Maeve
05-16-2008, 02:22 PM
Daniel's post today is a lot of fun: Cna Yuo Raed Tihs? (http://www.dailywritingtips.com/cna-yuo-raed-tihs/)
Rhonda's comment on this post got me thinking. The words in the selection are all very common ones and the context is clear.
Let's see how easily we can read this random selection from Eco's The Name of the Rose.
Notice how we rely on the little words we're sure of to get through it. Some of what we're doing is reading, but much is deducing or guessing.
Bsceaue if tihs new lnraieng tehy wntead to pcduroe wree to cluaircte flreey odutsie tsohe wlals, tehn nhitnog wulod dngssutiih taht secard pclae any lengor form a cheatadrl soohcl or a ctiy utveriisny. Rneminiag ilotaesd, on the oehtr hnad, it miaiatned its pgrsetie and its sgttnerh ictna. It was not cupruertod by dattsipuoin, by the qibloiudecatl ceinoct taht wluod secjubt erevy mtrseyy and erevy genaretss to teh stunciry of the sic et non. Tehre, I siad to mleysf, are the roanses for the seinlce and the drakesns that snoruurd the lrarbiy: it is the perrvese of linnerag but can mianiatn tihs lireanng ullisuned olny if it preenvts its rincheag anoyne at all, eevn the mnoks temshelves. Liarenng is not lkie a cion, wcihh rianems plyachsily wlohe eevn trughoh the msot ifanumos tintranocsa; it is, rahetr, lkie a vrey homandse desrs, wichh is wron out torhugh use and osantotiten.
Rhonda's comment on this post got me thinking. The words in the selection are all very common ones and the context is clear.
Let's see how easily we can read this random selection from Eco's The Name of the Rose.
Notice how we rely on the little words we're sure of to get through it. Some of what we're doing is reading, but much is deducing or guessing.
Bsceaue if tihs new lnraieng tehy wntead to pcduroe wree to cluaircte flreey odutsie tsohe wlals, tehn nhitnog wulod dngssutiih taht secard pclae any lengor form a cheatadrl soohcl or a ctiy utveriisny. Rneminiag ilotaesd, on the oehtr hnad, it miaiatned its pgrsetie and its sgttnerh ictna. It was not cupruertod by dattsipuoin, by the qibloiudecatl ceinoct taht wluod secjubt erevy mtrseyy and erevy genaretss to teh stunciry of the sic et non. Tehre, I siad to mleysf, are the roanses for the seinlce and the drakesns that snoruurd the lrarbiy: it is the perrvese of linnerag but can mianiatn tihs lireanng ullisuned olny if it preenvts its rincheag anoyne at all, eevn the mnoks temshelves. Liarenng is not lkie a cion, wcihh rianems plyachsily wlohe eevn trughoh the msot ifanumos tintranocsa; it is, rahetr, lkie a vrey homandse desrs, wichh is wron out torhugh use and osantotiten.