What is it called when you can easily read scrambled words?

Perhaps you’ve received a widely circulated email that begins with this nonsensical sentence:

I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg.

The boggling thing about the sentence is that even though the words are scrambled, you can read it. It makes sense. Do you have an above average IQ? Or do you possess some rare cognitive ability? 

Sorry to burst your bubble, but most English speakers can comprehend this sentence made of scrambled words. The neologism used to describe the ability to do so is typoglycemia. While the term is not yet in our dictionary sources, we find it fascinating enough to mention regardless. 

Typoglycemia refers the ability to understand the meaning of words in a sentence as long as the exterior letters of each word are correct and all the letters of the word are present. 

Typoglycemia neither refers to a medical condition, nor is it used by the medical community. It appears to be a portmanteau of “typo” and “glycemia,” (the presence of glucose in blood.)

There is no real connection between hypoglycemia and the phenomena of being able to read scrambled words. Hypoglycemia is an abnormally low level of glucose in the blood. It literally means “under-sweet blood.” The name is a pun.

TUNE IN TO TOP DOG TRAINER.(L.A. LIFE) here homemade dog treats

Daily News (Los Angeles, CA) June 20, 1998 Byline: – Carol Bidwell Uncle Matty’s proud – very proud.

Matthew Margolis has not only trained more than 30,000 dogs in his 30-year career – including pooches belonging to Elizabeth Taylor, Goldie Hawn, Madonna, Cher and Whoopi Goldberg – the Los Angeles “dog trainer to the stars” has a new television series beginning this weekend.

“Woof! It’s a Dog’s Life With Matthew Margolis” premieres at 3 p.m. today (a preview aired June 13) on KCET (Channel 28). The 13-part series runs in half-hour episodes on consecutive Saturdays, covering everything about dogs, including choosing a puppy, leash breaking, learning about breed personalities, housebreaking, evaluating acupuncture for dogs, handling aggressive dogs, baking homemade dog treats and preventing fleas.

Margolis – known for his falsetto “dog-ese” praise (“Uncle Matty’s proud!”) that seems to make dogs his slavish followers in seconds – sees the TV series as a way to help dogs and their owners live together more happily. There are an estimated 60 million dogs in the United States, and most of those that end up in the pound – and are eventually destroyed – are simply dogs that have not been trained properly, he said.

“People initially want to discipline a dog rather than educate it,” said Margolis, who’s co-written 15 books on dog training and is “Good Morning America’s” resident dog expert. “Your dog loves you and will do anything for you. You just have to teach it what you want. I see a lot of dog problems and a lot of people problems. A lot of times, the dogs are fine and the people are screwed up.

“It’s very simple: Teach the owner, teach the dog, practice 15 minutes a day.” In the series, Margolis works with dogs he’s never met before and, seemingly miraculously, banishes bad habits and teaches correct canine behavior in minutes.

In one of the first shows, presidential brother Roger Clinton introduces Bear, a snarling, snapping shepherd; with proper techniques, it takes Margolis less than five minutes to calm the dog’s viciousness while maintaining its watchdog outlook.

“You don’t want to lose the spirit,” Margolis explained. “You just want to solve the problem.” The dog trainer also visits a dog obedience class in Van Nuys, working with Valley residents and their owners to teach simple commands. And he spends time with “ER” actress Ellen Crawford and “All My Children” star T.C. Warner to help solve their dogs’ problems. (Crawford’s shepherd was an escape artist who learned to sit and stay on command; Warner’s small terrier was a problem child who used her sofa for a bathroom until properly housebroken.) “The way to solve a problem is obedience training,” Margolis said. “When people get a puppy or a dog, they should go to the library and get a book or a video and learn how to train it, not just start yelling when the dog does something wrong. They seem to think that if they yell long enough and loud enough, the dog will understand. It doesn’t work that way. site homemade dog treats

“You have to learn how to teach your dog. Otherwise, it’s like trying to play the piano without knowing the keys. That’s what I try to teach people.” The big three things to learn: Command (teach a dog what you want him to do); correction (when he does it wrong, show him again); and praise (with hugs and treats and delighted exclamations).

“It’s not harsh training, it’s love training,” Margolis said. “But you have to do it. After all, this dog is going to be your soulmate for the next 10 to 15 years.” CAPTION(S):

Photo Photo: Matthew Margolis trains dogs – their owners – on his new show, “Woof! It’s a Dog’s Life,” debuting today on KCET.

