N3 7H1N6 8U7 L473R 4 W4V3 D357R0Y35 3V3RY7H1N6; 4LL 7H47 R3M41N5 15 FR13ND5H1P, L0V3, C4R3, 4ND 7H3 H4ND5 0F 7H053 WH0 4R3 C4P48L3 0F M4K1N6 U5 5M1L3.”
While this text may seem difficult to comprehend at first, the mind has shown that it can correctly interpret this strange alphanumerical hybrid:
“A certain day one summer, I was on the beach observing two girls jumping in the sand working hard constructing a sand castle with towers, hidden steps and bridges. When they finished a wave came by and destroyed it all, reducing it to a mountain of sand and foam. I thought that after so much work the girls would start to cry, but instead, they ran down the beach playing and began to build another castle.
I understood that I had learned a great lesson. We spend a lot of time in our lives on one thing, but later a wave destroys everything; all that remains is friendship, love, care, and the hands of those who are capable of making us smile.”
On repeated occasions researchers have found that people can still understand the meaning of sentences even if they are completely made up of jumbled words.
For example: We culod sracbmle the wrods in wtehaver form we wsih. As lnog as we awlyas miatiann the odrer of the frist and lsat ltteer the txet wlil sltil mkae snese.
You may have already seen examples like the one above, as a similarly scrambled paragraph was featured in a popular e-mail a few years back. Many are surprised to learn that such a jumble can still be understood with little effort.
This scrambled word comprehension phenomenon is said to have begun with a Cambridge University study, though there is still controversy surrounding its true origin. Regardless of who began the experiment, some researchers say it offers insight into how we read. According to their understanding, our ability to comprehend the jumbled example above shows that our minds perceive words as a whole and not just letter by letter.
So, does our ability to interpret these severe misspellings reveal that words, at least for those who can already read, exist at a subconscious level in our memories?
We are taught to read through phonics—using sounds of the alphabet to comprehend unknown words. Later, we begin to rely less and less on this phonemic system for word recognition as our growing vocabulary is gradually committed to memory. Eventually, we no longer have to sound words out—save for the occasional unusual example—because our minds instantly recognize the words with which we are familiar.
Researchers have continued to test this linguistic theory with increasingly severe corruptions of our language. It’s been demonstrated that disorganized text can be understood even if some of the letters are wrong. Thas expirament is reely biutaful: It daemnstraits how the irtnial mnid ptts tsxt in a grenural from.
This idea seems to have been taken to ridiculous extremes, as a similar experiment demonstrates that text can be correctly understood even when space between words has been applied arbitrarily throughout the text.
For example: Thi spar ticu larstud ywa sdone atahun gari anun ivers ity.
Although the letters are in the right order in this example, this case is found to be even more difficult to interpret than the jumbled letter examples. Some believe that this speaks to the way in which the human mind works. When a letter is missing or found out of place, the mind tends to ignore errors and focuses its resources on the general message. Yet when the principal structure of the text is altered—as in the last example—the mind has the comparatively difficult task of having to reconstruct the known words from our incorporated vocabulary.
Yet another example shows that even numbers can be incorporated into our words (mimicking our alphabet) and we can still correctly interpret the message. The following text tells the story of two girls:
“4 C3R7A1N D4Y 0N3 5UMM3R, 1 W45 0N 7H3 B34CH 0853RV1N6 7W0 61RL5 JUM91N6 1N 7H3 54ND W0RK1N6 H4RD C0N57RUC71N6 4 54ND C457L3 W17H 70W3R5, H1DD3N 573P5 4ND 8R1D635. WH3N 7H3Y F1N15H3D 4 W4V3 C4M3 4ND D357R0Y3D 17 4LL, R3DUC1N6 17 70 4 M0UN741N 0F 54ND 4ND F04M. 1 7HOU6H7 7H47 4F73R 50 MUCH W0RK, 7H3 91RL5 W0ULD 574R7 70 CRY, 8U7 1N5734D, 7H3Y R4N D0WN 7H3 834CH PL4Y1N6 4ND 8364N 70 8U1LD 4N07H3R C457L3.
1 UND3R5700D 7H47 1 H4D L34RN3D 4 6R347 L3550N. W3 5P3ND 4 L07 0F 71M3 1N 0UR L1V35 0N 0N3 7H1N6 8U7 L473R 4 W4V3 D357R0Y35 3V3RY7H1N6; 4LL 7H47 R3M41N5 15 FR13ND5H1P, L0V3, C4R3, 4ND 7H3 H4ND5 0F 7H053 WH0 4R3 C4P48L3 0F M4K1N6 U5 5M1L3.”
While this text may seem difficult to comprehend at first, the mind has shown that it can correctly interpret this strange alphanumerical hybrid:
“A certain day one summer, I was on the beach observing two girls jumping in the sand working hard constructing a sand castle with towers, hidden steps and bridges. When they finished a wave came by and destroyed it all, reducing it to a mountain of sand and foam. I thought that after so much work the girls would start to cry, but instead, they ran down the beach playing and began to build another castle.
I understood that I had learned a great lesson. We spend a lot of time in our lives on one thing, but later a wave destroys everything; all that remains is friendship, love, care, and the hands of those who are capable of making us smile.”
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