[ExI] most common error: was RE: thought controled Third arm, (was EPOC EEG headset)

spike spike66 at att.net
Mon Jan 25 18:43:38 UTC 2010


A comment here caused me to ask a completely unrelated question: in the age
of software spell checkers and grammar checkers, what is the most common
spelling error?  

It would need to be an error that spelled a different word, and the new word
would need to make a grammatically correct sentence.  Consider the example:

>...So it could be a big trade off depending what you loose. 
	
I think this might be the most common modern spelling error, since the word
loose, ordinarily an adjective, can also be a verb.  So the above sentence
would be grammatically correct.  

If the typo makes a new word and the new sentence makes grammatical sense,
it reminds me of the hopeful mutant theory of evolution, where a genetic
mistake creates a new characteristic, which in rare cases does not slay but
is actually neutral or beneficial to the beast in which it occurs, and
results in the change being propagated, perhaps eventually resulting in the
creation of a new species.

Another aside: a number of years ago, a friend received an anonymous
threatening letter from a Co$er in which the word "than" was spelled "then"
as in "I am bigger then you."  It was a handwritten note, and the same error
occurred 4 times.  Later, an email was received in which the same error
appeared twice.  I suspected the same guy wrote both, but since this is such
a common error, it wasn't actual proof, but ample grounds for suspicion.

So what is the most common modern spelling error?

spike






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