Author: Hot Word | Posted in Uncategorized 
113 Comments
betty jo on December 22, 2010 at 4:15 pm

i thuoght taht was so cool i treid it on all my taehcers and tehy all fuond it cool (by the way that email up there is my friends email but she lets me use it)

L on December 22, 2010 at 4:16 pm

Fsrit……..?
I aeradly kenw of tihs way of wtnirig wrdos, taht as lnog as the frsit and lsat lretets are in the smee pclae, you can siltl raed it. It’s on the lbales for Vtanimee Wtear XDDD

chris on December 22, 2010 at 4:17 pm

this guy is totally right. i cluod actually read this, before i unscrambled the words.

jo mama on December 22, 2010 at 4:18 pm

i love dictionary.com it helps me with every thing by the way who has a name like betty jo i feel bad for ya

Ariel on December 22, 2010 at 4:32 pm

Is there a word for being really good at reading words with letters missing (like in the game Hangman)?

Power on December 22, 2010 at 4:35 pm

So ridiculous, if you can read scrambled words you do have special powers, that sentence up there is so simple because the first letter of each word spelled it out how about try this. “I nudclto veebli hatt I cloud lacaulty estnanrdndu ahtw I saw danireg” same stuff now can you read it?

Neilla S Aflakpui on December 22, 2010 at 4:50 pm

i have heard of this before but didn’t have any idea what the name given to it was…THANKS DICTIONARY.COM!

Jimmy on December 22, 2010 at 5:13 pm

It’s a myth. A lot of words in sentences are three letters, so those words are left unscrambled. Four letter words are only changed by the two middle letters switching position. The reason you can understand the sentence is because you’re accustomed to common sentences and which words are likely to come after other words.

Scott on December 22, 2010 at 5:26 pm

I tsnk tdas addows mi tu qudafy fir a mehudikal muriguhna lichens.

Nate on December 22, 2010 at 5:32 pm

Ive always been able to do that but I never knew what the name for it was.It’s not really a big deal to know I can do it because my IQ is 120 at the age of 13.
(I was writting my response as a typoglycemia but when I used “h” for the first time is sent me to the definition of “pun” and even though i’ll waste my time explaining I wont do it again.)

Alea59681 on December 22, 2010 at 5:56 pm

its like txting sort of. ma b a lzy txter?

FooGriffy on December 22, 2010 at 5:58 pm

I love this. I was looking for the name of this understanding scrambled words, and now I know. Thank you!

Kaito on December 22, 2010 at 6:26 pm

@Power- I could read it… :3

Aynyaws, denos’t it seem wried how tihs wrkos? I maen, you wluod tnhik taht wtih the ltertes of the wrod all sbeclrmad up lkie tehy are wluod mkae it ISBMSPILOE to raed, dno’t you arege? xDD;;

raj ganesh on December 22, 2010 at 6:45 pm

Its rlleay ftasanict ot dare kndi of words in tihs bolg it giong to be vrey ufullse to ystersoung for fmingra teh snteence…

mabu on December 22, 2010 at 6:48 pm

please email me….

FatGuts on December 22, 2010 at 7:32 pm

When I read the title I thought the answer would be:

Normal

renee on December 22, 2010 at 7:50 pm

taht’s ralely fsanitanig… i cuold try it on all my firneds..
XD

rameshwar on December 22, 2010 at 8:32 pm

its realy interesting

roflicelance on December 22, 2010 at 8:46 pm

Jo mama! I love dictionary.com too!

xxx on December 22, 2010 at 9:05 pm

i hate this website its non sense

@...@ on December 22, 2010 at 9:23 pm

if we can read words this way,then what’s the sense of knowing the correct spelling of the word anyway?…ah,maybe just for us not to look dumb..RGHIT?

ForeverMe on December 22, 2010 at 9:38 pm

Aw man…and I tughoht I rlaely did hvae a hgih IQ wehn tehy metineond it. Tehy rlaely bsetrud my blbube. Umm, can aynone ustneadrnd waht I jsut wotre? :D
I fsrit saw tihs in the Dtiroet Snceice Ctneer, and I tughoht it was rlaely cool. It flet azimnag taht I cluod altcaluy raed tihs. All we need is the fsrit and last ltetres of the wrod. Of cursoe, taht wlnodu’t wrok on trehe (and uendr) lteetr wdros.
By the way, why ins’t taht wrod in tehir sruceos? I maen, sunhold’t ervey wrod be on teihr lsit? Oh wlel. :D
Ok, tihs is rlaely hrad, eclepsilay in lnog wdros. But it’s fun! I lkie sbnamiclrg up wdros! :D

durp on December 22, 2010 at 9:48 pm

jeez all you need to do is type without spellchecking D: but my typing is perfect LOL

Random on December 22, 2010 at 9:54 pm

We can read with ease if these 2 conditions are met :

1) The first and last letter are the same; e.g. taht from that can be read easily because both Ts are in the same position.

