Frequently making typos/bad proofreading, how common is this?

Lysander

Lysander

Lysander

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I have noticed recently that I have got very bad at proofreading what I write. Or maybe I always was. It is very common for me to think that I have written something, only for a while later to realise I have written something else.

For instance, yesterday I sent an email at work which began:

Can we have a chat in the next few days...
Click to expand...

At least I thought it did until I re-read it today, and it actually reads:

Can we have a chat in the new days...
Click to expand...

I could have sworn it said the former. Is this common? Is it something to do with the quantity of emails I send or am I going mad? It's doubtless to do with my mind pasting onto the screen what I wanted to write and reading that back to myself rather than what's actually there.
 
I sometimes find I miss words when I type. In my head, I know exactly what I meant to type but when I read it back, I've just missed one word.
 
When I'm typing emails I need to ensure I'm either not talking or paying attention to songs with lyrics / the news on the telly etc etc, otherwise my emails start to take on words from the distraction.

Damn mental shortcutting. But over the years it has given me some apprieciation for taking more time with things.
 
I used to sign off my internal emails by manually typing "Regards, Hades" until I kept making a typo and sending "Retards, Hades". It didn't go down well when I was complaining to someone :)
 
Judging by this thread, the only logical explanation is that you're a bot :D

I think it's a fairly common occurrence. I'm forever editing forum/discord posts. Your eyes read what your brain wants them to see, not what's actually written. I'll probably have to edit this post to correct typos!
 
Hades said:
I used to sign off my internal emails by manually typing "Regards, Hades" until I kept making a typo and sending "Retards, Hades". It didn't go down well when I was complaining to someone :)
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I did this on a job application

Kind Retards,
Rids

For some reason they never got back to me
 
I have recently noticed that I have been doing this where I miss words or characters while typing although I know what I want to type in. Not sure if its age related or indication of decline of mental capacity :D.
 
It's much easier to proof read someone else's writing because as mentioned when reading your own your brain often substitutes in what you think you've written rather than what you actually have.

Probably linked in with the mechanism of the brain that it mainly skin reads words and fills in the blanks anyway
 
I always always spell believe beleive when I type
And exsist rather than exist

I know how to spell these words. But on a physical keyboard they are nearly always wrong
 
Freakbro said:
It's much easier to proof read someone else's writing because as mentioned when reading your own your brain often substitutes in what you think you've written rather than what you actually have.

Probably linked in with the mechanism of the brain that it mainly skin reads words and fills in the blanks anyway
Click to expand...

Even published novels and peer-reviewed papers have typos occasionally. Just proves that no matter how many times you - and other people - read something, everyone does the "skim read" thing to some extent.
 
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