# Mixing up the order of letters when writing



## Narrator (Oct 11, 2009)

I find when I'm writing I mix up the order of the first couple of letters of a word every now and again, optimistic becomes potimistic, for example - maybe every time I'm writing for an hour it happens two or three times. Any one else find this? It seems curiously random.


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## Mammon (Jul 12, 2012)

Not sure which kind of writing you mean, typing or really writing.

But with both it depends how fast I'm going. The faster the quiker it happens. 

____^
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____|----- I actually had it happen with 'with' in that sentence LOL


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## GoodOldDreamer (Sep 8, 2011)

I don't make all that many typos. But sometimes I'll replace whole words with others without meaning to. Or I'll leave out whole words. It's as though my brain is in a race with my fingers to reach some non-existent finish line, lol.

It's worse when I'm listening to music as I'm typing. I'll end up typing out the lyrics if I'm really into the song. So it'll turn out something like "So then my friend told me don't stop believing! Hold on to that feeling! funny joke and made me giggle..." :laughing:


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## William I am (May 20, 2011)

Writing by hand? With a pen or something?

It happens to me when I'm sick or needing sleep.


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## Narrator (Oct 11, 2009)

Generally with a pen, when typing it's usually due to the arrangement of keys - to becomes ot as my hands want to move inwards rather than outwards.


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## EmileeArsenic (Jun 8, 2012)

Happens to me a lot... I've broken a few backspace keys out of pure overuse. I have long fingers and long nails, so sometimes the key I aim for isn't the one I hit. Sometimes I hit a key and it doesn't register because I do have a light touch. Other times, I'll get all the letters of a word on the screen, but they'll be jumbled or in the wrong order. Occasionally I'll even spell something completely backwards. The most usual typo I have is hitting the space bar in the wrong place and ending up with something like "The dogs topped before jumpin gthef ence." instead of "The dog stopped before jumping the fence."

I end up editing a few times before I'm happy with my posts.


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## Tetsonot (Nov 22, 2012)

I write in a sort of print and cursive mix, where it looks like print, but some letters connect to each other. More often than not, when I scramble letters, it's to make two connect. For example, "narrow" becomes "anrrow" so that the "a" can connect with the "n". I'm always swapping letters like that because I write so fast. It also happens on the computer because I type so quickly all of the time.


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## Trinidad (Apr 16, 2010)

The first thing that came up when reading the title was spoonerism  but what you're describing is very common, at least to me it is. Happens about once every two sentences, mostly because I (want to) type very quickly. It doesn't happen in handwriting.


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## Faux (May 31, 2012)

I do it with numbers. I don't think I've ever done it with letters except typos.

Or are you talking about typos?


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## yumi (Nov 28, 2012)

Kind of, it happens when I only remembering what the word looks like not what it sounds like.


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