2) We recognize the word/ seen it before; e.g. aeloimatre may not be easy to read, because we hardly see the word ameliorate.

Josh on December 22, 2010 at 10:08 pm

Power – Be sure you’ve read everything before you comment on it.

Cyberquill on December 22, 2010 at 11:15 pm

It appears to be a portmanteau of “typo” and “glycemia”

Agreed. Just as portmanteau appears to be a portmanteau of “port” and “manteau.”

mitnin on December 22, 2010 at 11:30 pm

I’m starting to think you guys put in all these little writing slips just to tease your readers. I’ll bite.

“Why the term is not yet in our dictionary sources…” The “why” should be “while”.

Lizzy Moses on December 23, 2010 at 12:08 am

Teh fsirt tmy i was tsih ni my mlia xob i saw albe ot raed it, tnakx 4 tllen em teh nmae.

pete on December 23, 2010 at 12:34 am

SEHT!

Anonymous >:D on December 23, 2010 at 1:56 am

“I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg= I couldn’t believe that I could actually understand what I was reading.”
That took me about 30 seconds (NOT JOKING!!!)

Kate Gladstone on December 23, 2010 at 2:27 am

So is this scrambled word — penraatl — “prenatal” or “parental”?

Is this scrambled word — “cnoervsiaotn” –
“conservation” or “conversation”?

Is this scrambled word — “lnois” —
“lions” or “loins”?

Is this scrambled word — “skteas” –
“skates” or “steaks” or “stakes”?

beetle on December 23, 2010 at 3:19 am

@ Jo Mama. You must be from the north. In the south people have two first names. In the north people have two last names.

TryAHarderOne on December 23, 2010 at 3:54 am

Considerably harder to do when the phrase is nonsensical or features long and/or uncommon words:
Teh asteenbe mkenoy giunes reids a tginrenae otpinohtrer and ahrobs nalcontmerue.

Most people should find the above sentence a bit more challenging than the example given in the article.

Sowjanya on December 23, 2010 at 5:36 am

I agree with @power’s opinion ,…
its easy, kaito, to read it because its the same sentance,… try if can by taking some other sentence,….
any ways thanks dictionary.com,… now i know what its called

Gnirol on December 23, 2010 at 5:56 am

It’s harder if you employ less frequently used words and avoid short words. Redraes amitttnpeg to dipeechr ciatmelcpod sneeecnts ectoneunr safgiiinnct dulfitifcy.

dejavugirl on December 23, 2010 at 6:27 am

where is cyberquill?

Scieditor on December 23, 2010 at 6:45 am

We may be able to unscramble on the fly. We can also spot when autocorrect changes “while” to “why.” Typorific!

Mrs Dean Wormer on December 23, 2010 at 7:11 am

“Why the term is not yet in our dictionary sources, we find it fascinating enough to mention regardless. ”

Huh? How ironic for Dictionary.com to display such horrible grammar.

Rickedy Rick on December 23, 2010 at 7:16 am

I’m only 30, but my IQ is 180. I pity the fool that can’t read this type of thing. Only us intelligents can handle this kind of thing. As for the rest of you – I’m glad you’re reading this site. All y’alls Englishk is atrocious!!!!

Rich Durst on December 23, 2010 at 7:46 am

This seems to be fairly easy for native speakers, but I wonder how non-native English users would handle it. I’m also curious whether the same thing would work in other languages.

Rich Durst on December 23, 2010 at 7:50 am

Also, could we please come up with a better name for this? Typoglycemia makes no logical sense, and is liable to cause confusion.

ec on December 23, 2010 at 7:51 am

Do you guys edit your blogs before you post them? I don’t mean to be critical, but such errors are hard to overlook on a website dedicated to words. Please fix:
“Typoglycemia refers TO the ability…”
“WHILE [not why] the term is not yet…”
“…and “glycemia,” (the presence of glucose in blood.)” [Period should be on the outside.]

The post itself was interesting though. Thank you.

Ol Chris on December 23, 2010 at 8:04 am

This type of correspondence is common among our young texters who are getting used to the notion that spelling is not important. The decline in our schools of the teachin of readin, writin’ and cipherin is sad.

Marlene on December 23, 2010 at 9:29 am

I agree with Rich Durst, Typoglycemia, while sounding a little witty, makes no logical sense, and aren’t we adding enough illogical words to our language already?

mark V on December 23, 2010 at 9:57 am

@Rich Durst

Oh yes, heaven forbid English be confusing and follow no logica-OHWAITAMINUTE.

