Am I the only one that does this?

tonyturley

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Location
Scott Depot, WV, USA
Name
Tony
Perhaps the writers in the crowd can help me out with this. Sometimes when I'm tapping out a message, I leave out words, but a quick glance at what I've written sounds perfectly fine to me. It's only after I go back and look at the message again later that I realize the sentence I had composed in my head didn't quite make it all the way to the screen. Anyone else do this?

Or perhaps I'm half barking and there's no hope for me. :D
 
I notice often when I'm reading that what I think I see and what I am actually looking at are different things - that bugs me, as I've always been a good reader and can write fairly well, and I think it's a long-term effect of the relatively careless way I ingest text on a screen. I don't type that way as often as I just read things that way, but it does crop up in my typing sometimes too.
 
Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn’t mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.
 
Perhaps the writers in the crowd can help me out with this. Sometimes when I'm tapping out a message, I leave out words, but a quick glance at what I've written sounds perfectly fine to me. It's only after I go back and look at the message again later that I realize the sentence I had composed in my head didn't quite make it all the way to the screen. Anyone else do this?

Or perhaps I'm half barking and there's no hope for me. :D
I do it all the time.
 
There are some variables which might affect how and why it happens. For me, there is a big difference between tapping a message, letter by letter, on the screen of my iPhone - which is a slower and more deliberative process for me (hence less 'mistakes') - or writing it on the excellent keyboard that governs my Mac computer. Incidentally, I am fairly fast a 'touch typist' - and also a writer by trade --- and I vastly prefer typing on keyboards to writing by hand... because it's faster. My brain works at a certain speed and when I'm obliged to print out or write things out 'cursively', it's always felt frustratingly s-l-o-w. But typing - and typing quickly - feels closer to approximating the way I think.

But then, rereading - I see mistakes, missing words, misspelled words, incorrect words - a whole gamut of stuff which I doesn't seem possible.

My overall theory - whether texting or writing by hand or even typing - is that a) our brains function at different speeds than our hands do, and b) though it 'sounds right' in our minds, stuff gets 'lost in translation' ('translation = the art of putting thoughts or ideas down in words).

I think it was John Updike who said, "writing is rewriting" - although doubtless many other women and men have expressed similar sentiments - and those of us who use words (a group which includes much of the human race) all have to do it (rewriting) on a regular basis. And not just to improve it or to inch closer to some ideal of how we want the words and phrases to sound - but often to rectify and deal with exactly the kind of stuff you are describing, Andrew.

It's a big club and I think I belong to it, too.

Or, as Birar siad soo elbowqwintly, as lnog as one deonst mcuk up the fsirt and lsat lteerts, ploepe wlil unstanerd.
 
This happens to me a lot when I'm typing a message on my phone. I hate the tiny touch screen typing, I often take way too long to type a simple sentence because I have to go back and correct silly and obvious typos because the touch screen thinks I've touched another letter.

And quite often, when I have finished writing, I'll go back and realise I've left out connecting words because my brain is moving faster than the ridiculous touch screen typing. I think I've typed the missing words but clearly I hadn't.
 
I started out at the university as a journalism major, but have determined over the years that I totally suck at right’in.
If it wasn’t for spell check! Then there is autocorrect. OMG
I usually know what I want to write, but most of time when reread, words are missing and out of sequence.
 
Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn’t mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.
Eevn as a non ntaitve sepaeekr taht dnoes't btoher me at all.
 
Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn’t mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.
Finally, someone that types like me.
 
Oh, I do.
Often because I'm restructuring sentences on the fly. It's only after I've hit "Post Reply" that I spot the mistakes and have to edit the message. Sometimes more than once.
I dislike forums that don't allow you to update your messages after a while. I suppose because it makes me feel bad that people might think I'm really bad at grammar.

Thank goodness for the edit button ;)
 
Perhaps the writers in the crowd can help me out with this. Sometimes when I'm tapping out a message, I leave out words, but a quick glance at what I've written sounds perfectly fine to me. It's only after I go back and look at the message again later that I realize the sentence I had composed in my head didn't quite make it all the way to the screen. Anyone else do this?

Or perhaps I'm half barking and there's no hope for me. :D
Oh yeah, absolutely. When you glance at the screen, you tend to see what you intended to write, not what you actually wrote.

What, really, really helps is to read your stuff aloud to someone else . . . that will force you to read what is actually on the screen.

Cheers, Jock
 
As a parent of young kids, I'm noticing they write similar to their chats from virtual learning and other device interactions. I have to correct their sentences and remind them chatting with emojis is not proper sentence structure! Though this is coming from a Dad who usually writes on camera forums about GAS, the acquisition of all things shiny and loves using emojis! :roflmao:
 
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