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from the sum-thymes-ewe-jest-cant-sea-miss-takes dept.
Typos suck. They are saboteurs, undermining your intent, causing your resume to land in the “pass” pile, or providing sustenance for an army of pedantic critics. If we are our own harshest critics, why do we miss those annoying little details? Now Nick Stockton writes that the reason typos get through isn’t because we’re stupid or careless, it’s because what we’re doing is actually very smart. “When you’re writing, you’re trying to convey meaning. It’s a very high level task,” says psychologist Tom Stafford, who studies typos of the University of Sheffield in the UK. As with all high level tasks, your brain generalizes simple, component parts (like turning letters into words and words into sentences) so it can focus on more complex tasks (like combining sentences into complex ideas). "The reason we don’t see our own typos is because what we see on the screen is competing with the version that exists in our heads," writes Stockton. "When you’re proof reading, you are trying to trick your brain into pretending that it’s reading the thing for the first time." Stafford suggests that if you want to catch your own errors, you should try to make your work as unfamiliar as possible. Change the font or background color, or print it out and edit by hand. “Once you’ve learned something in a particular way, it’s hard to see the details without changing the visual form,” say Stafford.
(Score: 2) by Tork on Sunday August 24 2014, @04:36PM
🏳️🌈 Proud Ally 🏳️🌈
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 24 2014, @06:17PM
It is a sign of a rule-based mindset. You can count on people like that to care more about what is easily measured and tested rather than ideas and meaning.
(Score: 2) by aristarchus on Monday August 25 2014, @12:27AM
Typographical errors are one thing. But if they are the result of ignorance or lack of literacy, they are not errors. Some for those who just can't be bothered to learn a language properly. In such cases, grammatical mistakes are an indication of the credibility an author deserves. (Please, Thoth, let there be no errors in this condescending remark!)
(Score: 2) by Tork on Monday August 25 2014, @12:48AM
🏳️🌈 Proud Ally 🏳️🌈
(Score: 2) by aristarchus on Monday August 25 2014, @12:57AM
That must be where the expression "Read 'em and weep!" comes from.