TJ on December 23, 2010 at 10:11 am

I concur Rich, we need a better name for

TJ on December 23, 2010 at 10:11 am

oops TYPOGLYCEMIA.

Jonathan on December 23, 2010 at 10:42 am

I may not have all the rules for how to keep words readable quite right, this is just from memory.

This ability isn’t entirely a myth, but it’s also not accurate the way it was described. To be easily readable, the words not only need to start and end with the right letters but the letters inside need to be clumped based on the patterns we use to identify words — generally within the same syllable. Otherwise it takes extra time rearranging letters mentally to figure out the word.

In the provided example, “uesdnatnrd” is actually quite hard to read on its own because it’s a multi-syllable word that rearranges letters all over. “udnersntad” on the other hand can be rapidly read, but you’ll note it isn’t a complete jumble any more.

TYPOGLYCEMIA | BLOGCHI@mayopia.com on December 23, 2010 at 10:55 am

[...] Neologistically speaking — we’re all becoming schizophrenics – Urban, Spanglish, Esperanto, Ebonics, and so on, Psychogenics. — We ain’t even got our English down writing. — We’ll pass on that “Typoglycemia”. — What da heck. — Our concern is hypoglycemia — No sugar tonight, without spell check. –>>Rupert L.T.Rhyme [...]

Pine Tree Girl on December 23, 2010 at 10:57 am

Typoglycemia- Yeah, cool dude! No, it’s not. It actually sounds really gross. It sounds like a type of passing out after eating a Pixy Stick. How bout using something with actual roots?

James Anderson Merritt on December 23, 2010 at 11:01 am

@Rich Durst: I agree. We need a real name for this ability, not some kind of pun (the basis for which may be forgotten or unappreciated in some future time).

Perhaps we can put together something from Latin or Greek roots that means “to see arranged?”

DTK on December 23, 2010 at 11:04 am

Power is correct in saying that scrambling all the letters makes it impossible to read. The sentence is essentially ciphered. In order to decipher it, a certain amount of pattern recognition is needed. The brain can assume what the sentence is supposed to say when enough information is supplied to give context. Kate Gladstone makes a great point for this. Understanding the pattern depends on the context each word places its neighbour in. Lnois would be assumed to be “lions” if the preceding word was “acfarin”. “African loins” doesn’t quite have the same ring. There must be only a suggestion of meaning and coherence for our brains (or Brians) to map out the landscape of the sentence. This is the root of many printing errors and the driving force for that most angelic of demons, the Spell-Checker.

louis paiz on December 23, 2010 at 12:16 pm

scramble is facinatting i have done this for many years i concidered it a tallent since one can scramble words even from languages unknown to one.for me is like reading jest with consonants.also i have to thank dictionary.com for the wonderful work and please keep educating the public the way you have done untill now .have a merry chistmass and a venturous new year 20011 to all and every one of you that make possible such endeivour. thanks again

Deb Burton on December 23, 2010 at 12:38 pm

Typoglific? This is why I think it wouldn’t be hard to maak thu Inglish langwidge more fonetic! (and I’m not following the rule of first and larst letters heeu eether!) I’ve ritten a webpaag on it wich could duu with sum comments if enywun wonts tuu no…

JAFO on December 23, 2010 at 2:04 pm

I always thought it was easy to read that sentence due to the glut of extremely bad spelling found on “teh internet”. Eventually, words start to look wrong if they are spelled CORRECTLY!!!!

Seriously, I agree that the example sentence is easy to read because it’s a bunch of small, common words.

H8R_Nation on December 23, 2010 at 2:41 pm

Welcome to 2005.

fluffy10009 on December 23, 2010 at 2:48 pm

It must be tiring to scramble up words for people to read

kelly on December 23, 2010 at 3:01 pm

i cna’t blveiee i acn aulaclty rdanieg ti ! wwo Lol!

me on December 23, 2010 at 7:11 pm

We’ll just make words for everything, won’t we?

Perhaps that’s why it’s often difficult for us to catch spelling errors in the first sweep.

Touche77 on December 23, 2010 at 11:29 pm

What I find fascinating is how many of you took the time to scramble your words so that you could make your point of being able to unscramble your words….hahahahahahaha
@ xxx……..I think you need to go back to school….non sense?!?!? Really?!?!?!?

KLB on December 24, 2010 at 12:11 am

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!

CJ747270 on December 24, 2010 at 8:40 pm

!!!ENOYREVE SAMTRIRHC YRREM

rameshwar on December 24, 2010 at 10:15 pm

neologism ;;;;;;——– I THINK THIS WORD SHOULD BE – NEOTOLOGISM
FROM NEOTOLOGY.

YULE | BLOGCHI@mayopia.com on December 25, 2010 at 7:15 am

[...] walk alone” if you’re schizophrenic. — Some never using spell check makes us typoallergenic. — So “Deck the Halls” and Wassail too and burn the log we may get through. [...]

Pinki on December 25, 2010 at 10:46 am

Yeah, I know about this. They had it in the Science Center. A study at some university (I think Cambridge) revealed that as long as the first and last letters of the word were in order, you could understand the words. It’s not THAT special. It also said that the human mind doesn’t read the whole word, and that—Sorry, I forgot…:) Hope this is at least slightly informative for those who just knew about this typoglycemia thingy.

Pinki on December 25, 2010 at 10:50 am

And wdors lkie the oens avobe are pterty esay to cpromenehd, so yaeh….

Pinki on December 25, 2010 at 10:56 am

Oh, btw, to that Nate guy…you do know that you’re bragging? And that you spelled writing wrong? Hehe….:P

sign on December 26, 2010 at 1:06 am

spellcheck and interpretation.

sign on December 26, 2010 at 1:07 am

And moreelse.

Mr. D [A.K.A] Elysian on December 26, 2010 at 10:00 am

Idk what to say… I understood the one in the article but like what scott that looked like complete jibberish and i coulnd’t understand it at all.

Marco A. Cruz on December 26, 2010 at 8:14 pm

But, could anybody give further information about this phenomenon? I found it very interesting, the ability to read scrambled words. If not related to I.Q., what is it related to?

Latika on December 27, 2010 at 4:09 am

c’est magnifique….!!!

Melissa on December 27, 2010 at 11:10 am

I’m wondering if a number of you even read the article – it clearly states that, ” Typoglycemia refers the ability to understand the meaning of words in a sentence as long as the exterior letters of each word are correct and all the letters of the word are present.” So why are several of you posting that exact same information? Also, for Marco A. Cruz, the explanation is self-explanatory. Most people can do it, so why does it need to be “related” to something?

Davince on December 27, 2010 at 1:08 pm

these peopole are called autistic

Saf on December 27, 2010 at 2:29 pm

@Pinki

Cambridge had nothing to do with it, despite what your chain-forwarded email told you.

As several people above have already commented, this “ability” is nothing more than a bit of mental slight-of-hand. In the case of the example sentence: Half of the twelve words either aren’t scrambled at all, or are four-letter words with only one letter displaced (and are such common typos that our brains are already adjusted to auto-correct them). The sentence is also very predictable, making it very easy for your brain to fill in the blanks.

Let’s try a classic “garden path” sentence, in which the structure and content are not easily predictable (unless you majored in psycholinguistics). Keep in mind that we’re following all the rules here — the first and last letters of the words are intact, and all letters are accounted for.

The cpemolx heuoss mrieard and sligne sidelors and tehir fiimeals.

Now then… if you didn’t have any problems understanding that sentence, then you probably do have an unusual ability.

Disappointed in The Hot Word for perpetuating this kind of nonsense.

~Saf

Blue Mark on December 27, 2010 at 3:30 pm

“Typoglycemia” works because of the way the mind scans words when reading. Most people take in whole words at a time when reading, rather than sequential letters and building them into words, some readers even take in whole sentences at a time. Initial and terminal letters, along with context is often all that is needed to make sense of a sentence – especially when the sentence sticks to reasonably common words.

If you push yourself to read faster, you’ll find those sentences even easier to understand, because you are forcing yourself to take in larger chunks of words and allowing looser pattern recognition to make sense of them.

Venky on December 27, 2010 at 9:53 pm

really its a work given to the brain

Miss Misunderestimated on January 1, 2011 at 4:01 pm

No, it’s actually called “Mega pro-ness”

fireshadow11 on January 10, 2011 at 7:59 am

@Power DUDE! EPIC, EPIC FAILURE MAN. Did you like, not read ANY of what it said? The freaking reason it’s ‘easy’ is because the first and last letters of the words are in the right order!!!! DUH. They’re SUPPOSED to be easy. Yours are harder cuz the first and last letters AREN’T in order. sigh. HOW COULD YOU MISS THAT???

toni sco on January 18, 2011 at 7:49 am

What is the origin of the verb to behave?

Does it literally mean for one to act as they he or she were in a haven?

ERAGON on January 26, 2011 at 7:08 am

I am Eragon shadeslayer rider of Saphira Bjartskuler but while we are here I am called nathaniel givens me and my men the R.I are stationed in westminster Colorado

ERAGON on January 26, 2011 at 7:42 am

whoops wrong button what I was writing was this site helpes us better understand this language in it’s integrity we can’t leave this time till next year that is when the day of darkness begins till then we creat novels on what we know as some form of fiction. for instance Christopher Paolini’s real name is Brom. Ann McCaffery is an R.I member as is 1/3 of the planet. your site all so heples us learn more things true names making us even more pawer full in magic.
THIS IS THE FIRST CHAPTER OF ONE OF AWER BOOKS CALLED Rise Of The Dragons

THE BEGINNING OF THE END
It was a cold dark night at Luto’s Keep. Dragons and there riders prepared to leave on what wold most certainly be there last chance to save the world. As the riders and there dragon companions prepared to leave Luo a tiny man just left of the current wing leader asked. “Is that the last Kregan?” “The last we could find there mite be more but I doubt they will survive.” “ Not with the Dark Lord after them and us no doubt.” chided Laya a fair slightly to the right of Kregan. As they took flight the dragons arranged them self in a triangular formation so that Frail a female gold dragon and her rider Jenny a light and power full elf was guarded at all times. As they flue more dragon and there riders joined as well as meany wild dragons. Wen they first took flight they were thirty strong now they were seventy strong and growing. It got colder as they flue not even the dragons internal flame could keep them worm. And with the wing leader constantly changing none of the dragons dared breath fire in fear of hitting another dragon or rider in case they pass there way. The riders would not conger fire with magic in fear that the dark lord would find them. As they neared Trager the farthest south they could go before hitting the Shadow Lands the dragons noted the dark lords dragon’s sent but from a witch was not threatening they alerted there riders any way but by then it was to late the Dark Lord had spotted them but did not attack he never has but tries to stop them by other means. As the dragons avoided the Dark Lord attempt to stop them Kragen gave Frail and Jenny the order to leave as quickly as possible they abode there orders. Jenny prepared to open a Shadow door so that they could escape wen they were safely inside they closed the door to there friends. The land scape before them was strange to them both. Not knowing what else to do Jenny took out the object she was intrusted to keep safe she slipped it in to a bag and wrought a note and teleported it dawn in the ground creating a cavern were it lay.
But also created a massive cavern that leads to the surface so that they could watch and protect the bag till the right time comes. Wen she finished a chill ran dawn her spine and she turned around there before her was a shadow door and coming throw was Kregan on his dragon followed by the Dark Lord all so on his dragon. Jenny drew her sword ready for an attack but Kergon said? “No don’t hurt him he is not what you think he is let him explain!” “Then do so convince me not to kill you right now Dark Lord!” demanded Jenny. “As you wish for starters my name is Ilander and my dragon’s name is Krill we were sent like you to your time to worn you and help you here now and for the same reason.” As the spoke he removed a smiler bag and placed it with the other then continued. “The time we are from is the one created by this one had we not came. We have bin trying to get your attention so that we could explain what would happen to your time if it would stay on its current course but with out us.” Ilander and created an image of the world that would have bin and explained. “The items we have go together but are separate. The dragons of my time were slowly becoming extincted because there was no males and females that were able to mate by the time there were it was to late for my world so we came to yours and from there to here.” “Wait if you were only here to help then who was everyone running from wen the three cassias of Gerya fell?” asked Jenny “me but a different me some haw wen people go through a Shadow Door it creates an opposite them so if your good wen you go through one then your opposite is evil and the same for evil. But now we are stuck here till a thing called the Day of Darkness we don’t know wen it is or what it is exactly. The years that followed the three companions and there dragons became close friends here cavern grow to accommodate them all. But eventually they mad a cassia with a large tunnels so the dragon could move about with ease and with out being herd from above. Eventually the people of the time expanded there towns and lived all around the country. The cassia then became a place of learning but all was had the same teachers and all was with there forbidden places and much more.
This is not the end of aware story just the end of peace.

Anonymous on January 28, 2011 at 3:30 pm

@ERAGON: BAHAHAHAHAHA!! I do hope you don’t think anyone’s falling for that. I don’t really know what you’re talking about, but I must admit the horrendous spelling and grammar were entertaining, along with the sooooooooooooooo cliched use of “It was a cold dark night…” And the mix-up of “there”, “their”, and “they’re”. LOL

C Greene on January 29, 2011 at 10:54 am

Please do not be so presumptuous as to impose a non-word ‘typoglycemia’ on us! The meaning you intend for it does not match its component part, ‘glycemia’. You know better! It’s not cute, it’s not funny, it doesn’t even make me smile. Create a real word for this phenomenon, constructing it so that its parts match what it defines/describes! I can only hope that you’re joking.

bass_drum12 on January 29, 2011 at 10:24 pm

You guys are making this too complicated! I’m twelve (almost thirteen) and I get it! All you do is switch most of the letters in each word, and depending on how much time you spend on average exposed to poor spelling and grammar (e.g., texting!!!), you can decipher the message with ease. Each one of you that thinks you are a smart individual just because you post an opinion on a dictionary website’s word blog, yet are only adding to the confusion of those of slightly lesser intelligence is an utter hypocrite. If you self-acclaimed “intellectuals” would just take a few moments of your time to read the entire article to which you are adding comments, you are likely to find that your initial response was partially (if not entirely) incorrect.

bass_drum12 on January 29, 2011 at 10:31 pm

furthermore, why must we debate this word, which probably was thought up within the last 18 months? It’s quite new (probably), and is likely to be changed soon. If you haven’t noticed, they have yet to add it to their dictionary, meaning it will be edited in the near future, or forgotten, depending on how popular it becomes.

Yours Truly (and currently failing Literature class, but passing Language Arts),
BASS_DRUM12

Shira on January 30, 2011 at 12:43 pm

it really isnt that special…most people’s brain just takes in common words without reading the whole thing. for heaven’s sake why make up some stupid name to define something that isnt actually anything fascinating. we’re human beings with minds that develop as we grow and are capable of doing this after a while is all. also after a while reading a lot of words correctly spelt you dont have to read them incorrectly spelt anymore unless theres horrific spelling. however most of the time you can actually spot mistakes if the sentence or word doesnt make sense.
also @ rickedy rick…’All y’alls Englishk is atrocious’….really? looks who’s talking buddy boy. and 180 IQ…is that suppsoed to be impressive or depressive?
oh yeh…give a five year old this sentence…see if they can work it out within two seconds…think they can? no…why? umm…duh theyre brains havnt devloped so far yet.
i repeat…it really isnt anything special–>to all those who became euphoric at the thought that they were suddenly more unique than everyone else.

Rebekah on January 30, 2011 at 1:31 pm

@ xxx, if you hate this site, why are you here?
@ beetle, I am from up north, and I still find that very funny. xD

My father had actually gotten that e-mail, and I found it very facinating. I love this site because
1. I need it weekly for this, again, weekly assignment in my language arts class.
2. It always has very interesting articles. ^^

steph on January 30, 2011 at 8:22 pm

I agree wit power this is a stupid and rickedy rick or wht eva it is
u r just bragin and wht u said is kinda mean and melissa
ur right I didn’t read da thing but I could still un scramble
everythin cause there so darn simple. Btw it doesn’t matta how people
Spell cause I find this way quiker.

P.S. can u plez keep da comments short or at least put dem in2
little paragraphs cause I a slow reada and it would be much easier
4 me and probs others as well

Thtx

xoxo Steph, luv ya well some of ya

steph on January 30, 2011 at 8:26 pm

Ummmmm I was gonna say somethin but I can’t reamamba

O wells bi bi

xoxo steph luv ya or at leat some of ya maybe I probs don’t know
any of u so lol bi

noyb noyberson on July 18, 2011 at 8:26 pm

Am I the only one to note that this article doesn’t explain WHY the neologism ‘typoglycemia’ was chosen or why it is a pun?

Elise E. on November 1, 2011 at 8:27 am

My reading skills aren’t that good so Typoglycemia doesn’t really mess me up RANDOM! last year at 13 I had an IQ of 149 ;) ! I’m not sure how good that is.

Stan Rhythm on January 23, 2012 at 6:32 pm

Ya know, if you actually did have an IQ of 149, you’d prolly have some idea of how low or high that might be. I mean, I’m just sayin’. Ya know?

steve on February 22, 2012 at 1:56 am

Also it seems the brain looks at the word before and after the word to get an idea what the word were looking at means. And no doubt also looks at the sentence as a whole too. Prob more ways the brain is looking at a sentence as well,,just some thoughts.

justme on February 22, 2012 at 5:43 pm

I agree Steve, and just maybe it has something to do with how fast a person reads?

Haleigh on February 23, 2012 at 4:29 pm

taht is SO ovbuois! Eervonye konws taht! Tasnlrtae tihs: klil baanans, but olny if etanig alpeps!

nunya on February 24, 2012 at 8:37 am

wlel i tihnk it is pterty ncie i maen how aewomse is taht? i can do taht esaliy its jsut taht i cna’t tihnk aoubt waht to say so now i wlil sotp.

jahleel on May 22, 2012 at 4:41 pm

k

Patrick on May 31, 2012 at 9:32 pm

Era eno yo fy ooa ublt enderstant dhis sentenca? Es fy, oou’ra ewesomi.

Sonya on June 24, 2012 at 6:00 pm

it was so aesy taht i cluod of siad it in teywn-vief sodencs.

Can onybady raed thta stal drow.?

Brains on July 6, 2012 at 6:43 am

Teh asteenbe mkenoy giunes reids a tginrenae otpinohtrer and ahrobs nalcontmerue.

The absentee monkey genius rides a tangerine ornithopter and abhors nomenclature.

Slightly difficult due to less predictability, although, none of the words were very foreign… even though ornithopter is not techinically a word according to this spell check.

Redraes amitttnpeg to dipeechr ciatmelcpod sneeecnts ectoneunr safgiiinnct dulfitifcy.

Readers attempting to decipher complicated sentences encounter significant difficulty. <- Not so much.

The mind processes words as a whole, and to some degree, sentences as well. When words follow each other in a predictable way, it is much easier to decipher.

Try this one on for size…

Form the sdnoiptant of rittlaievy ttfionaansromrs the torehy can be fduenod on the aptioumssn taht the flied is rtrneeeepsd by a nctrmiyen-mosal tnoser, and taht the Linaaaggrn is the suraqe root of its danientmert;

WaapFu on July 24, 2012 at 5:26 am

That was painful to read. Somewhere in my brain, I expected the comments on this article to be spelt correctly, with all the letters in the correct order.

I know I shouldn’t complain, but… Um… Yolo? XD

Hearing about this always makes me feel sad. I really like language, and when people get things like this that can be used as some sort of excuse to not bother with it, I die a little inside, in a non-dramatic fashion.

Goodnight, people.

Austin on August 10, 2012 at 4:13 pm

I don’t know about everybody else but I was able to read all of the scrambled words that people put in their comments. Even the ones that did not follow the “rule.” Plus sometimes I am able to finish words that are being spoken before the actual speaker does. Is there a name for that? And can anybody else do it as well?

Yeaboi on August 29, 2012 at 5:18 pm

It’s just hilarious how people think they’re special for such a simple thing :D D

Todd T on September 10, 2012 at 12:06 am

What amazes me is how people so quickly claim it is a hoax and imply this phenomenon doesn’t exist. Aside from the ridiculous claims of Cambridge or the claims of unusual intellectual skills, the fact remains that people can in fact read these words as fast as they can the same words unscrambled.

So when the question is asked how and does the brain do this and why, the answer given is always how the original chain letter was debunked and other presumably English professors start to ramble on about how base and ridiculous the american education system is.

Unanswered is why would the human mind be able to do this and the fact that it can so easily and the majority of the population can do it, it seems possible there is an underutilized skill in the brain.

Sambangbang on September 18, 2012 at 12:56 pm

waoh taht is aeswmoe. i gtota try it on my tacehr in my calss at shocol. tanhks dctiioanry.com!!!

Anonymous on October 16, 2012 at 4:36 am

I lvoe raednig setnaces lkie tihs deos aynone konw waht teh wrod for it is cllaed?

Amanda124 on October 24, 2012 at 9:17 pm

Does it get harder when you use more uncommon words or bigger words, yes but for people who think they’re all much smarter then others who may not be able to unscramble the words that they may usually be able to read the words in normal form well news flash for you, you’re not. I mean I can read it and understand it but I have a friend who can’t, so does that make him stupid and you people smarter then him? No. So for people who are like oh yeah i can read it and those who can’t are fools and not as smart, you must be stuck on yourself. -__-

Erick on November 8, 2012 at 7:39 pm

I don’t know why, but I could read these sentences when I was 6 years old. Right now, I’m 12 with an IQ of 160, with transferring binary numbers into actual letters. This format of writing is not difficult to understand once you start at it at a young age of creativity.

KOBE on November 12, 2012 at 4:52 pm

LVOE TIHS SO VREY MCUH

Carole on December 2, 2012 at 6:37 am

This brain ability really makes proofreading VERY difficult because all the words look like they are correct.

michellebewell on February 4, 2013 at 8:12 am

Todd T and others- This is just my opinion, so take it as just that, but being an energy worker and an avid student on the electromagnetic fields of the heart and brain, I would venture to say that one reason that we can understand these sentences is that we are actually comprehending it holistically- and thus intuiting the meaning without needing all of the details.

In theory, we can each live our lives in this stream of “knowing” which is far beyond the capacity of our physical brains. This is a non-rational and a non-linear experience which tends to be dismissed in our culture today.

I invite you to try expanding this idea and see what kind of results you get…..

amethyst on March 17, 2013 at 9:29 pm

oh me gosh i thought that is kinda cool but uh not all that much but still i guesse its cool /:).

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